As if there weren't enough games in October to tempt you, Final Fantasy Resonance is a pretty tempting offer for anyone looking to play an old-school JRPG that features an A-team of Final Fantasy guest characters. It also puts its own twist on Square Enix's HD-2D gameplay formula, as you can break past the barriers of traditional turn-based combat and take down even the spongiest of enemies--if you know how to properly set up all the moves you'll do. Play your cards right, and you can leave your team to dish out some tremendous damage for several minutes while you go brew yourself a fresh cup of coffee.
So what's happening here? To be fair, this is some real high-level gameplay, as GameSpot's video producer Max Blumenthal pushes gameplay mechanics like Visions, multi-action stacking, and ability carry-over skills to their absolute limits. Instead of relying on basic, single-command inputs, you've got hyper-optimized builds that allow a player to chain together a seemingly endless loop of actions, follow-ups, and staggered states on an enemy.
This is all thanks to the ability for the main characters to inherit and carry over abilities learned from different Visions, stacking multiple low-cost learned skills on a single character, triggering automatic follow-up attacks and status procs, delaying enemy turns, and utilizing heavy-hitting signature Resonance attacks to make the most of staggered states on enemies. In a nutshell, a lot is at play here, but finding that magical combination and executing it well is what makes games like this so much fun. All the tools are at your disposal, and used correctly, you can turn a brief exchange of attacks into a cinematic showdown.
If you're looking for tips on assembling the ultimate party in Final Fantasy Resonance, here's how to find the land of Mysidia, get the Cloud Strife Vision early in the game, and what to do if the first major boss is wrecking you.
"I can only hope that this is the first step in Square-Enix reviving some of its shuttered mobile games in ways that keep them playable for the future–especially since there’s still a lot of story from Brave Exvius that goes beyond the events of this game," Heidi Kemps wrote in GameSpot's Final Fantasy Resonance review. "As both a remake and a standalone experience, Final Fantasy Resonance shines more than it stumbles."