FANTASICA: Bloodlines is the spinoff of FANTASICA -Tower Defense TCG, a wildly popular tower defense game. They share the same world (Bloodlines takes place 400 years after the events of the original FANTASICA game) and a similar focus on collecting and customizing characters, but with some fairly large changes. Bloodlines re-imagines the FANTASICA world as an RPG, to great results.
FANTASICA: Bloodlines is an RPG developed by Silicon Studio, the developers behind Bravely Default and 3D Dot Game Heroes. It takes you on an adventure spanning multiple lands to save your kidnapped sister. The story is mainly told through dialogue between characters, some of which is voiced. For a free-to-play mobile RPG, we're already off to a great start. Some of these voices you might recognize, such as Haruka Tomatsu who voices Asuna in SAO, or Inori Minase who voices Hestia in DanMachi.
A few of the customization and character development options available in the game
Your time with FANTASICA: Bloodlines will largely be spent customizing teams, grinding for gold, and obsessively collecting loot and characters. With at least 120 characters to find (and that's not including all the other collectibles you'll want to get your hands on), the collecting alone is guaranteed to keep you busy for a while.
Progressing through the story, you'll become familiar with a Mario-esque overworld where you can go from level to level with a touch of your finger. The levels themselves play out in two different ways. Either fight your way across side scrolling stages or travel around free-roaming maps and take out randomly spawning enemies to move on.
Volcanic turtles and slime kings; some of the many foes you'll face on your quest
Now, obviously a crucial element of the game is the combat system, and luckily Silicon Studio have decided to keep it simple here. Those familiar with RTS type games will see influences from that genre in how you move and position your party. Either select the entire group, or move individual characters for a more tactical RPG experience. Positioning becomes especially important against tougher enemies, as you'll want your warrior-class characters on the frontlines, soaking up the damage, while support and long-range attackers take up a more tactical position in the back.
In addition to regular attacks, you also have access to something a little more destructive. Once a character is done charging up, it can use a special skill which can wreak havoc on your enemies. These skills, while simple, feel great to execute and add depth to the combat.
The Shadowblaze skill summons the dragon Bahamut to deal massive Umbra damage to enemies
Another important factor to note is game feel. While FANTASICA: Bloodlines isn’t the most tactile experience (simply tapping at the screen serves as an all-in-one gesture for moving, attacking, and selecting) it does make up for this with its large list of features and presentation. From the voice actors, to the storyline, to the robust character roster and weekly event system, it really does create a world that’s worthy of being marketed as a ‘true RPG experience’.
A heart pounding boss encounter
Overall, the game is a blast. It doesn’t try too hard to be something it’s not; a full console experience. It’s well aware of its limits, and still manages to cram an unholy amount of content into such a polished, free-to-play game. Despite the difference in genre, fans of FANTASICA -Tower Defense TCG will find similar concepts in FANTASICA: Bloodlines that hooked them to the original game. For everyone else new to the FANTASICA franchise, this is a game you won’t want to miss.
The game is now available to play on iOS and Android.
