In case you haven’t heard, Final Fantasy Dimensions is a retro-styled 2D RPG for the iOS, and it’s re-release on iOS is part of Square’s celebration of FF’s big 25th anniversary. It’s strange that Square would chose to celebrate Final Fantasy’s birthday on a cell phone and not a dedicated gaming console, but what’s even stranger is what Square is charging for the game.
According to Siliconera, the game’s pricing is as follows:
- Prologue – Free
- Chapter 1 – $2.99 / £1.99 / €2.39
- Chapters 2-4 – $9.99 / £6.99 / €7.99
- Entire game – $28.99 / £19.99 / €22.99
Basically, if you want all of Dimensions, you’ll have to pay $30 — which is about what you’d pay for a DS game nowadays, but it’s also substantially higher than what most iOS games — even the fully featured, non-shovelware ones like Infinity Blade — go for. Then again, Square always prices their iOS selections pretty high, as both the iOS ports of Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy 3 cost $16, a couple of dollar more than what physical copies of those games for PSP or DS go for. Square’s pricing strategy sounds crazy to me, but hey, if they keep doing it that must mean there are people out there crazy enough to pay these prices.
With that said, Final Fantasy Dimensions does look pretty interesting. The game was originally released for Japanese cell phones in 2010, but this iOS port marks the first time that the game will be available in English. Like FFV, the game lets players freely switch character classes, and the game was produced by one of Chrono Trigger’s directors, Takashi Tokita (who is also notable for his work on Parasite Eve and Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light.)
Source: Siliconera
