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Chocobo is good for what it is but isn't good for everybody

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: July 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Chocobo's Dungeon for the Wii is a bit of an odd duck as far as RPGs go, especially RPGs targeted towards children. Chocobo's Dungeon is one of the best professionally produced "rogue-like" titles that I've encountered. If you're wondering what a "rogue-like" title is, I recommend a light bit of reading on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roguelike).

To put it bluntly, Chocobo's Dungeon is a niche title based off of an extremely old formula dating back several decades since the dawn of computer RPGs. It doesn't deviate far from the formula: random dungeons, random monsters, random treasure, random... you get the idea. Each time you take a move in the dungeon each of the monsters can do the same, so it requires a fair amount of strategy. Each dungeon consists of several levels each of which ends with a boss battle. If you die in a dungeon you lose all of your equipment except for the items you have equipped. If that sounds harsh, consider the fact that old-school rogue-like games typically deleted your save file when you died and Chocobo's Dungeon seems pretty merciful in comparison. The game has also deviated from the traditional rogue-like formula by allowing you to switch job classes (knight, black mage, white mage, ninja, etc). All in all, it makes improvements on the formula while staying true to the concept. The problem with this is that the rogue-like formula is probably either too slow paced or too hard for most children to come to grips with (and many adults). If you like rogue-like games though, I recommend it.

Here's where the appeal to rogue-like fans tends to drop a bit. The game falters in the storyline department. I will not lie when I say that the storyline presentation is generally fairly terrible. The basic premise and concept for the storyline is actually pretty sweet but then some overpaid write at Squaresoft decided that a huge portion of the storyline had to center around a baby. So you get to run around as a big chicken and help a baby save people's memories by diving into their minds and... I'm sorry... I can't go on. My eyes rolled into the back of my head and I just started skipping most of the story elements.

Pros:
+++ It's a professional grade, high-quality rogue-like game.
+++ Dungeon graphics and monsters are well designed
+++ The music is pretty much completely amazing with brief exceptions. Some of the best music I've heard in any video game for a long time.

Cons:
--- It's a rogue-like game. A majority of people really won't have patience for it. This alone will make you love it or hate it.
--- The backgrounds in the town often look downright ugly because of a poorly implemented depth-of-field blur effect.
--- A decent story concept that was butchered.
--- The controls are really unintuitive unless you use the Classic Controller.

So, I just spent several paragraphs pretty much harshing on this game, stated that most people probably will not like it, but I still gave it 4 stars. Why? Because, despite it's flaws, the game is an excellent rogue-like title and I have a lot of fun with it. Don't expect a traditional Final Fantasy title or a kid-friendly action game. That would be like going to see Tiger Woods play golf and then complaining that it wasn't as exciting as the Super Bowl. Most rogue-like games don't even have stories OR graphics, so this game stands out. If you enjoy rogue-like games I recommend this title despite the painful storytelling, but if you aren't sure or are unfamiliar with the genre I recommend renting it first.

In the end, it's still a good game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: July 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

A few people remember the dungeon adventures Chocobo had nearly ten years ago. This time around, treasure-hunting companions Chocobo and Cid find their way to Lostime where the people have been losing their memories as a result of the periodic ringing of the clocktower bell that looms over the town. This sets up the game's premise, in which you must enter and fight your way through a series of dungeons in order to reclaim everyone's lost memories. While not the most engaging concept for a story out there, Chocobo's Dungeon for the Wii fondly pays tribute to the roguelike series of games, a genre that honestly is not for everyone.

Despite the dreamlike storyline that tends to border on overly cutesy and childish, the main star of the game is first and foremost its emphasis on dungeon exploration. Though the battles you encounter with enemies are in fact turn-based, the various floors and the treasures, items, and traps that await you in them are all randomized. The enemies match every move you make in the dungeon, making for a little strategy involved when it comes to making dire decisions. Die in the dungeon and lose everything you have obtained. After gradually building up your character's strengths and discovering more abilities and attacks, you will soon be able to get into other aspects of the game such as implementing the job change system and even getting to play mini-games unlocked from further dungeon grinding.

The controls for the game are relatively simple. You can utilize the Classic controller or play it with the Wii remote, upright or sideways for a more traditional feel. No one should have any trouble controlling Chocobo, and the menus are very easy to navigate through. The sound of the game is a real hit and miss, however. The game's dialogue and text comes complete with pretty annoying voice-acting, as well as certain sound effects (particularly Chocobo's attack) that can become grating to your ears after a while. Luckily the musical soundtrack is filled with many familiar tunes from the Final Fantasy series, which are very nice faithful rearrangements to the originals. The graphics aren't anything to go crazy over and some people may wince at the drab washed out finish of the visuals, but the orthodox cartoon appearance of its worlds is actually quite perfect for the entire theme of the game.

I wouldn't get Chocobo's Dungeon because 1) it looks cute, or 2) it has the Final Fantasy name attached to it. The game requires the player to have a certain level of devotion since it comes rife with some rather extensive dungeon crawling. This might turn out to be a worthwhile adventure for some while to others it may be a repetitive bore. On the other hand, the developers of the game stated they designed the game to be simpler and easier in order to appease to more players. The game's difficulty is relatively low compared to other games of its kind, which could disappoint the hardcore elite wanting a deep roguelike experience. While I do applaud the fact that they want to reach a greater demographic and introducing more people to this type of game, Chocobo's Dungeon has a couple flaws that will upset both casuals and non-casuals. Still, anyone who just wants a decent adventure to tide them over for a while should check it out for themselves. Take it for what it is, and just have fun.

Fun game with great gameplay

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 23, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Pros:
+Online card battling
+Great dungeon exploring fun
+Ability to do different classes (Knight, Black Mage, etc)
+Nice, captivating story
+$40 price
+Game lasts a long time and is enjoyable
+Fish by tieing a line onto a back tail feather
+Different Moogle personalities were enjoyable

Cons:
-Graphics are blurry sometimes
-Character voices don't line up with mouths sometimes

A game with many problem

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: August 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

pro- $40 for a brand new game
that it i guess

Con- They reuse all of the music from every final fantasy game, which the music isn't bad. They just didn't use at the right moment.
-Job class, all of the ability look the same, it didn't feel like each job feel different from each other.
-The game have like 5 stages ( memory state, fire stage, water stage, light stage, and dark stage ), and all the stage look the same.
-Voice actor was bad, the first 10 mins of the game made me quit the game for like a week, then i went back on to finish the game.
-They don't have muti player unlike the ps1, which is really fun
-The dungeon don't even feel like a dungeon
-Story was awful
-Boss look terrible, and they don't require skill to defeat
-Card game make no sense
-Secret ending, chocobo seem like he was on something, he maybe have ate
too much ghysal green
-I don't know why but japanese rpg seem to have guy with no shirt these day ( last boss of the game ),
for example final fantasy 12
-Battle, most of the time, you will mostly fight them in a straight line
-No effect for the weapon( no fire come out of the weapon when chocobo kick, unlike the ps1 game)
-Two fishing spot
- I couldn't believe i wasted my time for this game, i actually wait for this game, trust me i love the chocobo series game

This is why this game cost 40 bucks, and not 59.99 or not even 50 bucks
Another bad game from square enix, even chocobo racing is better than this game.
You pay for what you get....TASTE MY CHOCOBO KICK

Ah, voice acting...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is a very small review for that niche of picky gamers that take issue easily with bad localization and dubbing. The two previous reviews do a perfectly good job of explaining the game.

1. No language swap. Sadly for die-hard fans of original voice tracks from Square games, this is another which does not include the option to switch languages.

2. There is no option to turn off the voices. If the above didn't scare you off buying the NA version, this might. There isn't even a volume control for voice or music.

So, if the above didn't scare you off from purchasing the NA release and send you running to grab the JP release from your local importer, here's the scoop on the American VA talent:
If you found yourself tolerant of the acting in FFX, extremely pleased with it FFXII, and appreciative of Disney's VA talent in Kingdom Hearts, you may very well be able to enjoy Chocobo. Chocobo is similar in "look and feel" to Kingdom Hearts, but where Kingdom Hearts' acting is more all-ages friendly (much in the way some of the better Disney films have been,) Chocobo's VA staff takes the direction of, well, Blue's Clues. The VA talent sounds like they were stolen from Nickelodeon's recording studio--and in some cases a few people sound like they were plucked off the street. The lines are delivered very slowly, and often in a comforting tone. Mind you, it's not bad, but it's for young, young children! At it's worst it sounds like they used someone's theater school dropout niece or nephew to fill the role.
I'm guessing the marketing idea was that too many red-blooded American gamers (like myself) would slip into a diabetic coma just looking at this sugary-sweet title, so they geared all their efforts towards making it a game for families with young children.

That all being said, I'm still playing it in English, having fun, but seriously thinking about grabbing the Japanese copy as well. Half the lines that should come off as sweet or whimsical just sound sarcastic or forced.

Seriously Square, don't drop the ball after the execellent job with FFXII. We do care about acting and translation, especially since a large chunk of your fanbase is now grown-up... with adult salaries to blow as well.

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