A new fantasy starts note
Fantasian is an Apple Arcade-exclusive JRPG created by Mistwalker and developed by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and composer Nobuo Uematsu.
Mechteria, mechanical blobs that drain people's energy, are slowly infesting the Queendom of Vibra, making land uninhabitable and forcing people out of their homes. No one knows how the infestation started or how to stop it, and the situation grows more dire with each passing day.
Enter Leo, an intrepid researcher looking for his father and his memories, as well as a way back to the Machine Realm that he accidentally abandoned his companions Prickle and Clicker in. Unfortunately, the only recent event he can remember is a brief image of a mysterious girl, who turns out to be Kina, a healer from the Frontier Town of En and your first party member.
As they journey across the different realms, Leo forms a party of diverse characters dedicated to uncovering the truth and restoring balance to a world caught between Chaos and Order.
Fantasian has Turn-Based Combat similar to Final Fantasy X, where you can see the order of who will attack, and certain actions can affect this turn order. Something unique to this game is the addition of a Dimengeon, a device that allows the player to store random encounters in a Pocket Dimension to be fought all at once at a later time, greatly streamlining exploration and helping Level Grinding.
Fantasian contains examples of the following tropes:
- Abandoned Laboratory: Inverted. Valrika's laboratory is the only location the Chaos Realm that isn't abandoned.
- Accidental Aiming Skills: Cheryl starts haphazardly throwing books around in the Midi Toy Box after Leo says that he was only interested in her necklace and accidentally trips the hidden entrance to the basement, covering it up with an I Meant to Do That statement.
- Action Prologue: The game opens with Leo, Prickle, and Clicker trying to escape a mysterious factory, before he warps to En and the game truly begins.
- Aerith and Bob: Character names include Leo, Cheryl, Owen, Zinikr, and Folt.
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Leo gives a comforting one to Ez when he blames himself for letting go of Cheryl's hand when they were falling through the wormhole.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: Some of the treasure chests contain armor that can be equipped onto your party members.
- Anti-Frustration Features: Leo's Dimengeon, which allows the player to store a number of random encounters to be fought all at once at a later time.
- Skills and buffs obtained from characters' growth maps can be removed, and you will get back all of the SP you spent on them, allowing you to readjust stats and skills between fights.
- Arbitrary Headcount Limit: Only three party members can be used at a time.
- Arc Words: "Order," "Chaos," and "Zero."
- Blatant Lies: The Merchant's Guild's reaction to Ez accusing them of plagiarizing his one of his inventions:Ez: Wait a sec! Even this is a rip-off! I designed that same brainwave transmitter to help cure headaches!Guild Member: N-No, you didn't! This is a completely different device! With different, uh, waves!
- City of Canals: Vence, City of Water, is basically a fantasy Venice complete with gondolas and a European aesthetic.
- Cliffhanger: The Action Prologue ends with Prickle and Clicker noting that Leo dropped something as they are surrounded by the newly-repaired Robo Organizer and a swarm of angry robots.
- Cliffhanger Copout: It's never explained how Prickle and Clicker got out of the above situation.
- Company Cross References: The Orbling-type monsters have basically been plucked directly from Terra Battle.
- Cool Airship: The Uzra, also known as the "floating palace of the Sandsea." En holds a celebration when it docks in the harbor, and one sidequest involves gathering people who wish to travel on it again. It becomes your main method of transportation across the Human Realm in Part 2.
- Creator Cameo: Akira Toriyama, who created one of the dioramas, appears as an writer who decides that his next work will be called Dragon Dot.
- Critical Hit: Most attacks and offensive skills (barring Ez's grenades) can do this. Some characters can learn skills that will temporarily boost their critical rate, and one of Tan's weapons makes it so his blows either land a critical or miss completely.
- Cross-Popping Veins: Enemies that have been taunted will sport these.
- Cutscene Power to the Max: Cheryl is able to One-Hit KO a swarm of Mechteria Jellyfish in a cutscene in the Vibran Palace, even if she's not at a high enough level to do it in battle.
- Defeat Means Friendship: After you defeat the monster that the Merchant's Guild summons to fight you, Ez and the Guild call a truce and start working to produce merchandise together.
- Defend Command: Guard, which makes the party member take up a defensive stance to reduce incoming damage.
- Developer's Foresight: You gain Cheryl's Bedchamber in the Vibran Palace as a warp point around the middle of Part 1. However, if you try warping there when you need to go back to the Palace in Part 2, you find that her door is conveniently blocked by mechteria, which forces you to fight your way through the palace entrance.
- Eternal Engine: The Machine Realm gives off this vibe.
- Forgotten First Meeting: Leo and Cheryl met at a masquerade ball before the game started, but due to his amnesia, he doesn't remember any of it.
- Flying Seafood Special: You can fight floating fish-like creatures called Piranharas.
- Green Hill Zone: The Southern Forest at the beginning of Part 1. It's the first true dungeon you are able to fully explore, discounting the Action Prologue, and it's a calm, pretty forest with an relatively easy boss fight.
- Hold Your Hippogriffs:
- Zinikr calls Leo a "Sandsea dog" for sneaking into Cheryl's bedroom, and tells him to not "look a gift Sandseahorse in the mouth" when they get a potential way out of jail.
- Cheryl and Sebastian swear "by the Founders."
- Home Base: Valrika's laboratory becomes this for the party at the end of Part 1. When you’re not using them, it’s implied that your party members hang out here.
- Inevitable Tournament: Being imprisoned in the Coliseum is a setup for Leo and Zinikr to compete in one of these. The Coliseum pits all prisoners against each other in a massive fight, and whoever wins gets a "Get Out of Jail Free" Card. They lose, due to Ez using a banned weapon against them, and all three of them get thrown back in jail and have to break out through other means.
- Interdimensional Travel Device: Leo's Warp Device with gems from Cheryl's necklace powering it, as it allows the party to warp between different realms.
- Island of Mystery: The Nameless Island that Carmina and Tan settled on after the fall of Dora. When the party visits, they find it partially covered in impassable fog and hiding the last spirit beast.
- Lethal Lava Land: The Volcanic Cavern where you fight Blue and recruit Tan.
- Let Me Get This Straight...: Leo's reaction to one of the robots trying to explain that they upgraded the Secret Base's communicator to find treasure chests.
- Meaningful Name: Adolfo means "majestic wolf" and Rudy means "famous wolf," fitting names for two spirit beasts.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The party finds out that by defeating Vam, they've only furthered Jas's plan to destroy and remake the world.
- Party Scattering: Happens three times in Part 1.
- Leo accidentally warps to En without Prickle and Clicker, leaving them in the Thaumatech Factory in the Machine Realm.
- Cheryl and Kina get kidnapped by Vam and taken to the Machine Realm, leaving Leo behind in the Human Realm.
- Leo, Zinikr, and Ez get separated after they jump in the wormhole, leading to Leo landing in the Chaos Realm and Ez and Zinikr ending up in different places in the Human Realm.
- Pocket Dimension: Leo's Dimengeon can send up to 30 (later 50) monsters you encounter to one of these to be fought later.
- Point-and-Click Map: The world map doubles as a selection screen where you can choose where you want to warp. Fixing the warp device in the Maxi Toy Box allows you to travel to the Machine Realm.
- Power Crystal: Equipping gemstone accessories will net you some kind of benefit, such as boosting a stat, nullifying certain status ailments, or increasing resistance to an element.
- Prison Level: Combined with the Inevitable Tournament. Leo and Zinikr get caught in Cheryl's Bedchamber and get promptly thrown in the Coliseum's Underground Jail, where they find out the best way to get out is to win the fights.
- Puzzle Boss: Some of the boss fights fall into this.
- The Chaos Basilisk's Death Stare, which can One-Hit KO your party members, can be nullified by inflicting it with the Mist ailment.
- The Shadow of Yim can use Distortion of Reality, which creates two identical clones of the boss that will explode and damage you if hit. To identify who the real Yim is, use Taunt on her beforehand.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The mayor of Vence, who quickly agrees to evacuate the harbor after the Uzra goes out of control and gives you permission to explore the Mechteria-infested East Vence.
- Random Encounters: How you encounter monsters, not surprising considering what its creator is known for.
- Running Gag: Leo is awful at disabling the Toy Boxes' security systems.
- Ship Level: The Uzra, an enormous airship that has shops, chests, and enemies. It actually becomes this twice, once after the sandstorm hits during your initial voyage on it, and again when Leo accidentally floods it in Part 2.
- Shmuck Bait: The chest holding the Eternal Holy superboss is described in-game as "ominous, foreboding, yet strangely tempting."
- Shout-Out:
- A bottle of wine on the floor of a residence in Vence is labelled "FF 30 Year Anniversary Wine".
- In the Coliseum, Leo expresses amazement that Ez was able to take down a monster by himself, and wishes that he and Zinikr had tricks like that. Zinikr's response? "Don't be silly, Leo. Tricks are for kids."
- Status Effects: Mist, Curse, Sleep, Taunt, Petrify, and Poison.
- Tempting Fate: One NPC describes the Uzra as "totally sandstorm-proof." No points for guessing what natural disaster nearly wrecks the ship.
- Turns Red: Several bosses do this.
- The Robo-Organizer changes to Overclock mode when it is damaged enough, dramatically boosting its attack power.
- Almost a literal example with the Chaos Basilisk. When it is down to less than half health, it casts World Of Death, which curses your party every turn and tints the battlefield dark red.
- Urban Ruins: East Vence, which has been completely abandoned and sealed off due to the Mechteria infestation and requires a permit from the mayor of Vence to enter. Upon entering, you will notice that standing too close to the Mechteria slowly drains your HP. Fortunately, the Midi Toy Box is well-hidden and mostly saved from the destruction.
- Weaponized Offspring: Several monsters and bosses do this.
- The Mechteria Blobs in East Vence and the Vibran Royal Palace fight with smaller Mechteria monsters that bud off.
- Wham Line:Cheryl: Mother... was that really you?
- Wrong Side of the Tracks: The Outskirts of the Royal Capital, where Ez is from.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Said almost word for word by Blue to Tan after Tan refuses to become a spy again and threatens to kill him.
