One of the biggest surprises of September's Nintendo Direct was Square Enix's Theatrhythm series' return to consoles! Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is coming to Switch on 16th February 2023, and the company has now shared several gameplay details on its blog, while also unveiling a brand new mode for the game — Series Quests.
Series Quests are the best way to unlock songs and playable characters in the game and, as the name suggests, they'll have you play through songs from multiple games in the Final Fantasy series and "past titles". There are 29 different titles to play through, and you'll need to complete a number of quests.
It won't be just a simple case of beating each song and advancing through a game's map — and we appreciate Square Enix choosing Final Fantasy VI, here — but every song will have a different objective, such as "Defeat 10 Bombs" or survive a stage with a certain amount of health. Every time you clear a song, you'll unlock it in the standard Music Stages mode, and if you unlock a new title, you'll also unlock all associated characters.
Another mode, new to Western audiences at least, is Endless World. First appearing in the Japan-only Theatrhythm Dragon Quest, Endless World is unlocked once you complete a special title, and is a continuous game of "play the music, pray you don't fail" essentially. Songs are chosen randomly, and the difficulty gradually increases. You have to play through each song and complete various quests along the way. And, if you fail three times, it's game over.
Online multiplayer is also returning, and you'll be able to take on others with Multi Battle. Create your own room or join another person's room — or set up a password-protected one to play with your friends. The more successful hits you get, the quicker your Burst Gauge fills, which then will unleash a special attack to hinder your opponents. Fat Chocobo could turn up, Moogle Dance could impede Trigger Marks and notes, and Points Freeze will stop rivals from getting points unless they're pitch-perfect.
There are a ton of returning features coming to Final Bar Line in February — all previous music stages (Battle Music Stages, Field Music Stages, and Event Music Stages) are all coming back, as are the CollectaCards, the Museum, and many returning songs.
The previous Theatrhythm game, All-Star Carnival, was an arcade-only game which never made it to consoles. Before Final Bar Line, the last taste we got of Theatrhythm was Curtain Call on the 3DS. So, given the seven-year gap, there's tons of new music to tap along to. Songs from Final Fantasy VII Remake, many Final Fantasy XIV expansion tracks, Record Keeper, and Mobius, among many other games, arrangements, and new songs.
While the base game will have a whopping 385 songs, that's only the beginning. The Digital Deluxe Edition offers 27 additional songs plus Season Pass 1, taking the total up to 442. Or there's the Premium Digital Deluxe Edition, which takes the total up to 502. All of the Season Passes are composed of packs of songs from other Square Enix games including NieR:Automata and Replicant/Gestalt, SaGa series, Live A Live, and The World Ends With You.
Check out all of your options over on the Nintendo eShop, or for more information on the game, check out the latest Square Enix blog post.
Are you ready for the curtain call on 16th February for Final Bar Line? Keep your eyes on us (and the comments!) and share your thoughts.
[source square-enix-games.com]
Comments 21
Can't wait, easily my most hyped game at the moment. And speaking of Mystic Quest it's been confirmed that that one's getting a few new tracks too in addition of the two battle tracks in the 3DS entry, The awesome Doom Castle theme is in as well as the Final Battle theme.
Getting the digital deluxe and perhaps a physical copy because I love the box art.
They need to make a 3D remake of final fantasy one
Really excited for this!
Will the base game include all the DLC tracks from the previous games in the series?
Will there be a physical copy?
Can't wait for this game!
@Expa0 Now that's music to my ears!
I DO sometimes listen to FF tracks while playing something else, but I feel like this button pressing challenges would just distract me from enjoying the music..
Well, still glad it exists for people who enjoy that stuff and...i can't really demand for them to use their time to make more actual JRPGs since they seem to release 20 a month anyway xD
As of now, my GOTY 2023 unless some major release happens.
I cannot wait to go back to the rhythm goodness.
@McBurn Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call on 3DS has a museum where you can freely listen to the tracks without the gameplay element. I assume this game will also have it!
@JoeyTS : That would actually be interesting for me. Especially since this game will probably be loaded with iconic cutscenes from all the different games to go along with some of the music. Thanks for bringing that up^^
Mythic Quest is a good show if we're naming quest things.
I love FF music and I wish I could get into FF Theatrhythm but I can't for 2 reasons, mainly: I suck at rhythm games and I can't look at the character art of this series for more than 2 seconds without being driven nuts. It's like Final Funko Pop-tasy
Anyone remember the playing the demo for the first game on the 3DS?
I played the ***** outta the original two games on 3DS, but how well will the gameplay really transition to consoles without touchscreen, the one element of the 3DS that made the game actually fun to play?
@Nameless_Shame the Switch has a touchscreen though. Is it confirmed that the game is physical controls only?
@JimiVall the game is getting a physical release but "only" contains the 385 songs as the DLC is being released incrementally.
This is the first game I've preordered since Uncharted Nathan Drake Collection.
@Nameless_Shame Were the touch controls really that good? I never used them during my time in curtain call.
@LemyAtom I am uncertain if it will retain touchscreen support, but if it does, I honestly don’t really play in handheld mode on Switch, and the stylus on the 3DS really felt like the most intuitive way to play the game; I doubt my index finger is dexterous enough on its own to emulate the movements required for the expert level songs, plus I already hate touching the Switch screen because I have terribly oily hands and it’s just the worst.
@alexybubble I’m going to be honest, after seventy hours in the game (though over the course of about eight years), I literally just picked up the game a few moments ago for the first time in a few years to try out button controls for the first time.
It was… doable, especially on the easy and normal levels. But I had a very difficult time adjusting to the expert levels, and I consistently score at least SS rank on most expert songs with the stylus. I suppose since the Switch controller isn’t as delicate as the circle pad on the 3DS, I might fare better without fear of breaking the damn thing.
Time will tell, at least, as I am still pretty interested in this game…
@Nameless_Shame yeah I get you, but you don't need to use your finger as you could use a stylus if it has touch controls. Brain training even came with one for switch.
@LemyAtom Oh, neat, I didn’t know the Switch even supported stylus control. Perhaps if that option is available, I might actually play in handheld mode.
It is kind of funny that it took S-E this long to make a console version of Theatrhym; namely, like six years after the perfect console for that style of gameplay had already been put out to the pasture…
@Nameless_Shame I wasn't aware of the stylus either until that game specifically!
I should've waited until the last minute before buying tons of DLC on the previous game. This could have saved me tons of money.
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