I got an iTunes gift card for christmas and decided to check this game out. I just want to let people know a couple of things that probably preventing me from purchasing this game had I known them in advance. Keep in mind, that I haven't seen all the content in the game. The initial cost in 3.99.

1. The gameplay is paper thin. The combat consists of tapping your party members to attack and wait for their ATB to fill up again to attack again. There is no strategy involved. Each party member has only 1 attack. As far as I can tell you can not even decide your party members, though this might change further into the game. There is loot that drops after battles, but as far as I can tell it just auto equips to a specific party type. My point is there is no strategy in choosing party members, equipment, or attacks. Battles are just a war of attrition.

2. When your party dies, 1 party member will be revived every 3 minutes. If you want to revive them instantly you can pay.

3. Premium characters are locked behind a paywalll. Unless I'm missing something you can't unlock any of the premium characters without paying 99 cents. So, the only party members you have are generic warriors, mages, etc... Any named characters from the FF series is unlocked buy paying the 99 cents and you get a random hero. To unlock all the character you would need to do this 35 times. So to get any nostalgia from the game you need to pay extra.

I've never heard of it.

I've never heard of this game before but that sounds kinda bad.

New on ios today.

Wow, Square really understands the iOS market.

Thanks, wont pick that up

@Abendlaender said:

Wow, Square really understands the iOS market.

Sad but 100% accurate :(

I kinda wanna see all pixelated versions of characters post-FFVI, though I don't have an iOS device to play it.

@probablytuna said:

I kinda wanna see all pixelated versions of characters post-FFVI, though I don't have an iOS device to play it.

Yeah, it sucks that you can't even select which premium characters to buy. You've got a 1 in 35 chance to get the one that you want.

Have you purchased any additional characters? Is it possible to draw the same character twice? That would be a major bummer. I tried twice and received Final Fantasy favorites, imp and bartz. I bought it, I like seeing the old characters, guess I am the sucker and part of the problem. Sorry dudes.

Sounds terrible and very typical iOS-y.

well since you already payed for it fill the wiki

I don't at all understand how this isn't a free app. I totally get the micro transaction nature of the app store, and would understand hiding the good characters behind that wall, but don't expect me to pay $4 to get the privilege of paying more money

I don't at all understand how this isn't a free app. I totally get the micro transaction nature of the app store, and would understand hiding the good characters behind that wall, but don't expect me to pay $4 to get the privilege of paying more money

Thanks for the post. The trailer didn't give me enough info as to what the games actually was for me to feel good about jumping in.

I was interested in this by the trailer I saw on Shacknews yesterday but then I saw the comments about all the microtransactions and will definitely be skipping it.

I don't even mind microtransacttions for the most part. Theaterythym was fine to me as you got a couple of good dongd free and I could buy a few more and be done. As someone else said, paying money to be able to pay more money is not something I'll be doing.

iPhone gaming guys! It's the way of the future! Right?...

Thanks for the info!

@MildMolasses said:

I don't at all understand how this isn't a free app. I totally get the micro transaction nature of the app store, and would understand hiding the good characters behind that wall, but don't expect me to pay $4 to get the privilege of paying more money

I think this is the exact same scenario that happens in some MMOs: you have to buy the game, pay a monthly fee and there is an item store. Some companies plainly refuse to let any potential penny escape, though they don't realize that they would probably be doing more money if they chose two of the three options at most.

@Thoseposers said:

iPhone gaming guys! It's the way of the future! Right?...

There's nothing wrong with the typical app store model. As the guys have mentioned around here, an in-game purchase can often be treated as a sort of tip jar for the enjoyment they've got out of a free app. It seems very specifically that Square-Enix has no understanding of that model and continually charges prices way out of line with the norm. I know that their DS games were often priced more than other publishers, and that was because that was the price point that their target audience would bear. But the app store works along a more impulse purchase setup. Certainly there are people willing to pay a higher price for some of their classic games, but the average person isn't going to scroll through the app store and pay $4 on whim to try it out

@JoeyRavn: Can you give me some examples? I don't play MMO's, but I do like studying their economic models (both real world and in-game)

Keep on milking that nostalgia, Square! The Final Fantasy name isn't quite meaningless yet!

Huh, well thanks for the heads up. I was actually a little interested in this, but I guess I'll pass for now.

That sounds terrible. Oh Square, have you ever really recovered from Spirits Within?

Thanks for the heads up. I knew there was some questionable IAP but I didn't realize it went to that length. This is going to be a skip for me.

Man, that sounds rough. I thought we were heading into some sort of iOS/Android based Final Fantasy Renaissance with this and Dimensions. Of course, that's also priced at a guffaw worthy $20, no way I'm paying for that. It's weird knowing that half of Square (the Eidos half) seems to be doing all this great stuff, while the other half seems to have no idea what it's doing.

@geodlux said:

Have you purchased any additional characters? Is it possible to draw the same character twice? That would be a major bummer. I tried twice and received Final Fantasy favorites, imp and bartz. I bought it, I like seeing the old characters, guess I am the sucker and part of the problem. Sorry dudes.

What problem? You saw something you liked and you bought it.

I don't see what the problem some people have with this game is. I like old Final Fantasy games a lot, and seeing them reused in a creative way is enjoyable to me. It's like a silly multiverse greatest hits game. Would people be happier if it was priced $40 and for the 3ds? I dunno, I like what they are selling and I bought it. If you don't like it, then don't buy it. Complaining about in app purchases (if that is what the biggest complaint is) seems silly to me. It's like complaining that Square is a business and not a charity.

Paying and getting the same character twice would suck though. I wouldn't see them doing that unless you can trade characters.

lol you know this game sucks when IGN is telling people not to buy it http://www.ign.com/videos/2013/01/17/psa-dont-buy-final-fantasy-all-the-bravest

@KoolAid: The OP mentions the paper thin gameplay and the video linked by @darkvare goes on to show just what the problem actually is (the video also describes the payed content but that is only half of the complaint)

That's unfortunate. When will square actually make a decent old-school final fantasy?

@KoolAid said:

@geodlux said:

Have you purchased any additional characters? Is it possible to draw the same character twice? That would be a major bummer. I tried twice and received Final Fantasy favorites, imp and bartz. I bought it, I like seeing the old characters, guess I am the sucker and part of the problem. Sorry dudes.

What problem? You saw something you liked and you bought it.

I don't see what the problem some people have with this game is. I like old Final Fantasy games a lot, and seeing them reused in a creative way is enjoyable to me. It's like a silly multiverse greatest hits game. Would people be happier if it was priced $40 and for the 3ds? I dunno, I like what they are selling and I bought it. If you don't like it, then don't buy it. Complaining about in app purchases (if that is what the biggest complaint is) seems silly to me. It's like complaining that Square is a business and not a charity.

Paying and getting the same character twice would suck though. I wouldn't see them doing that unless you can trade characters.

The gameplay in this is literally just tapping guys on the screen. There is no skill or strategy involved. If this were free, it would still be terrible.

I see the confusion. Seeing Final Fantasy on the title, you were expecting something other than an iphone game.

but, turns out it was an iphone game. : /

Justin and Charlie are here to lay down all the mad info on FF ATB.

Thanks for the warning.

Ben Kuchera over at PA report called it a "steaming pile of in-app purchasing horseshit".

@MildMolasses said:

I don't at all understand how this isn't a free app. I totally get the micro transaction nature of the app store, and would understand hiding the good characters behind that wall, but don't expect me to pay $4 to get the privilege of paying more money

That is quite baffling, but hey this is Square Enix. They charge nearly $20 for some of the other FF games on there. Ripoff artists.

Oh microtransactions, how I hate the

hey OP seeing as you played it anyway, is there randomly triggered encounters in this?

Just curious and thanks

This might just be the shittiest 25th year anniversary celebration ever.

Happy-fucking-birthday, Final Fantasy.

Hmm. I'm level 30 and I enjoy the seizure inducing battles, however, the interactive screensaver is a tough recommendation.

I think this is the first time I've seen a game this disgusting that every single gaming outlet is putting out something telling you not to buy it just after it was released.

And yeah, that monetization is ridiculous. Even if they didn't have you pay $4 for the game itself, the character/revive purchasing alone sounds terrible. Not to mention being a bad game. This is the epitome of Square milking Final Fantasy fans for money.

@chilibean_3 said:

Thanks for the post. The trailer didn't give me enough info as to what the games actually was for me to feel good about jumping in.

Echo this. Almost bought it until I thought about checking out the forum.

It's frustrating, because this could have been an interesting game. The character classes are all more or less the same. The White Mage has an attack just like the Knight but with a different animation. If they took the time to make the classes unique and allowed the player to build their parties, it could have been fun. For example, instead of giving the White Mage a generic attack, give them the ability to revive a fallen party member. Make some characters more effective against different enemy types. Make some character classes do support abilities and some do status effects against enemies. If the strategy was about building effective parties in different scenarios, I think this would have been really cool.

The game is fun and I do like it as an easy distraction. But the micro-transactions are maddening. Square continues it's tradition of overcharging for everything they release on IOS. If anyone wants to see the what the game entails I did a 'quick look' of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUNFhrobyyI

@fargofallout: Well I don't think it's going to stop being meaningless. It just means over-priced garbage nowadays =P

It's too bad. That ign video is becoming popular, I stumbled onto it earlier from another link elsewhere. This sounded cool too, http://www.giantbomb.com/demons-score/61-38606/ , and looked nice running on unreal until I read further about that one(and constant inapp purchases too). Well, I still want a newer apple device, phone probably, when I get the money. Still wanted to try Chaos Rings atleast. Reading about that one years ago surprised me and made it seem like SE would put out quality titles for good prices out on the app store. Guess not anymore?

@Baltimore said:

The game is fun and I do like it as an easy distraction. But the micro-transactions are maddening. Square continues it's tradition of overcharging for everything they release on IOS. If anyone wants to see the what the game entails I did a 'quick look' of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUNFhrobyyI

Yeesh, definitely going to steer clear of this. Big thanks for the video and thanks OP for starting the discussion.

Yeah, I was thinking about picking it up until I read about it. They've got the iOS monetization down to a T.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy seems to be not as bad, but I think if you were to buy all of the in-app purchases you'd almost be better off just buying a 3DS and a copy of the game. It's decent if you just want to play songs from a couple of the FF games and don't want to buy a 3DS.

@WilltheMagicAsian said:

If you want to spend a couple bucks, just get Theatrhythm Final Fantasy on iOS instead. The base game is free but they charge for the music and characters. I don't know how the prices even out compared to the 3DS version, but if you don't have a 3DS and only want music from a couple of the Final Fantasies, it's a pretty good time waster.

Horribly. The 3DS version includes all of the music tracks and you can buy it for about $20, where as unlocking them all on iOS will cost you over $140.

@WinterSnowblind said:

@WilltheMagicAsian said:

If you want to spend a couple bucks, just get Theatrhythm Final Fantasy on iOS instead. The base game is free but they charge for the music and characters. I don't know how the prices even out compared to the 3DS version, but if you don't have a 3DS and only want music from a couple of the Final Fantasies, it's a pretty good time waster.

Horribly. The 3DS version includes all of the music tracks and you can buy it for about $20, where as unlocking them all on iOS will cost you over $140.

Yeah, I actually edited my post after checking how much it would all add up to.

Insulting.

This game insults my intelligence. I like everything that it draws from, I like the music and the graphics but fuck you Square Enix, fuck you.

Games for touch machines need to play differently to classic games, I get that, it's unequivocally true, but they need to actually require a human with a functioning brain on the other end too, this game makes no such demand.

This is the idiocracy Final Fantasy, boiled down to the slimy repetitive core. You can't lose, you can't play well and you have no agency at all.

This is a $4 - $50 Warioware micro game......

How much you guys want to bet the next major Final Fantasy they release for IOS will be $4.99 but that will only let you get through to a specific point? If you want the next "chapters' then fork over several more installments of $4.99.

I feel since Final Fantasy 12, Square has completely ruined the Final Fantasy brand, how many games have had the name FF in the title that aren't even a main game.