Today, Square Enix shared more details on Final Fantasy Resonance, the first Final Fantasy game to adopt the HD-2D visual style.
First up is more info on the game's world, specifically Dilmagia and Olderion. Dilmagia, the Machinopolis, is a technologically advanced city, the birthplace of airship technology, and was once home to Cid. As time passed, Cid became more of a title and now refers to the finest engineer of each age.
Olderion, the Aquapolis, is the capital of the Olderion Federation. Blessed with abundant, crystalline waters, the Warders of the Waders have kept the city safe alongside the Maiden of Water and an esper known as the God of Water. The city was a juggernaut in the shipbuilding industry and a thriving naval transport hub, but has since been supplanted by Dilmagia.
A world without characters would feel incredibly empty, and today Square Enix introduced us to Lid, Nichol, and the Veritas of the Heavens and Waters.
Lid (voiced by Elsie Lovelock / Ayaka Ohashi) is an airship engineer from Dirnado who, along with her brother, has been helping out at the family forge since the day she could hold a wrench. Her tinkering and skills have made her a contender for the next Cit.
A strategist for the Olderion Federition, Nichol (Khoi Dao / Tsubasa Yonaga) was brought up in a family of Wardens, giving him a passion for defending his homeland. While tactical and objective, he never loses sight of the bigger picture, even if he often gets roped into Rain and friend's shenanigans.
Lastly we have the Veritas of the Heavens (Ricco Fajardo / Show Hayami) and the Veritas of the Waters (Colleen Clinkenbeard / Kana Hanazawa). Both are members of the Sworn Six of Palandia. Heavens is hard to read and impossible to outmaneuver as he seeks the destructions of the crystals. With his cold dispassion, he dominates the skies with his lance and wind-aspected abilities. Meanwhile, Waters is arrogant, driven, and ruthless. She will use any tactic at her disposal to destroy the crystals, no matter how underhanded. She wields water magic to drown her foes.
Next up is the gameplay, specifically focusing on Visions. Visions are crystalized essences of legendary heroes, including warriors from other Final Fantasy games. These powerful specters fight alongside Rain and his companions when equipped, granting them magic and abilities. Staggering all enemies in a single turn will trigger a resonance with a vision, allowing them to perform a devastating attack. Players can find vision crystals hidden in Sanctums of Light hidden around the world.
The first Vision explored here, Aileen, can help the party both in and out of combat, forging powerful weapons for the party using adamantite. Aileen wields a Pilebunker in battle and can lower enemy defenses. We also got a look at Visions from FFs past, including Cecil, Bartz, Squall, Zidane, and Tidus. Cecil can use both light and dark magic to deal damage, defend, or heal, making him quite versatile. Bartz uses a sword imbued with fire and ice magic, making him great at staggering enemies. Squall will successively increase the damage standard attacks to in battle to keep pressure up. Zidane can steal not just items but also vitality and speed to augment his own abilities. Tidus is all about speed, casting haste on the party then assailing foes with wind and water attacks.
What's a Final Fantasy game without summons? The player can enlist the aid of various espers, such as Ifrit, Shiva, and Titan to help them on their journey. That journey will be a long one too, with collectibles like tablet shards to put together, minigames like jump rope and mog tag to play, a colosseum to fight in, and twelve legendary arms to claim after hard won battles.
Final Fantasy Resonance launches on October 22nd for Switch and Switch 2, PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Pre-orders are now open including a Digital Deluxe edition and Collector's Edition. The Deluxe Edition includes a Magitek Armor Key to give your chocobo a new outfit, the Archwitch's Grimoire to unlock a certain character's Fel Meteor Limit Burst, a Mastery Ring, 3 Remedies, and 5 Tents, Phenoix Downs, Mist Potions, and Mist Ethers. The Collector's Edition includes all that as well as an acrylic block set, pixel art book, soundtrack CD, and Final Fantasy Trading Card Game PR Card. Pre-ordering will net you the Mgitek Airship and Squire Starter Pack, includin gthe Magitek Airship Passkey, Knight's Greatsword, Chestplate of Preparation which increases EXP gained, and another set of consumable items (Magicite Shard x 1, Tent x 3, Mist Potion x3). Early purchses will receive the Squire Kickstart pack, including the Blessed Cuirass and a Mist Ether.
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