Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
Developer(s)	Square Enix
Distributor(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Akitoshi Kawazu (executive producer) Kenichirō Yuji (director) Toshiro Tsuchida (producer) Motomu Toriyama (scenario writer) Toshiyuki Itahana (art supervisor) Yasuhisa Izumisawa (character designer) Kumi Tanioka (composer)
Series	Final Fantasy series Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series
Platform(s)	Wii (WiiWare)
Release date	JP March 25, 2008 NA May 12, 2008 EU May 20, 2008 AUS TBA 2008
Genre(s)	City-building game
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: E CERO: A OFLC: G
Input methods	Wii Remote, Nunchuk, Classic Controller, Gamecube Controller

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, known in Japan as Chiisa na Ōsama to Yakusoku no Kuni: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (小さな王様と約束の国 ファイナルファンタジー・クリスタルクロニクル, The Little King and the Promised Land: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles^?), is a city-building game released for the Nintendo Wii via the WiiWare service. It is the third title in the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series.

The game was released on March 25, 2008 in Japan, and on May 12, 2008 in North America. The game costs 1500 Wii Points and takes up 287 blocks of the Wii's memory.

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Downloadable content 2 Plot 2.1 Characters 3 Development 4 Reception 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Gameplay

My Life as a King is a fantasy city-building simulator in which the player creates a kingdom from the ground up. Starting with a barren town consisting of a lone castle and a large power crystal, by using the crystal's power the player can magically place a variety of buildings to populate the settlement and draw in residents.

To continue using the crystal to build up the settlement, the player must accumulate elementite which must be obtained from crystals found in the dungeons and caves that surround the town. Instead of actually gathering the crystals first hand, the game prompts the player to recruit young citizens to do so. These soldiers are paid via taxes the player collects from the residents of the town, as well as from treasures found during their quest. The player can follow their progress by reading message boards placed around town.

The player must also tend to the needs of their residents by building amenities such as a bakery to increase their happiness, or a weapons shop to better equip their soldiers. As the game advances the number of quests increase for the player, their soldiers will be able to gain experience and aspiring adventurers will appear, asking to be recruited.^[1]

[edit] Downloadable content

My Life as a King also features additional downloadable content which includes extra costumes, new buildings to construct and adventuring races to recruit. Additional content will be priced between 100 and 800 Wii Points.^[2]

The downloadable content was made available from April 1, 2008 and 8 items were initially offered:^[3]

• Lilty House, Selkie House, Yuke House (300 Points each): Houses that produce new adventurers of the other three races from the Crystal Chronicles world.
• Three Races Pack (800 Points): All three new races in one slightly discounted set.
• King's Change of Clothes (100 Points): A pirate outfit for the King.
• Chime's Dress-Up (100 Points): A gothic lolita outfit for the player's assistant Chime.
• Sacred Shrine (200 Points): A shrine that lets warriors temporarily buff themselves up.
• Luxurious House (100 Points): A big house that many different people can live in.
• 11 Dungeons Pack (300 Points): A pack containing 11 new dungeons. Clearing these dungeons will reward the player with new buildings.

Additional content has since been added and announced:

• Castle Update (100 Points)
• Tower of Eternity (300 Points): A special dungeon featuring a gigantic tower and a formidable monster. If the monster is destroyed, the player is rewarded with an invaluable treasure. This dungeon is due out in June 2008.
• Library (200 Points): Gives the player the skill to memorize race-specific abilities and to train their warriors further. Also due in June 2008.

100 Point downloads for a new dungeon and the ability for the player to alter their adventurers' names, as well as additional clothing items will also become available in future.^[4]

Users who purchased and downloaded the game before April 1 can redownload an updated version of the game in order to access the new content.^[5]

[edit] Plot

My Life as a King takes place after the events of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, in a remote area of the peaceful world the Crystal Caravans created. The king, having lost this realm to the Miasma, now tries to revive his kingdom through a mysterious power called "Architek" that he received from the crystal.^[6] The king also equips his warriors and sends them out to purge the land of evil.^[7]

[edit] Characters

• The King: The player's character, who has the power of to build buildings with magic. His father, King Epitav, gave him the kingdom.
• Chime: The King's assistant who can be summoned at any time to help do a number of things. She will also run any taverns you build.
• Sir Hugh Yurg: The King's cook and knight who trains the Warriors the Training Hall.
• Pavlov: King's companion who helps him with the dungeons and have updated information of the Behests of the day
• King Epitav: The player's father, once the owner of the kingdom the player is tasked to rebuild.
• The Dark Lord: The game's antagonist.
• Moogle Brothers: Three lovable mascots which assist you in unlocking and understanding features of your kingdom. One of them gives tutorials.
• Slitzkin: A traveling moogle who has tales of the past to tell.

[edit] Development

Several gameplay ideas were considered for the project, including making it an action role-playing game.^[8] The game originated from the concept that the player should control a king, rather than the hero.^[9]

[edit] Reception

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King received a generally favorable response. IGN, reviewing the Japanese version of the game after its launch, was impressed with the quality and expansiveness of the game, saying that it was a "good start" to Nintendo's WiiWare download service.^[1] In a later review of the North American release, in which they scored the game a 7.5/10, they cited disappointment at not being able to undertake quests, calling it "a Final Fantasy game where you stay at home and send other people out to play Final Fantasy", and felt that elements of the game were repetitive. However, they praised the presentation and felt the game could be "engaging if [the player] put enough time into it".^[10] 1UP.com gave the game a B+, comparing the game to Animal Crossing but with a distinct RPG feel, and praising the game for its depth.^[11]

However, while GameSpot thought the game had visual charm, they believed the game was in large "shallow, limiting, and padded with unrewarding gameplay", and felt constrained by their belief that much of the game's variety comes from the downloadable content.^[12] Wired's Chris Kohler also felt the pricing for the game's downloadable content was "exorbitant", with all available items at the time of review costing almost as much as the game itself to purchase.^[5]

WiiWare World was more upbeat and, scoring the game 9/10, said "Of all the WiiWare titles to date, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King is easily the most ambitious. The scope of the game is enormous and there's never a lack of things to do as you live out each day of the game's adventure."^[13]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official North American site
• Official Japanese site

v • d • e Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles video games Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles · Ring of Fates · My Life as a King · The Crystal Bearers

v • d • e Final Fantasy series Main series Final Fantasy • II • III (DS) • IV (DS) • V • VI • VII • VIII • IX • X (X-2) • XI • XII • XIII Other media Compilations and collections • Sequels and sidestories • Spin-offs • Novels and manga • Films and animation Common elements • Minigames