Chocobo's Dungeon 2

Many of the monsters and characters will be familiar to fans of the Final Fantasy series, with some in-jokes built in. For example, the Tonberry, who fights with a Chef's Knife in FF-VIII, is running a restaurant in this game, and has a drunken Malboro (FF monster) for a customer! You will also find Cid the eccentric inventor, the Black Mages, and Mog the Moogle, among others.

Chocobo himself, of course, is one of those chicken-like birds that the FF characters ride. That's why, in this game, his defensive armor is a saddle. Chocobo can also be equipped with various collars and claws. Different types of saddles and claws are put into special ovens to create customized weapons, similar to the way that armor and weapons are "tempered" in "Legend of Mana" (another Squaresoft game I recommend.) You can also combine other items at the "recycle boxes" to create new items.

When one of your customized saddles or claws breaks in battle, you may get a feather, which has various effects on your abilities. Different weapon combinations and levels produce different feathers. It pays to track down a copy of the Strategy Guide, so you can plan for which abilities you want to develop first.

My biggest complaint about this game is that, if you get KO'd in a dungeon, you lose all the items and equipment you had with you. This can be very frustrating, especially in the beginning, when you can't carry much in the way of healing items. As the game progresses, however, you can rent storage space in town, where you stash extra items that won't be lost in a KO. You will also get "teleport tags" that enable you to beam out of the dungeon at any time WITHOUT losing your items.

The battle system itself is different from the regular FF games, and takes some getting used to. Each time you make a move, the enemy makes a counter-move. If you don't move, both of you just stand there. Think of this as an online version of the old D&D games, where players took turns rolling dice in the battles, and it will make sense. The big advantage is that you can stop right in the middle of a battle if you need to think about what spell or item to use next. You can even teleport out of a battle if you are about to get KO'd. When you do this, you have to start the dungeon over, but you keep your items and experience points.

After you have beat the game once, let the credits roll, and you can play another version of the game -- with new dungeons and the ability to fight as other characters besides Chocobo. Plus, there are some new abilities to earn and a Secret Dungeon with 30 levels!


Surprisingly addictive   December 27, 1999
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I thought Chocobo's Dungeon 2 was going to be a medicore effort from the makers of SquareSoft. Of course, things took a change, and I started to love this game. This game is basically set upon dungeons, which are incredibly tedious at first, but once you know how to use magic, feathers, and other such things, you'll grow on it. The only bad part is that it can be annoying when you keep dying. Oh well, 'cause this is a GREAT effort, and worth any money.


I Love the Yellow Bird!   January 16, 2000
2 out of 4 found this review helpful

I admit it, I'm a chocobo addict. I love this game! At first it's really frustrating, but after the first dungeon, it's great and so much more fun! The animation on the between screens is wonderful and this game is just cute.


This Game   July 14, 2003
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This game is based on a Chocobo that travels an adventure through dungens with a mog and meets new friends. This Chocobo, A bird type animal, learns magic and finds new wepons, which are claws. There are pots that one can mix two wepons to make a better one. When a high level claw is broken a feather is gained which can be use to summon a summon. There are also potions that heal when the Chocobo is low on health This is a very good game for Chocobo Final Fantasys Fans.