Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, the Nintendo DS sequel to Square Enix's somewhat popular (and somewhat unorthodox) GameCube Final Fantasy, is one of the furthest along titles Square had to show off at this year's party.
The game shares some things in common with its predecessor--a focus on exploring dungeons and fighting baddies, though some new moves have been added to buff up the gameplay, and puzzle elements have been implemented into the dungeon design.
Players can now hop on top of enemies and perform a brutal downward attack, or pick them up and attack them from underneath. In addition, a special attack can be performed after it is built up. Normally, all the action takes place on the top screen of the DS, but when the right trigger is held, the screens switch positions, and a special attack can be performed by tapping the appropriate enemy with the stylus.
To keep the multiplayer spirit of the first game alive, Ring of Fates will make use of the DS wi-fi abilities. Presumably, more than one mode will be available for online multiplayer, including some sort of co-op play; in the version IGN briefly demoed, players were able to race against each other to "score points by plucking little critters out of the ground." They could also attack each other to attempt to gain the upper hand.
Ring of Fates doesn't look quite as good as Final Fantasy III or the newer Chocobo Tales, but its charming visual style and fairly robust graphics for the handheld are nothing to scoff at. There are even some voiced cutscenes present, obviously the majority of the game will be in in-engine and feature text dialogue. Apparently the game's engine runs flawlessly in single-player but suffers a bit of slowdown in the wireless mode--hopefully Square Enix will be able to iron out bugs like this before the game's August 23rd release in Japan.
Check out a couple scans from the 2007 Square Enix Party from GamesAreFun.
<span class="smallfont">Source: EOFF</span>
The game shares some things in common with its predecessor--a focus on exploring dungeons and fighting baddies, though some new moves have been added to buff up the gameplay, and puzzle elements have been implemented into the dungeon design.
Players can now hop on top of enemies and perform a brutal downward attack, or pick them up and attack them from underneath. In addition, a special attack can be performed after it is built up. Normally, all the action takes place on the top screen of the DS, but when the right trigger is held, the screens switch positions, and a special attack can be performed by tapping the appropriate enemy with the stylus.
To keep the multiplayer spirit of the first game alive, Ring of Fates will make use of the DS wi-fi abilities. Presumably, more than one mode will be available for online multiplayer, including some sort of co-op play; in the version IGN briefly demoed, players were able to race against each other to "score points by plucking little critters out of the ground." They could also attack each other to attempt to gain the upper hand.
Ring of Fates doesn't look quite as good as Final Fantasy III or the newer Chocobo Tales, but its charming visual style and fairly robust graphics for the handheld are nothing to scoff at. There are even some voiced cutscenes present, obviously the majority of the game will be in in-engine and feature text dialogue. Apparently the game's engine runs flawlessly in single-player but suffers a bit of slowdown in the wireless mode--hopefully Square Enix will be able to iron out bugs like this before the game's August 23rd release in Japan.
Check out a couple scans from the 2007 Square Enix Party from GamesAreFun.
<span class="smallfont">Source: EOFF</span>
i gotta check when its out in australia