Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon: Every Buddy can get a bit repetitive, but the simple gameplay and variety of content and collectibles will keep fans of both dungeon-crawlers and Final Fantasy playing in short spurts for a good while.
Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon: Every Buddy
Developer: Square Enix
Price: $39.99
Platforms: PS4 (reviewed) and Nintendo Switch
MonsterVine was provided with a PS4 code for review
Outside of the first Pokémon spin-off, I haven’t had much experience in the Mystery Dungeon genre. Every Buddy is actually an enhanced remaster of the 2007 Wii game Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon, which I never had the chance to play. This means I was able to jump into Every Buddy with a fresh mind, which enhanced the experience.
The story of Every Buddy takes place in the mysterious town of Lostime, a town that loses its memories every time the belltower rings. As the aptly named Chocobo, it’s up to you and an assortment of new friends to restore everyone’s memories and stop whatever malevolent force is forcing amnesia upon Lostime.The characters are fun to follow, with the flamboyant Dungeon Master X standing out as the best (because what could be better than a masked Moogle who acts like a Sentai character?) The story is easy to follow but interesting enough to keep you invested until the end of your fifteen-or-so hour playthrough.
For those who haven’t played a Mystery Dungeon game, here’s a basic synopsis: as a character (typically from an established franchise like Dragon Quest or Pokémon), you wander through randomly generated dungeons while fighting off enemies in turn-based combat, normally with the goal of reaching the top or bottom floor of said dungeon. You collect treasures and equipment, level up through combat, and fight bosses as you proceed through increasingly long and difficult dungeons. It’s a fun concept that, while pretty basic, can be pretty addictive once you learn all of the mechanics.
“I found myself fighting every enemy I could just to try to collect them all, which has the added benefit of giving you plenty of experience.“
The simplicity of combat is great for short bursts of play, but I found myself getting a bit bored if I played for too long. I’d be just as enthusiastic to play it again after a break, but the gameplay would begin to feel repetitive when I played for too long. I’d actually recommend the Switch version of Every Buddy for this reason,. It makes it easy to pick up the game whenever the mood strikes. Dying in a dungeon makes you drop your money and unequipped items, but the presence of checkpoints at every tenth floor keeps things from feeling frustrating or unfair, making it even easier to pick up and play on the go.
Unlocking new Jobs/Classes is a big part of Every Buddy, as a number of dungeons will provide you with new Jobs for your Chocobo to use. These are all classic Jobs from the core Final Fantasy series, from basics like Knight and Black Mage to more niche classes like Beastmaster or Scholar. Each class has its own unique skills (and adorable costume for Chocobo), with plenty of unique unlockable skills that are gained from collecting “Job Points” in battle. Leveling up a Job is pretty easy, so you can freely switch between different jobs to try them out in different situations. There are plenty of Jobs, which keeps things feeling fresh as the story goes on.
Every Buddy’s other main gimmick is the Buddy system, which lets you take a character or monster with you as a party member to explore the game’s various dungeons. You recruit new characters as you progress through the story, and new monster companions by collecting “Buddy Points” from defeating those enemies throughout each dungeon. I found myself fighting every enemy I could just to try to collect them all, which has the added benefit of giving you plenty of experience. You’ll need this experience, as some of the bosses can be pretty difficult if you aren’t prepared. They’re not ridiculous or unfair, but they provide just the right amount of challenge.
Every Buddy looks quite good for an updated Wii game, as its colorful and cartoony visual style translates to the current generation rather well. The music is primarily made up of remixes of classic Final Fantasy songs, which is a fantastic touch. A good chunk of the main Final Fantasy titles are represented with some of their best, and some surprisingly obscure, tracks, which other Final Fantasy fans will surely appreciate as much as I do.
The Final Word
Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon: Every Buddy is a simple but very fun dungeon crawler that Final Fantasy fans will definitely enjoy. It can become repetitive when played for too long, but in short spurts, there’s a lot of fun to be had through recruiting monsters and exploring dungeons.
MonsterVine Review Score: 4 out of 5 – Good
