Crystal Defenders

The first game in the series is Crystal Guardians, which was released in three parts for Japanese mobile phones in 2008. It was adapted for iOS later that year as Square Enix's first game for the platform, and renamed Crystal Defenders. Under that name, the game was also released between 2009 and 2011 for Android, Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare, and PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable via the PlayStation Store. It was re-released with graphical improvements for iOS as Crystal Defenders Plus in 2013. A sequel, Crystal Defenders: Vanguard Storm, was released for iOS in 2009. The two games have similar base gameplay mechanics, wherein the player places troops of different classes to defend their crystals against multiple waves of enemies advancing across the screen. Defenders has the player place troops alongside a winding path that enemies march along, with the troops attacking the enemy monsters continuously without retaliation. Vanguard Storm, in contrast, has the player place troops on the right half of a grid that enemies move across in one square per turn, with the player adjusting the placement of their forces every turn. Square Enix's first game for smartphones, while Vanguard Storm was its first game to be designed especially for touchscreen controls. The games use character designs and music created for Tactics A2 by artist Ryoma Itō and composer Hitoshi Sakimoto, and the series was produced by Takehiro Ando. Square Enix was assisted in development of Guardians and Defenders by external studios Mobile Software Foundation and Winds. Defenders was met with generally poor reviews, despite achieving one million downloads worldwide by 2012, with critics finding the game to be uninspired and unpolished. Vanguard Storm received more praise from critics, who appreciated the graphics and found the gameplay fun, though not without flaws.

• Title — Crystal Defenders • Platforms — Mobile phone, iOS, Android, iPod, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation Portable • Developer — Square Enix • Publisher — Square Enix • Artist — Ryoma Itō • Composer — Hitoshi Sakimoto • Genre — Tower defense • First Release Version — Crystal Guardians • First Release Date — January 28, 2008 • Latest Release Version — Crystal Defenders: Vanguard Storm • Latest Release Date — May 13, 2009

• Illustration — A screenshot of the mobile phone version of Crystal Guardians. A line of enemies is moving down the path in Wave 8 of a stage, with several troops placed to attack them. All of the releases in the Crystal Defenders series are tower defense games composed of multiple stages, each consisting of a top-down view of a winding path. Stages contain 31 waves (or levels) of enemies that enter the area on the left side of the screen and walk along the pathway towards the goal, a set of crystals off the right side of the screen. The goal of the game is to protect the crystals from enemies by strategically placing troops of various "jobs", or classes, alongside the pathway to defeat the enemies and prevent them from reaching the other side of the map. Troops can attack within a circular area around them, moving to do so if required such as for sword-using fighters. Different classes attack in different ways, with some classes having effects such as causing damage over time or slowing enemies. Each enemy that reaches the crystals takes one; the game ends if twenty enemies reach the crystals during a stage. Players can also summon Espers at the cost of some crystals to either cause damage or have effects on all enemies on screen. The first game, originally named Crystal Guardians and later renamed Crystal Defenders, was released in three separate chapters named W1, W2, and W3. The W1 chapter lets the player use the Soldier, Time Mage, Archer, Thieves, Black Mage, and White Monk jobs. W2 introduces the Berserker and Dragoon jobs and adds a "crystal power" element to increase the power and speed of the player's characters. W3 introduces the Fencer, Flintlock, and Tinker jobs, while removing the Soldier and Archer jobs. The Wii version of Crystal Defenders is divided into R1 and R2 chapters and offers a new ranking system via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The R1 chapter offers the same jobs as W1 with the addition of the dragoon job from W2. R2 contains the same jobs as in W3 and offers the crystals feature previously introduced in W2. In Crystal Defenders: Vanguard Storm the maps no longer have winding pathways, but instead are four rows of eight squares. The player can place troops on the squares on the right half of the map, defending against enemies entering from the left side of the screen. Each stage is now turn-based instead of real-time, with enemies advancing a single square to the right each turn, harming troops they run into and ending the game if any enemies reach the right side of the screen. At the beginning of each stage the player selects which troops to use, and between turns the player has a limited amount of time to rearrange their forces, who then attack available enemies at the beginning of the turn. After specific waves, the player receives "Reinforcement", where they may choose one of two units to add to their army. At the end of each wave, all troops on the board level up, gaining health points and attack power. Thus, at any point all troops' levels are equal to the wave number. Enemies are divided into three types: standard and physically resistant ground-based enemies, and flying enemies. Different classes are effective against different types; Black Mages, for example, can harm physically resistant enemies, while archers can reach flying monsters. Different classes also attack in different patterns, with some reaching multiple spaces in front of them in a group or line, while others have special abilities such as the Paladin blocking enemies or the White Mage restoring health of other troops. Levels start with a limited selection of classes available, and every few waves the player gets to choose one from a set of additional classes to add to their options.

• Illustration — Crystal Defenders: Vanguard Storm gameplay screenshot, showing six enemies moving across the screen towards five defenders. Three developers have worked on the Crystal Defenders series; the series as a whole was supervised by Final Fantasy franchise owner Square Enix. External studios Mobile Software Foundation and Winds worked with Square Enix on Crystal Guardians and Crystal Defenders, while Square Enix worked alone on Crystal Defenders: Vanguard Storm. The Crystal Defenders series uses the recurring setting of Ivalice, specifically recycling character designs and aesthetic elements from the Nintendo DS title Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift. Despite having a different genre from previous Tactics titles, the team aimed to keep the game as faithful as possible to the world and aesthetic of Ivalice. The series reuses music from Tactics A2 composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto and other composers from Sakimoto's studio Basiscape. The character designs were created by Ryoma Itō, who had previously worked on Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Tactics A2 and Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings. The series was produced by Takehiro Ando of Square Enix's mobile division. Crystal Defenders was Square Enix's first game for smartphones. Vanguard Storm was the first Square Enix game to be designed especially for touchscreen controls.

Crystal Guardians was released in three separate chapters for mobile phones in Japan in 2008. It was released on January 28, March 10, and May 5 for i-mode, April 1, June 2, and July 16 for Yahoo! Keitai, and June 19, September 4, and October 23 for EZWeb phones. The game was released worldwide on December 23 the same year as Crystal Defenders for iOS devices and iPods, with all three chapters releasing simultaneously. This version was ported to Xbox Live Arcade worldwide for the Xbox 360 and via the PlayStation Store for PlayStation 3 in Japan on March 11, 2009. The PlayStation 3 version was released outside of Japan on August 6. It was released for WiiWare as two chapters, R1 and R2; R1 was released in Japan on January 27, 2009, and elsewhere on April 20. R2 was released in Japan on February 24, 2009, and elsewhere on May 18. The game was also ported via the PlayStation Store for PlayStation Portable on October 29, 2009, and optimized for the iPad on July 1, 2010. The game was released on Android on January 25, 2011, though only the W1 and W2 chapters were released. The game was re-released for iOS with higher quality graphics as Crystal Defenders Plus on February 20, 2013; W1 was made free with the other chapters available as in-app purchases. Distribution of Crystal Defenders Plus and Crystal Defenderss iOS version ended in May 2016. Crystal Defenders: Vanguard Storm was released worldwide for iOS on May 13, 2009. Distribution of Vanguard Storm ended in August 2017.