From what we've seen so far of Final Fantasy Resonance, the classic-style JRPG from Square Enix, Final Fantasy fans, new and old, are set for a real treat. I must admit, I'm always happy to see innovation, and I'm actually pretty happy with where the Final Fantasy franchise is these days, but there’s just something about Resonance’s classic approach that appeals to me.
It feels nostalgic in the most healthy way — something that delivers a new experience that still manages to feel familiar. From what we’ve been able to play in the demo, there are already a bunch of cool concepts drawn from the history of the Final Fantasy franchise that prove the classic Final Fantasy approach can still be done well even today.
I’m not one to grow too attached to particular art styles or presentations. I like 2D, I like 3D, I like HD-2D. I think classic pixel art has a lot of charm, and I also really enjoy the kinds of stunning, cinematic 3D you get from games like Final Fantasy XVI. My point is, I’m easy. I don’t even mind that Pokémon switched from 2D to 3D, and I know that’s still a divisive change more than a decade later.
But there’s something appealing about Resonance’s HD-2D approach. This isn’t just a nostalgia hook for those of us who played the pixel art Final Fantasy games; in a way, it’s a vision of a future where the games had never gone 3D at all. It’s a fully modern rendition, complete with lighting effects and environmental depth… just with pixel art, too. And honestly, it works. Don’t get me wrong — I love the cinematic 3D from the PS1 era onwards. But Resonance proves that you can do something completely different and still smash it out of the park.
Final Fantasy basically abandoned the overworld in the switch from the PS1 to the PS2, but its loss was one many fans found frustrating. Resonance is something of a love letter to classic Final Fantasy, so it obviously had to bring back the overworld.
And honestly, I think that’s the right choice. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 proved you could implement a classic JRPG overworld even in an otherwise fully modern, 3D, and cinematic game. It worked very well there. It feels right at home in Resonance too, delivering the classic Final Fantasy world-spanning adventure fantasy in a way we haven’t seen in recent years.
I’m going to stop short of calling some of the more recent Final Fantasy games corridor simulators, because I think that’s reductive and unfair. That being said, some of them have lacked the kind of meaningful exploration and secrets found off the beaten track that some more classic entries are famous for.
Given that Resonance is based on Brave Exvius, in which many locations were basically just a series of fights, it would have been easy to leave this kind of exploration out. It’s not about massive open worlds or free-roaming exploration, but about including reasons for fans to dawdle on the way to quest objectives and new areas. Resonance proves that even in a world where we’re all pressed for time, we can stop and look for something cool instead of racing from objective to objective.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.dualshockers.com/classic-final-fantasy-ideas-final-fantasy-resonance-proves-can-still-work/
