In 2003, a company that had just suffered a humiliating box office failure with Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within decided to make a video game for Nintendo. Square, the developer behind the original Final Fantasy, had previously parted ways with Nintendo on bad terms when they chose to develop Final Fantasy VII for Sony's PlayStation console. The company was in a poor financial condition, and the decision to return to Nintendo consoles was born out of necessity rather than strategy. To navigate this delicate situation, Square founded a shell company of its Product Development Division 2, dubbing it The Game Designers Studio. This entity was co-owned by Square and Akitoshi Kawazu, the creator of the SaGa series, allowing production to proceed without interfering with other projects for Sony platforms. The resulting game, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, became the first entry in a series that would predominantly be released on Nintendo hardware, covering multiple genres including action role-playing.
Four Tribes And A Poisoned World
The world of Crystal Chronicles is an unnamed realm inhabited by four distinct tribes: the human-like Clavats, the stocky Lilties, the magic-wielding Yukes, and the nomadic Selkies. This setting diverges from the typical Final Fantasy universe, featuring recurring themes such as objects generated from memory and the importance of family. The narrative of the original game takes place a millennium after a catastrophe that clouds the world in a poisonous Miasma, following a caravan traveling to collect myrrh, a substance to empower their village's protecting crystal. The timeline begins with Ring of Fates, set thousands of years in the past when the four tribes lived together in harmony, before the events of Echoes of Time occur. My Life as a King is set after the clearing of the Miasma at the end of Crystal Chronicles, with the main character King Leo setting out to rebuild his kingdom. My Life as a Darklord takes place in the aftermath, with surviving monsters struggling to survive and ending up fighting against characters from both My Life as a King and Crystal Chronicles. The Crystal Bearers takes place 1000 years after the time of Crystal Chronicles, with the Yukes having vanished during a great war with the Lilties and crystal-based magic being a rarity.The Multiplayer Experiment
The gameplay of Crystal Chronicles has tended to focus either on multiplayer or the concept of groups working towards a common goal, a notable exception being The Crystal Bearers which follows a single protagonist. The original Crystal Chronicles notably made use of multiplayer relying on the GameCube linking with the Game Boy Advance link cable, a technical feat that required players to carry a second console to play. Both Ring of Fates and Echoes of Time revolve around dungeon exploration and loot collection, comparable to the gameplay of Diablo. My Life as a King focuses on city-building and construction, with the protagonist sending adventurers out on quests to gather materials and spread influence. My Life as a Darklord again focuses on a group, but this time within the tower defense genre and subverting narrative and stylistic tropes within the series. The Crystal Bearers broke away from many of the series' established gameplay mechanics; in addition to a focus on action-adventure and physics-based combat, there were also numerous minigames. A common aim across all titles is creating games that can be enjoyed by a wide audience, reflecting the series' experimental nature.