There are times when World of Final Fantasy does nothing but annoy you. Its visuals are so saccharine you can practically feel your teeth decaying and your brain melting as you play; the voice acting is performed at a pitch only dogs can hear; and the fan service is so heavy handed that it frequently undermines the awkward story the tries to tell. And yet, for some reason, it’s hard not to love the darn thing.

Admittedly, there’s a certain element of nostalgia attached to World of Final Fantasy, the way in which it revives series tropes almost verbatim and combines them with a classic cast of characters (look, there’s Squall! And Celes! And Cloud!). But it’s been done with skill and elegance. Once you’ve plugged your ears and resorted to subtitles, the characters quickly grow on you, and the rampant pace with which the (admittedly shallow) plot progresses means you’re never stuck for places to explore and events to uncover. This is Final Fantasy boiled down to its core components with a touch of Pokémon thrown in for good measure—and it works beautifully.

World of Final Fantasy revolves around capturing “Mirages,” beasts that roam the wild in packs or as individuals. Taking on the role of twin siblings Lann and Reynn, you catch Mirages by weakening them in battles and trapping them in Prisms (which are definitely not Pokéballs, no siree), after which they become tame and can be used to fight alongside you. Used often enough in battle, the Mirages’ skills and experience is accumulated so that the they can “Transfigure” into bigger, stronger editions of themselves.

Capturing Mirages is combined with the usual dungeon crawling, item harvesting, talking to NPCs, exploration of towns and villages on a pseudo open-world map, and a turn-based battle system (Active Time Battle) full of glorious menus that will be familiar to anyone that’s played a pre-PlayStation 2 Final Fantasy game. As a result, playing World of Final Fantasy for anyone old enough to know who Terra or Tifa are is a pure nostalgia trip. There’s nothing particularly new or exciting, but World of Final Fantasy does an excellent job of blending proven concepts into a cohesive whole.