The bad news: New Hironobu Sakaguchi JRPG, Fantasian, ends on a cliffhanger. The good news: Fantasian fans will not have to wait long for ‘Part 2’.
According to Inverse.com, Sakaguchi and team will launch the second part of their latest epic later this year.
Why Fantasian is Split Into Two Parts
According to Sakaguchi, Fantasian, having taken inspiration from Final Fantasy VI in terms of its narrative structure, was tailor made for a two part split.
In an interview with Inverse, Sakaguchi explained his decision, “This goes back to one of the inspirations of the game, Final Fantasy 6, which had a very similar structure [to Fantasian]. At about the midpoint, there’s a dramatic shift in the way the game is experienced and played.”
Sakaguchi goes on to explain that the gameplay shifts between the two parts merited a split, “The first half is much more narrative-driven. You’re following the protagonists’ story and experiencing the game that way, whereas the latter half is much more quest-driven.”
Sakaguchi then explains that because of the gameplay shift, he feared some gamers would find the game confusing if it were to be released in one single complete form,.
Fantasian Part 2 Will Work The Same Way as Expansions Do in Other Games
This means that your progress from the previous part will carry over to the second one. Therefore, you won’t lose any of your hard earned EXP when you start the game’s final section. Personally, I do not like things to be split into two games (or more). Final Fantasy VI was a complete product, and I do not think any of its gamers were confused by the huge “Shift” in tone and narrative structure at its memorable mid point.
It is likely that Fantasian was split into two parts in order to get the game into Apple Arcade earlier than it would have, had Sakaguchi waited to complete the entire game. Hey, Square split Final Fantasy VII Remake into chunks, there is a precedent towards this kind of thing. At least, unlike in the former game’s case, you are not paying any extra money on Fantasian since it is part of Apple Arcade.
Will We Ever Play Fantasian on Consoles?
It is unclear what type of deal Sakaguchi struck with Apple, but in the same interview Sakaguchi gave hints that such a port might be possible in the future, “We approached this game as though it was going to be on a console platform, and we really didn’t have it in our mind that we’re making this to cater to mobile. UI elements were taken into account, but with the experience itself, we always wanted to bring this fully fleshed-out console experience onto Apple Arcade.”
Whether or not that statement means that the game will ever be ported to a console remains to be seen. It is clear, however, that Sakaguchi was thinking “big epic console experience” rather than on the usual mobile fare of modern generic JRPGs when he crafted Fantasian.
So, our fingers are crossed as the console space sorely misses a big time game made in the mold of the good old Final Fantasy golden days. As of now, Fantasian remains an Apple Arcade exclusive.
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