111-674: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is an action role-playing video game developed by The Game Designers Studio and published by Nintendo for the GameCube . It was released in 2003 in Japan and 2004 in North America, Europe and Australia. A remastered version for Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4 , Android , and iOS was released in August 2020. A spin-off of the Final Fantasy series and beginning of
222-521: A Dragon article by Jean Wells and Kim Mohan which includes the following statement: "There is great potential for more than hacking and slashing in D&;D or AD&D ; there is the possibility of intrigue, mystery and romance involving both sexes, to the benefit of all characters in a campaign." Hack and slash made the transition from the tabletop to role-playing video games , usually starting in D&D -like worlds. This form of gameplay influenced
333-446: A "role-playing shooter" due to the heavy RPG elements within the game, such as quest-based gameplay and also its character traits and leveling system. Half-Minute Hero (2009) is an RPG shooter featuring self-referential humour and a 30-second time limit for each level and boss encounter. Other action role-playing games with shooter elements include the 2010 titles Alpha Protocol by Obsidian Entertainment and The 3rd Birthday ,
444-577: A 1991 issue of Computer Gaming World criticized several computer role-playing games for using "arcade" or "Nintendo-style" action combat, including Ys , Sorcerian, Times of Lore, and Prophecy . In 1991, Square released Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden , also known as Final Fantasy Adventure or Mystic Quest in the West, for the Game Boy . Like Crystalis , the action in Seiken Densetsu bore
555-654: A character. In single-player , the player controls one character guarding the Moogle-held vessel from monster attacks while navigating dungeons. The game's multiplayer allows up to four players to join in a local gameplay session; multiplayer relies on the GameCube console linking with the Game Boy Advance (GBA) link cable . All players are displayed on the screen, while their GBAs both control their characters and allow functions such as shopping in towns and performing battle functions. Character attributes are increased in
666-641: A heart monitor to represent the player's Attack Power and Armor Class statistics. Another controversial aspect of the game involved taking drugs (instead of potions) that increase/decrease attributes, but with side effects such as heart-rate increase/decrease or death. Origin Systems , the developer of the Ultima series, also released an action RPG in 1988, titled Times of Lore , which was inspired by various NES titles, particularly The Legend of Zelda . Times of Lore inspired several later titles by Origin Systems, such as
777-493: A lot of popularity on the 2010s with titles such as Warframe (2013), Destiny (2014) and Destiny 2 (2017), The Division (2016) and The Division 2 (2019). Hack and slash Hack and slash , also known as hack and slay ( H&S or HnS ) or slash 'em up , refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat with melee -based weapons (such as swords or blades). They may also feature projectile-based weapons as well (such as guns) as secondary weapons. It
888-528: A mission system and role-playing game mechanics, as well as MMORPGs with real-time combat systems. Allgame listed the following games released prior to 1984 as action RPGs: Temple of Apshai (1979) and its sequel Gateway to Apshai (1983), Beneath the Pyramids for the Apple II (1980), Bokosuka Wars (1983), and Sword of Fargoal (1983). Jeremy Parish of USgamer claimed that Adventure (1980)
999-973: A more dialogue-heavy experience akin to the Baldurs Gate games and even older series like Falcom's Dragon Slayer/Xanadu series had its outing Xanadu Next with similar Diablo influences. The influences also come full circle when the first Diablo game was inspired by rogue-likes Umoria and Angband and in more recent years many games in the rogue-like genre are inspired by more classic dungeon crawler ARPGs that Diablo helped spawn. In this sub genre there are such recent titles as Path of Exile (2013), Grim Dawn (2016), Zenonia S: Rifts In Time (2015), Book of Demons (2018), Shadows: Awakening (2018), Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl Gold (2017), Titan Quest: Anniversary Edition (2016) and its expansions Titan Quest: Ragnarök (2017) and Titan Quest: Atlantis (2019), Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem (2020) and Minecraft Dungeons (2020). The prominence of Diablo 2 in
1110-483: A more traditional RPG-esque system, including experience points and levels with action game elements. Unlike its predecessor, Zelda II more closely fits the definition of an action RPG. Another Metroidvania -style action RPG released that year was System Sacom 's Sharp X1 computer game Euphory , which was possibly the only Metroidvania -style multiplayer action RPG produced, allowing two-player cooperative gameplay. The fifth Dragon Slayer title, Sorcerian ,
1221-434: A safe zone created by the vessel, fighting enemies in a style similar to hack and slash games with actions assigned to command buttons; actions can be chained together into short combination attacks using equipped weapons to increase damage and charge up magic abilities. Magic can be used to damage enemies or trigger status ailments, with multiple spells able to fuse and create new effects in battle. The elemental affinity of
SECTION 10
#17328528579861332-536: A similar message using altered words. A soundtrack album was released under the Pony Canyon label on August 20, 2003. It included all of the music from the game with the exception of the English versions of "Kaze no Ne" and "Hoshizukiyo". Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: A Musical Journey was a European promotional album which was given alongside the game on March 11, 2004 as a pre-order bonus. It contains six tracks from
1443-408: A smooth playing experience, but he ended up being "reprimanded by a lot of important people". Composer Hidenori Iwasaki was brought in to both compose new tunes and arrange the original themes, though this was originally unplanned. The remaster was planned to use the original score, but the team's passion for the project prompted the decision to also remaster the music tracks. Remastering the old score
1554-580: A strong resemblance to that of Legend of Zelda , but added more RPG elements. It was one of the first action RPGs to allow players to kill townspeople, though later Mana games removed this feature. Arcus Odyssey by Wolf Team (now Namco Tales Studio ) was an action RPG that featured an isometric perspective and co-operative multiplayer gameplay. In 1993, the second Seiken Densetsu game, Secret of Mana , received considerable acclaim, for its innovative pausable real-time action battle system , and its innovative cooperative multiplayer gameplay, where
1665-454: A sub-genre of beat 'em ups . Traditional 2D side-scrolling examples include Taito 's The Legend of Kage (1985) and Rastan (1987), Sega 's arcade video game series Shinobi (1987 debut) and Golden Axe (1989 debut), Data East 's arcade game Captain Silver (1987), Tecmo 's early Ninja Gaiden ( Shadow Warriors ) 2D games (1988 debut), Capcom 's Strider (1989),
1776-406: A way for players to continue travelling with favorite characters without breaking the narrative flow. Unlike the original, the remaster does not support local multiplayer. During production, the team had to choose between local and online co-op rather than having both, so they opted for online to allow the maximum number of people to play. Commenting on the delays, Araki said the team were prioritising
1887-483: Is a sub-genre of beat 'em up games, which focuses on melee combat, usually with swords. Third-person hack and slash games are also sometimes known as character action games and spectacle fighters . The term "hack and slash" was originally used to describe a play style in tabletop role-playing games , carrying over from there to MUDs , massively multiplayer online role-playing games , and role-playing video games . In arcade and console style action video games,
1998-567: Is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Action role-playing games emphasize real-time combat where the player has direct control over the characters as opposed to turn or menu -based combat while still having a focus on character's stats in order to determine relative strength and abilities. These games often use action game combat systems similar to hack and slash or shooter games . The term "action role-playing game" may also describe action-adventure games , which include
2109-544: Is considered the first example of an immersive sim , a genre that combines elements from other genres to create a game with strong player agency and emergent gameplay, and has influenced many games since its release. The engine was re-used and enhanced for Ultima Underworld ' s 1993 sequel, Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds . Looking Glass Studios planned to create a third Ultima Underworld , but Origin rejected their pitches. After Electronic Arts (EA) rejected Arkane Studios ' pitch for Ultima Underworld III ,
2220-418: Is determined by the color the player's Moogle—one of a recurring Final Fantasy race—is painted during stays in towns and visits to the adventurers' hometown. Crystal Chronicles takes place in an unnamed fantasy world inhabited by four races. The player takes control of a caravan hailing from the village of Tipa, in which members of the world's four races come together to help its mission. 1000 years before
2331-642: Is sometimes known as "character action" games, and represent a modern evolution of traditional arcade action games. This subgenre of games was largely defined by Hideki Kamiya , creator of Devil May Cry and Bayonetta . In turn, Devil May Cry (2001) was influenced by earlier hack-and-slash games, including Onimusha: Warlords (2001) and Strider . The term "hack and slash" itself has roots in " pen and paper " role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), denoting campaigns of violence with no other plot elements or significant goal. The term itself dates at least as far back as 1980, as shown in
SECTION 20
#17328528579862442-837: The Princess Crown series, including Odin Sphere and Muramasa: The Demon Blade . Princess Crown had a more cartoon-like visual appeal. It still had quality visuals due to the George Kamitani style. LandStalker's 1997 spiritual successor Alundra is considered "one of the finest examples of action/RPG gaming", combining platforming elements and challenging puzzles with an innovative storyline revolving around entering people's dreams and dealing with mature themes. Ultima Underworld ' s influence has been found in BioShock (2007), and that game's designer, Ken Levine , has stated that "all
2553-601: The Dragon's Crown Artworks foreword: "The motif within Dragon's Crown is all the fantasy works that has affected me until now: the PC RPG Wizardry that I first came into contact with as a student; Ian Livingstone 's gamebooks; games like Tower of Druaga , Golden Axe and The King of Dragons ." He also cites his early 20s work on Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom as "truly something that I had aspired for". Dragon's Crown
2664-693: The Final Fantasy franchise. The first was Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates for the Nintendo DS (DS). Two further titles were Echoes of Time for the DS and Wii , and The Crystal Bearers for the Wii. Square Enix also developed two Crystal Chronicles titles for the Wii's WiiWare service; My Life as a King and its direct sequel My Life as a Darklord . All the Crystal Chronicles games share
2775-776: The MMO vehicular combat game Auto Assault (2006) by NetDevil and NCsoft . Other action RPGs featured both hack and slash and shooting elements, with the use of both guns (or in some cases, bow and arrow or aerial combat ) and melee weapons, including Cavia 's flight-based Drakengard series (2003 to 2005), and Level-5 's Rogue Galaxy (2005). Other RPS games include the Mass Effect series (2007 onwards), Fallout 3 and subsequent Fallout titles (2008 onwards), White Gold: War in Paradise (2008), and Borderlands (2009). Borderlands developer Gearbox Software has dubbed it as
2886-469: The Nintendo DS . Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is an action role-playing game where players take control of a group of adventurers who travel the world searching for rare trees which produce "myrrh", used to fuel crystals protecting the world's settlements from the poisonous Miasma. Players are guided through a repeating series of events which dictate their progress through the game and its story. The adventurers set out from their village, travelling to
2997-498: The first installment of its Ys series in 1987. While not very popular in the West, the long-running Ys series has performed strongly in the Japanese market, with many sequels, remakes and ports in the decades that followed its release. Besides Falcom's own Dragon Slayer series, Ys was also influenced by Hydlide , from which it borrowed certain mechanics such as health-regeneration. The Faery Tale Adventure offered one of
3108-407: The recorder , the crumhorn and the lute , creating a distinctively rustic feel. Tanioka said that the idea came to her while looking at illustrations of the game world, which gave her the idea of making "world music", where the tracks would "not [be] limited to a single country or culture". She also credits Iwasaki with doing "fantastic technical work" that brought her vision to life. The live music
3219-410: The series of the same name , Crystal Chronicles was the first title in the franchise to be released for a Nintendo home console since Final Fantasy VI in 1994. Players take on the role of adventurers who travel in a caravan gathering mystical fuel for crystals which protect the world's settlements from the destructive Miasma . The single-player campaign has the player escort the vessel carrying
3330-414: The 1990 games Bad Blood (another action RPG based on the same engine) and Ultima VI: The False Prophet , based on the same interface. Also in 1989, the enhanced remake Ys I & II was one of the first video games to use CD-ROM , which was utilized to provide enhanced graphics, animated cut scenes, a Red Book CD soundtrack, and voice acting. Its English localization was also one of
3441-428: The English versions are sung by Donna Burke . Burke also provided narration for the English version of the game. The lyrics for both "Kaze no Ne" and "Hoshizukiyo" were written by Kataoka. Describing her localization of the songs, Burke felt it was a challenge as Japanese is a more compact language than English, meaning she needed to "pad [the lyrics] out about 30-40%". Rather than a direct adaptation, Burke's work carried
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (video game) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3552-468: The Game Designers Studio as a shell company to develop for Nintendo hardware without impacting games for Sony platforms. The development team wanted to create an accessible gameplay experience focusing on multiplayer. The music, written by Kumi Tanioka , made extensive use of medieval and Renaissance musical instruments . Upon release, the title was positively received by journalists, and
3663-564: The Meteor Parasite. The caravanners fight the Meteor Parasite, but before they can kill it are transported to an unknown realm. There they meet Mio and her evil counterpart Raem, metaphysical beings born following the Great Crystal's destruction. Raem attacks the caravanners, merging with Mio to increase his power, before being finally destroyed. Mio and Raem separate and fade away, then the caravanners are sent back to Mount Vellenge to destroy
3774-590: The PC-8801 computer in September 1984, it abandoned the command-based battles of earlier role-playing games in favor of real-time hack-and-slash combat that required direct input from the player, alongside puzzle-solving elements. In contrast to earlier turn-based roguelikes , Dragon Slayer was a dungeon-crawl role-playing game using real-time, action-oriented combat, combined with traditional role-playing mechanics. Dragon Slayer's overhead action role-playing formula
3885-499: The Sega Master System game Danan: The Jungle Fighter (1990), Taito's Saint Sword (1991), Vivid Image 's home computer game First Samurai (1991), and Vanillaware 's Dragon's Crown (2013). The term "hack-and-slash" in reference to action-adventure games dates back to 1987, when Computer Entertainer reviewed The Legend of Zelda and said it had "more to offer than the typical hack-and-slash" epics. In
3996-413: The additional dungeons, other tracks were incorporated into the rest of the game. The new boss battle theme, while more energetic and modern-sounding than the original score, was written in the same style as Tanioka's earlier work. Fujimoto and Burke both returned to record new versions of the opening and ending themes. Burke enjoyed redoing the English theme, as she had gained more depth and experience since
4107-514: The appearance of Microsoft's Xbox on the console market, agreed to the partnership on the condition that it would not impact development of titles for the PlayStation 2 . This resulted in the creation of "The Game Designers Studio", a shell company for Square's Product Development Division 2 co-owned by Square and Akitoshi Kawazu , a staff member famous for his work on the SaGa series. Development of
4218-403: The best Final Fantasy games. Remastered Edition saw generally "mixed or average" reviews on both Switch and PS4. Jordan Rudek of Nintendo World Report felt that the single-player campaign lacked compelling content, and the multiplayer was hampered by the new additions to the point of making it worse than the original. IGN ' s Seth Macy was very negative, feeling that the game only made
4329-402: The best action RPGs" he played; his only major fault was the implementation of multiplayer and its potential problems. Andrew Reiner—writing for Game Informer —was highly critical of the overall experience, calling the game "an experiment gone awry [...] unfit to bear the sacrosanct Final Fantasy name". A second opinion given by Adam Biessener supported this view, with Biessener feeling that
4440-531: The camera to some degree. As such, these are often grouped with other "isometric RPGs". The popularity of the Diablo series spawned such franchises like Divinity , Torchlight , Dungeon Siege and Sacred . Commonly, these games used a fixed-camera isometric view of the game world, a necessity of the limitations of 2D graphics of early computers; The Diablo series spawned many terms like being referred to as "dungeon crawler" "slasher RPG" "hack and slasher",
4551-440: The chance came he expressed his wish to revive the game for a modern generation. While they had the option to remake it, Araki wanted to keep the game faithful to the memories of earlier players, both evoking nostalgia and assuring them that Crystal Chronicles was returning unchanged. Itahana returned, creating new lead character designs, but due to positive fan memories the original player designs were kept intact. Itahana worked on
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (video game) - Misplaced Pages Continue
4662-451: The characters, setting the standard for first-person computer RPGs for several years. It inspired many other developers to make real-time dungeon crawlers, such as Eye of the Beholder and Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos . Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss , released in 1992, has been cited as the first RPG to feature first-person action in a 3D environment. Ultima Underworld
4773-411: The crystal's energy, defending it from enemies and solving puzzles to progress. Multiplayer, which uses Game Boy Advance units connected using the console's link cable , has up to four players protecting the vessel. Deciding to partner with Nintendo for game development following severe financial problems created by the failure of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within , franchise creator Square formed
4884-523: The development team faced multiple difficulties. The soundtrack to Crystal Chronicles was primarily composed by Kumi Tanioka , while music programmer and arranger Hidenori Iwasaki provided one additional piece of music. Prior to Crystal Chronicles , Tanioka had worked on the score of Final Fantasy XI . Beginning work on the score in 2002, Tanioka and Iwasaki decided to exclusively use period instruments. The soundtrack makes extensive use of many medieval and Renaissance musical instruments such as
4995-562: The early 21st century, journalists covering the video game industry often use the term "hack and slash" to refer to a distinct genre of 3D , third-person , weapon-based, melee action games. Examples include Capcom's Devil May Cry , Onimusha , and Sengoku Basara franchises, Koei Tecmo 's Dynasty Warriors and 3D Ninja Gaiden games, Sony 's Genji: Dawn of the Samurai and God of War , as well as Bayonetta , Darksiders , Dante's Inferno , and No More Heroes . The genre
5106-530: The first to use voice dubbing . The game received the Game of the Year award from OMNI Magazine in 1990, as well as other prizes. Another 1989 release, Activision 's Prophecy: The Fall of Trinadon , attempted to introduce "Nintendo-style" action combat to North American computer role-playing games. Action RPGs were far more common on consoles than computers, due to gamepads being better suited to real-time action than
5217-449: The game did little to distinguish itself from other similar titles. GameSpot ' s Brad Shoemaker enjoyed the game despite faulting its high hardware demands for the full experience, and his publication later named it the best GameCube game of February 2004. Mary Jane Irwin of IGN also gave praise to its gameplay concepts and design, but noted a lack of replay value and the steep entry requirements for multiplayer. Reviewers praised
5328-448: The game is played from a third-person perspective. Players can customize their player character , which learns to cast spells, brew potions, and master combat abilities, eventually developing their own special combat style. In late 1987, FTL Games released Dungeon Master , a dungeon crawler that had a real-time game world and some real-time combat elements (akin to Active Time Battle ), requiring players to quickly issue orders to
5439-597: The game was released on February 9, 2004, in Europe on March 12, and Australia on March 19. The game was published worldwide by Nintendo. A remastered version, titled Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Remastered Edition , was released in 2020. The remaster includes enhanced graphics, new and arranged music, thirteen new dungeons, voice acting, and cross-platform online multiplayer. The game was released for Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4 , Android , and iOS mobile platforms. The port's online engine environment, dubbed STRIX Engine,
5550-485: The game's approach to the inherent conflict between multiplayer gameplay and narrative, and despite its drawbacks called its multiplayer function "the most fully-featured implementation of Gamecube-Game Boy Advance connectivity ever created". Henry Gilbert of GamesRadar , as part of a 2017 article ranking the best Final Fantasy spin-off games, praised the game's multiplayer elements and return to Nintendo consoles despite its extensive hardware demands. Crystal Chronicles
5661-415: The game's art design and music, but most considered the story lacking compared to other Final Fantasy games. The gameplay was lauded for its implementation of multiplayer despite the hardware requirements and its detrimental effect on the single player campaign. A consensus in both Japanese and international reviews was that it was an innovative title, but with several flaws keeping it from being ranked among
SECTION 50
#17328528579865772-512: The game's development in 2003, Square underwent a merger with Enix to become Square Enix , though the nature of the merger meant operations at the Gamer Designers Studio continued as normal. Square Localization Specialist Aziz Hinoshita stated that the game was originally meant to be an offshoot of Final Fantasy , and once the series was established it would drop the connection to that series and would be called " Crystal Chronicles ". It
5883-533: The game's events, the world's sustaining Great Crystal was shattered by a meteorite carrying an alien lifeform called the Meteor Parasite. The Parasite generated a poisonous vapour called the Miasma, which kills anyone it touches. Fragments of the Great Crystal ward off the Miasma from surviving settlements, but require renewal using myrrh, an energy harvested from magical trees using magical vessels protected by dedicated caravans. The Tipa caravanners go on missions across
5994-409: The game's mouse-based combat were mixed. In 1997 Blizzard's Diablo was released and became massively successful. It was an action RPG that used a mouse oriented point-and-click interface and offered gamers a free online service to play with others that maintained the same rules and gameplay. Diablo ' s effect on the market was significant, inspiring many imitators. Its impact was such that
6105-577: The gaming market and its influence on the MMORPG genre later popularized the strongly used mouse-oriented point and click combat. While in the Diablo series this type of combat does not have a lock-on key, World of Warcraft and most MMO games uses some kind of key to target an enemy, usually TAB, to lock into it, usually referred to as "tab-target". In tab-target combat the player's character automatic do attack animations with some kind of regular attack, while
6216-513: The keyboard and mouse. Though there were attempts at creating action-oriented computer RPGs during the late 1980s and early 1990s, very few saw any success. Times of Lore was one of the more successful attempts in the American computer market, where there was a generally negative attitude towards combining genres in this way and more of an emphasis on preserving the purity of the RPG genre. For example,
6327-448: The largest worlds at the time, with over 17,000 computer screens without loading times. In 1988, Telenet Japan 's Exile series debuted, and was controversial due to its plot, which revolves around a time-traveling Crusades-era Syrian assassin who assassinates various religious/historical figures as well as 20th-century political leaders, The gameplay of Exile included both overhead exploration and side-scrolling combat, and featured
6438-479: The new designs with Rubi Asami, who had previously worked on Mobius Final Fantasy . Araki estimated that around half the game had been remade rather than remastered due to the number of changes and additions. When consulting Aoki and Kawazu, Araki was asked to keep the project faithful to its roots and update it for modern players. In addition to enhancing the graphics, the team improved the AI character behavior. Along with
6549-403: The new features, many of the changes were small adjustments done to increase its playability for a modern audience. One of these changes was the timing system for casting magic, which was adjusted to both work through an online connection and be more lenient on players than the original version. The mimic mechanic, which allows players to appear as characters met during the story, was implemented as
6660-502: The new project began in late 2001. The title was developed with the aid of Q Fund, a fund set up by Nintendo's Hiroshi Yamauchi to help first-time developers for the GameCube and GBA consoles. Kawazu acted as the game's producer. The director was Kazuhiko Aoki , a veteran of the Final Fantasy series who had worked on Final Fantasy IX . The artwork and character designs were created by Toshiyuki Itahana, who had also worked on IX . During
6771-413: The nomadic Selkies being able to use special abilities with less cooldown time. Each character's attributes are further customised by choosing the profession of their family, which gives the character access to unique facilities and items each time they return to their home town. Players navigate the world map with their Caravan, and enter town and dungeon environments discovered during the journey. In towns,
SECTION 60
#17328528579866882-457: The online multiplayer nature of the title. The player character designs were intended to be highly distinctive, allowing players to differentiate each other during play sessions. When creating the graphics, the team created graphical effects they considered possible only on the GameCube, and constantly checked background designs throughout development. Due to the multitude of elements new to Final Fantasy being incorporated into Crystal Chronicles ,
6993-499: The original frustrating mechanics worse and added new problems. Mitch Vogel, writing for Nintendo Life , felt that the game would not appeal to a wide demographic and the new multiplayer functions sapped much of the original version's entertainment. Bryan Vitale of RRG Site felt it was still "serviceable" as an RPG, but showed its age and lacked polish on top of the frustrating online multiplayer functions. Kirstin Swalley of Hardcore Gamer
7104-525: The original release. Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu praised the game's fairytale aesthetic and unconventional treatment of the RPG genre; journalists Shane Bettenhausen, Jennifer Tsao and Kevin Gifford Electronic Gaming Monthly each gave the game high praise for its innovation in gameplay and graphical style. Eurogamer ' s Rob Fahey gave the game a near-perfect score, noting the clear production values and calling it "one of
7215-741: The player can focus on activating other skills and items by pressing other keys. Usually this type of combat is not heavily based on aiming or hit boxes thus the player can hit enemies from different distances and even from a far. Some tab-target MMOs have other targeting options such as an "Action mode". Shooter-based action RPGs include Strife (1996), System Shock 2 (1999), the Deus Ex series (2000 onwards) by Ion Storm , Bungie 's Destiny (2014), Irem 's Steambot Chronicles (2005), Square Enix's third-person shooter RPG Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (2006), which introduced an over-the-shoulder perspective similar to Resident Evil 4 , and
7326-425: The player can freely explore and use the available facilities to create and upgrade both items and equipment using materials and blueprints gathered during their journey. The player can also encounter other caravans and travellers, triggering story events. Items used to support the player are both bought in shops and received as gifts from the player character's family. While exploring dungeons, players are confined to
7437-403: The player's attacks can be changed using crystals found in dungeons. Certain elemental affinities are necessary for crossing into new zones otherwise blocked by streams of Miasma. Instead of an experience point system, character attributes and statistics are increased by completing challenges in each dungeon session which award skill points, and Artifacts found in dungeons which can be equipped to
7548-426: The player's stats, or as a currency to purchase items, and penalizing player deaths without imposing an outright failure state. It also incorporated online features allowing players to leave messages in the overworld that can be read by other players, to temporarily join other players' sessions to assist them cooperatively, or "invade" another player's session to engage in player versus player combat. Especially after
7659-514: The release of its spiritual successor Dark Souls (2011) and its sequels, other action RPGs emerged in the 2010s that incorporated mechanics influenced by those of Demon's Souls , which have been popularly referred to as " Soulslike " games. In 2013, Vanillaware released the fantasy beat 'em up ARPG Dragon's Crown , a spiritual successor to Princess Crown and a "deeply moving product" of Vanillaware director George Kamitani. Kamitani cites many classic RPGs as his inspiration, stating in
7770-501: The same continuity, creating a narrative spanning several millennia. Kataoka would go on to work on the scenarios of multiple titles following Crystal Chronicles including Final Fantasy X and XII . He eventually left the company and founded Studio Reel in 2012. Studio Reel and Kataoka would work together with Kawazu on the development of the 2015 title SaGa: Scarlet Grace . Action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG )
7881-490: The same way, except that the necessary points are given to the best player during that session. In battle, players can raise attack meters using standard attacks in succession, and combine individual spells to create more powerful versions for higher damage. The link cable can also be used in single player, allowing the GBA to be used both as a controller and a second screen displaying radar information. The type of radar and what it shows
7992-558: The same year. Jeremy Parish of 1UP.com argues that Japanese developers created a new brand of action role-playing game; these new Japanese games combined the role-playing genre with arcade-style action and action-adventure elements. Shaun Musgrave of TouchArcade also traces the genre's roots to Japan, noting that the "Western game industry of the time had a tendency to treat action games and RPGs as separate things for separate demographics". Jeremy Parish argues that action RPGs were popularized in Japan by The Tower of Druaga . It
8103-459: The second or third players could drop in and out of the game at any time, rather than players having to join the game at the same time. The game has remained influential through to the present day, with its ring menu system still used in modern games and its cooperative multiplayer mentioned as an influence on games such as Dungeon Siege III (2011). Most other such games, however, used a side-scrolling perspective typical of beat 'em ups, such as
8214-508: The series for Sony 's PlayStation platforms, resulting in a long-standing enmity between Square and Nintendo. In 2001, following the financial failure of the feature film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within , Sony purchased a stake in the company amounting to 19% of shares. After considering their still-poor financial situation and wishing to keep their staff from leaving, Square decided to begin developing titles for Nintendo consoles once again. Sony, whose rivalry with Nintendo had softened with
8325-411: The series was also heavily criticized by players and media for not being a proper RPG due to it being focused more on fighting enemies and creating character builds than following a proper narrative and dialogue-heavy journey. After its success many other games tried to mix its influences with different structures and narratives, there are multiple games like Divine Divinity that were an attempt to have
8436-567: The soundtrack, including "Kaze No Ne" in both Japanese and English, the only time the English version has been released. It was published by Nintendo of Europe. "Kaze no Ne" was released as a single by Pony Canyon, featuring "Kaze No Ne", an arranged version, and two other songs by Yae from her album Blue Line . The single was released on July 30, 2003. The game was officially announced at the Jump Festa event in Japan in December 2002. A Western release
8547-499: The studio instead created a spiritual successor : Arx Fatalis . Toby Gard stated that, when designing Tomb Raider , he "was a big fan of ... Ultima Underworld and I wanted to mix that type of game with the sort of polygon characters that were just being showcased in Virtua Fighter ". Ultima Underworld was also the basis for Looking Glass Technologies' later System Shock . The 1988 Origin Systems title Times of Lore
8658-443: The style of journal entries, designed to both fit the theme of a caravan and introduce a new area to the player. While previous Final Fantasy games were driven by their narrative, Crystal Chronicles was driven by its gameplay; the narrative was instead communicated through basic storytelling and environmental narrative. Despite this shift, recurring elements from the Final Fantasy were included. The many encounters players had along
8769-620: The template for many future action RPGs, even though it does not strictly fit the definition of later action RPGs. In contrast to previous action RPGs, such as Dragon Slayer and Hydlide, which required the player to bump into enemies in order to attack them, The Legend of Zelda featured an attack button that animates a sword swing or projectile attack on the screen. It was also an early example of open-world, nonlinear gameplay , and introduced new features such as battery backup saving. These elements have been used in many action RPGs since. In 1987, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link implemented
8880-427: The temples to refuse to level him up. Xanadu Scenario II , released in 1986, was an expansion pack , created to expand the content of Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu . Hydlide II: Shine of Darkness (1985) also featured a morality system. Eurogamer cites Fairlight (1985) as an early action RPG. An important influence on the action RPG genre was the 1986 action-adventure The Legend of Zelda , which served as
8991-468: The term "action RPG" has come to be more commonly used for Diablo -style games, with The Legend of Zelda itself slowly recategorized as an action-adventure. Very commonly, these games used a fixed-camera isometric view of the game world, a necessity of the limitations of 2D graphics of early computers; even with 3D graphic engines, such point-and-click games are still presented from a similar isometric view, though providing options to rotate, pan, and zoom
9102-437: The term has an entirely different usage, specifically referring to action games with a focus on real-time combat with hand-to-hand weapons as opposed to guns or fists. The two types of hack-and-slash games are largely unrelated, though action role-playing games may combine elements of both. In the context of action video games , the terms "hack and slash" or "slash 'em up" refer to melee weapon-based action games that are
9213-713: The things that I wanted to do and all the games that I ended up working on came out of the inspiration I took from [ Ultima Underworld ]". Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski also cited it as an early influence, stating that it had "far more impact on me than Doom ". Other games influenced by Ultima Underworld include The Elder Scrolls: Arena , Deus Ex , Deus Ex: Invisible War , Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines , and Half-Life 2 . FromSoftware 's Demon's Souls (2009) emphasized unforgiving enemies and environments, combined with risk-and-reward mechanics such as limited checkpoints, collecting "souls" that can be consumed as experience points to increase
9324-482: The third bestselling retail game of the week in the country. Crystal Chronicles received the Grand Prize at the 2003 Japan Media Arts Festival , based on its multiplayer function and graphical achievements. During the 2004 National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers ceremony, the game was nominated for awards in the "Character Design", "Costume Design", "Game - Sequel RPG" and "Original Musical Score" categories. It
9435-547: The third game in the Parasite Eve series, features a unique blend of action RPG, real-time tactical RPG, survival horror and third-person tactical shooter elements. Shooter-based RPGs include Imageepoch 's post-apocalyptic Black Rock Shooter (2011) , which employs both first-person and third-person shooter elements, and Square Enix's Final Fantasy XV (2016) , which features both hack and slash and third-person shooter elements. The online live service version gained
9546-406: The trees guarding the vessel which gathers the myrrh, exploring dungeons in which the trees reside, then returning home to renew their village's protective crystal. Players choose their avatar character from one of four races; they can be male or female, each with four pre-set body types. Each race has specific strengths, such as the human-like Clavats having high defence and magic statistics and
9657-570: The twenty-eighth best-selling game title of the year in Japan and boosting GameCube sales for August. Following its North American release, the game was the best-selling title of the month. In the United Kingdom, the game was the best-selling GameCube title of its week of release, a position it retained during the second week. As of October 2007, the game has shipped over 1.3 million copies worldwide. The Nintendo Switch version sold 48,957 physical copies during its first week on sale in Japan, making it
9768-407: The way were important to Kawazu, with the scenario designers "pushing themselves as far as they could" to fill the game world with these encounters and accompanying lore. Most of them were created well after production had begun. Itahana heard about the project while he was attached to Final Fantasy XII during its early production, and transferred over to work on Crystal Chronicles . The scenario
9879-457: The world to gather myrrh, learning the world's history from travellers and characters found in other settlements. The caravanners eventually reach the home of the Carbuncles, an ancient race who guided the world's races to the Great Crystal fragments before going into hiding. After hearing of their adventures, the Carbuncles direct the caravanners to the source of the Miasma, asking them to destroy
9990-504: The wounded Meteor Parasite. The world is freed from the Miasma—allowing the four tribes to begin rebuilding civilisation—and the caravanners return home. Crystal Chronicles was the first original Final Fantasy title to be developed for a Nintendo console since the release of Final Fantasy VI in 1994. Final Fantasy developer Square had broken with Nintendo in 1996 to develop Final Fantasy VII and future mainline entries in
10101-476: Was Masahiro Kataoka, a Square staff member who had previously worked in that capacity on Final Fantasy IX . The central plot details of the Miasma and role of Crystals were established early on, based around the wish to keep players together. Each race's defining traits were influenced by the designers' decisions about their combat options, with story-based additions coming from the planners later in production. The narrations which accompanied new areas were written in
10212-432: Was already decided upon, with Itahana working from their briefs. A recurring theme in his artwork was the phrase " Memento mori ". The four races were designed to have distinct sillouettes, so players would not get confused. Itahana originally created a cat-like race for the game, but Kawazu "hated" their design, so he created the plant-themed Lilties as a replacement. His work on the game lacked strong character designs due to
10323-478: Was also one of the earliest action RPGs. Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu , released in 1985 (billed as a "new type of real-time role-playing game"), was an action role-playing game including many character stats and a large quest. It also incorporated a side-scrolling view during exploration and an overhead view during battle, and an early "Karma" morality system where the character's Karma meter will rise if he commits sin (killing "good" enemies), which in turn causes
10434-508: Was also released that year. It was a party-based action RPG, with the player controlling a party of four characters at the same time in a side-scrolling view. The game also featured character creation, highly customizable characters, class-based puzzles, and a new scenario system, allowing players to choose from 15 scenarios, or quests , to play through in the order of their choice. It was also an episodic video game , with expansion disks later released offering more scenarios. Falcom also released
10545-433: Was an action RPG with an icon-based point-and-click interface. Bad Blood , another Origin Systems game from 1990, would use the same interface. The designers were inspired by console titles, particularly The Legend of Zelda , to make their interface more accessible. The 1994 title Ultima VIII used mouse controls and attempted to add precision jumping sequences reminiscent of a Mario platform game, though reactions to
10656-603: Was an action RPG. Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton claimed that the Intellivision games Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1982) and Treasure of Tarmin (1983) were action RPGs. Shaun Musgrave of TouchArcade notes that Adventure lacked RPG mechanics such as experience points and permanent character growth, and argues that Gateway to Apshai is "the earliest game I'd feel comfortable calling an action-RPG" but notes that "it doesn't fit neatly into our modern genre classifications", though came closer than Bokosuka Wars released
10767-476: Was an ongoing rivalry developing between the Dragon Slayer and Hydlide series over the years. The Tower of Druaga , Dragon Slayer and Hydlide were influential in Japan, where they influenced later action RPGs such as Ys , as well as The Legend of Zelda . Falcom's Dragon Slayer , created by Yoshio Kiya, is "the very first action-RPG ever made" according to GameSetWatch. Originally released for
10878-511: Was announced in April the following year. The game was among those shown by Square Enix at the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo , alongside a number of other titles including Final Fantasy XI and X-2 , and other titles including Unlimited SaGa and Drakengard . Crystal Chronicles was released in Japan on August 8, 2003, after being delayed twice. The game came packaged with a GameCube-GBA link cable for use in multiplayer. In North America,
10989-445: Was initially going to use the series' recurring Active Time Battle system, but instead chose a purely action-based system to allow more people to enjoy the gameplay. Leveling based on experience points was also removed to create a level field for players. It was initially planned to include a human sidekick character, but upon considering its impact on multiplayer, they changed it to the current Moogle system. The game's event planner
11100-488: Was later nominated for the " Console Role-Playing Game of the Year " award at the 8th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards . IGN ranked the game in 2003 prior to its Western release as second in a list of the best co-op video games; while noting that the game's unusual features and chosen platform caused confusion within the Final Fantasy fan base, its multiplayer promised a high quality experience if other elements could live up to it. Eurogamer ' s Rob Haines praised
11211-464: Was licensed from Fantasy Earth Zero developer SoftGear. Originally scheduled for a release in January 2020, it was delayed past the original planned release so the development team could further polish the game. The game was released online worldwide on August 27. A physical cartridge for Nintendo Switch was released only in Japan. A free downloadable Lite Version, acting as a demo covering three dungeons,
11322-417: Was nominated for multiple awards. Reaching high sales positions in Japan and the West, it went on to sell over one million copies worldwide. The remastered version saw generally mixed reviews, with many faulting the change to online-only multiplayer, and by-then dated gameplay mechanics. Subsequent entries in the Crystal Chronicles series have released for Nintendo consoles, beginning with Ring of Fates for
11433-533: Was notably more positive, noting the age of its graphics design but otherwise finding it a fun and enjoyable Final Fantasy title. Reviews generally praised the art and music, but many faulted its archaic gameplay and unfriendly online multiplayer design. During its debut in Japan, Crystal Chronicles sold over 179,500 units, reaching second place in sales charts. During the next two weeks, it first dropped to third place then rose to second place again. By 2004, Crystal Chronicles had sold nearly 355,000 units, becoming
11544-526: Was performed by the Roba Music Theater, whom Iwasaki and Tanioka had seen perform. In addition to performing, the musicians made suggestions about the use of instruments. The game features two vocal themes; the opening theme "Kaze no Ne", and the ending theme "Hoshizukiyo". Tanioka originally composed a longer version of "Kaze no Ne", but to keep the opening at a reasonable length she had to shorten it. The Japanese versions are sung by Yae Fujimoto , while
11655-562: Was re-released with a PS4 "Pro" edition in 2018. Assassin's Creed , a long-running Ubisoft franchise, also shifted towards the action RPG formula, inspired by the successes of The Witcher 3 and the Dark Souls series, with its titles Origins (2017), Odyssey (2018) and Valhalla (2020). Avalanche Software released Hogwarts Legacy in 2023. Set in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and its surrounding areas,
11766-557: Was released alongside the retail version. Players of the Lite Version can join multiplayer sessions with retail version owners, allowing them to experience all thirteen dungeons. The Lite Version was developed late in full production, when the majority of the remaster was in place. Producer and director Ryoma Araki talked with senior staff about remastering older games after finishing work on another project. Araki had joined Square Enix originally after seeing Crystal Chronicles , and so when
11877-450: Was released for arcades in June 1984, and was intended as a "fantasy version of Pac-Man , with puzzles to solve, monsters to battle, and hidden treasure to find". Its success in Japan inspired the development of Dragon Slayer (1984) and Hydlide (1984). Dragon Slayer , Hydlide and Courageous Perseus (1984) "vie for position as genre precedent" according to John Szczepaniak, and there
11988-574: Was the only original game developed by the Game Designers Studio, which had become a subsidiary of Square Enix following the 2003 merger. The Game Designers Studio was eventually renamed SQEX Corporation in 2005. It was later merged with Taito in 2006 following Taito's acquisition by Square Enix, and eventually dissolved entirely during consolidation of Square Enix's arcade businesses in 2010. Multiple Crystal Chronicles titles were later developed for Nintendo's later consoles, with Square Enix's aim being to make full use of Nintendo hardware while developing
12099-412: Was the only title ever developed by the company for the GameCube. Similar to his SaGa games, Kawazu wanted to promote player freedom. The basic concept was to build a game around use of the link cable. Kawazu explained that using the GBA would "introduce different elements of gameplay". He later stated that this type of multiplayer meant "the entry was a bit high" for potential players. The battle system
12210-511: Was used in many later games. T&E Soft 's Hydlide , released in December 1984, was created by Tokihiro Naito, who was influenced by The Tower of Druaga . It was the first action RPG with an overworld . The game was immensely popular in Japan, selling 2 million copies across all platforms. According to John Szczepaniak, it "cannot be overstated how influential Hydlide was on the ARPGs which followed it". The same year, Courageous Perseus
12321-408: Was very easy as the original sound files had been kept in "perfect condition". While they worked on the game for a year, remastering the original score took only three months. New themes were composed by Tanioka, who had become a freelance composer and performer in 2010. In order to recall her feelings to create new tracks, Tanioka listened to the original soundtrack. While the new themes were mainly for
#985014