Chocobo Tales Review (DS)
My Impressions
I love Final Fantasy. This means that when something is associated with Final Fantasy I perk up and listen – that’s great marketing at work! Yes, I am brainwashed by the Final Fantasy MAN! (Or they just make great games….not quite as dramatic as brainwashing though.)
Now that hasn’t always worked out for me. Some products end up being duds (~cough~ FFX ~cough~) but usually I like what I get. That’s why, when I saw Chocobo tales it was almost an automatic decision that I should get it.
This game is cute; I mean cotton candy – baby seal – puppy dog – kitty cat cute. That’s not so unusual for Final Fantasy, but this game has all the cuteness without the underlying darkness that is present in most Final Fantasy titles.
It recently occurred to me that the target audience age for this game is in single digits. The last time I was part of that group, Super Mario (yeah the original) was the thing to play.
The story books in the game really appealed to me. Graphically they were astounding in their originality. They create a pop up world for quirky mini games, while the stories they tell are Chocobo versions of some of our favorite classic fairy tales.
That really was my favorite part. The rest of the game left me feeling confused and unsatisfied. The game composition is so disjointed; it seemed like the designers didn’t talk to each other much.
Review
Release date: April 3, 2007
Website: http://na.square-enix.com/chocobotales/
Developer: Square Enix
Platform I played on: DS
Game Summery
Play as a young Chocobo and help him save his friends and town. Explore the area, search for cards, play mini games, and thwart evil.
Game play
Someone got carried away designing this game. =D
The overall game is played over the shoulder of a very cute yellow Chocobo. (Think cute yellow chick – as in chicken.)
The worldview of the game – which is where you follow the cute Chocobo around – is mainly for exploring, shopping, chatting, and finding different items: books, cards, and mini-games.
The cards are used in battles. These are head to head against a NPC. As for as I can tell all combat is solicited. After you collect enough cards you can create your own decks for card battles.
The books lying around the world are treasure troves of pop up stories. They also are the location for the mini-games that will progress the story.
Other mini-games are found throughout the world, where they come in various different packages.
Although I mainly played the story mode, there is the option to play the mini-games from the main menu. You do have to unlock them in story mode first though.
World and Story
There are two mages living on a farm, which is on an island that seems to be populated with Chocobos (Hard to tell exactly what the island is populated with since almost as soon as the game starts the entire town becomes deserted.)
The black mage returns with a new book for their library. When he opens it up an evil is released, sucking up all the Chocobos on the island and trapping them in cards. (Hence deserted island.)
As you wander around the island you find different books of power. Each book contains a Chocobo tale. These are easily recognizable stories that we have all heared, but told using a Chocobo as the main character. For example – The ugly Chocoling, Titan and the Beanstalk, The Adamantoise and the Cactuar, you get the idea. Very cute!
Graphics
This is where this game really shines in my opinion. The characters are very traditional final fantasy. The black mage is the little guy with the blue robe and huge hat, and the white mage is the little girl in a while robe with red hair.
The really innovative part is the books of power that are found around the island. Not only do they contain cute Chocobo stories, they also provide the setting for mini games. When a new book is opened up it reveals a fabulous pop up world that depicts a scene from the sub story. The mini games are played in this little area.
The main story line is played in the third person, following the Chocobo around. Its pretty standard 3d graphics and done very sweetly. The characters are really cute and lovable.
The books add a whole new art style to the game. They do a fabulous job of producing a pop up style environment with fantastic 2d graphics.
The card battles also employ this 2d graphic to embody the chose card.
Replay ability
The mini games and battles are replayable. Well really the entire game is replayable, only the overall story remains the same each time.
Multiplayer
There is multiplayer but its just battle against your opponent – no Coop. You can play either the mini games or the card games against opponents. Fifteen cards are required before you can duel online.
Things that bothered me
-Mini-games are tough
Some of the mini-games are bit too hard. The rewards for winning the games are new cards. They aren’t required to complete the story line, but do help with building an awesome deck.
-Card Game low on strategy
Playing the card game was somewhat frustrating for me. It seemed that there was no real strategy involved with playing the game. Both contestants pick a card and they are displayed at the same time. It seems purely luck if you chose the right combination of defend and attack.
-Not clear where you’re supposed to go to progress
The story in the game doesn’t really help guide. Quite a few times I found myself confused about where to go next to progress in the story. Quite a few of the mini games need to be completed multiple times in a row. It’s just very unclear when those times are.
-Game is a bit disjointed
There is a story, and there are stories in the books, and there are cards to fight battles, but none of these seem to have any relation to each other. This also contributed to the lost feeling I had quite a few times. If there had been a clearer connection between all the different aspects of the game, I think the next step in story progression would have become more obvious.
Time played
All the Final Fantasy games that I have played have kept track of how much time I spent playing them. This one is no exception (thankfully!).
I managed two hours almost on the dot.
Rating
Mood Progression
Last thoughts
Not all things Final Fantasy are equally pleasing to me. Sad, very sad, but true.
Tags: adventure, cute, final-fantasy, tcg, turn-based
