The developers of Theatrhythm Final Bar Line have weighed in on the series’ future. This could be the end… or perhaps not.
Series director Masanobu Suzui and producer Ichiro Hazama recently spoke with Dengeki Online, and said that Final Bar Line is intended to be the last game in the series. However, Hazama did acknowledge that things may not necessarily end if fans show their interest. It was also shared that Nomura came up with the new for the new title.
I’m interested in the fact that the title has the word ‘Final’ in it. Does that mean it’s the last title in the series? And I’d also like to hear about the meaning behind ‘Final Bar Line’.
Suzui: First, regarding the ‘Final’ part, as you suggested this game will indeed be the last in the Theatrhythm series.
Hazama: We hereby declare ‘Theatrhythm FBL’ will be the last in the series!
Suzui: Right from the start of development, we put everything into this without any sense of regret. If we didn’t finish here, it may end up feeling like a bit of a scam (sarcastic laugh).
Really?! (laughs) However, fans may want the series to continue, and if the fans’ voices are strong enough, perhaps that may happen?
Hazama: That could be so. The continuing of the series was done because of the opinions of the players. So in that sense whether this is the last in the series or not may be dependent on the fans again.
Although I suppose we seem to be determined to make every game the last one. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call was also made with the understanding it would be the last.
And then the ‘Final Bar’ part of the name wasn’t something we made up, but instead is the English for the ‘final line’ in music. It’s two lines written on sheet music at the very end to denote the end of the piece, and the name was given to the game by Tetsuya Nomura.
Suzui: When I was talking with Nomura at the start of production, I remembered he quipped: “Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call was supposed to be the final game, but you’re working on a new one?” (laughs) We spoke many times from there and the ‘final bar’ words were born from me telling him this truly was the last one.
That name was given by Nomura in the early stages of development so we all carried the idea ‘this is the last game’ with us as we worked and made sure to put all our energy into the game. I digress, but the logo for the game even has a ‘final bar’ in it; be sure to check it out.
SpiderPidge on May 15th, 2023 at 12:25 UTC »
Honestly, I wish I had my $100 I spent back. Not only am I never going going to be as good as I am with the other games because pressing one button is not as precise as tapping on a screen, but some of the songs FROM the old games are tied up with buying the deluxe game. Not only that, but the platinum trophy is locked if you don't buy and play all of the songs.
Going back to the gameplay, using your entire wrist strength to press and hold buttons on the 3DS is much more natural and feels so much better. You are just holding a pen and tapping. If you can't press buttons 1000 times a minute you will be stuck on the medium difficulty. And that's just not fun at all after a while when I know I should be on a higher difficulty but can't because I can't press X 100 times in a row super fast.
ALL of the RPG elements are gone, the dungeons are gone, and once you play all of the songs in the single player mode there is nothing left to do except multiplayer.
I was so excited for this game because the 3DS games are some of my favorite games, period, on any system. I have been disappointed for months over it.
Nir91 on May 15th, 2023 at 09:27 UTC »
I enjoyed Final Bar Line but aside from the increased number of songs, it felt like a step back for me. The RPG mechanics, which were already very thin, have been stripped back even more. Unlocking characters is made much less challenging, the combat/item mechanics have been watered down further and there’s no game mode where you can do different packages of songs for different rewards. It’s either you play a series of songs from one game, or pick and choose individual songs to play.
The 3DS one had a fun mode (forgot the name of it) that isn’t in the new version. It’s a shame - up until now the series was riding high for me but I haven’t touched this one anywhere near as much as the 3DS one and I’m probably more inclined to go back and play that version over the new one tbh.
Edit: Can’t forget that they also carved out series staples to sell as DLC. To Zanarkand is an iconic song that’s been in every game from the start - now they decide to sell it separately? That was actually a disgustingly anti-consumer move by them. Particularly because it forced me to buy DLC for songs from games I don’t even like or haven’t played.