A city-management simulation game spinoff of the lung-collapsingly popular Final Fantasy series set in the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles universe, and released as a launch title for Nintendo's WiiWare service in 2008.
You play the role of the son of a king named Epitav, and your search for him leads you to an abandoned castle with a giant crystal and large, empty plots of land. The crystal grants you the power of Architek, a form of magick used to create buildings with mana. Your job (should you choose to accept it) is to repopulate the city and hire townspeople to become soldiers and uncover dungeons in order to find clues to your father's whereabouts.
The king himself doesn't do any fighting... his job is to motivate his soldiers and console their families while they get sent off to fight to preserve the prosperity of the city.
Compare Little King's Story, which has a similar premise (kid becomes the sole monarch of a city/island).
A sequel, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord, was released the following year.
This Game Provides Examples Of:
- A Child Shall Lead Them: You are that child.
- Bait-and-Switch: Building the Tavern will cause Chancellor Chime to be surprised and seemingly condemn the decision...but basically immediately turns around and runs it herself.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Chime almost subverts this near the end, nearly saying that she loves the king...but decides against it.
- Canon Name: The King's default name, and the one during his stint as the Final Boss of My Life As A Darklord, is Leo.
- Cap: You are only allowed to have as many as sixteen fighters in your city. Levels for various tools goes all the way up to 100, and you're limited to 9,999 gil and 9,999 mana (for Architek usage). Ironic because adventurers can have more gold than you, and the level 100 robe can cost around 110,000 gil.
- The Chosen One: Subverted for the most part.
- Command & Conquer Economy
- Continuity Nod: The game is severely hinted to take place close after Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, so far as to drop hints about that "one special caravan".
- Downloadable Content: Arguably, the only true way to enjoy the entire game's capabilities. The other races have to be purchased and unlocked. DLC adds 20 more available houses, as well as the third tavern, extra gaming halls for all thief abilities, the library for race-specific abilities, a sacred shrine, a castle expansion, extra shops and most importantly, the Infinity Spire, which keeps the game playable after all other dungeons are exhausted. You probably couldn't even fill up the entire available real estate without DLC.
- Fighter, Mage, Thief
- Fur Bikini: Selkie thieves you can recruit.
- It's All Upstairs From Here: The Infinity Spire dungeon starts at level 10, and keeps getting harder as your soldiers defeat monsters within.
- Jerkass: Pavlov the Penguin is rather unpleasant and insults everyone every chance he gets
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Yet he means well, and wants to see you succeed.
- Magick
- Meaningful Name / Punny Name: King Epitav is dead , supposedly, and is quite aptly named.
- New Game Plus: Once you've beaten the game, you can play it again with even more dungeons available.
- Relationship Values: If the townspeople like you enough, they'll give you more money, leave their lights on (which allows you to stay up later) and sometimes even medals to award to your soldiers for clearing dungeons.
- Requisite Royal Regalia: The main character is constantly wearing his crown and ermine cape, except on holidays or with a DLC addon, which have him in summer clothes.
- Ridiculously Fast Construction: Justified as an explicit magic ability of your character.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: Your adventurers are noticeably impatient, and will often charge off to face a powerful boss alone (even if they're a White Mage) if there isn't anyone in the tavern when they're done with their shopping. This is arguably the main reason why official parties are necessary.
- Upgrade Artifact: Several of these exist, and need to be found to improve your city's equipment and magic beyond certain levels.
