Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon

, is a role-playing video game published by Square Enix

Square Enix

is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...

for the Wii

Wii

The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...

. It is an installment in the Chocobo series that focuses on Chocobo and a Cid character.

Gameplay

The gameplay involves randomly generated dungeons and turn-based battles of the Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon title, though new elements have also been incorporated into the gameplay, such as the Job system, which features ten jobs. Different jobs change the appearance of the player's Chocobo and alter the layout of the dungeons the players enter. "Pop-up duels" also make a comeback with the addition of enemy cards that can be brought to "Mog's House", where they can be used to play minigames such as "bat shooter", "kick darts", fishing, and gardening.

The player uses the Wii Remote

Wii Remote

The , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and...

to control characters. The player can also choose to use the Classic Controller, if preferred. As a player moves, Chocobo regains health, and if the player loses all of his or her health, he or she will be brought back to the beginning of the current dungeon. The game is Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...

compatible, and players can battle against other players.

Plot

While searching for the fabled Timeless Power gem to power his Airship, Cid and his partner Chocobo ended up being sucked into a vortex and end up in the quaint town of Lostime within the island of Memoria, which disappeared from the rest of the world fifty years ago. In the center of Lostime is a clock tower which rings the Bell of Oblivion that makes everyone lose their memories. Along with his new friend Shirma and a mysterious boy named Raffaello who is able to create a labyrinth of memories, Chocobo has to recover the lost memories of Lostime's residents. However, these actions reveal the mystery behind Raffaello and the calamity that began the trouble.

Characters

: The main character of the game. Travels with Cid as treasure hunters.: A legendary treasure hunter with Chocobo as his companion, wearing a western garb complete with western hat adorned with a feather. Once he aims for a treasure, Cid is determined to obtain it using his various inventions. One such is his grandfather's designs of an airship, though he needed a powerful gem to provide the energy for it to fly. It was his search for the Timeless Power gem in the Tower of Sands that got him and Chocobo into Lostime, learning of what became of his grandfather whose dreams were Cid's reasons for being a treasure hunter. - A mysterious young child who suddenly appears in Lostime the night Chocobo arrived. Originally a baby who force-matured himself into a green-haired boy with marine-blue feathers growing on his back, he has the ability to open a passageway into the memories of those affected by the Bell of Oblivion. However, Raffaello's origins are tied to the mystery behind Lostime which is indeed a dark mystery long forgotten. Furthermore, each time he enters a Shrine and creates a cocoon, it not only ages him, but also awakens his true self. Once the final seal is broken, Raffaello assumes the form of the Priest of Darkness while he breaks the Bell of Oblivion and summons the flying fortress. However, the good person that was Raffaello was still alive within the Destroyer, fighting back as best as he can. But Chocobo manages to end the Destroyer's reign of terror, freeing Raffaello as he saves Chocobo from falling to his death from Cid's Airship. Now as a human child, Raffaello leaves Foundtime in Cid's airship to hopes of atoning for his actions.

- Magic Beast of the Black, the Destroyer - The Guardian of Darkness, a demon who feeds on the darkness and suffering in human hearts, using the very power to turn the Shrine of Darkness into the Floating Fortress, bent on destroying everything. But although sealed by the Bell of Oblivion, the Destroyer left behind Timeless Power, the Crystal of Darkness, in the outside world for one to fall for its allure of an ideal pawn. Once it did, the demon assumes the disguise of Raffaello who subconsciously carried out his plans to be reborn. Once he breaks the curse of the Oblivion Bell, the Destroyer reveals himself while subjecting the Lostime residents to the painful memories to regain his full power. Though Chocobo came to face him, he was no match for the Destroyer until the Oracles sent him their power to fight back as the Destroyer assumes his true form. Once defeated, the Destroyer ceases to be with Raffaello, which frees him of its evil, and the seal over Lostime is broken. - A white mage determined to save the residents from "the memory thief", living with her aunt. A gentle and kind-hearted person who also worries a lot, yet in troubled times a very strong and virtuous character. It took Chocobo entering her mind twice to reveal her identity as the Oracle of Light who was blessed by Alexander. Though wounded when Raffaello is under the Destroyer's control, she sends Chocobo, the power of light, and darkness to fight back. - Shirma's aunt. She had raised Shirma since young and treats her lovingly like her own child. Afraid that Shirma might forget her memories, Stella moves away to the town edge to avoid them from hearing the sound of the Bell of Oblivion. - This masked Moogle aids Chocobo in his adventure in Lostime, though X uses many aliases that end with "Hero X". X first appeared in Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales under the name of "Dueler X". - The Mayor of Lostime. He believes that forgetting is a virtue, but he changes his mind after Chocobo ends an eternal night.: Pastor of Lostime's Church. After regaining his memories, Roche offers his aid to Chocobo by teaching him to switch jobs.: The female blacksmith at Lostime, loses her memories of her dead friend Zeke that are tied to Lostime's current status. Though she couldn't fight or use magic, she sought to protect their home by becoming the blacksmith. After regaining her memories as the Oracle of Fire who was blessed by the Phoenix, Freja offers her aid to Chocobo by upgrading his equipment and giving him her power to fight the Destroyer.: A maid at the coffee shop run by Dardola in Lostime. Her parents died when she was a girl, and she loves Stella's biscuits. She is actually the Oracle of Water who was blessed by Leviathan, offering her aid to Chocobo by giving him her power to fight the Destroyer.
Dardola: The owner of a coffee shop, Dardola is a sort who looks on the bright side and sees music as a means to lift everyone's spirits up. When he forgot about that, Chocobo gets rid of the Cactuars running rampant in Dardola's mind to restore memories.
Harry: Speaking in a British accent, Harry had a childhood dream of becoming a Dragoon but was too lazy to achieve it. But when he fell in love with a potion seller named Charlotte, he changes his ways and opens a hardware store after promising her that he will work hard for her and their unborn child. Both he and Charlotte lost his memories of each other until Chocobo restores them.
Roddy: A boy who lost his father during the calamity, he promised his father that he would protect his younger sister Claire. But the two got separated in the chaos and lost their memories of each other until Chocobo entered their minds and undid the damage caused by the Bell of Oblivion, reuniting the siblings.: Shirma's older sister, she was the Oracle of Darkness blessed by the Destroyer. But when her guardian beast went mad, she lost most of her power as she was subjected to the Bell of Obilivion, forgetting everything but her rage for her guardian's betrayal. Wandering through the temple, she attacked Chocobo with her spells because his actions are undoing the seal. But once remembering her true enemy is Raffaello, she attempts to kill him before he regains his full power. However, the Destroyer preys on Croma's love for Shirma to force her into taking the fatal blow meant for her. But Raffaello manages to keep Croma alive until Chocobo defeats the Destroyer, freeing Croma who is reunited with her sister and thanks Chocobo for opening the eyes to the truth. - A treasure fanatic, Irma aspired to become a great robber and became Cid's rival in treasure hunting. After the ordeal with Bebuzzu her and her Jailbird posse are taking a break, but Irma follows Cid to take the Timeless Power from him before she and Volg got sucked into Lostime along with Cid and Chocobo. Ending up with amnesia as a result, Irma became the opposite of herself, an air-headed kind girl named Amouri. But once Chocobo enters her mind and gets rid of the Assault Scissors plaguing it, Irma regains her true self with full knowledge of her actions as Amouri to her disgust. This led to Irma giving Cid Timeless Power so he can take out the Destroyer so they can leave Lostime, thanking Chocobo before she and Volg take their leave.: A black Chocobo who loves a good challenge, he suffered his first loss against a monster was scarred in near death when found by Irma, who gave him his name and purpose as her righthand bird. After stealing the Timeless Power, Volg ends up in Lostime in search for Irma. But once he finds Irma and she is restored, Volg falls victim to the Bell of Oblivion. Fortunately, Chocobo braves the giant monsters in Volg's mind and slays Molech to restore his memories, remembering the time he and Irma met as a result.

Audio

The Chocobo no Fushigina Dungeon Toki Wasure no Meikyū Original Soundtrack was released in Japan on January 23, 2008. The theme song, Door Crawl, which is both included on the soundtrack and available as a separate single, is performed by Ai Kawashima

Ai Kawashima

, born February 21, 1986 in Sawara-ku, Fukuoka, is a Japanese singer-songwriter and pianist.- Profile :Kawashima dreamed of becoming a singer from a young age. Her father vanished before she was born, and she was raised by her mother. She first began learning to play the piano at the age of 3....

Development

Development began in November 2006 with new members added to the Chocobo development team as the platform had shifted from the Nintendo DS

Nintendo DS

The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

to the Wii

Wii

. Pastel colors replaced the bright colors of the Chocobo Tales. Some of the more difficult game elements were removed so that it would appeal to "small children and female" players. Square Enix

Square Enix

's Virtual World had in-game advertisements for this game during the virtual worlds first week. Joe Down Studio developed the music for the game and features extensive remixing of music from various Final Fantasy games due to the positive reception of remixed Final Fantasy music in the game Chocobo Tales. New music was composed for the opening movie and demo by Kumi Tanioka

Kumi Tanioka

is a Japanese video game music composer and musician. She is most known for composing the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series.-Early life:Kumi Tanioka was born in Hiroshima, Japan. She studied music and composition while in school and enjoyed listening to video game music as her younger brother...

. The studio requested that they be allowed to use music from the early Final Fantasy titles as it would be appropriate to the theme of forgotten time. Musical cues such as the sound of pickaxe

Pickaxe

A pickaxe or pick is a hand tool with a hard head attached perpendicular to the handle.Some people make the distinction that a pickaxe has a head with a pointed end and a flat end, and a pick has both ends pointed, or only one end; but most people use the words to mean the same thing.The head is...

s can be heard in the Fire Dungeon, and songs play backwards to indicate the restoration of memory. The theme of forgetting your difficulties is discussed in the game story, and the developers tried to convey that putting your all into resolving problems is much better than simply trying to forget, as the people in the game story have.

Reception

The game experienced strong sales in the first week after release in Japan, but quickly fell from the video game charts. Square Enix reports a total of 160 thousand copies have been sold as of September 30, 2008, with 90 thousand units sold in Japan and 70 thousand units sold in North America.

IGN

IGN

IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

praised the game for its polish, especially its graphics and humorous dialogue, and for its wealth of gameplay choices. Video game website Joystiq

Joystiq

Joystiq is a video gaming blog founded in June 2004 that has since become one of the most successful sites within the Weblogs, Inc. family of weblogs. It is the centerpiece of WIN's own network of video gaming blogs, which also includes a blog dealing specifically with the popular MMORPG World of...

previewed the game, and complained that the gameplay was eerily reminiscent of the original Chocobo games and games created in DOS

DOS

DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...

. The game was the runnerup for best Wii game of July 2008 on IGN

IGN

. It was awarded Best RPG for the Wii by IGN in its 2008 video game awards.

Square Enix has announced it will bring Chocobo's Dungeon to the Nintendo DS

Nintendo DS

in Japan in fall 2008. Titled , it will feature a new storyline centering on Cid, as well as new jobs for characters to learn.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.