Fantasian

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Fantasian is a Role-Playing Game developed by Mistwalker for iOS and Mac OS devices and released in two parts over 2021. Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu were key creative figures in the development of the game. It has quite unusual graphics, using a mix of real world dioramas and computer graphics.

The game follows Leo, a white haired lad who infiltrates a mysterious factory, causing an explosion. Awoken by two strange friendly robots, the game begins with an escape from the factory.

The game can be played with a controller or a touchscreen. The iOS devices it is compatible with include iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and MacOS. It was released on the Apple Arcade subscription service.

Different from Fantasia.

Tropes used in Fantasian include:

Acid Trip Dimension: When Leo and Kina first meet the malevolent god Vam during the fortune telling session.
Another Dimension: An important part of the random encounters system, where monsters can optionally be collected and fought all at once
Amnesiac Hero: Leo looses his memory just after the explosion in the opening cutscene, and can initially only remember his name.
Apocalypse How: The Mechteria is slowly consuming everything.
Applied Phlebotinum: The robots suggest magic particles caused Leo’s amnesia.
A Taste of Power: The Warp Device explodes and is lost as soon as it is first used.
Barrier Warrior: Prickle can generate barriers.
Beehive Barrier: Barriers show up as faintly visible polygonal enclosures.
Broken Bridge: A piece of large machinery collapses into a walkway, cutting the player off. Justified in that Leo did just create a large explosion in the same, now collapsing factory.
Bug-Out: The opening gameplay is fleeing the Thaumatech Factory and the Robo Organizer in pursuit of the player.
Cheap Gold Coins: The currency is G, represented by a dull yellow circle with a G on it.
- The background art during the story Kina tells to Owen shows unambiguous golden coins as the lions share of a payment, although there are also some jewelry, gems, and a grail scattered in. Notably the coins are only golden, featuring a face with long hair on one side.
Conspicuous CG: Not bad due to artistic choices, but the items rendered in real time do stick out a little against the dioramas.
Conspicuously Light Patch: Mostly noticeable when an object is CGI, and not just part of the diorama.
The Corruption: The Mechteria slowly consumes the world.
Counterfeit Cash: The gold coins from the Money-Money Tree feature a trident and are apparently no good as regular currency, though are a suitable sacrifice for Owen to tell fortunes.
Critical Hit: It is possible to land a critical hit increasing the damage caused.
Cut and Paste Environments: Generally averted, however the levels of the Sacred Sand Tower appear to be the same diorama except for the first and top floors. There is some variation with the chest though.
Cutscene: The game starts with one of Leo sneaking into a thaumatec factory during the opening credits.
Doing It for the Art: Most games are fine using plain 3D or 2D graphics. According to an article by The Verge, one option considered was making 3D Graphics that looked like dioramas. They did not do this. The artists drew concept art, painstakingly built a diorama, meticulously photographed and 3D Scanned that diorama, integrated the resulting work into the game engine, then added special effects. They did this over 150 times.
Doomed Hometown: En is already partially consumed by mechteria when Leo returns. The new town is still untouched, but NPC dialogue suggests it’s only a matter of time.
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Vence is clearly based on Venice, being a city of water with canals, gondolas, and architecture reminiscent of Italy.
Frickin' Laser Beams: The robots use these.
- The Robo Organizer has two hands that can use these. It's not quite Wave Motion Gun level, but easily capable of breaking through shields. It does need a Cooldown after firing, but it’s relatively short as it gets up after the player acts once.
Foreshadowing: The Narration and Villagers discuss a connection between a malevolent god and mechteria.
Golem: The Geo monsters.
Grows on Trees: The Money-Money Tree grows magical coins, though it’s stated they’re no good as regular currency.
Heel Face Brainwashing: Leo reprogrammed Prickle and Clicker two hours and forty three minutes before the start of the game.
Hollywood Hacking: Clicker quickly hacks a robotic arm to make it throw crates during the start of the game, complete with a blink and you miss it victorious icon of Clicker over the robot once the process is complete.
Hopeless Boss Fight: The Robo Organizer appears to be this, until the party realizes they can attack the support for a storage tank to crash it into it. It recovers pretty quickly, and quickly catches up to the player, leaving them cornered. Even after beating it again, it quickly gets up.
In Medias Res: The game starts right after Leo causes a magical explosion in the Thaumatech factory.
The Juggernaut: The Robo Organizer won’t stay down long.
Karl Marx Hates Your Guts: Items sell for half their purchase price.
Kleptomaniac Hero: The player can take items from chests in all sorts of areas, including in the weapons shop of En, or behind the desk in the employees only area of the Inn in En.
Lens Flare: These show up near certain light sources.
Local Hangout: The Starry Eyes Bar is the town of En.
Medium Blending: The characters are all 3D models on scans of dioramas.
Money Spider: Monsters drop money.
Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Vam the Malevolent
The Nose Knows: Kina learned to use her nose from her time in the woods, and often sniffs things to judge them. Case in point, she is able to tell before Leo that Sid's tickets to the Uzra are counterfeit because they smell fishy.
Pop Star Composer: Nobuo Uematsu composed for the game, making heavy use of synthesizers.
Practical Effects: A unusually high amount for a video game. The diorama effect was created by building and scanning real dioramas. However most of the animated effects or dynamic characters are still done virtually in real time.
Press X to Not Die: A prompt appears when Leo is thrown on a container by a robot. Downplayed in that If the player misses the prompt, Leo will simply fall down and state that it hurt.
Prophecies Are Always Right: Owen’s prophecies are said to always come true. This is implied to have not been the the case before, with Owen excitingly claiming that nobody would label him a charlatan once he was blessed by the god, Vam the Malevolent. Given he was able to consistantly charge massive amounts of money following this, it’s more then puffery.
Random Encounters: Happens when walking around. Later in the game they can be stored in a pocket dimension.
Robot Buddy: Prickle
Scenery Porn: Most backgrounds are handcrafted dioramas.
Sidequest: Offered by NPCs.
Teleporters and Transporters: Leo starts the game with a portable warp device.
Terrible Trio: The Cinderella Tri-Stars.
Turns Red: The Robo Organizer when it overclocks.
We Buy Anything: Shops that sell potions and healing items will buy swords, for example.
World Map: One can be traversed after leaving En.
Wrong Side of the Tracks: The old district of En houses the once vibrant heart of the town. During the game, only monsters, cats, birds, and the destitute or stubborn live there. Justified in that it borders the mechteria infestation.