I don’t know anyone who has ever played any Final Fantasy game and didn’t say to themselves, “Well, why can’t I play as the Chocobo???2???” I think you can split Final Fantasy players between those who want to play as Chocobos, and those who want to play as Moogles. I don’t think there’s many people in that second category. They’d be monsters. Kupo.
“But,” those Choco-philiacs would mutter, “I’d really miss playing those different jobs, like White Mage and Black Mage and Red Mage and Blue Mage and Green M…” let me stop you right there, because in Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon, you can absolutely do all these things.
CMD:EB! is a beginner-friendly entry into the world of Rogue-likes. Rogue-likes are games based off the 1980s hit mainframe video game Rogue, and are typically dungeon crawlers with randomly generated levels, items that change natures from run to run, turn-based movement and combat, and permadeath — if your character dies, it’s game over.
Later rogue-like games added things like different adventurer classes, storylines, pets and shops. CMD takes after these — and also allows you to play without permadeath. After all, this is a game designed to be easy enough for both small children and females.
You are a Chocobo of no particular name, though some people will assume you have one. You and your human partner, Cid, were looking for a timeless energy source. You’d tracked it to a tower in a desert, but you were beaten there by Cid’s rival! She has the power source, but something goes wrong and you are all sucked through a vortex…!
You land in the town of Lostime, where daily everyone’s memories are erased by the tolling of the Oblivion Bell. You, Chocobo, find you’re able to jump into people’s minds and retrieve their lost memories.
These jumps land you in random dungeons. The basic rules are, you can bring a buddy (certain people whose memories you have restored, or enemies you have beaten enough times in the dungeons). You can bring in items, and bring items you find in the dungeon back out. Eating food is necessary to maintain your health. Monsters only move and attack when you do. You can take on dungeons with no maximum adventure or job level.
Certain dungeons can break some or all of those rules. Maybe food doesn’t work. Maybe all your gear vanishes when you zone in. Perhaps you can’t bring your buddy or have to lower your level to enter. Maybe there are no items or health regeneration at all.
The dungeons are short enough and small enough that you won’t find yourself spending too long on any given one. The characters are kooky; the jobs and some of the NPCs are very familiar to Final Fantasy fans, the music is great…
If you like Final Fantasy and/or roguelikes, you’ll like this one. If you’ve never played a roguelike, this is a great introduction.
I was originally going to play this on the Switch, but it was half the price on the PS4. I’d have written about it sooner, but I couldn’t find my flash drives. I had to order a new one so I could get these screenshots off the Playstation! Really enjoying where you just take a card out of the Switch and put it into your PC and there you are.
I miss you, Sam Porter Bridges.
I loved this one! Chocobo are so cute. I don’t remember much of the game though, so nice to read about it again 😀
Yeah, I forgot to mention that it’s a remake. Way back in the before-times, I’d played Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, which is more or less the same gameplay. Hadn’t played this one.
I may have played the original of this, or at least I played some kind of Chocobo Mystery Dungeon title. Were there more than one? I can’t even remember what platform it was on. Gamecube maybe? I do remember having fun with it though. Had no idea they’d made/remade a modern version, so thanks!
Okay, I didn’t know I might enjoy rogue-likes until this gem. I’m going to have to look at picking it up at some point!
It’s really fun and relaxing 🙂