Immediately fluffed off and forgotten last night as the game announced right before Final Fantasy VII Remake was revealed, World of Final Fantasy has been defined in a little more detail by Square Enix today. And you know what? I really, really want to play this game!
World of Final Fantasy, currently set to release “first on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita” in 2016, is essentially a combination of classic Final Fantasy JRPG gameplay with a clash of universes vibe similar to Dissidia, and a gotta catch ’em all Pokémon element that involves catching, raising and battling iconic Final Fantasy monsters like cactuars, chocobos, and moogles.
At the heart of the gameplay is a mechanic referred to as “stacking.” In the game, you will play as a twin brother and sister duo, using the ability to shrink or grow in size to form “strategic tower combinations.” When small the twins will be able to jump on the backs of their monsters, and when their in grown-up form the monsters will stack up on top of their heads, piggyback style. Changing sizes and stacking configurations will naturally open up different abilities and strategies in battle.
Changing sizes also dictates how the characters look. In their regular forms the protagonists have a similar design style to characters from a Kingdom Hearts game. Conversely, after shrinking down the characters turn into super-cute chibi versions of themselves.
The game draws lore and characters from throughout the history of the Final Fantasy series, but it’s unclear how the world will be set up. For example the trailer shows chibi characters for Cloud and the Warrior of Light. Are major franchise heroes like this just part of the story? Can they be recruited to your chibi army? Could they be special summon-type characters? We just don’t know yet. I’m definitely eager to find out more though.
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