Though the diminutive hero has long been the posterchild for adorable RPG sidekicks and, consequently, heaps upon heaps of merchandise, the latest outing of the fluffy yellow steed is still a toughie. Of the same stock as the barely-graphical DOS games of yore, Diablo, and the unrelated-but-similar Mystery Dungeon titles, Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon has, despite a surtitle fit for a bedtime story, the pedigree for pain.

Even with a side venture like this, and one that embraces the younger set, Square Enix still spins a thick and colourful yarn. The Learning Dungeon introduces Cid’s ongoing quest for an artifact modestly called Timeless Power, and from that point on, Chocobo’s Dungeon centres on primordial themes: once you arrive in the town of Lostime, where the tolling of a clocktower bell erases people’s memories, the value of memories becomes the central subject. The 20 main dungeons take players into psycho-analytical territory–quite literally, as using some manner of psycho-active brooch, you teleport into forgetful folks’ heads to restore their lost knowledge. It’s in these dungeons that players will meet several unhappy endings without the proper prudence, and an ample stock of escape items.

Here we have turn-based adventure that doesn’t operate on random encounters, but rather, where your every action sees the enemy take one of their own. In the randomly-generated dungeons, you’ll not only find obvious treasure (and less obvious traps) as you move along, but you’ll cause any enemies on your floor, whether onscreen or not, to take their turns–and if you’re close enough, this might mean a smack in the backside. Yeah, you’ll be minding your own business, eating some of Gysahl Greens (because Chocobo gets hungry, too) and equipping your newest Saddle, cause you figure no one is around–when, way off in the distance, a Flying Eye or Turtle Shade wakes up and promptly seeks you out for Wing Night. In the towns, you’re a free-range Chocobo, permitted to shop, talk, bank, and walk as you please. No one is counting your moves out there.

The production values on this little number are still Square Enix values, and as such, all kinds of talent went into the audio-visual components. Resounding performances of Final Fantasy pieces, from #1’s town theme to Setzer’s theme from VI, rear their orchestrated heads with regularity, and the super-emotive voice acting is perfectly pro. The FMV sequences have all the fluidity and detail possible on the Wii–which still means a lot of flowing hair and flawless complexions–and the in-game models are all crisp, inspired, and/or cute. Only downside is the jaggedness around the edges and some dullness in the colour palette.

I <3 Chocobo and you should too.

Some generations have their Great Depressions, their Grassy Knolls, or their Great Wars… … well, ours has Final Fantasy. The 1991 classic Final Fantasy IV, notorious for Cecil, Rosa, and the Spoony Bard line, has just been retooled for the Nintendo DS. Even if you’ve seen it every one of the 20 times it was reiterated–from SNES to PS1 to GBA and back to PS1 again–you haven’t seen it quite like this before. Even if you’ve seen the recent remake of FFIII on DS, you STILL haven’t seen it like this before. It may appear from the CG intro and general polygonality that Square has settled on a new engine into which to pump all FF’s till the end of time, but no: Final Fantasy IV is enhanced by voice-acted cut scenes, rebalanced abilities, the option to equip the essences of your departed party members to existing ones, auto-battle, and–in a natural move for a DS game–multiplayer.

You know whether you’ve liked FFIV before, but you may never really know until you try the definitive version. At least that’s what Square Enix is telling me… oh come on. If you don’t play it, where are you going to say you were when FFIV came out?

Now leaving Corn Central Station. Next stop in all the FF brand’s unchecked
diversification: four-player support. Which of Square’s caravans was ever built for four, you ask? Why, Crystal Chronicles–if you count its real-time combat, low-direction delivery, and script-free adventuring scenarios as authentic to the vision of FF, that is.

As part of a series whose image is chameleonic at best, anyway, Crystal Chronicles kind of fits right in. Sort of. Maybe? Well, as a standalone experience, it’s got the same qualities that endear FF to the hearts of so many: visual splendor, auditory bliss, a cast cuter than a Moogle’s button nose… but I digress. Your party sets out in a caravan to recoup a cup-full of Myrrh, the lifeblood that wards your town against the Miasma of your sickly planet for a couple more years. Every path leads to this ultimate goal, on a road fraught with the perils of puzzles, monsters, familiar bosses, and the co-operative hand-offs of the Chalice. Trust me, distributing the task of carrying the thing between four people can be the deadliest prospect of all–you really have to co-operate.

The lure here is the use of the Game Boy Advance as the main input and interface device. It frees up the screen of maps, menus, and most textual display, and creates a feeling of personal ownership, like peering into the pack you would carry on such a quest. It also means you’re required to own the portable in order to play, but you can, naturally, also find just such a portable here… but that’s another post for another day.

To show that I don’t have some problem with all things mainstream, and because, despite all contrary appearances, I really don’t want to alienate everybody, here’s an already rabidly-popular game that I can get behind. Actually… in trying to vindicate this blog, I still manage to pick one of (if not the least) rabid-making Final Fantasy of them all: IX. At the close of the PS1’s life, it rewound the clock on the over-sexed, under-cerebral prior two instalments to the glory days of big-eyed, small-mouthed FANTASY worlds and characters. That divided opinion and displeased some fans–but not all of them. FFIX fans, you ARE somebody!

Something a spiritual sequel to the NES forefather of them all, FFIX took the best of the old and the new and made one of the biggest, happening-est and most technical-merit-filled games on the system. It’s a real joy to attend this throwback school of lovable characters, magical imagination and upbeat storytelling. It’s Final Fantasy the way it used to–and but for popular opinion, should still–be, but don’t just take my word for it, or use it against trying it. FFIX should be the counterweight in your own gauge of all the offerings that have come since.

In their rush to make it big first on the new hardware, a lot of the preponderance of early PS2 RPGs received some harsh critical panning. Shadow Hearts was not surprisingly among them–it showed hastily-drawn development lines around its every component, it had weak-to-crippling voice talent, and it barely eked past PS1 levels graphically-speaking. A sequel to Koudelka, a short PS1 RPG that had some reviewer difficulties of its own, Shadow Hearts may have seemed an unlikely candidate for a further sequel… but not to me.

I really enjoyed Shadow Hearts’ thematically-mature story of necromantic, murderous intrigue and dark contracts with destiny, despite all its less desirable qualities. When Aruze realized it had done something good, but just good enough, the idea clicked to work harder on the sequel, and Shadow Hearts: Covenant leaped and bounded past the previous production in all its values. Fully-voiced cutscenes with people who actually tried, seriously upgraded visuals that ditched the single-screen prerendered look for giant Christo-European locales, and an opening movie that kicks the crap out of everything edgey and angsty that Final Fantasy ever tried: this is what makes a Covenant. This is what makes you want to join it.

Talking about Panzer Dragoon two posts back brought to mind a game that bears it little-to-no resemblance, but whose similar title drew me to it. Every so often here on the site there surfaces a copy of this, one of the last, and arguably one of the most enjoyable, PS1 RPGs, at a startingly low price. Yes, I DO mean the Legend of Dragoon. I know there is a contingent of sympathizers out there that appreciates LoD’s diamond-in-the-rough qualities, but (deep breath) I’m already bracing for the flack that will be duly bestowed me for making such a statement of a game on a system where the well-established progeny of Final Fantasy reigned supreme.

Okay, that takes care of the acknowledgments, now on to why this is being featured: Legend of Dragoon has a keen gimmick that was largely responsible for affecting the sweeping changes to the turn-based battling mechanic as seen on PS2–timed attacks. RPGs had done this as early as the SNES days, but LoD differs in that every physical attack, from the most basic two-hit combo to upwards of an 8-hit barrage, requires flawless rhythmic accuracy to land successfully, and hence too every battle to win. Nothing keeps you better pumped for the duration of the requisite two-hour boss fights that plague this genre than LoD’s timed attacks, and possibly the oddly shredding soundtrack. Just look at the Shadow Hearts series for an indication that LoD turned some heads (hmm… make next post on that).

Also notable for some of the best prerendered backgrounds on the system and very pretty battle effects, LoD still looks decent today, even if the engine often shows its seams. Story-wise, even if the translation hurts at first, there’s a lot of good plot development in this and a surprising maturation of dialogue and purpose (just get past disc 1). Random fact: My favourite character is King Albert, the Fighting King. I almost never have favourites anymore.

With all the talk of voting coming out of the States, I’m glad to see another good decision made for the Highest Rated product here on the site. This vote may only pertain to a video game, and said video game may hinge its artistic value on squishing Disney productions and Final Fantasy characters into one whacked-out storyline, but sound judgment is sound judgment.

Some people formed another opinion, avoided the earnest little Action-RPG in 2002, and continued to disrespect our candidate, Kingdom Hearts. To those people, I say you’re right–but ONLY about the second game. The original, conceived in a Japan elevator by two spontaneous company reps–one Square, one Disney, and ostensibly sans alcohol–wasn’t slated for great success, but did achieve it. People opened their hearts, took up an oversized keyblade, smashed the tar out of Sephiroth right alongside Captain Hook and summoned Simba instead of Shiva, all without a second thought.

An island youth named Sora rose to fame as he discovered, and we rediscovered, the worlds of the anthropomorphic animals we all know and love. You can sense a childlike sincerity, a candor about this game that says, “Please like me–and for crying out loud, don’t take me that seriously”, but that was forgotten by the sequel. Still, the first really, really makes you feel like you’re in a World of Magic. Good voting, guys, and maybe KHIII will be better.