Fantastic Fantasies for fans

World of Final Fantasy could not have been more aptly named. It’s a game made purely for fan service, as if to make the maximum nostalgic impact right before the release of Final Fantasy XV.

It almost feels like fan fiction, where all your favourite characters from the franchise come together on a journey across your favourite locations.
You play as siblings Lann and Reynn, both suffering from amnesia. The only way for them to recover their memories is to travel to the world of Grymoire, where they meet different Final Fantasy characters including Yuna and Cloud.

The battle system takes some elements from Pokémon, as accompanying the turn-based mechanics are your abilities to capture Mirages and monsters. Players can stack these Mirages depending upon their size. Every creature of a smaller size can be stacked on top of a bigger character, which increases your skills and abilities. As a result of this, all members of a stack take damage with the same attack. Players can also unstack their characters, which will give them more turns to attack but reduces their effectiveness.

While the world is entirely made up of Chibi characters, both Lann and Reynn can switch back to their standard human size with a press of a button. For a long time, I had both these characters in standard because they can then be used as size L for a stack.

Enemies are encountered randomly as you explore dungeons and battles can be sped up by holding R1.

For a game filled with nostalgia, I did find the battle system a bit too dated and battles become tedious after the first dozen or so hours. Speeding them up helps quite a bit but random encounters quickly become a pain.

Regardless of some design issues, World of Final Fantasy has a gorgeous art style and the Chibi characters are extremely charming. For what seems like a lower budget title, the game is fully voiced and the Japanese track is also available as a download.

World of Final Fantasy will take dozens of hours to complete, and is an attempt to celebrate the series’ past. Square Enix is cleverly trying to remind everyone that despite recent struggles, Final Fantasy still holds a special place in the industry.