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Cris Tales' developers discuss how they're pushing RPGs forward in time
The time-travelling JRPG Cris Tales was one of the most promising games of E3. We talked to the CEO of developers Dreams Uncorporated to find out more.
For a while in the mid-2000s, the cult of the classic turn-based JRPG seemed all but depleted, replaced by flashy 3D combat starring teens in ludicrous outfits. Over the past few years however a new generation of indie developers who grew-up on 16-bit classics, like the Secret of Mana, have started to forge games inspired by their childhood favourites. While these projects can easily fall into empty pandering or simple nostalgia-baiting, the upcoming Cris Tales looks to be a profound evolution of the genre, all thanks to a simple, but highly-effective, core mechanic.
In Cris Tales, you take on the role of Crisbell, a young woman who soon discovers that she's a 'Time Mage', which allows her to engage in all sorts of chronological hijinx. This mostly manifests through the game’s main conceit: throughout its entirety, the screen is divided by a central triangle into three panes, which represent the past, present and future. This means when you're walking around town and you strike-up a conversation with a middle-aged apothecary, you could slide the screen to the left to view them as a young man, or sidle over to the right to see their future as a lonely potion-seller.
As in other games that focus on time manipulation, you can use your precognitive powers to change the fates of those around you, provided you can figure out the fulcrum on which their future turns. However, this means that you might have to make tough decisions on who to save and who to forsake. After all, you have limited resources. Taking a hard look at a character in the future or the past might reveal a part of their backstory that they've never talked about, and how you might prevent an unwanted outcome.
Cris Tales has a striking artstyle
© Maximum Games
According to Carlos Rocha Silva, CEO of Dreams Uncorporated, one of the studios behind the game, this is one of the many ways that the game draws inspiration from Chrono Trigger, arguably the masterpiece of the classic JRPG form. But that's certainly not where the sources end.
“Chrono Trigger is the main influence, of course, with the time travel elements," Silva says. "Even if we use time travel differently, Cris Tales is a clear homage to it, while adding a lot of innovation. We're also inspired by Final Fantasy VI, which we take a lot from story-wise, and Super Mario RPG, which we use for the combat timing mechanics. The Persona series is also an influence for some UX elements. There's a lot more than that."
Besides its chrono-mechanics, the most striking aspect of Cris Tales is probably its 2D artstyle, which combines the doe-eyes and soft curves of classic Disney with the bold colors and mountainous landscapes of the developers' native Colombia.
As Silva puts it, the team isn't just leaning on what they know to try to stand out from other RPGs in the space. Instead, they’re trying to build a whole new genre of "Colombian fantasy." However, he admits that many people who play games made outside of the traditional development hubs don't even realise their country of origin. Silva says that the team hopes to lampshade the game's unique Colombian nature by making sure every element of the game conveys it, even down to the costumes that minor characters wear. "We want to show people that this is an incredible country," he says.
Cris Tales has a variety of interesting battle mechanics
© Maximum Games
As Silva takes great pains to note, the time shenanigans don't end when the turn-based battles begin. Rather, they provide a level of depth rare in the genre. Crisbell can use the equivalent of mana to send her opponents to the past or the future – still represented by the two panes on-screen – and this can have varying effects depending on the target.
For example, sending a mage to the future might turn him into an archmage, which would make his attacks far more powerful, while sending them to the past might make them a lowly apprentice, who can only cast a few magic missiles rather than a raging fireball. Similarly, if you inflict the poison condition on an enemy and then send them to the future, the game treats it as though they've been poisoned for many rounds, dealing a ton of damage. Learning how to take advantage of each of these tiny sub-systems is key to Crisbell and her party's success.
More than anything however, Silva says that Cris Tales isn't about making an elaborate homage to its forebears. It's about pushing the genre forward. "We're not doing the usual exploration, it's not just fighting an enemy; you're actually fighting three different versions of the same enemy," he says. "It's actually being able to see everything in different perspectives and, in a lot of ways, thinking of how you can impact those future outcomes. Learn from the past, act in the present, change the future – that's the main philosophy of the game and we use it everywhere. There are a lot of moments where we've seen people discover story and narrative elements just looking at the different times. We believe we have something worth taking time to dedicate to in order to explore, think and learn."
Cris Tales comes to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC in 2020.
