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AtomDelving into Chocobo’s Mysterious Dungeon
Square-Enix had the demo stations for Chocobo’s Dungeon: Toki-Wasure no Meikyuu in a simulated cave with floating puzzle pieces. Before you can get inside you had to wait in a line and I was lucky enough to get in before the queue zig-zagged around Square-Enix’s booth.
When I sat down to play the game (yes, this was one of the few games you could sit and play!) there were two choices for a control scheme. You can either hold the Wii remote like a remote or go for the classic NES controller style. I picked the latter and was whisked away into a town controlling the chocobo. Since the demo was timed I didn’t spend a second exploring the town. I ran straight into a cave where Shiroma, the white mage, greeted me into the fiery maze.
Right in the first floor of the dungeon there is a crystal and when you step on it you can choose the Chocobo’s job. I picked the White Mage first, which had a helpful arsenal of healing spells. I stepped up on to the second floor and saw familiar Final Fantasy monsters drawn in the style of the Chocobo games. Goblins approached me as I took my first step and before they got too close I preemptively casted protect. When you use magic in Chocobo’s Dungeon: Toki-Wasure no Meikyuu you expend the rechargeable SP crystals. The crystals gradually come back, but since there is a delay you can’t constantly cast Dia from a distance. Since my spell crystals were gone it was time to walk up and unleash a furious chocobo kick by pressing B. After a few kicks the goblins were finished and it was time to step forward. After a more exploration in the randomly generated dungeon, I saw bombs on the screen and it was time to move into kicking mode. This time I landed a critical hit, which made the screen zoom in for a more dramatic effect.
Along the way I stumbled on treasure like spell scrolls which were one shot use items. By the fourth level I had a healthy supply of spells and a good feel of what the White Mage class was like. It teleported out of the dungeon and gave another class a try. I chose the Knight, which had a handful of physical attacks. Power slice increased the amount of damage a kick did, but the spin kick attack was useful the most useful skill. When you use it al of the enemies within one square take damage. I started to get tricky with the spin kick. I purposely took damage from a red marshmallow to move into a better position to hit a group of enemies with one turn.
Right when I reached the Phoenix boss monster time was up. I didn’t get a chance to fight it, but I got to try out more than one class. And if it wasn’t for the job system Chocobo’s Dungeon: Toki-Wasure no Meikyuu would be just another cutesy rogue-like.
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2 Responses to “Delving into Chocobo’s Mysterious Dungeon”
September 28th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
sorry for the double post but this is a correction:
“judging how tons of PS2 games did detailed shadows.”
I meant tons of square-enix PS2 games, since detailed shadows aren’t standard at all in PS2, not only because of lazyness from developers but because they’re really intensive for the hardware making them hard to manage (but Square-Enix nailed them) This game sure could use them.
Gaming Map
September 28th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
I want this game, hard!
What did you think of the graphics on motion and at… 480p, I suppose? (and does the game have a 16:9 mode? I’m slightly worried because all the images are 4:3)
Shame the shadows aren’t detailed, just black circles, Square-Enix sure could share resources judging how tons of PS2 games did detailed shadows. (not that comon on most PS2 games, but inexcusable on a higher spec like Wii)