Fantasian impressions5/17/2023 ![]() ![]() He’s portrayed as a bit of a callous thief and womanizer in his past, seducing and then standing up a princess at one point – which our sweet innocent boy of course can’t remember now. We get hints early and often that his parents were Special Important People in the human society, that Something Bad related to the Mecha Infestation happened to them, and that he has been deeply effected by the trauma of this Bad Happening to the point where it has molded his personality on a fundamental level. Interacts with a certain object: you get it. Talks to a certain person: bam, memory restored. He walks into a room: bam, memory restored. His entire goal is to get his memories back, but this is so easy that it’s not worth counting as an achievement. Leo’s role in all of this, such that it is, is negligible (until it isn’t). The “Mecha Infestation” has long been plaguing the land, driving humanity into more condensed settlements, siphoning off their emotions, and wreaking havoc on the flora and fauna. ![]() Missing from Fantasian is the overriding sense of urgency present in many other games in this genre, the sense that “oh my god the world is going to end in A WEEK if we don’t stop Bronson the Bad Guy!” By the time we enter the story, the world of Fantasian is already in the process of ending, and has been for a while. I don’t feel so angsty about the amnesia in part because of how chilled-out this game is, in general, about progression. I personally don’t find the “Amnesiac on a quest to regain their memory” aspect of the story in Fantasian to be all that grating, though it’s possible my feelings on this will change 20 or 30 hours from now. These folks are, of course, entitled to their opinions. I have heard a lot of JRPG fans gripe about the choice to make Leo, the game’s protagonist, an amnesiac, calling the choice narrative laziness, saying it doesn’t do anything but detract from the story, and so on. I’ve put a decent chunk of hours into Fantasian, the newest Apple Arcade exclusive game by Hironobu Sakaguchi’s Mistwalker Studios, and now that I’ve actually had a chance to sink my teeth into the meat of this game, I do have some thoughts. This is not a review of Fantasian, but since I already kneejerk-called a post my “first impression” I’ve put myself in a goofy position here. ![]()
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