WOTV FFBE - Release Date & First Impressions Gameplay

War of the Visions – Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is a gacha RPG developed by Square Enix & Gumi, and published by Square Enix. It is a continuation of the original FFBE – which is still one of the most popular gacha games around – and rents a lot of its great mechanics, while offering a way more appealing 3D version of the characters and the world.

The game officially released in Japan on November 14, 2019, and finally released globally for EU & NA on March 25, 2020. WOTV FFBE is available to download in both iOS & Android devices.

Without further ado, let’s dive in the game, and see what it has to offer!

Heroes – Can’t Go Wrong With An FF Roster

Detailed Unit Overview, War of the Visions FFBE

As with the rest of Final Fantasy gacha games, the hero roster is comprised from ton of different FF characters from different FF games!

Even if you are not an FF fan, it’s hard to get disappointed at the variety and the quality of each character. It’s also worth noting that the 2D to 3D translations of all characters is just amazing! Most of the time the 3D counterparts look nothing alike, but in WOTV they are extremely accurate.

What’s more, the super in-depth Job System (can’t have FF without jobs right??) will make each hero even more unique, to the point where two units can’t be alike! I don’t know about you, but for me this is an element all gacha games should inherit, since we all love collecting, but we hate collecting trash!

Combat – Deep Turn-Based Tactics

Tactical Combat Overview, War of the Visions FFBE

WOTV’s combat gets the best of both worlds from FF Tactics and the original Final Fantasy Brave Exvius.

It’s turn-based, highly strategical, and… slow! This is what sets it apart from other gacha games though, since most of the times you just fight AFK, and reap the rewards. Of course you can AFK a ton in WOTV too, but the deep combat mechanics mean that you can get much more out of your game by fighting actively, and of course, will make a huge difference in PvP as well.

Apart from the huge array of elements, each job’s intricacies, along with every map’s terrain intricacies (terrain height and navigation play a huge part in battles), there’s just too much going on for each battle, almost giving you a “grand strategy” feel!

Game Modes – Too Many To Count!

Farplane Modes, War of the Visions FFBE

The grind is real in WOTV, you can literally play 24/7 if you want to – and if you are being a bit careful with your Energy.

There are countless daily limited and non-limited modes, as well as non-ending stream of events, that usually provide a ton of different stages and rewards. The progression is very nice as well, you keep unlocking more stuff, while there’s always stages that are just too hard for your current power.

Another amazing feature, is the Multi-Battle. It allows you to enter any Event & Daily mode with a group of other players real-time! Only the leader has to use energy for the stage, so this is a great way to keep grinding during the day – did I mention the loot is better as well?

Way to go WOTV for introducing such great social features! And that extends to the guild system as well, which provides far more interaction for the members than your usual gacha, so props Square Enix! I can also see how Gumi and their Alchemist Code experience helped make this game so great!

Story – Can’t Go Wrong… Oh Wait I Said That Already!

Story Mode, War of the Visions FFBE

If there’s an FF game with a bad story someday… I’m sure that the first one to block its release is Square Enix itself!

So you can rest assured that story is a big part of the game here too, with professional voiceovers everywhere (even the English voiceover is very good), and a nice blend of 2D art storytelling while in a 3D environment.

The story is huge too, and each stage has multiple objectives for you to master, as well as essential loot – from the 1st stage to the last. You can also expect big story additions in the form of events, which did remind me of Epic Seven’s event structure.

P2W? – If You Are Careless… Yes

Paid Packages, War of the Visions FFBE

So… mistakes are not forgiven in WOTV, and it’s hard to avoid them.

You see, the materials you need to strengthen each unit, depend mostly on its element, and the amount of upgrades you can have is enormous. That means that it’s impossible to upgrade two units of the same element at the same time – without spending money.

So you need to be very careful into how you allocate your resources in this game. Hopefully, you have enough time to figure out a unit’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as how much you enjoy using it, before having to spend any resources upgrading it.

The cash shop is very expensive, and there are sadly no good monthly or weekly deals. If you spend, you spend hard, and for me, that’s a bad trait for any game.

It’s a very F2P-friendly game, and that’s great, but it would also be nice if you could get something nice with 10$ per month or similar. Nice things will cost you at least 200$ per month here…