Hironobu Sakaguchi’s studio, Mistwalker, has been working on Fantasian, a JRPG coming exclusively to Apple Arcade. The game is made up entirely of dioramas with the characters then overlaid on to the handcrafted scenes. Sakaguchi said the game was partially inspired by Final Fantasy 6, and after playing it a few years back it renewed his love for the JRPG genre and this is where it led him.
Fantasian was created by using 150 unique, handcrafted dioramas created by a team of over 150 people. The games 3D characters were then overlaid on top of the physical scenes, giving the game an original charm gamers rarely see. The scenes are fully rotatable, allowing players to feel more immersed in the environment. Mistwalker released a trailer for the JRPG, giving a more in depth look at how the game was created.
The game will feature turn based combat that Final Fantasy players have come to know and love. Fantasian has come up with a creative battle system coined the Dimengeon system, a mix between dungeon and dimension. This system allows players to store battles for another time, rather than being attacked while on their journey. The player can take usual random encounters and pack them away in another dimension until they are ready for battle, and then defeat them all in one big battle.
Fantasian has no official release date yet. The game was designed specifically with touch screen controls in mind and will be released to Apple Arcade exclusively some time this year. Fans are excited for the release, though some are disappointed that it will be an exclusive, and hope that it will be re-released for Nintendo at a later date.
