The last nine years have given us two HD-2D Dragon Quest remakes, three Octopath Traveler games, and a new polygonally-challenged hero named Elliot. Yet despite Square squeezing its money’s worth out of its eye-catching (and fully trademarked) HD-2D engine, in almost a decade, its golden boy Final Fantasy has bizarrely never received the same pixel-led treatment—until now.
Announced during June’s Nintendo Direct, Final Fantasy Resonance sees the series going back to basics, dropping FFXVI’s real-time skirmishes to play the hits. Packed with nostalgia-tickling franchise staples like chocobos, airships, and classic turn-based shenanigans, as I put on my headphones and pick up my controller, Resonance immediately transports me to a simpler time.
Dropped right onto your classic world map, my pixel art protagonist walks with purpose while an upbeat orchestral score swells enthusiastically. As I slowly roam the luscious tree-coated map, I suddenly realize that I can pick up the pace. A tap of ‘square’ summons my trusty chocobo – and I’m off.
In Resonance, these once derpy ostriches have been given a notable sense of speed. Galloping around the overworld, with my ride sprinting like a coked-up Big Bird from Sesame Street, I follow the cracked road before me, taking in the classic sights of sprawling towns and hillside paths littered with jagged-rock faces until I’m rudely interrupted by an enemy encounter.
Combat in Resonance is largely what you’d expect from an old-school Final Fantasy. Your four-member party can use standard commands, Summons, and abilities, and enemies can be staggered. While combat could easily feel dull, each familiar element is so slickly stylized that it consistently satisfies throughout my 45-minute demo.
A clear highlight is Resonance’s screen-filling Limit Burst attacks. Always a bit of an FF showstopper, these special moves are delivered through elaborate pixel art animations that transform special attacks into a dazzling spectacle. Whether it’s bombarding enemies with a never-ending sea of chocobos or launching a blazing inferno at the unlucky soldiers on the other side.
Much like Resonance’s blend of HD with 2D, this is an FF that merges the early series’ classic fantasy tropes with later entries’ flirtations with modernity. This is a setting that blends old-school temples with modern, chic cities. It’s a visual duality reflected in the lead character designs, too, where cast members wield ancient swords while wearing leather jackets adorned with enough chains and charms to make Nomura proud.
After accidentally wandering into some areas that I’m sadly not allowed to write about, I turned Big Bird around and sped towards my main objective: an eerie-looking tower. As I enter what I soon learn is the Wind Shrine—a towering temple containing a giant green crystal—my party races towards it in a bid to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands, kicking off some classic multi-floor dungeon exploration.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/features/we-played-final-fantasy-resonance-and-it-delivers-classic-ff-at-last/
