Sora96's THEATRHYTHM FINAL FANTASY CURTAIN CALL Review

[Sora96 17,256]

THEATRHYTHM FINAL FANTASY CURTAIN CALL is the latest spin-off game of the FINAL FANTASY series for the Nintendo 3DS and is the sequel to 2012's THEATRHYTHM FINAL FANTASY also for the Nintendo 3DS. It's an improvement over the original in pretty much every way. There's over 200 songs and 60 playable characters from throughout the series and now includes the various sequels, prequels and spin-offs with even more available via DLC now and into the future. It's also the first FINAL FANTASY game to be available digitally on a Nintendo platform.

 

It's easy to get into, as you select your party (mine was Yuna (X-2), Tidus, Tifa (Advent Children) and Lightning (LIGHTNING RETURNS) and then can select a track to play. After you complete four tracks you unlock nearly the entire catalogue of songs. As you complete more songs you unlock more game modes including Quest Medleys and Versus Mode.

 

The gameplay is pretty much the same as the first game, so if you didn't like the first game's gameplay this won't change your mind. I enjoyed the gameplay however, and had a lot of fun at times. However I feel the difficulty across various songs is too inconsistent. There is three difficulty settings to play around with however. If you played the demo be prepared for a difficulty spike, they seem to have made the demo a lot easier than the actual game.

 

Quest Medleys has four lengths and a ton of maps for each, and after each one you play you unlock another map. I've barely scratched the surface of how many maps there are. Unfortunately there isn't much reason to play these. By completing one you unlock yet another map and get crystals from defeating the map's boss which usually allows you to unlock another character to add to your roster. However you can still unlock characters just be getting crystals one by one at random from completing songs. The songs might be randomized but I found myself getting the same songs a lot of the time. And the maps aren't anything interesting either, it adds a little challenge to it and requires you to customize your party a little but it's nothing to get too excited about.

 

Versus Mode includes the options of facing people in battles online via random people or via your friends list, local battles and against Al. Versus Mode spices it up and allows you to interfere with how the opponent your facing is faring and lower their score and deal damage. It proves enjoyable and a good way to change it up a bit. However finding random people online to face isn't fun, you might have trouble getting into a battle with someone due to the other player not committing to a battle. You're honestly better off just facing a friend online or locally.

 

There's also plenty of bonus content including a music player, video player and cards. You can also change various sound effects and chimes. There's also artwork apparently but I couldn't find where. Haha.

 

There's tons of hours of gameplay in this game but unfortunately it's not worth it unless you love playing each song.

 

THEATRHYTHM FINAL FANTASY CURTAIN CALL is a very good game and does what it's supposed to do very well but if you don't love playing the songs there's little reason to play it for too long.

 

8/10

[Kodakliv 558]

Nice review Sora! Sadly I don't plan on getting the game just cause my money can go towards better games

Edited September 21, 2014 by Kodakliv

[KH4Real 749]

Latest spin-off don't you mean of the theatrhythm series? Cause we get Explorers unless it isn't exclusive to new 3ds.

[SmashLegendRiku 97]

I have two pressing questions:

 

1. So how frequently do you unlock characters? The main reason I stopped playing the first Theatrhythm was because I got an S on every song and on every difficulty, but still had at least 10 characters to unlock, which would've had me play the game almost three more times to get them all. -_- 

 

2. Is it possible to transfer song DLC to Curtain Call from the first Theatrhythm?

[Sora96 17,256]

Latest spin-off don't you mean of the theatrhythm series? Cause we get Explorers unless it isn't exclusive to new 3ds.

 

No, it is the latest spin-off. It was only just released. Explorers won't be out for months and the English version won't be until next year. And no it's not exclusive to the New 3DS. They had it playable at TGS using the normal 3DS.

 

 

I have two pressing questions:

 

1. So how frequently do you unlock characters? The main reason I stopped playing the first Theatrhythm was because I got an S on every song and on every difficulty, but still had at least 10 characters to unlock, which would've had me play the game almost three more times to get them all. -_- 

 

2. Is it possible to transfer song DLC to Curtain Call from the first Theatrhythm?

 

Completing Quest Medleys is the easiest way. So quickly.

 

No, but all the DLC songs from the original are already in the game I believe.

[Cucco 1,907]

I'm loving it. I'd give it an 8.5/10

It's not perfect, but it has a lot more songs than the last game, and they didn't make all of the good ones DLC this time.

[Hero of Winds 2,576]

I'm giving it a 9/10. Curtain Call is just too fun to pass up. I even got the new Cooking Mama game the same day, but I can't put Curtain Call down to play my other titles. The only thing that's terrible about it is the tremendous jump in difficulty when you want to play Ultimate. The online plays smoothly and the Quest Medleys are quite fun. The Proficards StreetPass feature can be used with other online users, so you can trade Proficards that way too, which is great, as it helps build a nice collection of Quests better than the SP feature itself. I'm also a bit disappointed that the AC version of One-Winged Angel is an EMS (which I must say that I completely dislike every EMS). I also dislike the Airship FMS. 

None of this really damages the rating of the game as they're just my little nitpicks.

I never played the first Theatrhythm so I'm not so sure if the LVL Reset was in it, but being able to build my CP up with their form of a Prestige System is awesome. It really helps, especially if you're gonna run with Chaos on your team with Ultima and Meteor costing around 30 CP each. And those are just LVL 1 moves. I'm working on getting Y'shtola to use Cleric Stance and her high level moves altogether. 

[Philip Ellwell 5,487]

Spin off is still spin off: The first one is a good time waster, but very pointless, in my easily ignored opinion. 

A second game won't really help that. 

Not even a KH instalment would really save it, though it'd be interesting simply for the song selection. 

[Sora96 17,256]

Increased from 7 to 8.