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World of Final Fantasy is what you get when the catching monsters genre and Final Fantasy collide, and while it may sound like a recipe prone to disaster Square Enix managed to make it work. Travel around Grymoire imprisoing Mirages to become the Mirage Master!

Malboros still are as bad news as they are in the main games.

World of Final Fantasy has us following the adventure of Lann and Reynn, a couple of twins whom, at first, seem to have a pretty normal life. However, this change in an instant when a mysterious woman called Enna Kros arrives at their job in a café and tells them about the world of Grymoire, their missing memories, the Warp Gate in Sylver Park, Mirages and how they’re Mirage Masters. Thus begins their journey to recover their los memories and power. As you go through worlds and dungeons you’ll find countless references to past Final Fantasy titles; some evident like towns’ names, some more subtle (Hint: ride a Magitek Armor in the Ice Region), and of course you’ll encounter characters from said titles like Princess Sarah, Warrior of Light and Bartz, to name some. I’ll leave the surprise to find who’s there to the player!

This one is not so subtle, though.

While the plot is pretty straightforward, the gameplay has many layers you can experiment with. Mirages are iconic monsters of the Final Fantasy franchise: Tonberries, Malboros, Chocobos and even summons; and similar to Pokemon in the motto of “gotta catch’em all” you got to get a strong team of Mirages to advance through dungeons, like Mirages with the Skill Glide to fly to certain parts or smash a big boulder blocking your way, and of course Mirages with elemental strengths against bosses or other Mirages in the area. There’s a catch, as always: you need to perform certain actions in-battle to create a Prismtunity with the Mirage you’re going to Imprism, like hitting the Mirage with certain element or inducing a status effect on it. Luckily enough for you though, you’re able to get the skill Libra early which gives you information on how to create the Prismtunity. However, Whenever you encounter a new Mirage you’re given a prism to Imprism it, sometimes “new” Mirages appear that needs the prism of a Mirage you already saw/caught; to get another prism of the same Mirage you need to go to their Mirage Board (similar to the Sphere Grid in X) and complete the branch that will give you an extra prism.

Here´s a fun fact: Takahiro Sakurai, Cloud’s Japanese VA, voiced several vampires in different franchises.

Once caught the Mirage, leveled and if it meets the requirements you can Transmorgrify them: you can “evolve” them to a stronger, and often bigger, form and you can do so back and forth freely at your Prism Case, where extra Mirages you get are stored (the downside to it is it’s limited space, so you’ll have to think carefully if you want that second Behemoth). You can play as either Lann or Reynn, and you can swap them from their Jiant forms (the Kingdom Hearts style) or their Lilikin forms (the chibi Pictlogica form), and depending on their form you’ll have to think how to stack them with the Mirages you carry around (a team of 10 and can take to battle 2 per twin); stacks allows you to have a bigger HP bar and different Skills depending on the Mirages you have, but be mindful as you’ll share the status ailments and elemental strengths and weaknesses they possess. The game also offers you three battle modes: Wait (close to the classic turn-based FF), Semi-active and Active (quick battles that will make you think and give commands fast). All of this allow for a complex core gameplay that is yet easy to grasp and allows you to experiment with stacks and find a strategy that suits you best.

world of final fantasy tamas mirage board

Here’s Tama’s Mirage Board. All her Skills and stat boosts have been unlocked.

The game is a love song to any Final Fantasy fan: the monsters, the references, the cameos, and even the music. Something I particularly enjoyed was the self-awareness and jokes through the adventure (they even mock the infamous laugh scene from X) and even in some Mirage’s descriptions. Before I noticed I already had around 40 hours of gameplay and still had so much to do. The creators have stated they made World of Final Fantasy focusing on a younger crowd in hopes to appeal to that audience, but this game has something to draw almost anyone to it, especially veteran fans eager to play again with the old turn-based style.

Moogle’s description once it has been imprismed. Note the self-awareness in it.

I may sound a bit too loving of this game, but there are a few things here and there that can rub people the wrong way. The light-heartedness of some situations, Tama, Reynn and Lann’s personalities can crash with some players as they can get a bit too annoying at times (Reynn as a jerkass and Lann as an idiot). Imprisming Mirages can be a tad annoying if you don’t have anything on you to create the Prismtunity in the first place (like having a Mirage with Blind on you), and even when you do some put up quite a fight, making it a bit bothersome when you want to get it done fast and advance in the story. There are also a few delays in loading here and there if you’re playing the Vita version like me, and of course there’s the graphics’ downgrade from the PS4 version.

Pros:
+ OST is remixes of iconic FF tunes
+ Japanese voices available.
+Cross-play allows you to upload your save to PSN.
+ Different battle modes.

Cons:
– Textures can be questionable at times.
– Lann and Reynn.
– Limited space in the Prism Case.

Gameplay: 4/5
Graphics: 3.5/5
Sound: 4.5/5
Controls: 4/5
Replay Value: 3.5/5

tgg grade 4 out of 5

Verdict: 4/5
In overall, World of Final Fantasy is a game that can take back veteran Final Fantasy fans back to the turn-based era and at the same time bring in new people with its cute character designs and self-aware humor. It’s a good Pokemon clone with its very own mechanics to make it stand out. So, yes, “World of Final Fantasy” is most definitely worth picking up on a sale.

Title: World of Final Fantasy
Developer: Square Enix, TOSE
Format: PSVita/PS4
Genre: RPG
Resolution: Standard/Average
Release date: 2016-10-28 (EU), 2016-10-25 (NA)
Difficulty: 3.6
Spent time: 40 hours
Average grade internationally: 79:23% Gamerankings.com
PEGI age rating: 12
Price: 39.99$ USD via PSN