On the plus side... We're doing a quick game review!
(You'll find out why it's quick here soon enough. But first...)
(You'll find out why it's quick here soon enough. But first...)
Recurring Fantasy Side Post Theater Proudly Presents
Final Fantasy Tapping Returns With A Curtain Call!
That's right. If you remember quite some time ago, Square Enix released a rhythm-style game called "Theatrhythm Final Fantasy", and I did a review of it because I enjoyed it quite a bit. (You can read that review right here.) Personally, it didn't seem like that game had that huge of a following. It was a pretty fun game and was really enjoyable for the music it brought.
Was the game without problems though? Not really... or so it seemed until they released the newest one "Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call".
Now, Curtain Call comes back with another blast of rhythm tapping fun. You get great Final Fantasy songs and then tap, slide, and drag along to the beat. Just like then, the game features three basic music playing styles whether they are Event, Field, and Battle. You choose four characters from the series and give them items and abilities to represent you in... song. There's some a versus mode, a profile card, and lots and lots of collecting to do.
Sounds pretty similar right? Well, it's not breaking any barriers for new or original, but they did make some great strides here. I'll try to cover as many changes as I can, but I might leave out something so bear with me.
The first and most obvious change is how the game progresses. As soon as you start a new file, you're thrown into quite a few tutorials (I think this is about the same as the first but can't remember.) As you go through, you create your first party and are thrown into the game. The difference here is that once you have chosen, those are the ONLY characters you have! It sounds crazy and lame to limit you this soon, but keep with me, it's not that bad.
With the characters chosen, you're shown a brief (but very expansive) viewing of songs. You'll immediately notice that the only ones available are the titles that your characters are in. I was almost disappointed here, but after a few songs, you unlock every other game available. This... is where I really got excited.
First off, the listing of songs is ENORMOUS compared to the previous game. In the first Theatrhthym, you had maybe 5 or 6 songs per title. Even while being locked to your character's titles, each series appears to have at LEAST 8 or 9 songs if not more. And you don't even have them all yet! As you go along, you're able to unlock more and more songs. It seems to mostly be the Event stages, but then you even unlock a larger selection of games too! No longer are you purely limited to the numbered Final Fantasy games. There's off-titles like Dissidia, Tactics, Mystic Quest, and even threw in Type-0! (A title not available in America... yet.) They even decided to include the Final Fantasy VII movie, Advent Children.
The number of songs in the game? 221! That's nearly THREE TIMES the number of songs on the last game (Looked it up. 77 before DLC.) That's before any kind of DLC or expansions though come into play even, so things are already going super-duper well. I love the vast increase in song number and variety. They really got me with that.
Now what's next... Ah yes, the different gameplay modes (not to be confused with song modes?) available to you have been tweaked a bit. The first game really only had you play the songs, do incredibly difficult arrangements (Dark Notes), and a vague versus mode I never tried. All-in-all, there was a lot to unlock yet not a lot of ways to do them. It was a problem in the first game... partially a problem with this one, but I'll get into it.
The main mode returns but is renamed "Music Stages". You go in, play what songs you want, earn the "Rythmia" points and blah blah blah. That's pretty straightforward here, and it's generally improved (namely because of song selection). If you remember those insanely hard (for me at least) Dark Notes, then you should sigh a relief/be overly excited for Quest Medleys!
Instead of the difficult arrangements and playing two or three in a row, you're thrown into a series of stages where you "fight on the field". It gives a more RPG-style feel where your characters are on a quest to defeat a boss monster and obtain rewards like Crystal Shards. (Unlocks new characters) This was a definite boost to the replayability of the game. This helps unlock the characters faster, and that's good since the number of titles expanded and each title has at least one or two people. Many of the main titles have several characters even! As of right now, I have Zidane, Vivi, and Garnet from Final Fantasy IX. (Hoping there is a fourth but doubt it.) Before any kind of DLC, there are supposed to be SIXTY different characters available!
I could go on and on about Quest Medleys and details thereof, but it'd make this quite a bit longer. Suffice to say, they're better than Dark Notes while still retaining challenge and interest to the game.
The final addition to the game is a revamped Versus Battle mode. I'll be honest... I didn't play much of this in the first one, so I'm not completely sure of the changes, but I can assume they're there. If nothing else, they've offered a way to do Versus Battles by yourself with a Versus AI mode. You battle pre-constructed teams of various characters. There are three ranks to go through, and you earn various collectible cards as you do so.
Another small thing to mention (of so many things), is the included different play styles. On the first game, you could play with the stylus and that was it. With Curtain Call, they've offered a few varying styles. You can now use the Stylus, Buttons, Stylus with Buttons, and a tricky but effective Single Hand mode where you use the control stick with the L button. It's nice to have variety, and I've found myself exploring each mode to find which I'm great with... Turns out it is none of them. (Or so I feel anyways.)
So overall? This game has a dramatic number of improvements! There's sooo much more to do and unlock here, and they made unlocking quicker. You unlock something for every 250 Rhythmia you collect in game. Now, if you play insanely well, you can do this once every two songs. They increased the number of bonuses you can get. This is a definite plus since one of the few problems I had with the first title was simply the number of songs necessary to play and beat to unlock a single thing.
I really only have great things to say about this game. I can't really find anything to truly complain about here. If there was something to say here, they didn't really seem to change up the graphics or looks here. It's pretty much the same game in that regard. If they did polish up character models, I can't tell the difference. Otherwise, there's a lot of repeats here through the various characters and enemy models.
I'm also not super stoked about the amount of DLC already involved. (As of release, there's already like 10+ different items including a new character... I picked up the few free songs and bought the Yuffie character.) The only thing I can say is that the early unlocks seem to REALLY be pushing me towards the newer Final Fantasy titles versus the classics. I'm not sure if this is to get you to play more to unlock the older ones or just purely bad luck on my part. (Sadly, it's most likely the former.) I know the previous game had quite a bit of DLC by the end, but I never touched that feature much. I bought a few but never went overboard.
That's all the bashing I have to say, so I figure it's time to bring this to a close. But should you buy it? To blatantly rip off my previous review, I'll go ahead and go through the same basic questions while adding a new one.
- Do you have a 3DS?
This question of course goes without asking, but I feel it should be asked anyways. I can't say this title is worth BUYING a 3DS over, but it's a nice one if you already own the handheld. - Do you enjoy Final Fantasy?
Again, this is almost redundant since if you are here on this blog AT THIS TIME... You have to enjoy the series at least a little bit. I don't really have anything else here other than Final Fantasy. - Do you like Rhythm-style games?
This is probably the true question to ask here. Because when it comes down to it, you could be a hardcore Final Fantasy fan, but maybe you don't enjoy rhythm games. Maybe you suck at rhythm games. (I'm not great.) If you like rhythm and music, this is up your alley. - Did you buy the first Theatrhythm?
This and the previous question are the only ones I should have asked but whatever. If you bought the first title and enjoyed it at all, this should already be in your 3DS right now. It's a sequel to the first, vast improvements, a huge boost to an already large amount of content, and just more fun fun fun with Final Fantasy music!
Now... Did you answer "Yes" to at least two of the four questions? (Namely the last one.) If so, you should already have gone off to your local store to purchase a copy of the game. Or you can buy it on the Nintendo eShop and download it. I'm cool with that option too.
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call is a sequel to an already great game. It's got plenty of improvements and so much replayability that trying to shake a stick at it all will make your arm fall off. There's enough content to keep you playing until Final Fantasy XV comes out!... Maybe.
And thus ends another Side Post. Hope you enjoyed this humble little review and as always thanks for reading!
~May the Crystals Guide Me~
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