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Though Square Enix has released quite a few ports of its older titles, like Final Fantasy and The World Ends With You on iOS, Final Fantasy All The Bravest marks its first Final Fantasy app that was designed specifically for Apple's devices.
Square Enix calls All The Bravest a "pick-up-and-go RPG," an accurate description for the game, which incorporates the Final Fantasy series' Active Time Battle mechanic. The system has been greatly simplified, and battling consists of tapping party members to attack with little to no strategy involved. The game also does away with typical time consuming RPG activities like exploration, dungeon crawling, and dialogue.
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Our sister site TouchArcade went hands-on with the game, and has this to say about the gameplay:
In the game, you can control up to 30 different classical Final Fantasy heroes across series of fights against classical villains. To attack, you tap on a character or, as we've discovered, just swipe up and down on the screen to activate all of them. After each attack, characters are smacked with a cool down timer, which keeps them from being able to attack for a few seconds.
Every enemy kills with one hit, regardless if it's just a basic Final Fantasy goblin or one of the horseman of the apocalypse. In addition to being flimsy, heroes are one note: they attack, that's it. You can’t activate special skills, you can’t target enemies, and they can't buff each other.
If you haven't caught on, this definitely isn't the Final Fantasy you know, but there’s a lot of the series' touches present. The presentation is old-school Final Fantasy. The enemies and heroes are, too. The simple "save the world" narrative hooks are all present and accounted for, as well as the late title card.
Final Fantasy All The Bravest comes with a much lower price tag than Square Enix's other offerings, which have cost as much as $17.99. Unfortunately, the initial purchase price is supplemented by a heavy focus on in-app purchases. 35 "premium" characters are unlocked at $0.99 each, and resurrecting a fallen party requires purchasable currency as well.
Final Fantasy All The Bravest can be downloaded from the App Store for $3.99. [Direct Link]
Top Rated Comments
They were dead to me after the abomination that was FFXIII. Their iOS monetization strategy is mere evidence of where their fall is taking them. Anything for a buck, buck, buck! Something tells me that FFXV will have each Phoenix Down ringing in at $0.99 on PSN, and 200 Live points.
Give the masses what they want! (FF7 Remake, and a REAL Chrono Trigger 2 would make me quite happy).
They used to create amazing stories that drew you in, novel play mechanics, and interesting worlds to explore. Now they just go the mass-appeal "AAA" route, and throw-away casual games.
game looks like crap and if you play it to it's full potential it actually costs more or less the same as their glory titles. lol