E3 Impressions: Square Enix

Square Enix is one of the biggest powers in the gaming industry, but almost everyone seems to forget this. Not many analysts outside the industry even realize that console wars have been won or lost by where Square decided to put their games. Naturally every time a big event like E3 rolls around, those of us in the know give lots of attention to Square Enix.

This year, they showed off or announced a whopping 12 games, all fairly big titles, including Final Fantasy 14, which basically they just talked about. For us Nintendo people, there will be one game for the Wii, two for WiiWare and one for the DS.

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days is a strange title if you ask me, but even so this game is already a top seller in Japan. The latest installment of the Kingdom Hearts saga focuses on Roxas and his Organization 13 buddies during the time between Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts 2. The graphics in this game certainly live up to the reputation of Square Enix as some of the most amazing I’ve seen on the DS. The action is also pretty amazing in that it almost perfectly mimics the gameplay in the console editions of the game. If you’re into Kingdom Hearts, this is a must-have title. It will be out in America on September 29, 2009.

I’m sure many of you bought My Life as a King when it came out on WiiWare, so you will be happy to hear that now Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord is being released this summer. Though I was unable to confirm a direct connection to My Life as a King, it seems this new story is supposed to show the other side of the story even if none of the characters or locations carry over. Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to play this at E3, but from what I can tell, the game is a real-time strategy game almost like a tower defense game where you stop the invading heroes with traps and monsters after they enter your tower. Using the power of the dark crystal in your tower, you add floors, place traps and order minions to foil the pesky adventurers out to steal your crystal. It looks like good fun and I’ll go ahead and say, at risk of sounding creepy, that it looks absolutely adorable. Assuming it goes for 1500 Wii points like it’s predecessor, My Life as a Darklord should be a great value.

Also out soon on WiiWare is Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. This game is the sequel to the classic SNES RPG Final Fantasy IV, and is set 18 years after the defeat of Zemus. The main character is Ceodore, son of Cecil and Rosa, named after his uncle Theodore, a.k.a Golbez. The graphics are pretty much on par with the SNES and the gameplay is almost exactly like the original. The result is an ultra-classic style RPG that should satisfy any long-time Final Fantasy fan. The After Years is already out in Japan as a downloadable game for cell phones, and as of March 25 has had more than three million paid downloads. Those numbers don’t lie. This one’s a winner.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers was announced way back in 2005, but it only got a new trailer annually until going underground in the summer of 2007. After rumors of the game’s cancelation began circulating, Square Enix finally revealed the game again at the end of 2008, and should put the game out by the end of this year. Maybe.

Unlike other entries in the series, Crystal Bearers is mostly a single player adventure. Also unlike pretty much every other Final Fantasy game ever, the action is almost entirely done by using the Wii remote to point, click and wiggle through a series of action sequences of varying type. In the demo at E3, Layle, our protagonist, jumps off an airship and shoots down a bunch of dragons with a huge machine gun that he controls via telekinesis while falling from the sky. Next, post cinematic he steers an airship through a narrow canyon. After that, he goes into a town where he can complete a microquest (catch a ferret) and do whatever for a while. My mind instantly flashed back to Black and White, and I began throwing the townspeople as far as I could. The results were not as impressive, but highly amusing nonetheless. If you catch the attention of the city guards, they’ll try to put a stop to your shenanigans, but they can be thrown as well.  After catching the ferrett, a chase scene ensued as Layle fled the city with a girl, and I was called upon to utilize telekinesis to toss our pursuers off the road.

The game has a much more cinematic feel, and is much more interactive and action-adventure-ish than traditional Final Fantasy games.  Interestingly, in the demo, I was never exposed to any kind of HP or MP meters.  In fact, I didn’t really see any kind of combat at all. I shot enemies down and hurled others around using telekinesis, but never witnessed any damage-based combat.

The open-world design of the game is quite an interesting take on Final Fantasy, and I think that it will end up being quite a successful attempt at something new. Crystal Chronicles is a series I’ve never gotten into, but this game might actually change that. Let’s all hope it doesn’t get delayed another year. Or three.