crystal-chronicles
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Ring of Cutscenes
The last Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates videos have all focused on gameplay. We were beginning to suspect that the "new Square Enix" had taken hold of DS development as well! What's all this actual footage of the game business? Final Fantasy fans want to be surprised by the real graphics and play of a Final Fantasy game.SE has returned to form with this latest trailer, embedded here and available on the new official North American Ring of Fates website. It hits hard with some very exciting CG cutscenes before getting into a few quick snippets of the real game.
My Trailer as a King
Square Enix may be trying a new approach to game design for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, but they're not deviating from their trailer design templates one bit. The game may not be able to have prerendered CG cutscenes, but it's got story sequences and dialogue. Like every other Square Enix trailer ever, this trailer keeps gameplay a total mystery in favor of (in-engine) cinematics. Oh, and moogles! We like those, especially the rotund little Crystal Chronicles variety. It's very strange to see all the normal Final Fantasy characters -- the white mage and so forth -- appear as support characters for a protagonist who hangs out at home. But we like strange.%Gallery-12067%[Via GoNintendo]
The Old King and the Promised Final Fantasy Villain
After Square Enix's GDC talk about the game, we are now furiously anticipating Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King. Everything from the gameplay to the actual development process of the game seemed experimental, and that is just not done at Square Enix, especially with an important franchise. Plus it looked fun, especially for cheap.The latest screens and art on Famitsu reveal a big, very Final Fantasy (but cuter) villain called the Dark Lord -- a huge dude in armor who wields what looks like an enormous hammer with a sword on the back. Practical! Also shown: the previous king, who was "naughty and rarely king-like." He looks pretty rakish, we think. The people loved him, and now the player has to fill his shoes.%Gallery-12067%
GDC08: Wii Ware FFCC is the beginning of a new Square Enix
While Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King may look like just a slightly strange Final Fantasy spinoff, it's actually a huge departure for Square Enix. This game is a pilot for future projects by the company that are not huge. Producer Toshiro Tsuchida and lead programmer Fushiaki Shiraishi spoke at GDC about the bold new effort of making a non-epic game on Nintendo's download service.On Wii Ware, with limited space, there was no option to use high-quality CG, a Square Enix benchmark. So the game had to be quite different. Shiraishi discussed the small scope of the game: one town, a few villager models, and unseen combat -- all of which are integral now to the game design. The game started from a game design rather than concept art -- another new development for the company. Shiraishi indicated that if concept art had been used, there would have been more of an effort to include everything that was in the art.
GDC08: Square Enix no-comments FFCC Crystal Bearers
Following the presentation about Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, an attendee asked the speakers, producer Toshiro Tsuchida and lead programmer Fumiaki Shiraishi, the question that most Wii Final Fantasy fans have had on their minds: does the new Wii Ware project mean the end of the retail Crystal Chronicles game, The Crystal Bearers?The Square Enix staffers demurred in response to this question, saying only that we should "wait for a press release" to tell us about that situation. Does that mean that The Crystal Bearers is definitely canceled for real? No, just that those two developers wisely didn't want to reveal Square Enix's internal plans. Still, it's not terribly encouraging, given rumors of its shaky status.
GDC08: Fresh screens and a name change for Wii Ware Final Fantasy
As we were combing through Nintendo's GDC press kit site, we noticed something very odd about Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Young King and the Promised Land. You see, the game is instead listed as Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King. Turns out, that rumor was true.Nothing all too new was available at the press site, save for some new screens from the game. You can check them out in our gallery below.%Gallery-12067%
DS Daily: Such a Square (Enix)
There's a lot of potential Square Enix on the horizon. Between The World Ends with You, Final Fantasy remakes, Dragon Quest remakes, new Dragon Quests, Border of Madness, Final Fantasy Tactis A2, and Crystal Chronicles, that's quite a lot of DS love. Oh, and let's not forget Kingdom Hearts. So, are you a Square Enix fan? If so, what game are you most hoping for or looking forward to? See also: 2008's Biggest Blips -- Final Fantasy IV -- The World Ends with You -- Final Fantasy Tactics A2
New Square Enix trademark application could be Wii Ware Crystal Chronicles
Square Enix has filed two new trademark applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, for the titles Sigma Harmonics and My Life as a King. We have no idea what Sigma Harmonics could be, but it certainly doesn't seem to fit with any of Square Enix's Wii games -- it's probably not Chocobo's Dungeon, for example. But My Life as a King is a pretty good subtitle for the Wii Ware game known in Japan as Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Young King and the Promised Land. We wouldn't mind the change: The Young King and the Promised Land is a mouthful, and a keyboardful as well. Speaking of ... that game, there are some new screens at Famitsu, along with some more lovely concept art. %Gallery-12067%[Via Kotaku]
Wii Warm Up: Wii Ware progress report
Even though no one outside of Japan knows when to expect Wii Ware, the game service has had quite a few interesting titles announced for it. But, what game or games are you most excited about?Let's give it a little rundown, shall we? We have a pretty looking spin-off from Square-Enix, a few possible adventure titles, a platformer, some puzzle games (including a beloved classic), a unique butterfly simulation, something currently called Project Bang! -- oh, and then there's the one with the Pokemon. We haven't even mentioned the slew of others that came with Wii Ware's original announcement, and then there may even be some that we've forgotten.We know you have to be at least a little bit excited for Wii Ware. So, tell us -- which games most strike your fancy?
Ring of anti-fox violence
Okay, we might be a little too sensitive, but is anyone else creeped out by this clip of brutal fox-bashing in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates? We're used to playing action RPGs, so we're not surprised by the constant bludgeoning of small animals for gold and experience. But the animals are usually fighting, or at least fighting back. And the player character usually isn't a toddler.We can pinpoint the exact moment that this gameplay video gave us the jibblies: when the player picked up one of the creatures, stacked it on top of another, then jumped on top of the once-frolicking baby foxes and proceeded to hack at them.
Square Enix announces PAL date for Ring of Fates
Last week, we clambered onto our soapboxes to rant about the ridonkulous delay between the U.S. and European release of Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker. "No more, Square Enix!" we cried, shaking our fists and jabbing our rusty pitchforks skywards. "No more neglecting Europe!"Despite the fact that we did this while at our desk in another country with nobody else in the room, Square Enix seems to have listened. The company just announced a PAL date for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, and it's not in 2013 or anything. It's on March 21st THIS YEAR, just ten days after the U.S. release. Square Enix had promised a spring release for PAL gamers all along, but we had no idea whether it would hold, much less that it would be so close to the North American release. Oh, happy days!%Gallery-3462%[Via press release]
The Young King goes to school, learns magic
Five fresh screens of Square Enix's quirky country-building sim Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Young King and the Promised Land appeared on Famitsu today, though there is little that is particularly new to be found in these.What is new, and thus of greater interest to us, is some of the artwork that accompanied them. This depicts the game's Black Mages and White Mages, and also two more of the buildings we'll be able to construct in the game: a Black Magic School (as pictured to the right) and a Law Institute, where White Mages can gather to learn the tricks of the trade.Yell "Abracadabra" and whoosh past the break for the rest of the screens and artwork.
Yet more FFCC: The Young King and the Promised Land screens
Following on from this morning's Jump Festa trailer, GAME Watch has posted a bevy of new Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Young King and the Promised Land screenshots.If you've already familiarized yourself with the game's wide-eyed, button-nosed cast, there's little new to be found in this latest batch, though we do get our first look at one of the game's classes ("Warrior") and two of the buildings that will be available for construction ("Small House" and "Weapons Shop"). Needless to say, this first glimpse of the game's town-building elements has ramped up our excitement considerably for the game's release.Go past the break for a further eight screens, or hit GAME Watch at the link below for the full selection. %Gallery-12067%
The Young King and the Jump Festa Trailer
Square Enix released a lengthy trailer for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Young King and the Promised Land today, for the few of us who didn't attend Jump Festa 2008. And it looks great. Suspiciously great, for a downloadable game.We know in our heads that this is a strategy/town-building kind of thing, but the trailer is so old-school Final Fantasy that we can't help but get nostalgic about fighting Imps. It's got crystals, airships, moogles, and chibi protagonists -- how much more pre-FF7 Final Fantasy can you get? Now we're thinking that if this game can transfer the goofy, adventurous feeling of early Fantasy into a new genre, it will be a major success on Square Enix's part. We'd certainly take experimental Wii Ware games over Final Fantasy VII spinoffs.[Via Dengeki]
Streaming Ring of Fates video returns ... in English!
Remember back in June when we had a new video every week for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates leading up to its launch in Japan? Well, with the cooperative ARPG's North American release imminent (March 11, 2008), Square Enix has set up a developer blog similar to the Japanese one we ripped wholesale for its movie updates, except in our barbaric language.The latest multimedia update on the site has a localized version of the game's opening cutscene many of you have only seen in Japanese, complete with English voice overs! The script isn't as sophisticated as we would like, and the voice acting is far from stellar, but, uh, at least we can understand it all now!
New shots from The Young King and the Promised Land
The site for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Young King and the Promised Land seems to be doing frequent updates -- possibly every day, but we'll see how long that lasts -- and that means we've got new and tiny screenshots of the Wii Ware title that you can find in our gallery below. And speaking of titles, that one ain't getting any shorter. Geez. In other news, there was a rumor in the recent issue of EGM about the fate of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers, and it's sadly looking like there might be some truth to the notion that the game is "in trouble." There's a button on The Young King's site that leads to Ring of Fates news, but nothing about that other, lost title. We're sad. Mark us down as sad, like pandas what are sad. At least we have all this other Final Fantasy goodness to tide us over.%Gallery-12067%
Release schedule announced for Ring of Fates, The World Ends With You
Square Enix unveiled its release strategy for early 2008 today, keeping its games on our minds and reminding us to plan our spring budgets accordingly. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, the four-player co-op ARPG, ships out to North American stores on March 11, 2008, almost seven months since its debut in Japan. With that long of a delay, we're hoping for some added content with the US release (e.g. online features with more depth than moogle-trading).As for The World Ends With You (a.k.a. It's a Wonderful World, Subarashiki Kono Sekai), Square Enix plans to bring the stylized romp through Tokyo's Shibuya district stateside around "spring 2008." You can check out screenshots and artwork for both games in the galleries we've dropped below. Still missing from Square Enix's schedule: Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift, Dragon Quest IV, and Dragon Quest IX.%Gallery-3462%%Gallery-11943%[Via Press Release]
Chronicling the Young King and the Promised Land with goodies galore
Another trailer has popped up for (deep breath) Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Young King and the Promised Land, which introduces two of game's main characters. Aside from that (and some pretty Wii Ware graphics), though, this true-to-form Square Enix trailer doesn't really show us much in terms of gameplay. Still, the mystery of it all is enough to make us want it, and we're really looking forward to the coming of Wii Ware ... since, you know, we hate money and want to get rid of it as fast as possible.Also, the game has stopped bumming off the offical Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles website, as its own official site launched this week. You can check it out here, if you feel so inclined.If that's not enough to quell your burning desire for Promised Land goodness (insatiable pigs, the lot of you), check after the break for some Famitsu scans.
FFCC: The Little King and the Promised Screenshots
In these latest screens of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Little King and the Promised Land, we can begin to see some hints of gameplay. Like King Story, the game involves building up a town using earned crystals. The crystals allow you to build different kinds of structures, like residences or weapon shops, that can increase different attributes of the town.There are dungeons, but because young King Leo is too little a king for fighting, you choose parties of adventurers to explore them. It is unlikely that you as the player take part in this dungeon exploration, instead receiving treasure on a scale based on the attributes of the party.It sounds like people expecting an action RPG like the first Crystal Chronicles game may be in for a disappointment when the game launches in March; however, if you're looking for something on the order of MySims with a coat of Final Fantasy paint, this might be worth your time. If it takes a Crystal Chronicles-style, uncomplicated approach to resource management and town-building, we may be up for it.
Final Fantasy hits Wii Ware in Japan March 2008
With the revelation of a new Final Fantasy title hitting Wii Ware, we here at Wii Fanboy found ourselves so excited that ... well, embarrassment be damned, we peed in our pants a little. What, like you haven't ever been that excited in your life? Well, aren't you just so perfect.Anyway, some new details have hit regarding the game. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Little King and the Promise Country (now that's a title!) will be releasing to the Japanese public in March next year, costing 1500 Wii Points. The game will also take place after the GameCube title, with players taking over the role of the Little King, a Clavat-race character by the name of Leo.1500 Wii Points is a better price than we thought the game would cost, to be honest.
