For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Fantasian: Neo Dimension, from Mistwalker and Square Enix.
In January 2023 i played the Apple Arcades version of Fantasian, https://youtu.be/RV_P04gnnKI, and i had two main issues with that version that have been fixed with this new console version. i found the touch controls to be too restrictive on my iPhone screen and with the screen being so small i found the text bubbles to be in the way. thankfully, neither are an issue at all. Fantasian: Neo Dimension does retain the save crystal mechanic and whilst it feels appropriate for the era of RPG the game seems to be aiming for it still feels old. the does appear to be a decent checkpoint system that i hope is also some sort of autosave, but i didn't get to try that out in this video.
As a demo, the save system has another frustration in that at no point does the demo say if the save file will carry over to the final retail version. the home screen clearly says that this is a demo and there's a link to get the game from the #eshop. but we, the player, don't know how long this demo is, if it's the full start of the game or an edited experience, nor do we know if our save will carry over to the final game.
And that will probably be important as like the time when i played it on Apple Arcade, the first hour of Fantasian: Neo Dimension is quite decent. i know after playing it i'm interested in continuing the story. i didn't get to the end of the demo in this video but i do feel like i got to experience quite a lot, enough to make a judgement call on whether i want to get the game or not.
Graphically, this Switch version doesn't feel like a downgrade. at no point playing this version did it feel like i was playing a lesser version of Fantasian: Neo Dimension. one great way this comes across is the quality of the video in the cut scenes. another way is how crisp and clear the text is on the screen. it feels like effort was made to make sure things were clear on Switch, and not small due to the resolution difference the PS5 version might have.
Saves were quick, loading was acceptable, and i found the controls to be simple and decently enough explained. the tutorial aspect of the demo does have text on screen but at least this time there are a couple of pictures to go along with the text. This way of doing a tutorial is starting to feel old as more and more games either use videos or gifs to show what the game is trying to teach. there were only two instances where more tutorial would've been nice and that's when there was a down arrow on the text box in the tutorial when it actually wanted an "A" button press and when the hand symbol appears on screen, again pressing "A" is required.
I think this demo for Fantasian: Neo Dimension is successful, not because it's a bespoke demo made for the game but because the start of the game is quite accessible and offers enough story and tutorials to keep the player going back for more.
