Theatrhythm Final Bar Line Review – Refined Harmony

The Theatrhythm series has been a standout, if criminally underplayed, example of how to both showcase a series’ excellent set of scores while celebrating a prolific franchise’s history. Since the previous entry’s release on 3DS in 2014, Final Fantasy music has evolved thanks to the releases of Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy XIV expansions, remakes, and more. Theatrhythm Final Bar Line folds these additions into a mix of returning classics and lesser-known tunes to create an amazing catalog of songs to play through in the series’ trademark take on the rhythm genre.

It’s still as unique and diverse as it was in 2012 and 2014. Although I do have a few minor issues with the game they seldom get in the way what is important: the gameplay. The new Theatrhythm continues the tradition of surpassing previous series and shows how well celebratory series compilations can be done. 

There’s a lot that’s familiar this time around for returning players. It retains many of the original songs, and the same chibi-art style. It’s a “don’t fix what isn’t broken” situation and one that works. The main difference between the 3DS and Switch is the way you hit the notes. This is due to hardware differences. The 3DS games were more tactile because you’d use the touch screen stylus to tap the notes on screen. Now, you’ll need to hit a note as it scrolls across the screen by pressing a face button, shoulder button, or slashing directionally with an analog stick. 

Admittedly, it’s quite awkward at first and I wasn’t a fan of this necessary format change, in part because the game does little to help you determine a fitting control scheme. Because you can hit most notes with almost any button on the controller, it’s initially hard to keep track of where your hands are and where they should be going when things get hectic. I found a system that I liked after a while, and I was able to implement it myself. Final Bar Line could have given me more guidance, particularly in this genre that assigns specific buttons to certain notes. 

When I found out what works for me and started to sing, it was like a marathon. My old passion of Theatrhythm returned. Selecting one of five party loadouts is the first step to Battle Music Stages as well as Field Music Stages. A loadout may contain four characters from different Final Fantasy games. To create offensively-heavy builds, I loved mixing and matching characters from Final Fantasy XIII (Lightning) and Final Fantasy VII (Cloud). And when boss fights, for example, gave me particular challenges, I equipped magic-focused characters to target the enemy’s weakness alongside more defensive heroes. It’s a new element of strategy that adds a deeper level of engagement for players chasing down the highest possible scores and treasure yield in each stage. 

Series Quests are optional goals attached to every song. This is especially true for those who wanted to achieve them. Completing these quests ranges from defeating challenging boss enemies, necessitating that you hit “critical” notes for the duration of the song, or something as simple as completing a stage with a particular character in the party (usually because that character is attached to the song in some way). You can add an additional level of challenge to these quests if that’s what you desire. They’re also completely optional, meaning if you only want your Final Bar Line experience to consist of playing through some great songs and staying on rhythm while doing so, it can be just that. 

It would be nice if the quests were integrated in the progression. While they aren’t necessary to advance, completing them does come with rewards. Sometimes the rewards are not worth it, such as a potion which I seldom use. Other times, it’s better, such as when you earn a CollectaCard that showcases a key Final Fantasy moment in a trading card style. I found it difficult to commit more than one try because the extra challenges were optional. If I failed a song enough, I’d just move on because there’s no penalty for doing so. Completing the song is all that’s required to advance. 

Final Bar Line has a lot of great features. One of them is the ability to unlock special Event Music Stages. These allow you play through music while the movie trailers play behind it. It’s a nice touch and adds a premium level of quality to the game’s nostalgia factor. This is also helped by the in-game Museum, where you can access your CollectaCards whenever you like. A nice treat was looking at the promotional art for Final Fantasy that I didn’t know existed. Other cards offer a more detailed look at characters and enemies within their chibi designs. It’s a great addition for players looking to 100 percent the game and speaks to the Final Bar Line’s celebratory nature well. 

Outside of the game’s single-player offerings, there are Multi Battles. This allows you to compete against up three players. I loved how it changed up the game’s gameplay. The success of other players triggers effects on your screen, like a “Fat Chocobo” rush that sends a fleet of large Chocobo to your screen, obscuring incoming notes. Some players remove the UI which tells how good you hit a note. This has an incredibly negative impact on my performance. Fake notes are added to my scroll by opponents, which is the most difficult effect. It’s an exciting and stressful way to play through my favorite Theatrhythm songs and a sure way to extend my playtime with the game. You can play tracks after tracks until your HP runs out on the Endless World stage. 

Final Bar Line doesn’t do much to move you through all of this. There’s barely a semblance of a story, and I rolled credits without even realizing I was near the end – I had only completed roughly a third of the 385 tracks. You can earn new Summons, which automatically play during a stage based on your rhythmic action, from other players in Multi Battles, and you can go for high scores by replaying songs, but Final Bar Line doesn’t emphasize why you should be doing this.

Despite that lack of propelling factor, I’m still completely engrossed in this game, playing it during any 15 free minutes I can find throughout my day. Though I’ve technically completed the game, I want to SSS rank all of my favorite songs, dig deeper into the libraries from Final Fantasy games I’m less familiar with, and show off my rhythm prowess against other players. The game is great and has the best music collection of any of the games. Although I wish there was more information on how to proceed I found the music so varied, nostalgic and well-done that it is easy for me to create my own entertainment.