Square's "Final" Fantasy Isn’t Terminal, but It Is Portable and Multiplayer

The Final Fantasy series is one of the most long-running, well-known, profitable, and entertaining lines of video games in the industry’s short history. Starting with Final Fantasy (later known as Final Fantasy I) for the NES in the early 90’s, the series has had twelve titled "sequels" (though they are not continuous in their story or even occur in the same "universe"), and numerous non-sequels such as Mystic Quest, Tactics, Adventures, Legends, and Chocobo Racing. This admittedly incomplete list does not include the times a Final Fantasy is ported or remade for another system (which has happened quite frequently as aging gamers want to keep their classics and upgrade simultaneously).

It should be no surprise, then, that Squaresoft has announced another Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time, which continues the Crystal Chronicles Series. Echoes of Time will be released in the Spring of 2009 on both the DS and the Wii, allowing all of Nintendo’s next-generation owners to join the party. And it is a party, literally, as both versions have multiplayer capability in the game world. No longer are RPG fans forced to play in solitude or give up their passion. Wii owners won’t have to give up the control scheme they’ve gotten used to, either.

For those unfamiliar with the role-playing game (RPG) genre (which Final Fantasy games are a part of), the player controls a group of characters through battles and dialogue in order to accomplish goals or tasks (usually to save the world from something imminent and dangerous). RPGs generally, and Final Fantasys specifically, have hours and hours of playing time and are very customizable in the sense that you can always vary the items your characters use or whether or not you want to go on any extra missions (side quests). It would literally take hundreds of hours to fully complete many games in this genre.

Squaresoft releasing another Final Fantasy isn’t groundbreaking news. Neither is the fact that almost all of them are good, if not excellent. What sets Echoes of Time apart from its highly esteemed predecessors is that it is released on both the Wii and the DS simultaneously and incorporates in-game multiplayer. It is sure to be fun for anyone with the time and willingness to give it a try.

John Lentz Jr.