Wednesday 6 June 2018

Final Fantasy XR Ride at Universal Studios Japan

There's quite a few posts dotted around this blog now about stuff at Universal Studios Japan.  I'm not affiliated I swear, they just keep doing video game related stuff and therefore I'm compelled to go and check it out.

Usually I go to USJ for the Halloween events but this time I went out of season to go and check out a limited time Final Fantasy themed roller coaster they had.

The ride has, for now, replaced the Space Fantasy ride and the whole area has been COMPLETELY changed for the event.  As you come into the vicinity of the ride you can hear the series main theme played on the park speakers which does a pretty good job of hyping one up for the upcoming excitement. 

If you had never heard of Space Fantasy before there's almost no way you'd know it even existed in this space before they changed it for this ride, EVERYTHING has been made over. 

For example this used to be a big talking space face that would move around and all sorts of crazy shit and it's been COMPLETELY gutted to make space for this table with Moogles on it decorated with various iconic Final Fantasy weaponry. 

Once inside the ride itself its the usual Space Fantasy coaster but you are given a pair of "Crystal Goggles" so that you can navigate your way to Midgar and get back to an airship that's waiting for you.  Inside the VR you approach a crystal that has a little picture of Midgar on it and straight away some twat punches it and sends you to the Thunder Plains from FFX.  This happens a whole bunch of times and you fly through a bunch of areas from other Final Fantasy games until you land in Midgar and watch Cloud and Sephiroth have an Advent Children fight for a bit.  The ride ends with a bunch of Moogles telling you that you did a great job despite the fact that all you did was sit in a chair and get flung around a steel track.

All in all it was a pretty good experience.  Nothing out of this world but not bad for a bit of fanwank at a theme park.  I actually wanted to ride it a second time but the wait time became pretty massive in the afternoon so I had to skip it.  Also there was merchandise, I bought a water bottle with a chocobo on it that was pretty cool but they were expecting people to pay about £25 for a fucking ball pen which is just retarded.  Unfortunately it's not a permanent thing and Space Fantasy will make its return before too long but I'm sure once the ride is gone you'll be able to find some footage of it on YouTube or something.

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