If there's one thing missing in Facebook games, it's crystals and giant ostrich-chicken hybrids. You can rest easy -- game publisher Square Enix plans to fill in that void with two new Facebook games, Chocobo's Crystal Tower and Knights of the Crystals. The games both draw inspiration from the popular Final Fantasy video game series -- in other words they're brimming with cute (but deadly) characters and an art style that will be immediately familiar to any fan of the franchise.
Chocobo's Crystal Tower is the infinitely cuter of the two, tasking players with hatching and raising a chocobo cute fit enough to embark on adventures into the dark Towers where monsters defend ancient relics. Players are rewarded with gil -- a Final Fantasy staple -- to buy food and equipment for their chocobos that increase their fighting strength.
Knights of the Crystals facebook
Knights of the Crystals (KotC) is a much more serious game that was released on Japanese social networks earlier this year and just now brought to the U.S. Dropping you in the middle of a war with the Arcana Company, a clan of monsters after crystal artifacts, combat is the primary focus of this Mafia Wars-meets-Final Fantasy social game. The quest system works almost exactly like it does in ga mes like -- dare I say it -- Mafia Wars, but KotC's class system could prove to be a major differential.
Both games are in beta testing right now with some features (*ahem* paid transactions) and buttons currently disabled, but we're almost certain Square Enix won't sit on this golden chocobo egg very long. We've contacted Square Enix for more details on both games.
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Showing posts with label SquareEnix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SquareEnix. Show all posts
Friday, February 3, 2012
Final Fantasy meets Mafia Wars in Knights of the Crystals on Facebook
Knights of the Crystals
All it takes is that iconic level-up tune to cause that oft-forgotten giddy feeling of adventure to surface, but there is much more promise than that in one of Square Enix's first American social games, Knights of the Crystals (KotC). While rampant comparisons to Zynga's Mafia Wars have probably already been made across Facebook, the most obvious similarity between the two games is the job and/or quest system. Progress is made in KotC by completing quests, which isn't much more than clicking a button repeatedly and being treated by a quick Flash animation. Fortunately, Square Enix has some other tricks up its sleeve to help this game stand out.
Find out more about Knights of the Crystals after the break.
Knights of the Crystals quesitng system
As you continue mastering quests and gathering crystals and other artifacts, your Action Power will diminish much like Energy in other games. While paid transactions are disabled as of this writing, we're sure that more Action Power and other premium items will be available through a paid currency known as Square Enix Social Coins. What a name, huh?
While there are grouping elements and a passive fighting system much like the legion of "Wars" games, KotC features a class system that will surely differentiate it from other combat-focused social games. You'll slowly gain new class options as you gain collections of relics and crystals from mastering quests and defeating boss monsters. You're only to change your class once a day, which should already raise a red flag. Classes--think Fighter, Healer and Conjurer--will define how you play this game, especially in cooperative fights against more dangerous enemies.
Knights of the Crystals boss fight
For example, when fighting the game's tutorial boss (pictured above)--a Behemoth for the Final Fantasy-savvy out there-- you're given two companions to help defeat the beast. A conjurer and a healer, even this familiar-looking tutorial fight would not be possible without these wizards. Quite honestly, it speaks volumes of what Square Enix is trying to do with Knights of the Crystals. While other games allow players to make friends and have them help out on optional jobs and boss fights, the quests and bosses that progress the KotC's surprisingly involved plot cannot be done without a specialized group of friends. I'm hopeful that this philosophy of friendship by design will continue when the game exits beta testing.
While there is the option to fight other players right now, its benefit has yet to be seen. Other than that and a few select bugs, KotC is a fully functional and promising game. Regardless of the Final Fantasy brand's strength, it's Knights of the Crystals' unique class system and forced social interaction that will hopefully lead it to become a successful, possibly genre bending social game. The catchy tunes don't hurt either.
Play Knights of the Crystals on Facebook >
All it takes is that iconic level-up tune to cause that oft-forgotten giddy feeling of adventure to surface, but there is much more promise than that in one of Square Enix's first American social games, Knights of the Crystals (KotC). While rampant comparisons to Zynga's Mafia Wars have probably already been made across Facebook, the most obvious similarity between the two games is the job and/or quest system. Progress is made in KotC by completing quests, which isn't much more than clicking a button repeatedly and being treated by a quick Flash animation. Fortunately, Square Enix has some other tricks up its sleeve to help this game stand out.
Find out more about Knights of the Crystals after the break.
Knights of the Crystals quesitng system
As you continue mastering quests and gathering crystals and other artifacts, your Action Power will diminish much like Energy in other games. While paid transactions are disabled as of this writing, we're sure that more Action Power and other premium items will be available through a paid currency known as Square Enix Social Coins. What a name, huh?
While there are grouping elements and a passive fighting system much like the legion of "Wars" games, KotC features a class system that will surely differentiate it from other combat-focused social games. You'll slowly gain new class options as you gain collections of relics and crystals from mastering quests and defeating boss monsters. You're only to change your class once a day, which should already raise a red flag. Classes--think Fighter, Healer and Conjurer--will define how you play this game, especially in cooperative fights against more dangerous enemies.
Knights of the Crystals boss fight
For example, when fighting the game's tutorial boss (pictured above)--a Behemoth for the Final Fantasy-savvy out there-- you're given two companions to help defeat the beast. A conjurer and a healer, even this familiar-looking tutorial fight would not be possible without these wizards. Quite honestly, it speaks volumes of what Square Enix is trying to do with Knights of the Crystals. While other games allow players to make friends and have them help out on optional jobs and boss fights, the quests and bosses that progress the KotC's surprisingly involved plot cannot be done without a specialized group of friends. I'm hopeful that this philosophy of friendship by design will continue when the game exits beta testing.
While there is the option to fight other players right now, its benefit has yet to be seen. Other than that and a few select bugs, KotC is a fully functional and promising game. Regardless of the Final Fantasy brand's strength, it's Knights of the Crystals' unique class system and forced social interaction that will hopefully lead it to become a successful, possibly genre bending social game. The catchy tunes don't hurt either.
Play Knights of the Crystals on Facebook >
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