My Goodbye to Final Fantasy Record Keeper

I’ve spoken about smartphone games a lot recently, mostly because of the release of new Final Fantasy mobile games like Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and Mobius Final Fantasy. My previous smartphone gaming habits involved only one game - Final Fantasy Record Keeper, one of Final Fantasy’s first quality original smartphone games that incorporated familiar RPG and Final Fantasy mechanics into a light experience on the go. I downloaded Record Keeper on the first week of its release so I was able to keep up with its main quests, events and limited edition characters for a good period of time (especially before I dropped my phone two months later). But all good things must come to an end, because recently I’ve stopped playing Final Fantasy Record Keeper completely to the point where I may delete it.

For most smartphone games, deleting one is sadly a mere a necessity most of the time, whether it be for clearing memory or just getting an icon off your home screen. But to be deleting Final Fantasy Record Keeper is a little more to me. Record Keeper happened to be released at a time when I’d just moved overseas and was struggling pretty hard for money and had some time before my new day job started. The TV in my apartment had no HDMI ports, so for gaming I had my PS Vita and my phone. When Record Keeper was released, I needed something to entertain me and had the rare opportunity of having time to get really into it.

All good things must come to an end though When I fatally dropped my phone two months later, since I’d just moved my life over to another city in another country, it took me two months to get the money together to get a new phone. Not having a working smartphone was completely unexpected so I didn't have a chance to backup my save and my multiple Level 50+ characters and all of my event rewards were completely gone. Once I realised what a tragedy this was, I was pretty upset but since I’d started my job at this point, Record Keeper had served its purpose of keeping me entertained and sane when I could’ve just been at home stressing about my budget situation.

Once I got my new phone, I tried really hard to get back into Record Keeper. I wanted to get back up to date with the story and to follow events just like I had before because I still had extremely fond memories of my time with Record Keeper. Now that I was playing with a very different schedule, the commendable constant stream of content that Record Keeper has was too much for me to keep up with. That began my cycle of jumping in and out to collect cool characters and weapons, but never truly catching up with Record Keeper’s content. It’s a great plus that Record Keeper has so much content consistently but for players who weren’t there from the start, the amount of content could also be considered overwhelming. I could never shake the feeling that I’d be doing better if I’d just had those few months without my phone back and it made it hard for me to fully appreciate Record Keeper like I had before.

The last time I touched Final Fantasy Record Keeper was a little over a month ago, just before I downloaded Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. I was in the midst of giving up doing events in Record Keeper so I could catch up on the dauntingly large amount of main quests I'd missed. Events used to be one of my absolute favourite parts of Record Keeper because of the fun collectible characters and more recently the addition of costumes from my favourite Final Fantasy games. However as I mentioned in my impressions for Record Keeper, its story premise is extremely vague and mostly serves as context rather than an actual story. I love JRPG gameplay but by even with the wealth of mechanics and things to do in Record Keeper, the repetitive mechanics weren’t pushing me forward without any story. That's where Final Fantasy Brave Exvius comes in.

If Final Fantasy Brave Exvius was just Final Fantasy Record Keeper with story, I’m pretty sure I'd be into it. The fun banter between Rain and Lasswell would be amusing enough to keep the fun going for a long time (although I can't see either of them having the time to stray from their mission to collect old Final Fantasy characters). But whether intentional or not, Brave Exvius takes the best parts of Record Keeper such as the console Final Fantasy-like turn-based system and the character collection and combines them with a little console Final Fantasy magic of included a larger variety of attacks available and a proper fleshed out story and makes a mobile JRPG that I want to push forward in to level up my characters as much as possible and to learn more about the world of Grandshelt.

I'm not saying anyone has to pick between the two games, but it's what I've done. I get the satisfaction of collecting things from Final Fantasy Brave Exvius along with a story that motivates to keep playing and since I have the advantage of being there from the start of its release, I'll hopefully get to the end of its story soon and will be able to keep up with any updates. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to keep up with a smartphone game as well as I did in my magical first two months with Final Fantasy Record Keeper, but with Brave Exvius I feel like I’m going at a pace I’m happy with and not falling behind.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper meant a great deal to me in a stressful time and I’ll always appreciate it for providing me good free fun when I needed it. It was a simple smartphone game that was my own personal simple slice of fun in a difficult time, but it’s not the only smartphone game in the world and I have to respect what I'm having more fun with at the moment. So for now at least, goodbye to my Mythril and my character collection in Record Keeper and hello to new mobile experiences in interesting worlds in games such as Final Fantasy Brave Exvius.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper and Final Fantasy Brave Exvius are available in both the App Store and the Google Play store.

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Are you still playing Final Fantasy Record Keeper? What's your favourite Final Fantasy smartphone game?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

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Smartphone JRPGs Are Better Than I Thought They Were

Ever since I started playing Final Fantasy Record Keeper last year, I’ve noticed mobile games becoming more and more a standard part of my gaming life. This is somewhat surprising to me, since when I used to bring up the topic of mobile games to my friends, they were regularly talked about as lesser experiences when compared to console games. Despite this, when the port of the original Final Fantasy became my first venture into the world of mobile games, my expectations of them became very high very quickly. I was completely addicted to the old school JRPG and the best part was that it lived in my pocket. As much as I love my portable consoles, there's a lot to be said about having everything on one device, so this Final Fantasy experience carved out the beginning of my enjoyment of smartphone games.

I had paid money to play the original Final Fantasy game on iOS, so when I saw Final Fantasy Record Keeper was free, I was ecstatic. With a majority of my Final Fantasy experiences on consoles, I had always paid for my Final Fantasy games up until that point so I couldn't understand how I was getting Record Keeper for free. The best part was that it was a great game and had hours and hours of gameplay, with more levels being regularly added even now. I thoroughly enjoyed Final Fantasy Record Keeper so much so that I gave it my Game of the Year last year, but there was one thing that the game was missing - story content. The simplified version of Final Fantasy was fun, but it had no chance of fully replacing a console Final Fantasy game. Regardless I played Final Fantasy Record Keeper multiple times a week because of its nostalgia factor, it's fun combat and just how easy it was to jump in and out of during my day.

My mobile game routine has changed a lot recently though. This year has seen the release of three mobile JRPGs I really enjoy - X-Tactics, Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ and Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. While playing these three games, I noticed how whether it was innovative gameplay, great collectibles or finally having some form of story on my phone, there were deeper JRPG experiences available on smartphones, I just hadn’t looked for them yet. And again these experiences are all wonderfully free with optional payments for extras available that don’t interfere with the main gameplay.

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius was released recently and really got me thinking about the quality available in free smartphone games. I’m not that far into the game but already I can fulfill my basic JRPG desires. I can explore towns and areas, complete quests, do boss battles and enjoy an interesting story on my phone. It remembers exactly where I am no matter how suddenly I have to close the app and with levels that are fairly quick, I can get quick satisfaction out of finishing a level during my work day. It has so much content that I can say with confidence if this was a cheap Vita game, I’d probably pay for it yet it’s available for free on my iPhone, regularly updated, made better and only costs me money if I want extra in-game items. I love huge dungeons, quests and levels as much as the next JRPG player, but smartphone games have made me realise there's plenty of fun to be had in small levels too and it's nice to have the option of both types of experiences.

Somehow we live in a time where we’re spoiled as gamers on-the-go. With payment being mostly optional on smartphone games, we’re somehow getting these great smartphone experiences for nothing, which is pretty amazing considering the price of any full-priced console game. They’re not fully at the level of console games since I can’t play any game as modern, elaborate and long as my favourite game Persona 4 Golden on my smartphone yet, but it makes me wonder if there will something like it on my smartphone in the future. For now, I’m glad to be trying out more smartphone games and hope to find more elaborate JRPGs to play on the days I don't pack my 3DS or PS Vita . I’m enjoying the direction smartphone JRPGs are going in and am excited to consider it in the same league as my portable consoles.

All games mentioned in this post are available in both the App Store and the Google Play store.

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What's your favourite smartphone JRPG (Please let me know - I wanna try more)? What are your thoughts on Smartphone games?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

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Make sure to follow the blog here, follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter and Instagram and like JRPG Jungle on Facebook for updates on content and random musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

JRPGs I Played In Winter 2016!

During Winter, appropriate to the indoorsy weather, I played a lot of games. I'm meant to exclusively be playing Persona 3 in order to play it faster, but I got swayed by a lot of cool games. For a start, Final Fantasy Record Keeper got it's hooks in me again, I really wanted to play Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth and I wanted to platinum Final Fantasy X (still going for it!). Persona 3 is long and while it's really good, I wanted to keep trying new stuff. So here's what I played during Winter while I should have been playing just Persona 3. Let me know what you played too!

Persona 3 FES (PS2 Classic)

Status: 50+ hours in and going strong!

I've spent a surprising amount of time grinding and versing bosses, but I'm sure I have a minimum of another 50 more hours in the game because the story is huge! Usually by this point, I know if what I'm playing is a game that's for me and I'm pleased to say that I'm totally enjoying it. The story, albeit a little slow moving, is interesting and the whole concept of the Dark Hour still feels very mysterious. My opinions of the characters keep changing as I play the game, which is keeping my interest. I will say one thing though, although I'm enjoying it, I still haven't gotten completely hooked by the game, which is probably evident in how many games I've played while playing it. I don't want to say too much because I haven't finished the game yet, so I still have hope it'll suck me in like Persona 4 Golden did.

Final Fantasy X HD Remaster (PS Vita)

Status: finished the story, now platinuming

I'm very proud to say that Final Fantasy X is the first game I've completed in Japanese. I know the story really well, so it may not have been as difficult as playing a story that was new to me, but my Japanese reading and listening skills benefited from playing it again and it was really interesting to hear the Japanese voice staff and see the small localisation differences. (I wrote an article about my experience playing the Japanese version if you want to read more about it!)

Now I'm onto focusing on getting the Platinum Trophy for it, which is going to take some time, I know for sure it's going to take probably another 50 hours since I'm 50% in and I haven't done the lightning challenge yet or started cranking the sphere grid yet. But, since it's not my New Years Resolution to Platinum it this time, it's nice to have it as a casual game between JRPGs and it's a fun way to study Japanese.

You can pick up Final Fantasy X HD Remaster from Play-Asia.com!

Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection (PS Vita)

Status: Finished for the second time, considering platinuming it one day.

I really enjoyed playing Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection again! I needed a break from long RPGs and this Neptunia game delivered yet again as a great light game for the weekend. Since it had been a while since playing it for the first time, the story felt fresh again. I had to relearn how to play again, but after 20 in game days (which is probably equivalent to about half an hour of playing), I was right in, remembered my strategies from my first time playing and was laughing at Neptune's witty humour again. You can read my full review here.

You can pick up Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection from Play-Asia!

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (PS4)

Status: 32 hours in and will probably finish it soon (hoping to review it this week or next week if all goes to plan!)

I'm so pleased to say that a PS4 game finally got it's hooks into me. I've had my PS4 since launch and have been a little disappointed that I had nothing that made me keep the console plugged in for more than a few days. Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth both scratches the Digimon game itch I've had (I played Digimon World on PS One a lot as a kid and it was a big favourite of mine) and means I finally have a worthy JRPG I can play on PS4. I intended to only play the game for a week, but I've been so into the monster collecting and case solving that I may as well just finish it this point.

(I kind of want to get all the Digimon too, so I may try to get the platinum trophy for this one too.... :) )

You can pick up Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth at Play-Asia.com!

Final Fantasy Record Keeper (iOS)
Status: Playing the Final Fantasy X Jecht Event

I've found a healthy way to play Record Keeper: events only. As I mentioned recently, I got back into the game during the Rikku event and after remembering how much I enjoyed weapon and character collecting, I decided to stay on, but manage my gaming time better. It's good, casual fun at the moment, although I do wish they added something like Conception II's ability to skip battles where you'll win with one hit, as I find a lot of the initial battles are way too easy if your characters are anywhere higher than 20 and while they're quick, the time could be better spent on the later levels. But anyway, I'm having fun after winning Jecht's bandana and plan to win him and maybe Tidus' memory crystal before this week's event is done.

Spring's Game Plan

Despite getting a 3DS LL for Christmas, I've barely touched it other than to check the eShop and for the occasional Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai 2 song. Once I finish Persona 3, I'd like to either jump into Persona Q or Digimon World ReDigitize: Recode on 3DS and keep my PS4 plugged into the TV for awhile. I also currently have Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls on my Vita, so that's something I'm interested in completing as well. But the main plan for Spring is to play some 3DS, which should be a lot of fun!

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What did you play during Winter? Do you have any gaming plans for Spring?

Leave a comment below or send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Make sure to follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter for updates on content and random, shorter musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

Note: This article does contain affiliate links to Play-Asia to help support this site. You can read our Affiliate Link Policy here.

Six Months Later: Coming Back To Final Fantasy Record Keeper

Last year, I made Final Fantasy Record Keeper my favourite game of the year, simply because I got incredibly addicted to it and a mobile phone game had never had that effect on me. The fact a game I loved playing lived in my pocket at all times was really cool. It was like having a baby Final Fantasy with me at all times and it had enough of it's own deep mechanics to keep me interested for months. It's nostalgic story summaries also pushed me to finally play the classic PS One game Final Fantasy IX, another one of my favourites from last year. I got so into Final Fantasy Record Keeper that I actually banned myself from it, because it was taking time away too much from my real life and I was getting behind on my Japanese study because that's what I usually did on my phone before Record Keeper entered my life and my phone.

I'm back on the Record Keeper bandwagon again, thanks to one of the recent events presenting the opportunity to win one of my favourite Final Fantasy X characters Rikku. What I immediately noticed coming back to Record Keeper was that the interface has been upgraded to be so much simpler but smarter than it was before. There are also a lot of new features, such as Augmentations, Soul Breaks and Shattering Abilities, which make the experience so polished that I'm genuinely impressed at the game's growth while I've been gone. Since all the changes were a bit overwhelmingly different at first, I didn't play it enough to win Rikku in time, but staying in the game has made me see that all these changes have tremendously improved the game's interface and most aspects of playing. If you haven't come back to Final Fantasy Record Keeper for awhile, here's some of what you can enjoy in the game now.

Shattering Abilities and Combining Materials

As a player for a significant amount of time before, a problem I had a lot was having too many weapons or abilities, which mean needing to expand my inventory space often with Mythrils (Record Keeper's alternative currency to real money). The problem also wasn't as simple as just having too much in my inventory, but also having doubles of abilities and weapons too. Doubles of weapons don't serve as such a big issue as they can be combined or used as upgrade materials for weapon upgrades. Double abilities however, especially of lower level abilities, are somewhat useless. They are sellable, but the profit made off them is low. It wasn't a great system, but it wasn't a big issue until I realised how great the new Shattering Abilities mechanic is.

With Shattering Abilities, you can get half the materials that were or would have been used to create the Ability. This is extremely useful, as some five star materials are more difficult to make than others. Not only that, but you can now combine materials to make higher level equipment, making it a little easier to get high level orbs and abilities now. The ability making, inventory and orb collecting situation is at the best place it's ever been and even as a smaller aspect of the game, it's a great change.

Equipment Materials Are Separated From Equipment = More Inventory Space!

Another constant problem with Inventory space was gaining upgrade materials for weapons and armour tended to fill up the inventory very quickly. I'd be doing the daily equipment material dungeons, only to be constantly told my inventory was full. Then I'd have to take a few minutes before entering each dungeon to see what I have doubles of. It was a bit of a chore, unless you have a ridiculous amount of space or were willing to use some Mythrils to get it.

Fear not now though! Upgrade materials seem to count as separate to equipment now. This meant that when I logged in for the first time in ages expecting to be overloaded in my inventory, I had a decent amount of space because my materials weren't there. I've only recently needed to sell or use equipment to enter some dungeons and my inventory fills up much less quickly, a much appreciated change! Also, it's easily to browse when choosing equipment too. It's just better!

Plenty of Rewards, Plenty of Dungeons - Now Well-Organised and Prettier!

So many dungeons have been added to the game and frankly I'm still overwhelmed by the sheer amount I need to tackle. The Realm Menu has added a bar to the bottom where you can tap which dungeon you want, a much more efficient system than just scrolling through. It also lists above each world how many dungeons you've completed and mastered, making it actually possible to keep track of what you need to do without entering each world like you had to before.

Dungeon rewards have also leveled up. You can now win crazy equipment upgrade materials and even some character's Memory Crystals from the Elite Dungeons, along with extra characters being available to win in the Class Dungeons. And this is only in the Realms Section, events are still giving out more and more rare gear as usual.

New and Improved Menus

All of Record Keeper's menus have had a bit of overhaul to be smarter, more efficient and intuitive. Both Event and Realm Dungeons can now be accessed on the same screen. This isn't just any menu though - you can see your pixelated party jump eagerly towards whichever option you choose, which is such a charming addition and makes me grin every time I see it. There's a separate menu for adding and charging party members and what they have equipped, which is so much better than using the old equipment screens that I remember to be separate. Upgrades have their own section to and you can see every kind of possible upgrade on the one screen. I didn't have an issue with the menus previously, but the new ones are perfect to get the player into what they're thinking of doing much faster.

Newcomers Are Well Looked After

Even as a past player, I'm overwhelmed by all of Record Keeper's additions and things to do, let alone gathering equipment, abilities, Gil and leveling my characters for the first time. But Record Keeper knows it's a big, deep game, so it's making Growth Eggs and good equipment available in events regularly and making events cater to both new and old players. There's also mechanics like Roaming Warrior that allow a fellow Record Keeper playing to assist your party with two Soul Break attacks, which I can definitely say has been useful to quickly kill certain bosses and get exp very quickly.

At the moment, on your first Rare Mythril Draw, players can also grab an extra piece of Soul Break Equipment during the One Time Only Beginner's Choice event which is running through September, so I recommend that to anyone who is interested in starting or returning to these.

It's Still Easy To Pay For Free

Yet again, I still haven't spent a single cent on Record Keeper. I probably will to support the game because I like it, but there's still no pressure and no paywall and I respect the upgrades even more because of this. If anything, Mythril is being given out more frequently and with the inventory space fixed up, there's even less reason to pay. Good one, Square and DeNA.

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With the free game being fun half a year on, Final Fantasy Record Keeper is a game still worth playing for those without the time for a story game. It's fun gameplay is still great, but now it's menus and upgrade systems are up to an equally great standard and new features and constant new events keep things fresh for a long time. Just don't get addicted like I did. (Or do. It's pretty fun!)

You can read my original First Impressions of Final Fantasy Record Keeper here and you can purchase Final Fantasy Record Keeper for phones on the App Store for iOS or on the Google Play store for Android users.
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Are you still playing Record Keeper? Which Final Fantasy characters would be in your dream party?

Leave a comment below or send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Make sure to follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter for updates on content and random, shorter musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

My Five Favourite Games I Played in 2015!

Somehow, I managed to play next to no new JRPG releases this year. In some ways, I regret missing new games such as Tales of Zestiria and Sword Art Online: Lost Song. On the other hand, I caught up on some classic games, along with others I'd been curious about (I'm looking at you, Conception II). With this in mind, my list of favourite games this year includes the favourites of what I played this year, regardless of release year. I love these games all for very different reasons and each minute playing them is a fond memory from this year.

With this in mind, I hope you enjoy this list and Merry Christmas dear readers!

5. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (PS3 and Xbox 360)

Persona 4 Arena was fun, but Persona 4 Arena Ultimax's character roster and streamlined story make for a polished and fun experience that made it fly right into being one of my favourite fighting games ever. I never fully the finished story mode of this game (I want to finish Persona 3 before going deeper into it's part of the story), but it was my go to game to play with friends and my boyfriend after a long day of work. With plenty of modes to play, there will always be many reasons to come back to this game.

It's not a JRPG, but fans of either Persona 3 or 4 and fighting games are highly likely to enjoy the game because of the new chapter of the story and the return of many important characters from Persona 4.

You can pick up Persona 4 Arena Ultimax from Play-Asia.com!

4. Persona 4 Dancing All Night (PS Vita)

Persona 4 Dancing All Night is the Persona spin off that shouldn't have worked, but it excels as a rhythm game and has a pretty nice story too. I didn't want to wait for the localisation, so I bought the Japanese version so I'm not as well versed with the story as I'd like to be, however Kanami and Nanako made an adorable duo and the rhythm game portion had me tapping and pushing buttons to trump all my high scores over and over again. I'm excited to put this game in my Vita and try platinum it sometime (91% so far!) and the soundtrack was great enough to make me buy it as a standalone after I'd finished playing it.

I love rhythm games anyway, so this game was easy for me to digest but if you have any love for Persona 4's soundtrack, this game is a must try and as probably the last spin-off of Persona 4 since Persona 5 is coming, it's a fun end to a great series.

You can pick up Persona 4 Dancing All Night from Play-Asia.com!

3. Danganronpa 1 + 2 (PS Vita and PSP)

As a huge fan of deep, JRPG stories, Danganronpa's complex story was more than enough to satisfy me in it's visual novel form. Both the first and second games are full of intricate mysteries, colourful characters and enough game mechanics to make it satisfying for fans of both visual novels and exciting storytelling. Not only does it have a great story, the class trials feel incredibly satisfying with the variety of game mechanics incorporated, making it more than just a visual novel. As a series I had never delved into, Danganronpa has become one of my all time favourites very quickly and I'm very excited for the third installment to hopefully come out next year.

Fans of the mystery aspect of Persona and Phoenix Wright should find many reasons to love this game and I honestly can't recommend it's story enough.

You can pick up Danganronpa 1 and 2 from Play-Asia.com!

2. Final Fantasy IX (PS One Classic for PS3, PS Vita and PSP)

I really want to play all the old Final Fantasy games, especially since I started my journey into Final Fantasy from X meaning that I missed out on the classic Final Fantasy games before it. I began my journey backwards into the series from IX and it was well worth it to find this gem of a Final Fantasy game.

What it lacks in modern day graphics is made up for by a solid story, fun battles, cool equipment mechanics, side quests and beautiful music. The story's strong characters are just as interesting without voice acting - it's hard not to fall in love with characters like Vivi, Zidane, Garnet and even Steiner!

If you missed this one and you're a fan of long, old style JRPGs, go back and play this game because good golly it's worth it!

You can pick up Final Fantasy IX as a PS One Classic from your local PSN store!

1. Final Fantasy Record Keeper (iOS and Android)

Final Fantasy Record Keeper has a special place in my heart this year. Record Keeper came out when I was very, very tight on money after moving and became my addition very quickly because it's free. There's in-game purchase options of course, but it's extremely easy to enjoy the game without spending a cent, like I did for months. Basically a JRPG without the story, Record Keeper's equipment system, perfectly timed new/weekly dungeons and level challenges keep me on the game on the go and in my house. It manages to be both very involved because of it's many systems (and they're only adding more) but also easy enough to pull away and jump back in later. It has a decent nostalgia factor, thanks to the game being filled with the best boss fights, characters and music from the main Final Fantasy series. There's many reasons to love this game if you're a Final Fantasy fan and if you don't have time to play or money to purchase a long JRPG, this is one of the best substitutes out there.

I stopped playing this game only because after four months of playing, it inspired me to go back and try the older Final Fantasy games. It's my top game of the year (although I love the other games on an extremely close level) thanks to it's additive and fun nature, it inspiring me to finally (no pun intended) play older Final Fantasy games again and it being the only mobile game that has ever inspired me enough to put down my consoles for awhile. It doesn't replace a full length JRPG, but it's extremely satisfying on the go!

You can pick up Final Fantasy Record Keeper from the App Store for iPhone users or the Google Play store for Android people!

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What were your five favourite games of the year? Leave a comment below or send @JRPGJungle a tweet and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Make sure to follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter for updates on content and random, shorter musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

Note: This article does contain affiliate links to Play-Asia to help support this site. You can read our Affiliate Link Policy here.

A Bite-Sized Banquet: Final Fantasy Record Keeper (First Impressions)

When hearing about a game trying out to condense what could be called a banquet of 13 console games into a single bite-size experience, I don't think it's strange that my initial impression on Final Fantasy Record Keeper was that it was trying to do too much with a small, handheld experience. This was until it's strategical battles and loot collecting system slyly pulled me into an addictive state and kept me hooked with constant new dungeons to play and it never asking me to pay for the app. Final Fantasy Record Keeper may not be an experience with the same breadth of a console game, but as a sucker for rare collectibles and RPGs battle systems, it's a nice substitute for when I'm on the go at the price I like to pay most - nothing.

Record Keeper begins with what could be described as a throwaway story premise comprised of something about a museum, a Moogle and a boy needing to dungeon crawl to restore said museum in order to save the world (seriously). Despite this, I'm happy to say the game's 8-bit dungeons are not to be tossed aside. As a miniature version of the original Final Fantasy battle system, Record Keeper's battles see your team of five characters taking turns to attack, defend or use one of two abilities to defeat enemies and bosses from previous Final Fantasy games. Partnered with the familiar Active Time Battle system that is featured in some of the main Final Fantasy games (Final Fantasy IX comes to mind), the battle system is easy to understand and each battle is short and sweet, usually lasting just a few minutes. With so few options and easy to use touch screen mechanics, this makes it easy to concentrate on enemy weaknesses and finding the right strategy to win and getting the highest score in each battle. Record Keeper thrives with many different enemies and strategies that are reminiscent of Final Fantasy games of yonder and even if you haven't played every Final Fantasy game, every boss is varied in ways that are fun to figure out for the first time.

Along with working out strategies for unfamiliar bosses, I found it equally as satisfying to recognise enemy strategies being incorporated from some of my favourite Final Fantasy games. When in the Final Fantasy X dungeon Sinspawn began using Demi on my party, I remembered the wasn't going to kill me immediately, but realised that the Sinscales could knock out my party quickly, so I changed my strategy accordingly. Record Keeper rewards players for exploiting the right weaknesses with a rank from 1 to 3 chocobos decided by how well you did in each battle, with 3 chocobos being the best and giving you double experience and better loot so it definitely pays to know how to handle each boss.

With a choice between classic and elite dungeons, even from the initial install, Final Fantasy Record Keeper has enough regular content to keep players busy for awhile. On top of this, there's plenty of replayability to be found in the game's daily and limited weekly events, giving players chances to win hard to find upgrade materials and gil in daily events along with new characters and rare items lurking within the depths of the event dungeons that are usually added on a weekly basis. The best part about these events is that they almost always include different difficulty settings so that all players can find enjoyment in these challenging settings. I found myself striving to finish each weekly dungeon to the highest rating as fast as I could so that I could begin preparing for the next one. The satisfaction of getting new characters and seeing my weapons giving me a totally new edge in battle kept me so busy that the only thing keeping me from spending days on the game and cutting off contact to the outside world was the stamina bar that depletes everytime you enter a dungeon, which I almost become thankful for.

On the topic of the stamina bar, Record Keeper does have in-game purchases in the form of an in-game currency called Gems. These Gems allow you to do things such as recharge your stamina instead of waiting for it to recharge over time, add more item slots to hold weapons and abilities or having a chance at winning a 3-5 star weapon in the Rare Relic Draw. But here's the thing – I never needed any Gems, because the game's alternate currency of Mythrils can be used instead of Gems. Since Mythrils are usually won by completing battles in main and event dungeons, I've never felt the need to buy any Gems and the game has never tried to push their existence upon me. Rather, the game takes an approach I think all games should by letting you enjoy the game to it's full potential, but if you want more chance of getting better equipment and less time waiting for stamina, you have the option to pay. As I've said, I haven't put a single cent into the game, but may do so in the future purely because I like the game so much.

Although it doesn't replace the stories or large immersive worlds that RPGs are known for, Final Fantasy Record Keeper is a free and good alternative for on the go that has a fair payment model along with hours of free gameplay to keep player's of every budget busy for hours. I love opening the app, turning down Record Keeper's soundtrack of original Final Fantasy tracks just low enough so I can hear any podcast I'm listening to while playing a fun miniature dungeon crawler that is strategical enough to keep me logging in daily and trying to get all of the relics for my favourite characters (And goddammit, someday I'll figure out right strategy to take down Forza from the Final Fantasy V dungeon). With a wealth of replayability, bosses, collectibles and dungeon varieties, I'd say Record Keeper is a quality addition to any RPG player's smartphone and a great reminder of the original Final Fantasy games.

Score: 9/10

Honestly, I'd still be playing it instead of writing this review if I hadn't broken my phone last week.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper can be downloaded for free from the App Store if you have an iPhone or iPad or the Google Play store if you are an Android smartphone user. Thanks for reading!
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What did you think of Final Fantasy Record Keeper? Does it make you want to go back the old Final Fantasy games?

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Note: Smartphone games are regularly updated and changed. My opinions about this game are based on the condition of the game at the time this review was released and may not cover any future important changes to the app. Thank you for understanding!