Since 1987, the year of release of the first legendary chapter of the saga, the name final Fantasy it has been associated with the Jrpg par excellence; The only announcement of a new title in the saga, a trailer, a limit break or the devastating attack of a summon can arouse in the passionate gamer emotions that few other titles can give, thanks to the trust gained over time masterpiece after masterpiece. 2016 turns out to be a special year for the saga thanks to the release of two final Fantasy: the multi-mandate Final Fantasy XV, arguably the most hyped title in gaming history, and World of Final Fantasy, a spin off of the saga based on a “chibi” world, colorful and with all the elements that distinguished the historic first chapters of the brand. obviously World of Final Fantasy has inevitably passed on the sly, given the media importance and not given to his older brother Final Fantasy XV, but in this review I assure you that never was a more serious mistake: I anticipate that World of Final Fantasy it is a very valid title, a masterpiece that we will now discover step by step all together!
Once upon a time in Grymoire ...
On a classic summer day, sunny and we imagine hot given the clothing of the characters, our protagonist Lann he goes towards a canonical day of work in his bar; the only customer of the morning is an attractive white-haired girl who, as if nothing had happened, orders a classic coffee and begins to explain to Lann and his sister Reynn that the world of Grymoire is undergoing severe repercussions from mysterious dark forces. The girl turns out to be the Goddess Kross, a very powerful entity that regulates the balance of the world, extremely in need of the help of the two predestined brothers to save the world in Grymoire's chibi sauce. The plot in general does not absolutely shine for originality, falling into a few clichés too many and giving a few twists during the entire narrative; fortunately the presence of canonical characters of the series, such as the legendary Squall and Cloud and the cute black wizard Vivi, give an incredible element of nostalgia and an out of the ordinary charisma to a title that perhaps sins precisely in the main characters, a tad too stereotyped. An applause should be made instead to the main antagonist, who winks at the legendary Garland, and the army Bahamut, a name that among fans can only generate shivers all over the body. Another point that should be underlined is the great translation work of Square Enix, with a sensational localization that will be able to give a lot of laughter to young and old, with always funny and interesting jokes.
Grab them all!
World of Final Fantasy it differs a lot from the latest Square Enix productions on the gameplay side, offering a turn-based combat system that winks at the gems of PlayStation 1 and 2 with lots of random fights that can more or less like; however, it does so with extreme intelligence, definitely rejuvenating the classic gameplay and proposing small subterfuges to make farming less heavy. Going in order we find in fact the simplified menu with the various commands selectable by the convenient hand cursor, really intuitive and suitable for newbies of the genre, as an alternative to the classic drop-down one; but the real gem that can give joy to combat fans is the ability to speed up the action phases by pressing the R1 button, an absolute godsend for those who love to grind for hours trying to get extra objects and experience.
The real novelty of World of Final Fantasy, however, are the mirages, the central focus of the gameplay of the title and the story that accompanies it; In fact, Grymoire is full of chibi monsters that our heroes will be able to "imprint" thanks to their innate power.: by satisfying certain actions in combat, whether it is damaging with certain elements or inflicting a certain altered status, it will be possible to literally capture the wild mirages and make them ours, then use them later in battle.
Once the mirages have been obtained it will in fact be possible to create a real pile of monsters, one for each protagonist, based on the size of the mirages themselves: in fact, monsters of size S, M or L will be available and, logically, each row can be composed of only one mirage for each size; I remind you that our heroes in human version will be of size L, while in chibi sauce they will be categorized as M: this opens the doors to thousands of variations and combinations, counting that the mirages are about two hundred and all of very different types. But that's not all: even slightly veiled at the most incredible phenomenon of the last 20 years, a certain Pokémon, the captured mirages will be upgradeable through a system similar to the spherography of Final Fantasy X and evolved into several different mirages, some very special that longtime fans will not be able to forget; an absolutely incredible, satisfying and challenging system, leading the player to go around every secret zone and carry out every secondary mission in order to find every possible mirage.
Millions of things to do
If you thought that mirages were everything you are very wrong, since World of Final Fantasy brings with it another incredible feature that we can define as pure fanservice, but which then finds confirmation and logic in the story itself: we are talking about champion medals, items that can be unlocked and purchased by completing specific tasks in the storyline and side quests. The champions are nothing more than legendary heroes featured in old Final Fantasy, such as the aforementioned Squall, the handsome Lightning and the regal Edgar from Final Fantasy VI. Once you have obtained and equipped the medal and loaded the appropriate bar thanks to the defeated enemies and the damage suffered, they will be usable in battle, causing enormous damage to the enemies and palpable nostalgia effects in the hearts of the most passionate: see the heroes of our childhood using their most powerful moves to help us will make us shed more than a few tears, making each attack a real commemoration of what our mum Square (Enix) has done over these long years.
In addition to the main story and the aforementioned secondary missions, there will be an area called the Arena, led by a little talkative Tomberry: the Arena in question will put us in front of unique fights with increasing difficulty, offering some of the most difficult challenges of all World of Final Fantasy; obviously the greater the difficulty, the greater the reward, which will result in the obtaining of otherwise unavailable objects in the world of Grymoire. Finally, in a mysterious room located in the city of the two protagonists, there will be a mysterious girl who will allow us, thanks to the use of some limited special gems, to take part as helpers in incredible challenges that our champions would otherwise have to face from alone: the system works very similar to the fantastic Real Time Events introduced only in Final Fantasy IX and, we assure you, alongside historical heroes of the saga will only leave us helpless to our memories, as if to goad us in the heart, reminding us how much the previous chapters of this immortal saga have left us inside.
Wonders in chibi sauce.
Speaking of the technical sector, World of Final Fantasy it proves to be a real gem; while not showing absolutely the powerful muscles of Sony PlayStation 4, the title manages to enchant for a sublime technical sector, which owes much to its previous chapters: deserted lands, magical woods and wonderful medieval cities will be on the agenda in World of Final Fantasy, along with successful and varied but unfortunately quite linear dungeons. The character design is instead incredible, with a reproduction in chibi sauce of a game world that collects the history and essence of twenty years and a little more than Final Fantasy: in addition to the aforementioned champions, see creatures such as the powerful Ifrit or the royal Shiva in deformed version will not at all make us think of pure fanservice, but will show a new side of them that we had never discovered, effectively making the presence of the latter like a new "first time"; applause also to the character design of the mirages, all truly incredible, and to the protagonists in human form that undoubtedly recall Kingdom Hearts: on the other hand, the hand and the style of Nomura-San are those, a style that has made him unmistakable and has cataloged him as one of the best in the world in this regard. The sound sector was also absolutely promoted, passed under the skilful hand of Masashi Hamauzu: for the occasion, the famous composer has composed more than 50 tracks, ranging from the psychedelic battle theme to rearrangements of legendary themes, such as the immortal To Zanarkand. It is almost superfluous to talk about longevity: the missions related to the World of Final Fantasy plot alone will keep you busy for about 50 hours, while for those addicted to completeness the counter could easily exceed three digits.
