FINAL FANTASY ALL THE BRAVEST Review
PROS
- Homage to the ATB system by placing a timer on just about everything it possibly can have.
- Lots of heroes to unlock.
CONS
- Utterly devoid of gameplay; tapping without any agency over the actions is no better than a toy.
- .... pay. And pay. And pay. And pay. And pay...
VERDICT
Seconds of gameplay, with potentially hours of waiting - this is freemium brought to its horrifying and expensive end point, squandering any potential All The Bravest has.
- Full Review
- App Store Info
Final Fanasy: All The Bravest by Square Enix and Bit Groove is a love letter to the JRPG's use of the classic 'ATB' system of combat by which players must wait until each character has rested long enough before attacking again. There's a giant problem though - the concept has been taken too far and the end result is Square Enix's most self-indulgent experiment in laundering money from its franchise and those who suffer through such 'nostalgic' modern titles.
Once you've selected a battle on the over-world (be it a series of basic creatures or a boss battle), you'll be taken to a familiar battle screen where players must tap their party members to make them atta....
And that's it. You battle; you tap; you watch them die instantly to a single hit; and you repeat. It's whack-a-mole without a soul.
Leveling up will earn you additional slots for your party, resulting in a veritable screen full of heroes attempting to mob the... er... mobs to death. Occasionally you'll unlock a new hero archetype, though players can spend more cash to unlock 'premium' heroes from the various canons of the Final Fantasy lore.
Should your party be depleted before ending a fight you'll have to wait three minutes per hero you want to regenerate. Lets go over that again - if you're fighting a particularly nasty boss with say 20 heroes, that's an HOUR just to continue beating him down and potentially failing yet again. Don't worry though, In-App Purchasing comes to the rescue again as golden time-turners will replenish your party instantly.
That's right, this paid-for game is in fact a freemium title.
Sick of the Final Fantasy 1 world? Just hit up the store, purchase a world ticket and you're off to a new land. All for the cozy price of purchasing the game yet again. To do the exact same thing you're already doing. Again.
Credit to Bit Groove for the stunningly simple and potentially engaging concept, but greed has twisted and stripped out any sense of player agency beyond slapping the screen. For this you must pay. And pay. And pay. And...
Screenshots
FREE
