For many fans of the RPG genre, Hironobu Sakaguchi is considered a household name. Known fondly as the “father of Final Fantasy” thanks to his work on the first 10 mainline titles, Sakaguchi has created many other games with cult followings, including Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey and Terra Battle, developed by his company, Mistwalker Corporation.
Fantasian Neo Dimension serves as Sakaguchi’s next upcoming title that brings his critically acclaimed game, Fantasian, to wider audiences through PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. It will launch with new features such as English and Japanese voice acting, an added difficulty option, and 4K support on PlayStation 5. It also signals a return partnership for Sakaguchi with Square Enix after almost 20 years apart.
A multi-dimensional adventure
For the uninitiated, Fantasian Neo Dimension follows the protagonist Leo, who embarks on a multi-dimensional adventure to recover his lost memories and discover the secrets behind a strange mechanical infection that threatens to destroy his world.
Set across the backdrop of over 150 vibrant and beautiful hand-crafted dioramas, the game features a unique artistic style with a fun, strategic twist on traditional turn-based battle mechanics. It also features music from composer Nobuo Uematsu, famously known for his works in the Final Fantasy franchise.
Fantasian Neo Dimension was announced to be launching on December 5, 2024 during today’s State of Play. Ahead of this release, we sat down with Sakaguchi who acts as Producer for this title, to discuss the journey of working on the game and what fans can look forward to.
Chat with Producer Hironobu Sakaguchi
How did the partnership between Mistwalker and Square Enix come about? What’s it like working with Naoki Yoshida on this release?
Sakaguchi: The initial partnership of Square Enix happened five years ago when Yoshida san and I were supposed to do a panel discussion interview, and I thought it would be rude to show up not having played his game. I knew I was a huge fan of MMOs, so I was afraid that if I did play, I might get addicted. And sure enough, I’m on Final Fantasy XIV every day now. Even this morning I played for 3 hours. Because of that, Yoshida san and I got really close. We went to dinner together and talked a lot about Final Fantasy XIV, and I had mentioned Fantasian, a game I had developed recently for Apple Arcade. And we talked about, well, “could we bring this to PC and consoles?” Because from my perspective, I wanted as wide an audience to be able to play the game. And Yoshida san was kind enough to say, “you know what, maybe there is an opportunity to do this together,” and the rest is history.
How are you approaching this new version of Fantasian Neo Dimension and what can fans look forward to when they experience it on PS5?
Sakaguchi: One of the initial inspirations for Fantasian was, I happened to be sitting in front of a diorama, and I imagined, “what would it feel like if I was walking through this world and exploring the diorama.” And I know it seems very counterintuitive nowadays where CG seems to be the dominant form of visual expression, but I think that handcrafted nature and the warmth of something being made by humans really comes through in the diorama environments. But it was actually more challenging than I had thought. Initially, we were going to 3D scan these dioramas to create the necessary models and project photographs onto them. But we had to innovate and create a custom pipeline to be able to take all these dioramas and place them within the game. And as for the PS5, I would say the English and Japanese voiceover is a huge plus. At the same time, the imagery — the dioramas, we had originally photographed these in 4K resolution, but the original version for various reasons, we had to scale them down. For the first time we’ll be able to see the 4K imagery on the PS5. So, I encourage everyone to play it on their big screen and really see all the detail, the charm of that artisan craftsmanship that you get in the dioramas. And I think it’s going to be a really fun adventure.
Given your accomplished history with RPGs, what did you set out to achieve with Fantasian Neo Dimension that you hadn’t done before?
Sakaguchi: When I set out to develop Fantasian there was a part of me that thought, “well, if this does become the last game I develop, I should feel satisfied with that and have no regrets.” And one of the reasons I felt that way is because while working on Fantasian, I had the chance to play Final Fantasy VI. Playing Final Fantasy VI again really brought me back to the origin of myself as a game developer, and I really felt my own style come through the game. So Fantasian is a turn-based, what you can call, very traditional style RPG. And looking at what I’ve done from Final Fantasy I all the way through VI, there’s always been some form of evolution to the genre, and the same is true for Fantasian. I know it’s a very traditional style RPG, but I wanted some form of evolution. So aside from the diorama style, there are different mechanics. For example, with the Dimengeon System, players can stock their random encounters into a separate dimension and then defeat them all at once later, whenever they feel ready. And what this does is it allows the players to really immerse themselves and freely explore the dioramas without the interruption of random encounters. And likewise, there’s another mechanic, the “skills” or magic spells in the game. Players can affect their skills’ trajectories or the area of effect, depending on how they cast a spell. So, when you stack a lot of enemies, you get to aim and defeat them. It’s a very rewarding and satisfying experience. So, despite it being a more traditional turn-based RPG, I think there’s some freshness or evolution as well.
Do you have anything to say to RPG fans who may be on the fence about playing a game developed for mobile first on their PS5?
Sakaguchi: When Fantasian was initially released on Apple Arcade, we knew that mobile devices would be the primary terminal of the game. However, it also needed to be adapted to Mac and Apple TV. So technically there were means to play Fantasian on the big screen with a controller. And it was always my intention that people would at some point be able to play it and experience it in that format. The assets and all the graphics that we had prepared were created to be able to withstand that type of media. But unfortunately, the 4K images that we had taken had to scale down because of size and storage limitations of different mobile devices. Whereas on PS5 you get to experience Fantasian as I imagined it, without having to worry about any type of storage limitations. This is why there is also going to be English and Japanese voiceovers. So, I would consider Fantasian Neo Dimension the so-called director’s cut of this game, and I’m very happy to be able to deliver that to everyone.
Pre-orders available today
With Fantasian Neo Dimension launching this December 5, 2024, pre-orders are also now available. Players who pre-order will be able to receive the Vibran Secret Stone as an in-game bonus item to help provide an experience boost to equipped characters. This item will come in handy for a game that was originally known for its strategic combat with particularly challenging battles!
