''Mystic Chronicles'' is a Japanese

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing a ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by

Kemco Kemco (abbreviated from Kotobuki Engineering & Manufacturing Co., Ltd.) is a Japanese video game developer and publisher established in 1984. It is headquartered in Kure, Hiroshima. One of its best known franchises is the ''Top Gear'' series ...

. While initially released as ''Fantasy Chronicles'' for the

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

, the name was retitled as a result of

Natsume Inc. Natsume Inc. is an American video game publisher. Originally established as an American division of Natsume Atari, Natsume Co., Ltd. in 1988, it split from its parent company in 1995 to become an independent publisher. Natsume Inc. is located in B ...

providing a new English translation for its release on the PlayStation Portable, released in North America on July 16, 2013.

Gameplay

The game plays as a traditional Japanese

. In the game, the player navigates a character through a fantasy world, interacting with

non-playable characters A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...

and fighting enemies. When engaging enemies, the game utilizes a

turn based In video and other games, the passage of time must be handled in a way that players find fair and easy to understand. This is usually done in one of the two ways: real-time and turn-based. Real-time Real-time games have game time progress cont ...

battle system reminiscent of ones found in the '' Dragon Quest'' series of games.

Story

The game stars a boy named Lux, who wishes to protect the village he grew up in, from external threats.

Development

Developer

, while a prevalent maker of video games during the

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

era of video games, eventually ceased releasing video games in North America as technology and graphics advanced. In the 2010s, however, they changed their focus to release smaller, retro based games for mobile phones. The game was originally released as ''Fantasy Chronicles'' for

. The game was eventually ported to the PlayStation Portable. In February 2013, Natsume Inc. announced they would be releasing the game under a new title, ''Mystic Chronicles'', with a new translation, distancing it from its original release, which was criticized for its translation. The PSP release will also contain an additional storyline. The game is updated to be compatible with the PlayStation Vita on August 6, 2013.

Reception

Touch Arcade gave the game a 3.5 out of 5 rating, praising the classic gameplay features such as the battle system and crafting, but criticizing the game for being tedious after extended play time, and for its poor English translation, something Natsume Inc. would later address with its complete re-translation with its PSP release.

References

{{reflist 2012 video games IOS games Natsume Inc. games PlayStation Portable games PlayStation Network games PlayStation Vita games Kemco games Role-playing video games Video games developed in Japan Single-player video games