When you engage in a battle, the information on what you fought is recorded in the game’s compendium. Squares with black text contain an enemy encounter. Squares with white text hold something helpful for you, like a shop, information on an enemy, a healing point, or a puzzle. That’s all you get before you take your first steps toward the dangers below.Įach dungeon floor is pre-mapped, with every available encounter telegraphed in advance. You’ll start with no money, but each party member will come equipped with weak weapons and armor. It really doesn’t make much of a difference who you pick because there are no classes to worry about in this game and, if you’re anything like me, your initial party will get wiped within the first 20 floors. When you first begin Dungeon Encounters, you’ll create a team of up to four characters from those available at the Academy located on the top floor of the dungeon. All that matters here is the player’s understanding of the ATB system and their ability to navigate all 99 floors of this dungeon.
The story is short enough to fit onto a single screen, character and enemy portraits are only half-drawn at best, the map is just a simple grid on different hues of parchment, and, while there are short backstories for each character, they’re inconsequential. Everything else here has been stripped of its excess to just the necessities. In Dungeon Encounters, it’s the main star. In the Final Fantasy series, the ATB system always worked in tandem with the other elements of the games - the characters, the plot, the setting, the graphics - to create the memorable experiences known and loved the world over. Ito is also the father of the Active Time Battle (ATB) system, a revolutionary idea introduced in Final Fantasy IV that significantly altered the trajectory of the turn-based RPG genre. Both men are long-standing Square Enix developers, with Kato working on games like Tactics Ogre and the Final Fantasy Advance titles, and Ito cutting his teeth on Final Fantasy VI, IX, and XII arguably the best games in the franchise. Turns out there is a lot of fun to be had.ĭungeon Encounters (PC, PS4, Switch)ĭungeon Encounters is the brainchild of Director Hiroyuki Ito and Producer Hiroaki Kato. It was intriguing, of course, but I wasn’t sure exactly how much fun there was to be had in a game where you’re just walking across a pre-drawn barebones grid as you work your way down 99 floors. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of Dungeon Encounters when Square Enix announced it, real casual like, at Tokyo Game Show earlier this month.
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