Fantasian

Fantasian is a role-playing video game in which players take on the role of protagonist Leo and a growing party as they explore multiple locations across several worlds including the land of Vibra. Players can travel between different locations using a world map, while explorable locations include a minimap showing important locations and routes; markers on the minimap can be used to automatically take the party to that point. During the story, visual novel-style sequences called Memories are unlocked, showing parts of character backstories.

Battles, triggered through random encounters, use a turn-based battle system with up to three player party members facing either standard enemies or more powerful boss battles. Attacks and skills have different areas of effect depending on character positioning and weapon type, and can be aimed to strike multiple enemies. After facing an enemy type once, the player has the option of deferring random encounters with using the Dimengeon, a space capable of holding up to thirty enemies. Once the Dimengeon is full, the party must fight the housed enemies, with special bonuses available on the Dimengon battlefield for party members to acquire such as additional turns or damage boosts. Winning battles rewards experience points allowing characters to level up, earning Skill Points which unlock new passive and active abilities.

Leo, a young man suffering from amnesia, escapes from a place called the Machine Realm with the help of two robots, Clicker and Prickle. Arriving in the Human Realm Leo begins retracing his steps, recovering pieces of his memories, and seeking a way to repair his travel device. On the way he joins up with Kina, a girl with magical powers, the adventurous princess Cheryl, airship captain Zinikr, and the child inventor Ez. They also encounter Tan, a solitary fugitive.

The human world is being infected with "Mechteria", which is associated with a god-like being of chaos called Vam the Malevolent. Vam takes an interest in Leo, whose father was collecting objects of power dubbed Divine Artefacts after Leo's mother was killed by one. Vam created the artifacts to absorb human emotions to counteract "Order", a force opposed to his "Chaos" that threatens to erase all of existence. During their journey, a voice contacts the group insisting they defeat Vam.

Fantasian was developed by Mistwalker, a Japanese-American video game company founded by Hironobu Sakaguchi, known for his work at Square (later Square Enix) on multiple properties including the Final Fantasy series. In March 2018, Sakaguchi participated in a livestream with fellow developers playing Final Fantasy VI (1994). Reliving those memories, Sakaguchi became inspired to create a traditional RPG modeled on Final Fantasy VI. He was also inspired by Final Fantasy XIV, describing the game as "[honoring] the legacy of earlier Final Fantasy games while also enhancing them".

The project was greenlit following meetings with Apple representatives, who were fans of Sakaguchi's work and wanted him to create a title for their upcoming Apple Arcade platform. Production began in June 2018 with Sakaguchi as producer. Other staff included Takuto Nakamura as director and lead programmer, and assistant producer Saho Nishikawa. Arzest assisted development with concept art and character modeling.

Fantasian received "generally favorable reviews" according to review aggregate website Metacritic, earning a score of 80 out of 100 based on 20 journalist reviews. During the 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Fantasian for Mobile Game of the Year. At The Game Awards 2021, Fantasian was nominated in the Best Mobile Game category.

Reviewing the first part of Fantasian, Pocket Gamer's Bryan Taylor positively noted that the game "delivers the classic feel of the RPGs beloved the world-over", praising the elements introduced and looking forward to the second part. com lauded the Dimengon feature as one of the most innovative RPG elements in recent memory, but faulted some parts as slow paced and a lack of language options beyond English and Japanese. Caitlin Argyros of RPGFan gave strong praise to the story, combat and soundtrack, though while lauding the environments found the graphics occasionally blurry. RPGamer's James McFaddon positively compared Fantasian to earlier Final Fantasy games, lauding its presentation and addictive gameplay mechanics.