Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Review

For years we’ve seen Final Fantasy branch into new genres. Some games like Tactics really changed things, whereas others we would like to forget. Naturally when Theatrhythm Final Fantasy was announced, many gamers thought the idea was quite stupid. While the music in Final Fantasy is quite iconic, is that enough to sell the concept or is it yet another failure for the company?

Let’s see what’s HOT and what’s NOT, in our review of Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.

HOT

It Retains the RPG Concept
When you think of a rhythm based RPG, it’s hard to see how it would work. Despite this mentality, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is more of an RPG, than a rhythm game. You see, every character starts at level 1 and has abilities / stats to assist you. These stats will increase as you level and include Strength, Magic, Agility, in addition to luck. Each of these stats will come into play based off the type of song you’re playing. So if it’s a BMS where you fight various monsters, strength / magic will come into play, whereas FMS is about running, so you want a higher agility. All of these elements are further supported by abilities.

In addition to stats, every character can use a number of abilities. These range from magic like fira to support items such as curaga. As you level up new abilities will appear and others will further increase in power. The really cool thing is how the abilities actually work. You see, most abilities have some sort of condition to use them. These range from keeping a chain going, inputting a certain note correctly X number of times, length in the song or class of the monster. These are extremely helpful, as they can help level a character or simply allow you to finish a song you would otherwise fail. To further assist you, there is a vast selection of items to use.

As you start to level your characters, you will obtain various items. Each item has some sort of use and can be extremely helpful in the right situation. For instance the Phoenix Pinion will revive you with full health or you can buff your party with another item. Beyond simple uses, there are other items that allow you to summon an exact monster, better Chocobo, additional skills, plus much more.

Very Fun to Play
When you first start playing it might seem confusing, but that quickly goes away. That is because the game features very simple and logical gameplay elements. For starters every stage uses the same 3 basic moves. The first is a plain circle that you simply tap. The next type has an arrow inside of a circle, which requires you to move your stylus in that direction. The final type is elongated and simply requires you to hold down the stylus, though you might need to follow the path too. Once you master this you’re ready for the advance stuff.

Beyond simply inputting commands, every stage has something of a bonus mini game. These are indicated by silver inputs, in addition to a small bar noting it. Your goal like the rest of the game is to finish this part as accurately as possible. If you complete this part with enough precision, then you will unlock a small bonus segment. So if you’re playing a BMS (combat) song, you will summon someone like Oden to assist you in battle, FMS (running) turns you into a chocobo and EMS (theater) extends the movie. Naturally these elements will help you accomplish the levels goal, so they’re extremely useful.

As you get better at the game, you can change the difficulty to further challenge yourself. By default every song will start with a Basic Score and Expert Score, plus an unlockable difficulty called Ultimate Score. The more difficult songs generally move faster, require harsh inputs, in addition to a far lower margin of error. Finally anyone looking for a true challenge can also unlock Chaos songs, which is a brutal difficulty for select 8 songs.

Vast Selection of Songs
Besides being an amazing RPG experience, Final Fantasy is known for its epic music. While not everything song is included, there are over 40 songs you can select from and range from Final Fantasy to XIII. If you’re a fan of a certain game, then you will be delighted to know that every game has one of each type or 3 songs minimal. Additionally Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is a Nintendo Network title, so you can always buy DLC to further expand the selection.