I bought Theatrhythm Final Fantasy from my local GameStop a few hours ago! I just played it for about an hour or so, so I thought I would give you all my first thoughts on the game, as well as some facts about it for the uninitiated. For those who aren't in the know, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is a game that was released for the Nintendo 3DS handheld game system in Japan in February 2012, followed by releases in North America, Australia, and Europe in July 2012. As the title of the game would suggest by the words "theater" and "rhythm", this is a music-themed game. Much like Dissidia Final Fantasy, the story lets you play as the main characters from the 1st Final Fantasy all the way to the 13th, and has a focus on the gods Cosmos and Chaos. The "space between the gods", if you will, is called Rhythm. Rhythm is the home of a crystal which controls music. I believe this is where the plot of the game resides!
You play through songs and earn "Rhythmia", which I believe is the crystal's power, and in doing so you return some light to the crystal. I assume that when you beat the game the crystal is restored and order is returned to the universe, as these things tend to go. Now for the gameplay details!
While music has always been a huge part of the Final Fantasy series, this is the first title in the series where music is the main focus. You can control 4 of the 13 main characters at any given time, and the "story mode" of the game allows you to play 5 songs from the Final Fantasy of your choosing. For each Final Fantasy, you are given the chance to play the game's intro, ending theme, and 3 of the most popular songs from the title. As for myself, the first game I chose to play through was Final Fantasy 8, which contained one of my favorite tunes: The Man with the Machine Gun! By the way, if you haven't yet, go check out Psychotic's article on this piece
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Instead of the traditional turn based battle system that we're used to, we get to experience gameplay very similar to that of a Guitar Hero game. As seen in the picture above, which shows the top screen of the 3DS, there are icons that move from the left to the right side of the screen. Your job is to hit the bottom screen of the 3DS with your stylus just as the moving icons hit the circles right in front of your playable characters. Believe it or not, you can tap the bottom screen anywhere you want. The only thing that matters on your part is tapping and sliding the stylus at the right time, not where the stylus is located on the bottom screen.
Correctly inputting the command will count as a hit on the enemy at the opposite side of the screen from your characters, usually a recognizable face (popular enemy adamantoise pictured above). There is also a time bar at the bottom of the screen which tells you how long you have until the song ends.
From what I can tell, there is a standard mode and a hard mode for more experienced players. The game hints at a possible hidden mode, unless I'm interpreting it wrong! Another great thing about this game is you get to level up your characters and equip items. I believe getting a raise in Hit Points allows you to make more errors before the game over screen comes up, and wearing stronger items allows the same, just to give examples.
Beyond the standard "left to right" gameplay, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy also allows you to tap your way through some of the cutscenes in your favorite Final Fantasy games. In this scenario, the icons you have to hit zig zag all over the screen. Again, this should not be difficult as long as you're tapping and sliding your stylus at the right time. You also have an option to extend the cutscene for a longer duration if you get a high succession of correct notes!
Something that's worth pointing out is that nostalgia comes over you like a wave of glorious childhood memories when you play this game. I found myself getting emotional and thinking back to my younger days playing Final Fantasy after school and on weekends whenever I heard these old songs and watched some of my favorite cutscenes. Being able to actually interact with these songs takes it up to a whole new level! I find this game to be very addicting. It has a nice "pick up and go" feel to it. Don't worry about having trouble figuring out how to play it, because the in-game tutorial is there for you every step of the way.
There are around 80 songs to choose from, but from what I've read you also have the option of purchasing DLC songs to increase your playable song catalog. Don't want to spend the extra money? Don't worry. It appears this game has its fair share of characters and songs to unlock just by doing certain tasks in-game. (I see Locke in the video below!). I can tell this is a game that I'll be playing for a long time to come. If you haven't tried it out yet, I encourage you to do so. The wave of nostalgia combined with the fun gameplay makes this a must have for long time Final Fantasy fans, in my personal opinion.
So that's my reaction of this game so far! I'm sure I've left some things out, but keep in mind that I'm only an hour or so into it. I'm sure there is plenty more fun times to be had in the future with this title. If you feel there's anything I should have pointed out, or if you enjoy this game like me and want to share your thoughts on it, let your fellow readers and I hear about it in the comment section! Thanks for reading! I'll leave you with some gameplay footage
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