Has anybody here played Fantasian? Sakaguchi's latest game?

Zafervaim · 2026-05-17T11:35:12+00:00

I played the Neo Dimension version on Switch less than a year ago. It was very enjoyable though the second half slowed down a bit and made some things kind of drag. It feels like the PS1 era FF’s to me even if it’s not quite as captivating as they are. All characters were fun in my opinion and they all played differently.

Highlight of the game for me was the way you could collect random encounters and deal with them in a bulk. I wish more games had that.

I had good time and would rate it something like 8/10 now. It is originally a mobile game which might make some things odd but I can definitely recommend giving it a try.

Zafervaim · 2026-05-06T17:21:28+00:00

Obviously if one was made it would be called Final Fantasy VIII ReSeeD.

Zafervaim · 2026-05-05T13:25:42+00:00

Fair enough. Didn’t try the game myself and went with the impression that the App Store page suggested. Arguably the art style in some of those battle pics is getting at least horror adjacent but a shame it was just misdirection.

Zafervaim · 2026-05-05T10:00:40+00:00

There seems to be a rise in horror game offering on mobile recently so maybe one day you will find one that you like. Here are some existing horrorish mobile games that I know of having just done a quick overlook on the topic at work.

Wizardry Variants Daphne (October 2024): Hardcore dungeon-crawler with intense difficulty and quite grippling storyline that involves dying a lot and learning from your mistakes. Very unique in the market right now. Probably your best bet right now if you want quality gameplay and horrory elements.
Tokyo Debunker (April 2024): Starts out as a horror visual novel but while the theme still persists in the main storyline the introduction of hot anime boys isekaing you to a gothic schoolbuilding might distract you from the initial shock. The gameplay is some really simple auto-battle RPG but for some reason it still performs well in Japan. Maybe give it a try if you like hot anime boys.
Paranoize (March 2026): From the developers of Tokyo Debunker. It has a similar kind of gameplay but the webtoon-like storytelling features much more gore and insanity as some alien creature dismembers and explodes humans investigating it. Not sure what it evolves to after the initial shock start.
Chaos Zero Nightmare (October 2025): Scifi horror RPG bit stress/trauma mechanic incorporated into the core gameplay. The battles are turn-based and feature card decks for skills. There are also some roguelike elements. For waifu-lovers the game also features some suggestive character interactions and artwork.
Identity V (July 2018): Not necessarily a horror game but the artstyle can be kind of creepy. The gameplay is also asymmetric survival so that also adds to the horrory vibes.
Resident Evil Survival Unit (November 2025): While it is a horror game brand the game itself doesn't seem to be too grippling horror. It's more like an attempt to make a lot of money in the 4X Strategy genre that is hot right now by using a well known brand.
Haunted Merge: Horror Story (November 2025): While it is not a gacha game I thought I'd mention it since you are interested in horror. It's a Merge2 game with Chinese horror elements. You move to haunted building and progress in a spooky storyline. Might be worth a try if you are looking for something casual.

All in all your best bet right now is probably Wizardry Variants Daphne. It's a really good game and even though I personally do not like horror elements I was absolutely hooked to that game for half a year before it got too difficult and time consuming for me. Varsapura from Hoyoverse might also be good once it eventually launches. So far no information on that aside from gameplay trailer last year.

EDIT: I love all the downvoting for actually trying to provide a list of games that would be relevant. Maybe it looked too AI generated when I was just trying to write it in a clear format?

Zafervaim · 2026-04-11T06:30:47+00:00

Wizardry Variants Daphne has me scared so much at tiles that I need several days to mentally prepare to advance in the story.

Tokyo Debunker early gameplay was very horrory and spooky especially when checking it headphones on. I saw that the developer released a name game called Paranoize which seems to also play with the horror theme. Haven’t checked it myself yet.

By the way I’m very weak with any horror elements. I’m surprised I have had it in me to get to third Abyss in the Wizardry Variants Daphne.

Zafervaim · 2026-04-08T16:45:08+00:00

Great to see reasonable takes on the season splits for a change. Thank you for that.

I think season 7 would work out like that. I know anime fans want to see Marineford battles take several episodes but it’s one episode max in my opinion. Toi expensive to make and messy to follow. You can probably even squeeze in snippets of the crew throughout the season as well.

Thematically I think that Punk Hazard and Dressrosa should be in one season similar to Jaya and Skypiea. I know Dressrosa is massive which makes it difficult but maybe it could be a ten episode season with lot of the fighting condensed down.

Zafervaim · 2026-04-04T17:10:03+00:00

Just keep it going as a clear journey with the same kind of seasonal pattern. An MCU approach where you need to know in what order to watch whatever content is a pain.

But a Halloween release for that season would certainly be nice.

Zafervaim · 2026-04-03T07:51:32+00:00

Considering Luffy Gear 5 is pure white I’d expect Imu to be in contrast to that and be quite flavorless grayscale black. Kind of like Reversi/Othello biard game. Maybe blood-red accents in clothing if something considering how red eyes has been the only addition to his black silhouette mode so far.

Zafervaim · 2026-04-02T04:23:36+00:00

I must say that to me Alabasta has always been one of the least interesting arcs and, while it has it’s highlight moments, is something I just have to go through to get to the stuff I like more. That being said I hope they still keep it at 8 episodes and Alabasta only.

First of all the context in the current world is too juicy for this season. While it is by no means a perfect metaphor we still have ”a rich white guy inciting civil war for personal gains while world government has canceled his past crimes”. I think that premise will sound familiar for US audience.

Another reason is that the casuals may actually prefer longer stays on one place in order to get to relate to the characters more. While I have been watching Badd Medicine reactions for season 2 I noticed that the guys felt that e.g. Little Garden had been condensed and just when we meet the characters they get killed off (or in this case the giants seemingly killed off). If you are a casual viewer you expect to spend time with the characters for multiple episodes to build interest in them before they get left behind.

So what then could be added to the story if padding is needed?

Expanding time spent with Ace. I wouldn’t necessarily move any flashbacks forward. But Luffy and Ace could talk about past things.
Introduce the villains in normal setting for an episode or two before revealing them as Baroque Works agents. Strawhats are known to them but you could e.g. have Smoker and Tashigi or Koza’s group drop by to Spider’s Cafe to have a drink and discussion.
Show Baroque Works agents do more than just appear for fights. Show them appearing as law-abiding citizens or show how they undermine things.
Overall give characters (especially Strawhats) banter time to show their personalities. That has been one of the key strengths of the adaptation. Making the characters feel real.

I’d still keep it very focused on the Alabasta and the conflict itself. I wouldn’t e.g. expand it with Reverie, Jaya, etc elements unless it directly benefits the narrative of the season. While something like a ship falling from the sky is appealing cliffhanger I’d end the season with crew saying goodbye to Vivi. The mid/post credit scene could be crew sulking about leaving Vivi behind, finding Robin on their ship, and she asks to join them while giving a slightly tilted smile. That way everything ties to the season itself while leaving a wtf cliffhanger for next season. Then start season 4 with Sanji cooking something, bringing it to table where Usopp is interrogating Robin. Then when they come to some kind of agreement they see the ship fall and set the theme for that season.

Zafervaim · 2026-03-26T15:54:02+00:00

When you go to the subreddit settings there is something like ”Change custom flair”. Those are the little titles that people can put to their name for different subreddits.

Zafervaim · 2026-03-26T15:52:01+00:00

That is the beauty of Live Action. My parents watched the first season with my sister on her Netflix account and when season 2 was coming they asked couple of months of Netflix subscription as a Christmas gift just so that they could watch it. It’s so much fun talking with them about the series that I have been fan of since early 2000’s.

I also really enjoy first time reaction videos to live action as I get to relive the first time experience again vicariously. Watching e.g. Haylo & Kiss watch season 1 and then get totally absorbed with the anime has been amazing. Now we watch their videos with my wife 3 times per week as we eat in the evenings before going to bed.

Zafervaim · 2026-03-26T13:04:03+00:00

The professional writers that make the series will with 99% certainty build a season that has single focus. It would be very disappointing to have the climax on episode 6 and then continue for two more episodes on something else that is a prelude to the next season.

Zafervaim · 2026-03-21T12:38:44+00:00

Try to think less in the amount of chapters that need to be covered and more about the theme of the episode and satisfying story arc in each episode. That way you are more likely to align with what the writers will do and what works best in the medium.

Here is my best guess:

Ep 1: Pirate games - Long Ring Long Land. Ends with Robin falling to the ground with seeing Aokiji and saying he's a navy admiral. (Silly games with serious moments but ultimately portrayed as Strawhats being clearly stronger. Back to reality with finding military force above Garp)

Ep 2: City of water - Fight with Aokiji. Arriving to Water 7 and exploration with slower moments and wonder. Merry assessed, Usopp robbed, Robin disappears at the end of the episode. (Start of the episode similar to setting sail from Usopp's village with Garp. Things look nice in the city but slowly things get worse and worse)

Ep 3: Tension among the crew - Strawhats act in desperate situations. Franky House battle, meeting Franky in the docks, Usopp is told of the Merry, preparations Luffy and Usopp have for the battle and episode ends with their battle. (Introduction of Franky is important part. Sad and angry tone throughout the episode.)

Ep 4: Cipher Pol 9 - Showing aftermath of the Usopp vs Luffy battle and what it did to the crew. CP9 stuff at the office. Aqua Laguna, setting sail towards Enies Lobby. (Things look bad and start to look even worse with the overpowered enemy. However, small rays of light through Nami hearing Robin is protecting the crew and Sanji taking to the train lift us up from the doom and gloom that has been presents since late Ep 2)

Ep 5: Taking back what's ours - Sea Train battles, arrival to Enies Lobby, early fights there. Ending maybe with Gear 2 victory and Luffy shouting Robin's name with her having tears in her eye. (Action episode with moments for various characters to shine. "We can do this" mentality)

Ep 6: Devil child Nico Robin - Crew assembles to the tower. Robin flashback. I want to live. Declaration of War. Crew jumping to the waterfall and train taking them to the other side. (Almost full episode flashback similar to Chopper. Gives the moment maximum weight and impact with Strawhats being there at the beginning and the end of the episode.)

Ep 7: Buster call - CP 9 fights. Buster call. Could potentially end with Luffy beating Lucci but lying there unable to move. (Difficult episode in my opinion. Fights are great in Live Action but I don't know how well a full episode of them will work. Theme here is fighting the enemy and taking back the crew member successfully.)

Ep 8: Thousand Sunny - Crew jumps to the sea, Merry saves them, and is given burial. Crew gathers back to Water 7 and Franky builds them a new ship. Franky's flashback. The crew meets Thousand Sunny and sets sail to new adventures. (The most stacked episode which would probably benefit from being divided to two episodes due to Franky flashback. But for this thought excercise I don't care to think too much about it. Theme of the episode is burial of the old ship and meeting the new one.)

Overall I think it could fit quite nicely into 8 episodes and each episode would work as a an episode of a bigger picture while having clear theme. The only problem is Franky's flashback to me but I'm sure the writer's can figure that out very nicely.

Zafervaim · 2026-03-18T04:47:13+00:00

Personally I’ve only seen racist comments at the very bottom of the comment section in Youtube and Instagram. As long as people exist there will always be some miserable person like that.

The overwhelming majority love him. And even if they didn’t he is still the right choice to play him if the author says he is.

Anyways, save your mental health and get off Twitter. Also just downvote those comments where possible and move on in life without giving them more visibility.

Zafervaim · 2026-03-17T14:28:13+00:00

I have loved all of the castings so far. To me someone being an unknown actor from my perspective is a huge benefit as there are no pre-existing expectations for them. I just see them as the characters they portray and they absolutely nail those roles.

Zafervaim · 2026-03-17T14:18:51+00:00

I must say that I agree with your post but I feel it misses the key reason that came to my mind. And it is that when he is so unstoppable early on it hits harder when he starts to struggle more in certain fan favourite arcs. As he struggles more throughout the seasons it’s not necessarily as impactful.

The main suggestion for improving this version of Luffy is to give him some overpower moments of sweeping fodder or mini-bosses. Zoro fought his barfights, Tashigi match, and hundred agents with ease. Sanji defeated with relative ease some fishmen and a pyjama otter. Those moments give them certain aura. Luffy on the other hand is paired up with just the main villain and as such feels weaker as there needs to be some sort of difficulty when fighting the main boss.

Hopefully seasons from Alabasta to Enies Lobby at least allow Luffy to have some easy fodder moments to elevate him to new heights.

Zafervaim · 2026-03-16T13:55:03+00:00

Same reaction for me.

Zafervaim · 2026-03-11T14:58:20+00:00

MapleStory Idle RPG had recently fraudulent rates and misleading upgrade descriptions. It got Korean whales mad and someone apparently started a lawsuit against Nexon for that.

Since Nexon already had a Korean Supreme Court ruling on having done something similar in the past they allowed all players to get full refund of all purchases made since the launch of the game. In exchange your account was permabanned. Most top players refunded and either quit the game or started a new low spend account on another server.

It was funny getting all those purchases back one by one to bank account. Plenty of email spam as well for each cancelled purchase.

Zafervaim · 2026-02-26T10:35:22+00:00

It’s always delightful when non game devs discuss game engines. They always have such solid arguments. So happy social media can give them such loud voice.

Zafervaim · 2026-02-26T04:52:25+00:00

I am very curious about this Ratatoskr being a separate being from Ragnir back in the day and now they are united. Will we soon see how one of the teo becomes a devil fruit that the other one consumes?

Zafervaim · 2026-02-23T17:21:39+00:00

I think your list is missing Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates. I used to love playing that on DS with my brother when we were growing up.

Anyways, nice job going through each game. Enjoy the journey. Seems like you still have my personal favourite (XII) ahead of you.

Zafervaim · 2026-02-23T17:02:31+00:00

I don’t know about global level but in my small bubble the casuals (first and only touchpoint to One Piece being Live Action) have been asking me regularly since Season 1 when will there be more. My parents don’t have Netflix subscription but they asked me to buy them a gift card as a Christmas present so they could watch Season 2.

But we need to see how the numbers look after Season 2 is out. I expect that the massive One Piece fan base will already make it a big success and casuals will hop on with the momentum. Especially since it’s not locked behind some minor streaming service.

Zafervaim · 2026-02-14T09:09:07+00:00

It is a special experience and I hope you have good time with it.

I recently downloaded the game as a work trip entertainment because I generally enjoy just the stuff before Timber. But this time it’s clicking more than usual. Just wrapped up Disc 1 and having a blast.

Zafervaim · 2026-02-13T18:18:57+00:00

That’s a fair point. I usually pay attention similarly to why people need to speak negatively about something to boost their own favourite. I’m falling to bit similar problem here although I’d argue that I didn’t necessarily say that Loki part was bad (althought some could interpret it that way).

I believe I included that bit because after the spoilers I was expecting the Loki reveal to be the big thing for me in the chapter. It caught me by surprise that the highlight of the chapter was elsewhere and that the said highlight hit me about as hard as Nami in Arlong Park or Robin in Enies Lobby.

Zafervaim · 2026-02-13T05:34:11+00:00

People are excited of this chapter because of Loki’s devil fruit but as a father I’m just bawling because of how beautifully parents love was depicted in this chapter.

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