Flowing to the Theatrhythm

Matching touchscreen taps to the beat of Final Fantasy music is Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy's game. It took me 5 hours and 41 minutes to defeat Chaos and unlock the staff credits. I played the game more and am currently clocked at 22 hours and 34 minutes. I don't think I have unlocked all the songs.

The most crucial elements of a rhythm game are its music, controls, and note patterns. The music from Final Fantasy games are some of the best around and often have wonderful melodies. Theatrhythm's is controlled entirely from the touchscreen (except for pressing the Start button to pause a session) and it works well. However, the slide note type requires to drag the stylus in a specific direction and I've found the detection for slide notes to be frustrating. As for the note patterns, they are mostly fine. There are times in the Chaos Shrine, the game's randomized mode, where the note patterns switch between different sets of instruments. Not knowing what instruments I should be listening to to follow the note pattern happens often enough to be another source of frustration with the game.

Adding to the wonderful music is the leveling and equipment systems. Leveling up and equipping different Final Fantasy characters to be more capable in tougher and faster songs and note patterns is a lot of fun.

Despite my frustrations with specific aspects of the game, I am having a lot of fun playing the game and unlocking content. A sequel, Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy - Curtain Call, has been announced recently and I'm excited for it.