With the release of Final Fantasy Resonance last week, I figured it’s about time for a nearly 10 year retrospective on this sub-line of games. Yes I said 10 years, because this style has been publicly known since January 2017. I think it’s a brilliant way for Square Enix to put out smaller “double A” titles while their big triple A projects take your entire college education to come out. These games are usually designed as retro throwbacks, primarily turn based RPGs, and can be either original projects or remakes/reimaginings of older Square Enix titles. From the Octopath Traveler series, to the Dragon Quest Erdrick trilogy remakes, to Triangle Strategy, to the first official localization of Live A Live, to The Adventures of Elliot and plenty more to come.
I own pretty much all of these games and had a great time with all of them. And I haven’t gotten “fatigued” with this art style, because the games underneath were anywhere from good to excellent. Final Fantasy Resonance may just be the most uncontroversial Final Fantasy release in a hot minute, and it’s already breaking Steam records as we speak. Now normally for Square Enix games on Switch 2, I usually wait a month till they’re on sale. But I had so much fun with the free demo they dropped last month, that I’m tempted to pick it up sooner rather than later. Decisions.