Huh, so there’s a new Chocobo Mystery Dungeon coming up this month?
Anyone hear anything about it? The one on Wii was really good, it’s pretty much a Shiren game in disguise with Final Fantasy classes. It was on the easy side of things, at least for a roguelite.
Every… “buddy”, though? Managing NPCs in Shiren on Wii was like herding cats. I sure hope they did that well.
EDIT: Huh, I knew something smelled fishy. It is a remake of the game on Wii. It’s not a bad thing in and of itself, but y’know, I already played the game before.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/248077-chocobos-mystery-dungeon-every-buddy/76999810
What about folks such as myself that never played it? I feel like I should, having enjoyed the Etrian Odyssey/Mystery Dungeon on 3DS a few years back. Worth checking out, you think? Did they upgrade the visuals or do any other enhancements?
EDIT: I found a video that shows the game and shows it against the Wii version. Looks like a significant visual upgrade, to say the least.
It’s a short video, so hopefully it will give me an idea of the gameplay as well.
EDIT 2 - Well that video didn’t have a lot of gameplay, but it did look really nice. I found some other videos showing off the game and I forget this was coming to Switch as well. It looks like that might be the platform to go with, and it does seem like a really cool game, so I may have to dive in here in a few weeks.
Thanks for putting this (back?) on my radar!
Oh it’s a lot of fun! Very charming! Chocobo is adorable and he can class change, which gives him different abilities/stats. It’s all classic FF stuff: Black Mage for magic offense, Ninja for high damage/low durability, Scholar can identify items, etc… The White Mage was probably the cream of the crop: excellent defense and healing spells, obviously, and once you got Holy a decent attacker as well. Every single class is begging for a plush toy and, guess what, those toys do exist!
It’s a fairly tame roguelike. Dungeons are separate, so you don’t have to finish it all in one go. You can escape at any stairs. If I remember this right, character levels are permanent and it’s faily easy to not lose equipment on death. You can reforge weapons/armor to get it just the way you want. There’s a fairly large hub town that you can develop a bit with stores, optional minigames, etc. There’s even a collectible card game as a completely optional activity.
There are also “dream” dungeons, which are basically short gimmick dungeons (no food, always at 1 HP, all items are unidentified/cursed, etc.) that require a tailored strategy. Those were my favorite bit.
From what I can gather, this version going to add NPC buddies, hence the title, and some extra classes and stuff that was in the DS “demake” :
I think they added the chocobo Red Mage class, i.e. the hybrid white mage/black mage/knight. It’s the most dapper chocobo ever:
So it’s a very chill roguelike that oozes charm. You know what, I’m convincing myself. I might get it again…
Well, okay, holy shit this sounds amazing. I have questions that I can’t find the answers to, trying to watch gameplay videos.
First up, do you change classes like during runs, or at the start of a run? Are there “runs” like a traditional rogue like? What happens when you die, that sort of thing.
I watched a little Switch gameplay video that was like 12 minutes long, no narration, and I couldn’t figure out why the player was in such a rush to get through the dungeon floors - he wasn’t exploring or even taking time in some cases to pick up stuff on the ground. Is there a time limit of some kind?
Is there equipment, magic items to find, skills and abilities to unlock (per class, one assumes), that sort of thing? How does a Chocobo use a sword!?
Is there maybe a good video or page you’d recommend I look at to get into the groove?
Oh, okay then. Keep in mind it’s been a while. What, ten years? Whoah.
“Runs” are one dungeon, there’s like 8, maybe more? There’s the earth dungeon, the fire dungeon, etc. They get longer each time and I think you can class change every tenth floor or something at crystals.
I think you lose all items and equipment when you die, but not levels. I think there was a way not to lose your cool gear… maybe it was just “realoading your save”. There’s a bank for items/money in town.
The game is turn-based, dunno why he was rushing, but I’m pretty sure something starts chasing you eventually as an anti-stalling measure.
Spells/abilities and unlocked on a class by class basis with “Job xp”.
Chocobos uses talons for weapons and saddles for armor, duh!
Really, I’d suggest not checking any pages because the game is pretty easy to figure out and you’d just spoil the surprise. There are some Let’s Plays, though:
Mark_L
2007
He don’t need me to vouch for him, but everything Woodlance says is true. A charming, chill roguelike in the Shiren style, with Chocobo flair. I’m looking forward to it.
This is perfect, and much appreciated. Thanks!
Between you and @Mark_L this sounds like something I’d really like, and it’s coming at a good time as I don’t have much else to dig into in March, except maybe Sekiro (which looks like the very definition of a game one would do well to take breaks from with a chill dungeon crawl).
Now, next question - PS4 or Switch? Anyone have a preference? Probably the same on both, visually speaking so I’m inclined to go Switch for the option to play on on the couch with the TV on.
EDIT Is it cheaper on Switch? $40 vs. $53.49 on PlayStation Store?
Syzygy
2009
Thanks for this! Missed this announcement. I’ll be buying this for sure!
Thraeg
2010
Incidentally, thanks to this reminder, I tried Shiren out in Drastic on my phone, and it plays great.
That is pretty cool.
Shiren is an excellent “babies first roguelike”
Very easy to play. It also does have some persistence between runs with storage houses for items and new stores/shortcuts opening up.
Pretty much exactly my speed. It has a ton of content that opens up after you finish the main quest, but I never messed with most of that.
Question for the group.
Shiren The Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate ($21 on Amazon; Vita (and assuming my Vita works, I haven’t woken it up in over a year, but it’s been plugged in all this time). $21 Amazon physical order.
OR.
The upcoming Chocobo Mystery Dungon EVERYBUDDY! ($40 Switch)
It’s not that I can only play one, but which one is going to be the best game? Overall, that is, I’m sure each has it’s benefits. Like maybe Chocobo is a more relaxing/less frustrating experience, but Shiren is a bit more engaging in terms of player progression and loot, or something. Thoughts?
I didn’t even look at the second option, I stopped at :
To be more helpful, I haven’t played Chocobo, but the Mystery Dungeon spinoffs are usually much more casual and light and… well boring than the games in the original Shiren series (baring a couple of dogs). And The Tower of Fortune is hands-down the best Shiren game in the series.
Also you make Tower of Fortune as frustrating as you want it to be: during the early (the first 30hours?) of the game, when you follow the storylines, stakes are low. When you switch to the dedicated dungeons, featuring real “no return fuck all” roguelike mechanics, then it’s another matter.
Thraeg
2015
Strong concur.
Having played both of them, Chocobo has better music, and is more breezy and forgiving for players that are new to roguelikes (you can fairly easily protect your weapon and armor so they aren’t lost on death, and gradually build them up to high levels of enchantment.)
But Shiren is much more interesting and demanding in terms of mechanics. It demands that you play tactically and make good use of your consumable items (and each run is more distinctive because you’re relying on a unique mix of stuff you find, rather than mostly using a set of class abilities). It still has some forgiving permanent progression mechanics in the main story, so it won’t send you all the way back to square 0 like classic PC roguelikes, but the progression mechanics don’t dominate the tactical gameplay the way they sometimes do in Japanese roguelikes. And once you get into the post-game dungeons the gloves come off.
Well, man, thanks for the fast and super great responses guys! I have put my order in from Amazon and will test my Vita tonight. I would imagine it’s fine, but now of course I’m a bit worried since I pulled the trigger just 3 hours before I could simply go home and make sure it’s cool. Er…
Yeah, Shiren is much more involved, although the last one I’ve played is the one on the Wii.
Y’know, while we’re on the subject of roguelikes on the Wii, Baroque should be due another remake by now, no? It’s probably my favorite roguelike, it’s just so… weird.
They ported it to iOS a few years ago, so why not a PS4 port of the Wii version. And add the PS1 original so you have the whole package!
Tower of Fortune is a lot of fun. Not a huge Roguelike fan (lack patience), but of the half dozen or so I’ve tried, keep coming back to this one (helps that it’s on the Vita and makes good bedtime gaming). Tempted to find a copy of the DS Shiren which I think is a different game altogether.
I suck at it and still on one of the basic (training?) dungeons, not one of the main dungeons but feels so satisfying when I make it one floor further (except when I am on a roll and get teleported by an enemy into a higher floor to an ambush. That wasn’t fun and happened twice in maybe 10 sessions.
Not sure if mentioned already but the soundtrack is pretty great and the game looks really sharp on the Vita.
