Another Final Fantasy game was released this week. And if you’re not into role-playing games on your mobile device, you probably missed it. Final Fantasy Dimensions II was released in Japan as Final Fantasy Legends II or Toki no Suishō back in early 2015, but it has only now made its way to the west.
The original iteration of Dimensions II was free-to-play with microtransactions. Players would spend time grinding away at baddies until a stamina meter ran out, necessitating either waiting for it to refill or paying money to keep playing. Just this week Square Enix ceased online service for the title, just in time for its launch in America.
So what does Final Fantasy Dimensions II have to offer? It’s not much mechanically, but if you’re into the whole song-and-dance that is every Final Fantasy story, then it’s worth the time spent.
Bye Bye Microtransactions
For its North American release, Dimensions II has done away with its microtransactions. It’s no longer free-to-play and instead requires a one-time premium purchase. On the surface, this looks like a good decision because you know you won’t be pressured into paying money to keep gameplay going. However, without these time-constraining stakes, things can get rote pretty quickly.
This kind of monotony wouldn’t be the case if Final Fantasy Dimensions II had some sort of exploration element. Most Final Fantasy games give you the opportunity to poke around the world you’re in. But for Dimensions II, the usual overworld hub and explorable towns are replaced with a string of horde mode-like battles. You start a mission, fight a few waves of monsters, and then you’re done.
Where To Go…
There are no random encounters, no element of surprise or choice in who or what you’ll run up against. It’s a little frustrating, and the repetitiveness is not fun. You can still level up your characters and have them learn different abilities, which ascribes a small amount of control back to the player.
But if you’re decently leveled up, you can always switch to Auto Battle and let the game play itself for you. I wouldn’t recommend this as it completely ruins the purpose of playing the game at all. But if it’s the story you’re just hoping to get through, this might be your best bet.
A Cute Story, But Not Enough
Gone with microtransactions are also loot drops, which is half the fun when taking on baddies. So all of this leaves you with its story, which is your typical Final Fantasy affair. A boy meets a girl and they set out to save the world from encroaching evil. There’s a bit of play with time traveling in this game, which adds some flavor to the story. But if you’re not much of a story person when it comes to games, you may want to skip Final Fantasy Dimensions II.
Overall, Final Fantasy Dimensions II is a nice addition to the mobile retinue of Final Fantasy games, but it lacks the depth — and just plain fun — of other titles like Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and Mobius Final Fantasy. The latter of these titles even just announced a tie-in to modern classic Final Fantasy X. Even some RNG elements with characters or bonus loot would add a much-needed set of stakes to Dimensions II. But in the hours I’ve played so far, it’s just the story that has kept me pushing through.
Final Fantasy Dimensions II is available now for iOS and Android devices.
