On the evening of February 20, 2002, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra performed to a different
kind of crowd.
They weren’t there to hear Mozart, or Brahms, or Sibelius, or Holst.
They were there to hear Final Fantasy.
Judging from the reaction - and subsequent world tours, playing everywhere from the Sydney
Opera House to the Royal Albert Hall - the world was ready to take the music of this
new, emerging media seriously, with Final Fantasy’s Nobuo Uematsu leading the vanguard.
But for all the celebration his compositions received, they were never featured in an actual
rhythm/music game.
Until now: Behold, Elite Beat Dissidia - erm, I mean, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.
You’ve got 39 songs available at the start of the game, three for each of the 13 primary
games.
Yes, FFXIV still can’t catch a break.
In the Series mode, each batch of three includes one field track, one battle track, and one
event track, bookended by opening and closing themes.
And while their displays are wildly different, the entire game boils down to three rudiments:
Poke red notes, hold green notes, and slide in the direction of arrows.
Field tracks see your team traversing a familiar series backdrop, occasionally sliding your
target up and down to follow held notes, and trying to cover the greatest distance in search
of moogles bearing gifts.
Battles break the incoming notes into four lines, though your inputs are the same regardless;
quality play here lets you fire spells and techniques at your enemies, in attempts to
cut them down and score some item drops.
Finally, event tracks play video footage of memorable Final Fantasy moments behind a linear
- but omnidirectional - cursor.
Once you clear songs in the Series mode, they become available in Challenge, which lets
you pick individual songs to play in one of three difficulty levels - Basic, Expert, and
Ultimate.
And if these charts weren’t enough, you can go down to the Chaos Shrine for alternate
versions of most of the available tracks, offered in Field/Battle pairs that often yield
crystal shards needed to unlock the rest of the 29-member cast, as well as collectable
cards for the sake of... well, collecting.
In total, there’s 55 playable tracks - 80 if you count the intro and outro pieces for
the Series versions, and even more if you don’t mind dropping a buck a track on DLC.
Yes, 3DS DLC.
I came close to complaining, but then I saw that Cosmo Canyon was available, and... well,
Cosmo Canyon.
DLC aside, my only real gripe with the game is that the sound often overpowers the 3DS
speakers... but with a decent set of headphones, that issue is alleviated.
My only fake gripe is that now I have the urge to re-play ALL OF THE FINAL FANTASIES.
ALL OF THEM.