Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon Every Buddy is a remake of Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon released on the Wii in 2008. This new and improved game is available now on the Nintendo Switch and the PS4, the latter being the version used for this review. Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon Every Buddy remains largely the same compared the previous game.

The minor differences are that some story scenes have changed, some dialog has been removed, the card-game has been removed, the dungeons have gotten a little better and there are new classes and challenges. The most significant addition has been that of the Buddy system which allows you to play cooperatively with a friend! Another player can now take control of monsters that you encounter and acquire with enough points! You will also gain human allies throughout the game that you can bring along with you in place of a monster.

The Story

You begin the game as Cid and Chocobo, treasure hunters, who are looking for a mysterious jewel called the Timeless Power which is said to be located at the Tower in the Sands. When it is just before their reach, they are suddenly transported to a long-forgotten town called Lostime. The mayor tells them that no one in this town has their memories because the Bell of Oblivion will erase them every time it rings. A girl named Shirma gives us a safe place to stay and helps us along our journey. Back at the town square, a beam of light emerges from the sky and leaves behind an egg on the ground. It hatches and a baby named Raffaello is now in our care. It seems that Raffaello can create dungeons within people’s minds so that we can enter them and recover their lost memories.

As you continue to help more townsfolk, new shops and areas become accessible, such as a flower shop and item shops. The Storage facility becomes available quite early on in the game where you can go to Noiroo to buy and sell spellbooks (i.e. Blind or Poison), and go to Blaroo to deposit and withdraw gil and items for safekeeping. If you chose Normal mode (instead of Hard), you still lose all of your money if you die in a dungeon but you only lose all of your unequipped items. To be clear, that means you keep your equipped items. You will always be able to return to Stella’s Farm to get letters and to ask the animals for gameplay tips (yes you can talk to all animals).

Gameplay

When you enter a dungeon you have to find the stairs on that floor to continue down a set number of floors. Once you get to the last floor, you will battle a boss. You then find Raffaello and can leave the dungeon. You can leave at any time with the Teleport Wings item but when you return, the layout, enemies and items will change.

In every dungeon you need to be prepared before you enter. Gysahl Greens are needed to replenish your stamina as every time you walk around, it depletes. If you get to 0%, you start losing HP. You will need Potions to refill your HP and Ethers to refill your SP which allows you to use special abilities. Your Chocobo can equip two items that will remain in your inventory; talons and saddles. Talons will boost the stats of you attacks and saddles will boost the stats of your defense. There are also other items like the Appraisal Glasses that will come in handy to identify unknown items right away. Remember that you have a carry limit with your items and you will need to purchase bags to extend that limit.

Playing Two-Player

At the start of every dungeon and before moving forward, you can access a crystal. The crystal will allow you to change your Job and access the Buddy Registry.  Each Job has different abilities and stats, as well as weaknesses and resistances. When you defeat enemies, you will gain Job Points to increase the level of your current Job which will in turn give you new abilities. You will also occasionally receive Buddy Points to access more monsters. The points go towards the monster type that you defeated.

When you bring a second player along with you, that player will gain levels when you gain levels. If they die, you can get them back after advancing to the next floor. They have HP and SP but will not have stamina so they can move as often as they like except with enemies. They also cannot be given any items or wear any equipment. It is therefore safer for them to be ahead of you at all times, although they cannot uncover the map as they walk.

Personally, I cannot imagine doing a dungeon alone as they can get very long, redundant and tedious. You can push or swap places with your Buddy at any time. It is possible to accidentally skip your Buddy’s turn if you button mash too fast. When you “miss” the words will display on your screen. You can also technically miss the enemy if you aren’t facing them properly.

Battling

The way the game works is on a grid of squares. Every time you move or attack, the enemies get a turn to do the same. This is not to say that you are “locked into battles” but you are free to roam the dungeons as you please with the exception that enemies don’t always stay where they are unless they are sleeping.

It is best to strategize by taking one step at a time when approached by enemies and to not get cornered or surrounded by them. You can always take steps backward and heal a bit while doing so. This also heals your Buddy at the same time. You not only encounter enemies and items in the dungeons, but traps and buttons as well. Certain buttons when stepped on could either deplete your stamina or wake up certain monsters. I recommend using the D-pad to move as the joystick is harder to control and can jerk your character in weird directions.

Forging

Once you unlock the blacksmith and their Forge in town, you can upgrade your saddle and talons. You can Hone, which adds a level to your equipment, you can Fuse equipment together to strengthen them, or you can Unbrand them. Some items will have brands which have special effects such as elemental properties or negative effects. You can only use the Honing option up to five times before you have to advance ten floors in a dungeon to regain that ability. Dungeons will start to get excessively longer as you progress the game but there will be checkpoints. At checkpoints you can leave and go back to the town, then return to the same said checkpoints.

There are four Oracles and Guardian Beasts that protect four elemental crystals which have an effect on the town. Those elements are: fire, water, darkness and light. Every time you fight one of the Guardian Beasts, you receive a magicyte which allows you to summon them. Every magicyte can only be used once.

Graphics

The graphics in this haven’t improved very much but are still quite charming. They show off how adorable your Chocobo is by letting you play out scenes in certain parts of the town map. You can go to the playground and slide, swing, and go on the see-saw with another Chocobo friend. Square Enix also animated your Chocobo going to sleep on a bed and swimming in a pond. Once you get a fishing rod there are even three areas where you can go fishing. It’s all very playful and cute and a nice little extra feature.

Unfortunately, the aesthetics of the dungeons aren’t so amusing. Every floor is flat and various shades of brown. The edges will vary slightly depending where you are (i.e. Fuego Mines has fire below) but has not much else to offer in terms of scenery. The paths change directions on different floors and the stairs are always in a different area of the map but it is always just a massive square that you navigate.

Music

The music isn’t much better either inside of the dungeons. If you add a Buddy as Player Two, the same music will be playing on repeat unless they die. Then when you’re alone, it’s either the music that was supposed to be playing in the background all along or it triggers only because your partner has fallen. I’m unsure because this has only happened to me once and the tone shifted to a serious and dramatic music rather than the happy cherry music I was just listening to. There are however other familiar songs in town and during scenes such as Memories (get it) from FFIX which is nice for nostalgia’s sake. There is a remastered Original Soundtrack CD which will be available on April 24^th, 2019 which includes arrangements from both old and new versions of the game.

If you enjoyed the game on the Wii, then you have to try this better version. If you’re a newcomer to the series, it’s worth it to play as an adorable Chocobo. You can purchase Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon Every Buddy through the Square Enix store here. If you are interested in games that involve dungeons, check out our newest announcement of ReadySet Heroes here.