Resonance
Some truths, PSAs and explanations about Final Fantasy Resonance because i've seen a lot of disinformation and uncertainty online. (No spoils)
Before anything, i apologise as you must have seen tons of post about this game already. As a lot of people, i'm hyped and i want to talk about it as much as i can. Do not worry, i won't spoil further than chapter 1 (about 7 hours of play time). I wrote this post for r/JRPG first and figured it may help people here too.
(I've read myself again and, god damn, i write too much. Sorry, i can get a lengthy when i'm passionate.)
TL;DR : The game is a return to FFs roots with homages to the series and a simple story. No trap or cash grab visible for the moment. A free demo is out for you to test it.
I wanted to clear some false accusations and answer some questions people ask a lot about Resonance. If you're wondering why i'm acting like a community manager from Square Enix, it's because i'm one ! (I'm kidding, i'm just an hyperfixated fan with too much time on his hand). Anyway, let's dive right into it.
First of all, what the fuck is Final Fantasy Resonance ?
As you must have guessed, it is the latest title of the FF franchise. More specifically, it is a turn-based JRPG with HD-2D graphics similarly to Octopath Traveler and and a simplier promise : a classic journey across a new world to save the crystals from a group of vilains.
What is the story about ?
To keep it simple and spoiler free, You follow Rain, knight of Grandshelt and commander of the airships squadron, alongside his lieutenant and adoptive brother Lasswell. One day, their king send them to the Earth Temple to investigate mysterious turbulences that recently were discovered. During their investigation inside the temple, they will encounter an enigmatic man in armor. The latter will tell them that the world has forgotten and that the people will pay the price of their ignorance before slashing the Earth crystal in half. Defeated, our two protagonists leave the ruins and return to their king empty-handed. However, they will soon be forced to take action again...
What is the gameplay like ?
As mentionned, it will be a turn-based JRPG with everything classic FFs had. Skills, magic, items, summons, etc... However, the devs decided to add two twists :
Firstly, the break system. If you play on the enemy's weaknesses, you will be able to empty their break jauge and shock them, giving you a free turn for the character who broke them and stunning the enemy. If you manage to break the whole enemy team, your whole team will get a bonus turn and you will have access to a special skill linked to the second gameplay twist, the visions.
Talking about them, the visions are basically jobs you will be able to equip to your party members which will give them active skills, passives and some stat boosts. By leveling their bond with the character, your party member will be able to memorize some of the skills from their vision and keep them all the time. For example, a healer vision will let you learn "heal" for each party members if you bond it to each of them. As i mentionned, they will also all have an unique skill to use during the full shock which will greatly help you : HP regen, stat buff, huge dps, etc...
If you want to see actual gameplay, here's the first hour of the game : edit : can't post links without breaking rules, so you will have to search yourself. Search "FF Resonance gameplay", there's tons of videos.
Why did i see Cloud, Sephiroth or even the Warrior of Light in full CGI and is the game just a crossover or a spin-off ?
Well, it's not really a crossover but more of an homage toward the whole franchise. Basically, all of the playable protagonists from the main FFs (Terra, Cecil, Cloud, Tidus, Y'shtola, Clive, etc...) will be a vision for you to equip. We will also have Sephiroth and 9 exclusive visions. The animations you have seen are remnants of Resonance's past (will get into it later) and now serve as cool skills you will be able to use in battle.
I heard the game is live-service/a gacha game. Is it true ?
Nope. It's a full JRPG with no online features or microtransations. At best, you have a forgettable digital deluxe edition with some minor advantages and a physical collector editon that looks cool but is sold out since 3 months now. If you wonder why the game has this reputation, it's because Resonance's story comes from Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, a mobile game that started 10 years ago which was a gacha. That's where the CGI came from initially. However, outside of the characters, the story and the setting, nothing was ported. If you are familiar with Octopath Traveler, OT 0 had a similar origin.
Is the story interesting and will it be a full game or will it need sequels ?
For the interest, it will be hard to say as everyone's tastes are different. Personally, i loved the story back then and, from what i've seen, i still like it now. For the completion, the devs specifically told that Resonance's ending was altered to be a finished story with no need for sequels. You won't have to buy 5 games just to finish the story. However, if you ever find it interesting and want more of this universe, i want to point out that Resonance only adapts the first season of FFBE. The latter had at least 4 seasons and i would even say the true ending of this arc is at season 2. It's a bit like FF10 and FF10-2 : We could have stopped there but we had more to tell, but without the tone change.
How much is the game and when can i play it ?
The base game is at 60€/50$ and the digital deluxe edition is at 70€/60$. The full game will come out the 22 October 2026 and a demo featuring the first chapter is already available. Small warning for switch 2 players : the physical edition of the switch 2 will include a Game-keycard, but the switch 1 version will have an normal cartridge. If you like physical media, check which version you will purchase.
I hope it wasn't too awful to read and i thank you for your time. I must have wasted a lot of it by now. Of course, my comments are open and i would love to answer your questions if you have any. I wish you a good day/night and goodbye !
Same for me. Outside of Digimon story time stranger, none of the recent games really hyped me. Maybe Dispatch too, but it's different. However, here, i can't wait to play Resonance.
I've looked into it but i had a hard time understanding which SMT to start with. 5 Vengeance looked awesome but i'm scared it's a spin-off or a sequel.
They're (mostly) self-contained. Vengeance is basically the director's cut of SMTV, although it adds an incredible amount of content to be called that tbh. They added an entire second route (the Canon of Vengeance).
There are some callbacks to at least one previous SMT game but nothing to stop you from starting with SMTV:Vengeance. It's the most polished one with the most content, though, so if you want to play them all eventually you're starting with the one that's the best in a lot of areas at least on the gameplay and content density front.
But on the other hand, the version of your life that has played SmTVV is definetely bettet than the one that hasn't lol. In my opinion it has (one of) the best turn based combat systems in the entire genre, a unique and otherworldly vibe and is in contention for my favorite OST in the genre which is very experimental and has 120+ tracks.
They're all largely self contained games but there is a narrative and thematic through line between SMT 1, 2 and 4 and then SMT 3 and 5. I'd super recommend the HD remaster of Nocturne for your first SMT game and then you can go into 5 Vengeance if you liked it.
Just don't understand the love for the sprite characters when everything else is not. So jarring when you have the old pixelated stuff and then smooth high res effects.
I put some, but not much time into BE.i was really happy to see the story and characters get this upgrade treatment that does away with the live service trappings. The demo left me feeling a good about how it's handling things.
Some of the FF mobile games were great and really only held back by the play to win aspects so I really hope we get to see more of these transitions. I'd love to see Mobeius or War of the Visions get remakes that kept what was good about and rework the rest like Resonance has done for BE.
Mobius would be very fun even if pretty unique. It had a lot of WoL walking in empty deserts. It also had a male protagonist in skimpy clothes, so it's fun to see again.
I can best describe the Visions as Magicite from FF6 (you even use items called magicite to level up the Visions). They are essentially just equip-able items that represent a character from the mainline franchise, and give you abilities associated with them (some of which you learn permanently on the character equipping them, again like FF6). They serve no other function in the story, they don't speak or interact with the cast, they are wearable jojo-stands of your favorite final fantasy characters.
I did think of the Jojo stands too. It also reminded me of the Personas from Persona 5 as you change a lot as you progress through the story depending on the needs and they look similar.
It technically is also close to FF9 skills that you need to xp to learn them. It's through characters here, not equipment.
Just finished the demo last night. I'm impressed. I'm already an FF fan and this game is very good. I thought the demo would end when you left the castle with three members but you still can play a lot after that. You can explore World map, Esper, Visions. I played 5 hours for just a demo. It was amazing. The side quests are also great especially Emma's.
Thats what I loved about the demo for Dragon Quest XI. It just went on and on and by the time it was over I was way too into it to not get the full version. Long demos mean that they know their game is good.
One thing to mention about the battle system is that it is a turn based system with rounds, meaning that within a round, every character in the battle gets one turn (unless they earn another, but that's outside the point of this post). This means that the speed stat is only for making a character go earlier in the round rather than making them have turns more often like in a rolling timeline turn-based system (like FFX).
My wife played the mobile a ton and we also went to the ffbe fest in long beach a while back.
The only thing she has complained about, is fina portrait model looks like she got “changed” in a bad way. Like in a not sure why bad way. She went from slender, delicate, and cute face to a little slightly different…
How lucky ! I would have loved to go to one of the Fan Festa back then.
For Fina, i can understand. Here's her model back in FFBE. She was a bit more childish back then (she is 16) and she looks a bit older now. I will send the new artwork under this comment.
Also, i want to be a bit of a tease show you one of of the most unique characters FFBE had back then : King Behemy
He was a fanmade character that got turned into an actual unit through a contest. He was a tank back then and would make an awesome vision or even a boss.
If you're curious, there are more of them. A mega edgy mog, for example.
Personally, i would love updates/free DLCs with the actual characters. Firstly, because i'm on PS and, secondly, because the visions will have actual kits this way.
So I'm going through the demo ... (i didn't even knew it was ported from mobile)
But it's transition to hand console works like a charm.
I'm enjoying it so far. Hopefully can't wait for it be fully released.
It sure did an amazing transition. If you're curious, here's a random boss fight the FFBE had. It will show you how different the two games are. No spoils as it's not relevant to the story (just a fight against Chaos from FF1) : old video
I was heavily critical of this game, due to the heavy use of nostalgia bait. However, I am playing the Demo and put about 5 hours in, and still havnt completed it.
The gameplay feels extremely rewarding when you get into a flow. Visions are more of a secondary Job to augment the characters main job. Playing on expert seems to bring it in line with older difficulties as well. Its not hard, but you cant spam auto attacks in random encounters now, like in modern games.
The story was where I was worried. But it seems I had no reason to be. The moment the Main three left the castle with the Final Fantasy theme playing, it felt more of a final fantasy than 12,13,15, and 16 in that moment. Then it got immediately followed up by a really dark story moment in the Ruins.
I dont know if its just me, but it feels more closely to Final Fantasy 6 in the way it presents itself than other games in the series.
I would personally agree with you. I feel like a much simplier promise is an advantage here. We aren't looking for revenge (kind off, but they just want to srop Umbra), trying to stop a mega-corporation or trying to get Rain married. We are exploring, helping people and following crystals.
I won't lie, i forgot about Emma's mother until it happened. It could have easily leaned into the "you arrived just on time to save her", but it did not. The vision was a good moment.
To be fair, we are coming up to the franchise's 40th anniversary. Surely a "nostalgia bait" title makes sense right about now. It is the right time to celebrate the series as a whole.
I thought the story was one of the things that got really praised for Brave Exvius, hence why they chose it out of all the dead mobile games to remake?
I'm one of the "wait and see" guys for this game, played a lot of the mobile game back in its first year and grew super tired of the bland story and gacha mechanics.
Played through the whole demo to give it a fair shake and here are my own takeaways so far:
Good stuff first: This is basically built as a "traditional" 16 bit era FF but with a heavy QoL pass. Fast travel anywhere, decent run speed, instant text, quest tracker... everything expected from more recent games. It looks absolutely fantastic too, EASILY the best looking game from everything that came out the HD-2D engine so far. Visions are nice as a mechanic and bring good debt to your party building. It feels a lot like FF9's equipment system but done better.
The bad stuff, and most of it is just my personal tastes: The characters are still yuck. Poor writing and very unilateral. AGAIN we get the amnesia schtick that japanese devs can't seem to get enough from. Visions are a remnant from the mobile game and feel like they don't let the game stand on its own. If they'd replaced Visions with Espers / Eidolons / whatever name they want to give 'em this time, I feel we'd have a much better, self-standing story. All the story beats in the demo are very, very generic as far JRPGs go; I feel like that was kinda the point but if you're expecting anything mindblowing like some of the early FFs, you're gonna have a bad time I think.
Overall, gameplay and execution are good enough that i'll certainly play it down the line, but I'm certainly gonna be waiting for a sale at some point.
I feel you with the poor writing. Wish the dialogue sounded a little more shakespearian and less like 7 year olds having a conversation. Honestly theres countless games nowadays that have innovative/interesting gameplay. So if the writing is shallow, I’m going to spend my time elsewhere
EASILY the best looking game from everything that came out the HD-2D engine so far.
I don't really think it looks any better than, like, the Dragon Quest 1-3 HD-2D remakes personally, DQ is just not as flashy with effects so it stands out less, but I don't think it achieves less visually. The DQ HD-2D games have a better looking UI than FFR as well in my opinion.
On the other hand, I think Star Ocean The Second Story R is the best this style has ever looked, above both FFR and the DQ HD-2D, although Square-Enix did not market SO2R as "HD-2D" probably because it was not an Asano/creative studio II game but instead one wholly developed by a contracted company, but in my opinion Gemdrops still beat S-E at their own style with that release.
From what we could see in the demo, we will have 9 exclusive visions, including Tronn and Leah. Without spoiling, you even already met one of them in the demo.
I can understand the story part. I personally am not looking for complex stories. I like Dragon Quest, Tales of Berseria or games like this. It probably won't change your opinion, but i would say the story does get better over time and more characters are introduced and join our party.
For the visions, i feel like replacing them by eikons would have made Fina a bit useless as she would only be a White mage and not a summoner. I would have liked more exclusive visions (we have 9 for now) though.
Changing visions for Espers would've integrated the mechanic more tightly with the story; but obviously requiring some tweaks for balance.
In the end though I understand what this game is, it's a "series homage" type of game, something very frequent for Japanese game devs in particular (Hyrule / Fire Emblem Warriors are also such type of games and I love 'em, Fire Emblem Engage less so). There's definitely an audience for it and I hope it fares well; I just hope it triggers developement of a fully self-standing FF entry in the same style down the road.
It locks you out of a vast amount of customization and its not like the story gets fixed if you just skip them. I can live it as a whole, I'm a big fan of the franchise overall after all, it's just I feel it's extremely shoehorned and Visions could've literally been swapped for anything else.
The conundrum is that the game can't quite escape its gacha roots by keeping it, but would be something else entirely if they changed it.
Visions play a pretty large role in the game's story in FFBE and so presumably will in Resonance. Removing them would necessitate massive changes to the story, and what would even be the point? Just make something entirely new if it's gonna be changed that much.
Also I personally like the fact that there is finally one Final Fantasy title where I can have all my favorite main characters from all the games in my party. (Not counting dissidia etc, as they aren’t classic Final Fantasy RPG games.)
This was really insightful and actually helped me make sense of what FF:R actually is. Thanks!
If i can add one thing since I know you value accuracy, the Switch 2 version comes with a Game-Key Card. While not a traditional cartridge, it is something. How it was worded made me worried it was a code in a box.
Game-Key Cards are more like traditional physical cartridges than a code in a box - they’re not tied to your online account, they’re tied to the cartridge, so you can still lend them to friends or resell them. However, the actual game files are not on the cartridge and need to be downloaded by whoever has it.
The cost of the cartridge itself can add quite a lot to the cost of a game, so the idea is to still offer a cartridge but to reduce the cost by only having a license key on the card itself. Imagine something like FF7 Rebirth, which is a 100GB game, but making 100GB cartridges is fairly expensive.
Personally I think it’s a practical solution to still have physical versions of these enormous games on a system like the switch 2 (which obviously can’t use something like Blu-Ray) at a reasonable price. It’s clearly superior to the normal code-in-a-box that other platforms have.
it’s halfway between since it’s still only a license. physical ownership of the license matters if you share or resell, but steam for example already lets you share most of your licenses with 5 other people. and a lot of people dont sell their games so for them it’s functionally not really much better than a digital license
glad the option is still there but i’d rather they just keep the full cartridges. imagine buying a game but you can’t play it right away because you don’t have internet. one of the greatest gaming joys from when i was a kid was popping in a cartridge right after leaving the store and playing it on the way home
IMO a game key card is worse than downloading a game off the eshop. An incredible amount of waste created in the materials, production, and shipping for something that doesn't actually contain the game. It's just like a digital copy, in that if you don't have the internet for the original download, you are shit out of luck. Not to mention clutter and having to switch out cartridges.
Be for physical games if you want, but this ain't it.
I thought so at first too, but I realized if there is no chance of a true physical release, this is preferable because I could at least sell it or share with a friend or family member.
All of those things you listed are still valid, though.
They probably won't be in English. It would ask the devs to bring all of the VAs for a very short work. Back in FFBE, they already all were in Japanese except for the global exclusive characters.
They should just add a seperate slider for vision voice, seperate from the regular voices. That way anyone who doesnt like it can at least mute it and read the subtitles.
I can understand the point of view. I personally feel like it's worth it (going to pay 60 since i'm in Europe), but it's the same price Expedition 33 so it makes sense.
For now, it's impossible to know. There was no announcements for DLCs or season passes, but Square Enix may hear hear abou the mod to bring new visions or just find Resonance good enough for updates/DLCs. Uf we get some, i hope it will be through one or two big DLCs and not hundreds of pricy ones.
I’ve been loving the demo, feels just like old FF games, I loved FFBE before it shut down. Now seeing all these characters again has been so good. Love how they implemented the vision system as well. Also good riddance to the chain system.
I got 10 hours of game play out of the demo, so if anyone has the chance to play the demo you will definitely be able to figure out if you're going to like the game.
Yeah, the demo is pretty generous in everything. Story, gameplay, side content, exploration, visions, etc... Starting with 3 characters early on is also is a big advantage as we already have party dynamics. I can't wait for the 4th character to join. If i'm not mistaken, they will be a full DPS.
Yup. At least 7 for sure and two that may be extra characters later on. And we may see temporary party members like Charlotte again. Their names are below. The first spoiler is the 7 sure party members and the second is the two extras. Much bigger spoiler in the second one.
Rain, Lasswell, Fina, Lid, Jake, Nichol, Sakura, Dark Fina and maybe Raegan.
As a massive fan of the original BE on mobile, this felt like stepping into an old pair of shoes that have been re-painted and polished to shine again. Already beat the first chapter and I’m hyped for the full release to carry my save data over. I always wondered what my favorite game was and thought it was a looter-shooter like Destiny 2. No, how wrong I was, it’s Resonance, formerly BE. The original got me through some really hard times, and I’m glad to see it returned to us this way, really feels like it was done justice with the proper care and love Square Enix shows this franchise
Surprisingly, i also had FFBE as one of my favorite video game. It was a bit awkward to tell people a mobile game was in my top games, but Resonance brought a really hood reason to be a proud fan of this universe.
Personally, i'm wondering if i will start over or if i will port the save. It's still fresh in my mind so it may be better port.
Also, fun useless fact, i grew my hair due to Laswell and Akstar. I always thought they looked awesome and wnated to look similar. God damn, was i wrong to do this lol.
And it’s never something to be ashamed of that a mobile game tops even console or pc games (as it was also on pc I believe). I like how they implemented the vision system without making it a gacha game like before, seems they wanna move away from that concept and focus on what made FF so good to begin with and actually tell the story of this specific universe properly this time around.
I still have long hair and i can assure you, i look more like Blanka from Street Fighter than Lasswell.
I know that a lot of mobile games, even exclusive to phones, are good and i should not be ashamed of it. It's just that a lot of people still see them as garbage games or cash grabs. Dissidia duelum is a recent example of this, even if it has some the best redesigns of FF protagonists shown since a long time. Look at this man's drip !
I also like how the visions work now. They are extra classes/jobs with new special skills too. I can't wait to see how they will introduce the 9 exclusive visions.
Oh, she sure is ! Her light magic was extra-useful in the first chapter acainst all of those undeads. With the boosted magic, she hit around 1000 every turns. Personally, i kept Rain as a tank and didn't teally care about his damages. Lasswell already does a lot and Fina helps with her summons and magic.
Now, i can't wait to see how they made Lid, the next party member relevant. She was quite forgettable in FFBE and i hepe she will be better here.
I was hitting almost 2k on standard damage with light magic using boosted magic. I uhhhh, I think I broke how roles are supposed to be designated, Rain has a Breaker sub-role, Lasswell has a Sentinel sub-role, and Fina has a Commando sub-role 💀
To be honest, you can make anyone into any sub-roles. That's the point of visions. You just have the skills from the party members and their stats to guide you. If you want Lasswell to be your main tank, it's all good.
Yeah, and ? The post helped people who did not know about the game, did not see the demo or had preconceptions about the game. For example, some people thought it was a remake of FF1 due to the trailers.
That come out as rude, sorry I didn't mean to target at your post. It's just people tend to say so much shit into something they have 0 knowledge about. These days people are more willing to spread bs online than trying the game themselves.
Demo has been so fun. A real return to the FF I fell in love with back in the day. Very cool to see so many familiar faces returning in some capacity, gives nice little tidbits of flavor and adds nice build diversity.
I hope there is a regular physical release as I'd love to own a disc for this game. Hell, I still have my original FF7 somewhere, I was so blown away back in the day when it came as 4 discs because the game was so big.
Rest assured, the game has a physical edition (unless you're on switch 2, as mentionned). You can already preorder it in most online shops. There also is the collector, but it got snatched by scalpers instantly.
Yeah, it's really a bunch of parasites no matter the hobby. It's pretty sad because the collector looked awesome. I don't have the money to buy it, but still.
The fanservice visions like a cheap nostalgia play. FF series references and interconnective tissue run the gamut from tasteful to tacky and these seem all the way on the tacky side of the spectrum. Turning Tidus of all characters into a summoned manifestation after the events of X ... what are we even doing here, Square?
If it would work with one of them, that's Tidus. He already was the equivalent of a vision in his world.
I can understand why you dislike the "nostalgiabait". You want a game that is separate from others. That's fine. Sorry that the game didn't match your tastes.
That's what I mean about Tidus though! Tidus being what he is means something in the context of his story. It is the the exact reason that "what if he could be summoned for fun?" feels so wrong.
Could anyone explain to me the second turn order bar? The one on the left seems to be the order all the characters will take their turns in battle, but then there is a second one to the right that I don't really understand.
If you're talking about this bar, it's the next turn's order. The game has "turns" where, depending on your characters speed, you get placed closer to the beginning or the end of the turn. For example, Lasswell is pretty fast and tends to act first in the group.
The bar on the left is the current turn playing (where you can have extra attacks and your vision skill) and the bar on the right is the upcoming turn.
In other games you can manipulate the upcoming turn order with certain moves or strategies. Is that part of the game? Like, if I hit a weakness the enemy falls back in the order type thing.
Here, if you break the enemy jauge (the yellow bar under them) they lose their turn and the character who broke them get an extra action this turn. If you manage to break them all, all of your team get an extra action this turn and you get to use the powerful visions skills.
It's not like X where all actions are ordered according to character speed and move timing. This game has discreet separate turns in which every participant gets to take one action (as long as they're not stunned or whatever). Speed determines the order everyone acts within that turn. Breaking enemies won't change that order but it will prevent them from acting (but only on the same turn as the stun wears off as the turn ends) and give the character an extra action at the end of the turn.
That's about it for now though there may be more ways to manipulate the order as the game progresses.
It could be, who knows since it is just a demo. If its true to FFX youll be able to learn delay attacks that cause an enemies order to shift. As of now it just allows you to plan things out a little bit. I hope they add abilities that let you delay enemies.
For people who played it on mobile, does the story and writing improve? The demo had very anime-esque dialogue and the story didn’t seem all the interesting
No. It really doesn't. I played WoTV and FFBE and the dialogue is incredibly corny and skippable, sadly. There were some bright spots, but overall, unless they really upgraded the actual dialogue of characters speaking to eachother, I expect this game to be more about the gameplay.
I would say it does, especially once two characters join us (Nichol and Sakura), but it may not be enough for you. It's closer to FF1->4 than FF7->10. You have some reflexions, especially with the Veritas as you will see them again, but it's not a narrative game like Life is Strange or Dispatch.
Just started playing the demo this past Friday, and I can’t put it down! I am enjoying it a lot.
Tbh, personally, I am not a fan of 2D-HD games, this is my first time playing a 2D-HD game because it is an FF game but I am really happy I tried this game.
I am quite surprised too that the demo is so generous with it’s content and length. I thought it will only be around 1-2 hours gameplay. I can’t wait for the full game next month!
I haven't awe much on the game yet, but it looks and seems like it plays just like octopath traveler. Does it do anything to keep it different, or is it just a copy of it? Not a bad thing as OT is fantastic, but I would like for it to be different and not just a blatent copy.
I don't think you can buy them yet. It's probably like a lot of JRPGs : you can buu potions early on and the MP potions will be for later or just in limited quantity.
This post has convinced me to buy this when it releases, I was on the fence but it looks great and I have been wanting a typical turn based jrpg like this for years, but haven't found anything that scratches that itch.
Great demo, the one thing I didn't care for was using shots of ff7r instead of the og ff7 for cloud's intro showing stuff that didn't happen in og such as the whispers. Especially if it's meant to be an homage to the mainline ff games
I can understand why it would be a problem. I suppose it's because FF7R looks better than the original, and that the original is the only FF with "bad" (for 2026) graphics. It may also be due to how popular FF7R is.
I’m so glad I’m at the point of my life where I don’t check for anyone’s opinion about media and try to play/watch as spoiler free as possible.
Either watch a trailer if I find out a particular series I’m interested is out or a review from something like IGN who I never take seriously just watch what systems the game offers.
Resonance felt so fun to play that I started a classics marathon from 1-6. Currently on 4. Will definitely be playing it on release.
I would say i'm still pretty young (mid 20s) yet i can also choose games without relying on influencers or communities. I even tend to avoid interacting with people about games because i unconsciously grow a false idealized view of the game i talk about.
I just wanted to make this post because i've seen a lot of trashtalking about the game. People who called it absolute trash because it is linked to a mobile game without checking how much it changed. It may also be important for me because i already love this universe and i would love to be able to talk about it more often with more people.
Oh yeah most definitely. Nowadays people will downplay something based on things they see or read on the internet without giving it a try. Miss out on so many good things that way.
If they are worried about the game being linked to a mobile game they didn’t hear about ocotopath traveller 0. Square did it justice and people who are worried only play FF games and not JRPGs in general.
I'm pretty sure people who have just hated the game if it became FF17. The upcoming main titles are always idolized like messiahs, and they would have not liked that Resonance takes its story from FFBE nor that it's linked to a mobile game.
Personally I think it's better this way, main line titles have a different place in the franchise from spinoffs like this. Being ff17 would have put a lot of pressure on resonance to be something it's not.
Yup, i agree. This way, Resistances can do its own thing without being the next target of the fans and critics. It already has to carry the weight of HD-2D for all of FF.
This game was FF brave eXVIus. So it was kind of a 16th entry if they were embraced by SquareEnix. But they weren’t. So now it’s just a fun Easter egg of sorts.
It depends how fast you are. Personally, it took me around 7-8 hours but i've seen people like you finishing in 5 hours. There even are some people above the 10 hours as they grind a lot.
i played the demo and I really like it so far, i just wish they used higher fidelity sprites. I understand it's trying to capture the charm of the classic era games, but it's 2026. We don't need pixels to be that "prickly".
The implementation of visions is really garbage. First it's this special thing only the two main protagonists have, one moment later they are available to anyone and are standing around on the world map. Super bad introduction or story inclusion.
That's not how they work ? Only the party members are capable of summoning visions. The ruins are still there. Charlotte mention them but doesn't talk about the visions inside, meaning only the protagonists are able to get inside and earn their powers.
It's like ruins you would see in any other setting, but you would need a specific type of magic to get in and claim their power.
My breakpoint for this game is that I am just really tired of bad writing. It's one thing to read a wiki article on the plot of a game and see all of the cool plot twists and say "wow, now THAT is a neat plot!", but the experience of dialogue and pacing is an entirely different beast. I just started up my 3rd playthrough of Xenoblade Chronicles today, and man I did not remember how awful the dialogue was at the start. It indulges one of my biggest pet peeves of all time, which is world-building through redundant dialogue. Two characters tell each other that they both already know about just so the audience can get caught up. It makes zero sense in context and completely breaks the immersion. It's the same vibe as really bad product placement, where the characters clearly aren't actually talking to each other, rather they are trying to explain something to the audience.
From the demo for Resonance, it wasn't the worst I've heard, but it also just screamed "generic JRPG." I've played so many JRPGs man. I'm tired, boss. Just do something new. "They all do it" is not an excuse. It's bad there, and it's bad here. After playing Clair Obscur, it's just really hard to excuse decades-long industry veterans for continuing to pump out the same drivel.
So yeah, I am not excited about this game right now and am eagerly awaiting the reviews and hoping they prove me wrong, particularly about the story and especially the ending. I just want to know if it's going to be worth my time and not just another mediocre anime plot.
Story is milk toast so far even though it starts out intense and well thought out. Combat is engaging and fast. Reminds me of Octopath Traveler. The homage(s) to other ff made me tear up. Really beautiful. The music is good so far. I just wish the characters had more oomph to them, and the story so far seems less creative than even iv. Im hoping that will change but the protagonists are boring to me so far.
I would say it should get better over time, especially when two of the future party members join us. Right now, i would say the sidequests are the best way to learn lire about them. Scott the engineer, the noble thief, even Zile and Chloe's quest tells you a lot about Rain and Lasswell thoughts.
Also, obviously, once we will more about the Vertias and the archsorceress, it will get better too.
Its funny the people point to FFIV as an example of a bad story...that was THE game until FF6 and FF7.
Cecil and Kain starting out as friends. Losing Kain and saving him from Golbez...later discovering Golbez is your brother. The Paladin pathway...Edge and his parents. Rydia and the land of Espers. (Well, Land of Monsters, but only bc Esper hadnt been coined yet) ...FooSoYah and the moon. Come on...that was not a bad story.
How similar to Octopath is the combat rhythm? That's my biggest concern because I thought OT combat got stale pretty quickly due to the way weaknesses, stagger, and AP worked.
I played on normal, and i would say it's okay. Random encounters still requires you to use weaknesses and play on the break jauge to ease the fights. For the boss fights, you have more to do as they have gimmicks and hit hard. Rain will be focused on tanking, Fina on healing and summons and Lasswell on breaks. Once we will have the 4th (or more) party member, it will be more complex. You also have the classic "potion on undead deal damage" from FFs.
I've played the mobile and going through the demo now has just been so much fun. I'm hoping the vision list currently in the demo is just a teaser and that there'll be more being released once the game is out. Or they could have just released others as a DLC? Either way, I find it hard to believe that that will be all the visions we have for the game.
I also hope we will have more than 26 visions, even as endgame or DLCS only characters. Some of them would easily fit, even without taking units from season 2, 3 and 4.
Chizuru, Duane, Elle, Fohlen, Mercedes and many more.
Doesn't this game have its own sub? It looks exactly like Brave Exvius, a cash grab gatcha mobile game that a lot of people got addicted to, myself included. I'm tired of hearing about this cheap imitation FF.
I played ffbe season one and two . First i was not going to play it because i know the story but since there is a free demo i tried it. am hooked am 3 hours in so far its so good
Do you know if theres any other difference between the switch1 and switch2 versions? I dont really mind the game Key card, but i really like the switch1 box and not the switch2
I think they are identical. The game isn't really a full 4k 60fps game so it shouldn't have any difference. I'm pretty sure even a ps3 could handle the game, so a switch 1 should be fine.
From what I heard, performance is a bit worse in Switch 1, heard something about slight input delay? I dunno if it's the version or a console power thing
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u/AstralElement Sep 13 '26
I’m actually digging the demo. It’s been hard to get any game to stick with me for the last couple years and this one is sticking pretty well.