One of the biggest game series in the market that has garnered a lot of hardcore fans since its first game is a game from the Japanese Role Playing Game genre. The game series as most would know by now is the Final Fantasy series. As you all well know, it is a series that has put Square Enix (previously known as Square Soft) as one of the most prominent game developers out there and has sold plenty of merchandise related to Final Fantasy.
One of those merchandise will be today’s topic which is the freshly released Final Fantasy Trading Card Game (“FFTCG”). FFTCG was first released in Japan and had earned a lot of players. In sight of the popularity of the game, Square Enix decided to relaunch the game internationally in English, keeping most of the previous rules and card iterations.
FFTCG is a simple game made out of three types of games which are Forwards that attack for you, Backups that generate crystals and Summons that has effects. Each cards has beautiful art depicting the characters and summons of the game, even with some scenes from the games. Fortunately, being new, re-released version there is a lot more design space to expand and include a lot of the lore from the Final Fantasy universe.
There are a few Starter Decks which consist of a working powerful deck of fifty (50) cards that you can bring to learn and play with friends. The rules are simple enough that any new player picking up the game would quickly learn it and be able to play. I will talk about the rules on the surface just to show the gameplay for FFTCG.
Each card has a Cost to bring out into play which can be found on the top left, the number in a colored crystal. For instance, Auron, requires five (5) crystals to be brought out with one of those crystals being Red. After paying the costs, Auron shall come into play (in front being Forwards) as one of your Characters will do the Attacking and Blocking for you. These Forwards come in a variety that is brought into life from the various Final Fantasy games, including Final Fantasy Tactics and Dissidia to name some of them.
So how do you produce crystals? Two ways: the easiest would be to discard a card from your hand to produce two (2) crystals of the color of the Card. For instance, I can at anytime during my turn discard Auron to produce two (2) red crystals to pay for the costs of other cards. Another way to produce crystals is to bring Backups into play. Backups are characters that stay in the back row where after paying the Costs, will come into play Dulled (turned sideways), and when readied, its next turn can produce one (1) crystal of the Character’s color.
For instance, Aerith is a Backup Character that can produce one (1) green crystal by Dulling Aerith on our turn. Although discarding a card produce more crystals than Backup Characters, the cards in your hands are limited while Backup Characters are reusable every turn as they ready at the start of each of your turn.
Summons works like most Final Fantasy games and are the spells of the FFTCG. The costs are paid through the same methods as Characters but the effect will take place and the summon will go to the discard pile. For example, Shiva, after paying three (3) crystals will Dull and Freeze (cannot be ready by next turn) a Forward Character, and then Shiva will go to the discard pile instead of staying in play.
The above are the essentials of the FFTCG which are only the surface. What really draws me into the game is the art and the simple nature of a Trading Card Game. Of course, being a Final Fantasy series game is a huge plus since I play almost all of the previous Final Fantasy games.
And that is it for today. I do encourage that you go to some of the stores to buy the Starter Decks and learn to play as a lot of stores have been bringing in the game and promoting the game to people.
Till then, keep slinging spells and swinging swords.
