Cross Treasures’ Story Adventures Into Typical Territory

We already knew Square Enix’s V-Jump collaboration, Cross Treasures, is going to have elements from Animal Crossing and Magician’s Quest: Mysterious Times that allow players to customize their games’ environments, characters and connect with friends. Now, as the December 3, 2009 release date draws near, we’ve learned more about what drives adventurers to cross into other games. Unfortunately, it’s a tale we’ve heard before.

The story is typical RPG fare. There is a peaceful island kingdom that has suddenly fallen into a perilous situation. A massive dungeon has been discovered, and demons and monsters have been appearing from the depths. The king, of course, dispatched soldiers to investigate and take care of any issues, but the dungeon proved too much for them. Then, the evil lord emerged from the dungeon and stole away the kingdom’s princess as his captive.

From there, the player is tasked with saving the princess and restoring peace. There will be quite a bit to do in single player, since there is a storyline to trudge through and a whole island to customize. For example, you get to choose what kind of citizens and shops appear, and can customize the landscape. You can also level up your character’s class. Each class (warrior, thief, priest and wizard) is able to advance to one of five more advanced classes. For example, a priest could become a sage or a thief can become an assassin.

Cross Treasures’ main draw is multiplayer. The co-op multiplayer dungeon crawling has been hyped, as well as the ability to explore other players’ islands. But there’s more than that. If you decide to try your hand at blacksmithing, you can share the weapons you’ve created with friends.

In case you want a better look, here’s the Cross Treasures trailer shown at the Tokyo Game Show:

As you can see from the video, items drawn by V-Jump readers have been faithfully created and entered into the game.

The world customization is a definite plus, and I’m glad to hear about the advanced classes too. Let’s hope this sells well in Japan – maybe it’d lead to a worldwide release.