Final Fantasy is a name that strikes such a mix of emotion from me. On one hand, it is a series that I've garnered a lot of love for, not to mention a strong sense of nostalgia. On the other hand lays a copy of Final Fantasy XI through XIII-2. Fortunately Theatrhythm Final Fantasy isn't a new RPG title that recklessly throws away what made the series as good as it was, but instead focuses entirely on the brilliant music within the numbered games of the series.
There are three main modes to the game, all of which offer up basically the same gameplay. What is probably best to start with is its Series mode. In this mode you'll find each entry in the main series listed up to XIII. Each entry includes a battle theme, world map/ location theme, and either an emotional theme or memorable theme from that game. So in total the game starts off with 39 tracks to play from. Eventually more tracks will be unlocked, but it's going to take a lot of time for some of them to become available, and even then the unlockable songs only add up to around five. As for the songs that are immediately available, they do a great job of representing their game.
In the Series mode you'll play through one game at a time, tapping, swiping, and holding down notes in the rhythm of each song. The battle theme has notes scrolling from left to right as you tap away at them. Monsters show up on the left side of the screen, and on the right side is a party of four main characters there are picked by the player at the start of the game. Each of the characters have their own unique skills and attacks that can be selected before playing a song. Most of the skills boil down to the characters helping keep the song going if the player is having trouble keeping the rhythm. The characters will level up by finishing songs, allowing them to obtain better skills and attacks. All of that was fairly menial though, and everything besides the gameplay is basically window dressing.
The map/ location theme has one of the party members running from right to left as a single stream of notes move up and down scrolling from the left side of the screen. It's almost identical to the battle theme stages, but offers up a backdrop of the world you are playing through. Occasionally a moogle and/or a minor character from the series will toss you a chest that contains an item you can equip your team with. You'll get these in the battle mode as well from defeating enemies.
Memorable themes from the games are definitely the most different in the gameplay sense. Instead of the notes scrolling left to right, they are swirling around the screen almost like in Elite Beat Agents for the DS. These themes will also have cutscenes from each of the games playing behind the notes. For diehard Final Fantasy fans, these songs will be worth the price of admission alone. I know they struck a chord with me each and every time. Though, I must mention, these songs are the hardest to play due to the constantly changing pace in which the notes show up on the screen.
There are more songs that are available for DLC, but the game has enough available on it already, so for the most part I'd say ignore them. A couple of other modes are in the game that allow players to play songs individually and up the difficulty once they have played through the series mode, and those modes kept me playing the game for several hours past "finishing" it. There is also an incentive to unlock a bunch of stuff including new characters, streetpass stuff (basically just a Final Fantasy looking business card swap), and encore songs.
This game had a genuine effect on me. Before this game came out I couldn't care less about the series. Now I feel like I'm ready for number XV. It's funny, I really did love this series once. Spending whole summers with a great Final Fantasy game used to be the norm for me when I was growing up. I guess I miss those days. Nostalgia is coloring my love for this game slightly, but for the most part it stands on it's own. For anyone familiar with this series, I'd say pick it up. It's a hugely competent rhythm game that will help you remember the good old days.
