Reviewed on: PC
Code provided by the publisher.
Final Fantasy Resonance is a beautiful return to the turn-based pixel RPG. The graphics are gorgeous, the gameplay is fun, and the soundtrack is top tier. There’s a lot here that works for me, and when everything comes together, it’s easy to appreciate what this game is doing. But there are also a couple of frustrations that kept getting in the way, especially the dialogue and how repetitive the regular enemy encounters can become.
Visually, Resonance absolutely delivers. There’s something about a beautiful pixel RPG that is immediately appealing to me, and this game has that going for it throughout the experience. The art is one of its biggest strengths, and it does a lot to make the game enjoyable to spend time in. That visual style is a huge part of the appeal of returning to this kind of RPG, and Resonance gives me plenty to appreciate.
I also love having an overworld to travel through. That has always been one of my favorite parts of Final Fantasy games. Moving from city to city makes the world feel connected, and I enjoy actually making that journey. You get a better sense of where everything is and how far you’re traveling when there’s something between leaving one place and arriving at the next.
There’s a different feeling to setting out toward another city when you have to cross the world to reach it. The journey becomes part of the adventure, and getting to your destination feels more meaningful because of it. Clicking a location on a map gets the job done, but I’ve always preferred this approach. For me, an overworld adds a lot to the experience, and I was happy to have that here.
The soundtrack deserves just as much credit as the visuals. It’s easily one of the highlights of the entire game, and alongside the art, it gives Resonance a lot of its appeal. Those two parts of the presentation work incredibly well together. Even when I was getting frustrated with something else, I could still appreciate how good this game looks and sounds.
Unfortunately, the dialogue doesn’t meet that same standard.
The writing was one of the biggest things holding the experience back for me. In an RPG, you spend a lot of time reading conversations, so this is a problem you keep running into. I wanted the dialogue to give me another reason to stay invested, but too often, it was something I was waiting to get through.
That’s especially disappointing when the rest of the presentation is this strong. The visuals and music are doing so much to pull you into the experience, and then the dialogue makes it harder to stay there. It doesn’t ruin everything the game does well, but it is a noticeable weakness. With how much time an RPG asks you to spend with its characters, I wanted to enjoy what they were saying more than I did.
The turn-based combat is much more enjoyable. It’s fast paced and easy to follow, which makes getting into the flow of a fight fairly straightforward. I like being able to understand what’s happening without feeling like every turn needs to drag on. Resonance does a good job of keeping things moving while still giving you decisions to make.
The elemental weaknesses are another part of the combat I enjoyed. Figuring out what works against an enemy gives you a reason to pay attention to the attacks you’re choosing. Taking advantage of a weakness is satisfying, and it helps give those choices some purpose. The system is easy to follow, but having something to consider beyond just dealing damage makes it more engaging.
I also really liked the first couple of “boss fights,” where you’re meant to lose almost immediately.
There’s something fun about a game letting you find out firsthand how far out of your league you are. You enter a fight, get absolutely put in your place, and suddenly have a much better understanding of the threat in front of you. It’s an effective way to introduce a powerful enemy because you’ve already experienced what they can do.
It also gives you something to work toward. After getting beaten that badly, I want to reach the point where I can actually put up a fight. That early loss gives progression a little more meaning because there’s already a reminder of how much stronger you need to become. I thought those encounters were a fun way to establish that gap.
The regular enemy encounters, however, come with their own frustration. Resonance’s Pokémon-esque encounters can start to feel repetitive, especially on Normal difficulty. Most regular enemies go down in a single hit, and after a while, constantly getting pulled into those fights becomes cumbersome.
I don’t need every regular enemy to be a major threat. There’s satisfaction in being strong enough to quickly take something down, especially when you’ve been working toward getting stronger. But when so many encounters end with a one-shot kill, that satisfaction starts to wear off. You’re going through the process of entering another fight when there’s very little you actually need to do once you get there.
Eventually, I started wanting to get through those encounters so I could keep moving.
That becomes especially noticeable when you’re enjoying traveling through the overworld. I want to see where I’m going and make my way to the next city, but another easy fight keeps interrupting that journey. Individually, those battles are quick. Over time, though, the repetition adds up.
That became my biggest frustration with the gameplay. I enjoyed the combat system and taking advantage of elemental weaknesses, but the regular battles weren’t consistently giving me a reason to engage with those parts of it. When an enemy goes down immediately, there isn’t much room for those decisions to matter. On Normal, at least, I would have liked those enemies to put up enough of a fight to make the interruptions feel worthwhile.
Verdict
Final Fantasy Resonance hits on most levels. It’s a beautiful return to the turn-based pixel RPG, with fast-paced, approachable combat and a soundtrack that stands out as one of its best features. Traveling through the overworld was a highlight for me, and I liked how the early unwinnable boss encounters established threats that gave me something to work toward.
The dialogue is a clear weak point, though, and the repetitive regular encounters become harder to overlook when most enemies go down in one hit. Those frustrations kept getting in the way of an experience I otherwise enjoyed. Better dialogue and more engaging regular battles would have gone a long way toward bringing the whole thing together, but the visuals, music, and combat still give Resonance plenty worth appreciating.
