Franchises that have been around for a while often run into the problem of keeping players interested in each new entry. While some fans beg for new ideas and big shakeups, others will insist upon staying as true to the original concepts as possible, since that’s what made them fall in love with the games in the first place. Honestly, there’s merit to both perspectives, even if it causes endless headaches for the developers. The Final Fantasy series has frequently been on the receiving end of both demands, getting praise from some and complaints from others. Final Fantasy Resonance seeks to appease both sides by blending classic gameplay and Final Fantasy staples with new ideas and mechanics. 

Quite the idealist.

Before we too deep into this review, I would like to address that, yes, this a version of a preexisting mobile game, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius that originally released in 2015. However, Final Fantasy Resonance is not a straight one-for-one port. It’s a full reimagining of that game, with all of the microtransactions and gacha elements removed. The story has also been streamlined to improve pacing, characters are more fully fleshed out, and there are completely new storylines that have been added. In addition, the maps have been expanded, cities are much larger in scale, and most notably, the visuals have had a massive overhaul. So even if you’ve played that version in the past, Final Fantasy Resonance should offer a lot more to the experience with plenty of new content.

In Final Fantasy Resonance you play as Rain, a Knight of Grandshelt and commander of its airship squadron. Always by his side is Lasswell, his adoptive brother and deputy commander. When the King commands them to investigate the weakening magical barrier that’s protecting the Earth Shrine, they discover a mysterious, hulking man in black armor, the veritas of Dark. He shatters the crystal and they barely survive the encounter, making their way back to the King, before being defeated once more. Realizing they must save the land of Grandshelt and beyond from destruction by saving the remaining crystals, they depart follow the trail of the Veritas of Dark along with Fina, a girl with no memories they meet along the way.

Has that line ever worked before?

Although, it won’t remain a small party for very long. During their travels, Rain and Lasswell will meet several new characters who will join them on their journey. Lid is a spunky engineer works works on airships and created a mechanical Chocobo friend, Mechabo. Nichol is is a guardian of the Water Shrine, called the Warden of the Waters. He’s a skilled tactician who can add buffs to his party members by utilizing different battle formations. Jake is the gun-toting leader of a rebel faction seeking to liberate the Zoldaad Empire from tyrannical rule. Sakura is a sage of Mysidia with considerable magic skills, and is the last member to join the team.

But what about the first addition to the party, the mysterious girl Fina? Well, aside from her unrelenting upbeat attitude, it turns out that she can can communicate with Espers, a reoccurring staple of Final Fantasy games. After finding an Esper’s lair and convincing them to join the ragtag group, usually after defeating them in a fight, Fina can call upon them to join battles when needed. Espers are notoriously strong, and can made a considerable difference in particularly tough fights.

Really? I thought you were Shiva.

Final Fantasy Resonance goes back to its roots with a classic turn-based combat style, with elemental weaknesses and staggering mechanics. However, it also introduces a new twist. Scattered around each land are Sanctums of Light. Visiting each one will grant you a new Vision. These are echoes of some of the most famous characters from other Final Fantasy games, such as Tidus, Cloud, Terra, Clive, and the Warrior of Light. Their various powers and abilities can be utilized by whichever character they are assigned to, essentially acting as a type of job system to explore more effective combat, depending on the enemy types.

If an entire enemy group is staggered, it will trigger a powerful Resonance attack, unique to each Vision. Aside from different cinematics for each Vision, they’ll also offer their own specific elemental or physical attack. choose wisely when selecting your spiritual companion to deliver the devastating blow for maximum damage.

Each Vision has their unique attack power and extended animation.

In addition to the mainline story, Final Fantasy Resonance is chock full of side content. Obviously, you can find all of the Sanctums of Light and unlock every Vision. There’s also a Colosseum where you can battle foes and tougher monsters in order to win grand rewards. Hidden on one of the islands is the Chamber of Arms, which holds legendary weapons for each character. These can only be obtained after completing specific trials for each one, and yes, eventually can attempt to best the Ultima Weapon. Good luck!

After a certain point, special optional missions will unlock for your companions. Completing these will improve their stats, strength of their bond, as well as provide better insight into their pasts and motivations. A few of these special companion missions turned out to be some of my favorite in the whole game, which is saying something considering just how much I loved nearly all of the main missions.

Gilgamesh is both a powerful wandering swordsman and a petulant child in this game, and I’m here for it.

Final Fantasy Resonance is a bit of a departure from previous entries in terms of its visuals. It adopts an HD-2D art style as seen before in the Octopath Traveler games. Honestly, this feels like the most perfect choice for a game trying to keep a classic feel, while still bringing us into the modern age. Each character sprite is well-detailed and animated, with gorgeous hand-drawn representations next to their dialogue boxes.

Now, while I respect the development team trying something new with playing around with camera angles, 2D sprites, and pixelized 3D models all rolled into one for cutscenes, it doesn’t land as well as I think they were hoping for. Instead, it comes across as off-putting, looking like a strange hodgepodge of CGI and stop-motion animation. These types of cutscenes aren’t too frequent, but it’s still a little distracting when they do show up. The rest of Final Fantasy Resonance is simply stunning though, and makes exploring these worlds a delight.

The combat is both fun and flashy.

The sound design is superb all around. It features fantastic voice acting from every character, delivering the whole range of emotions through this roller-coaster ride of an experience. As with every final Fantasy game, the musical score is a highlight, with Final Fantasy Resonance blending new and familiar tunes in this marriage of new age and retro styles. I do have one very small issue: I’m confused as to why all the Visions only have their Japanese voices, even when playing in English. They have the licenses to all of the audio from other games in the franchise, so why not include their respective language accompaniments? It’s not a deal-breaker by any means, more just an oddity I noticed.

In a time where video games are so often divisive and trying to please everyone seems impossible, Final Fantasy Resonance might just be the closest game in a long time we’ve gotten to pulling that off. It has a wonderful story that goes far beyond the original formula of “crystals are life, big generic baddie threatens them, and a group of young adults must save the world”, even though it certainly includes those elements. What I appreciated about this game was the ways it was able to subvert some of its own tropes, keeping a sense of familiarity while still very much being its own thing. It’s a beautiful blend of old and new, with plenty of heart, excitement, and surprising humor. I highly encourage every fan of the franchise to check out Final Fantasy Resonance to experience the magic for yourselves. 

Final Fantasy Resonance is available now on PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch/2, and Xbox Series X|S.

Reviewed on PlayStation 5.

A copy of Final Fantasy Resonance was provided by the publisher.