Square Enix has a long history of including a myriad of different mini-games throughout its franchises.Final Fantasygames almost always include some kind of mini-games for players to engage in, like Fort Condor inFF7,Blitzball inFF10, and a host of card games in several entries. A recently discovered trademark and subsequent image leak have uncoveredVoice of Cards: Isle Dragon Roars. While next to nothing is known about the game, the titleVoice of Cardsmakes the idea that it will be a deckbuilder TCG-style game in the vein ofHearthstoneorMTG Arenaa fairly safe assumption.
Voice of Cards’first image was leaked recently, and despite being a miniscule piece of information, it can be used to draw a fair amount of inferences. The image shows three card-styled characters. The art is in the distinct blend of anime and traditional fantasy art that has long defined Square Enix. While that isn’t much information to go on, Square Enix’s legacy with card-based mini-games means that the game could end up being pretty engaging. The two most famous examples of the publishers penchant for card games are the Tetra Master game fromFinal Fantasy 9and Triple Triad fromFF8.
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Both of the collectible card games fromFF8andFF9work on similar concepts that are familiar to even casual TCG players. Squall and Zidane respectively are able to collect various cards throughout their journey across their game worlds. Cards represent the menagerie of monsters encountered throughout the twoFinal Fantasygames and are assigned individual statistics.Final Fantasy 8’sTriple Triad gameheavily influencedFF9’sTetra Master and later card games, even appearing in the popularFF14MMO. That will likely also be true forVoice of Cards.
Updating the mechanics ofTriple Triad worked well forFF14, and many of its core concepts will likely appear inVoice of Cards, albeit with some changes. While not much is known aboutVoice of Cards, it’s probable that the game will focus on various creature and hero/villain cards with some kind of system for “spells” similar to the instant/sorcery/artifact cards fromMagic: The Gathering. Also in line withMagic, the game will probably feature some kind of mana system that gauges how many cards can be played in a turn. One of Triple Triads main concepts could shake that formula up in a big way.
Triple Triad features many iconicFinal Fantasycreatures, but even the most powerful cards can be defeated if played incorrectly. The game adds another layer of strategy by way of exactly where the cards are played. Each Triple Triad card has four attack/defense scores that are placed individually on one side of the cards. When a creature card is placed above another, the former’s bottom score is played against the latter’s top score. A 9x9 grid is used for the placement of cards, so managing the various angles of attack and defense are critical to the game’s strategy.
If a system like this is introduced intoVoice of Cards, it would be a big shakeup of the more common format that emulatesMTG. It’s likely thatVoice of Cardswill adopt many of the conventions that are commonplace inMTG, Hearthstone,andElder Scrolls: Legends. That being said, incorporating more elements from Triple Triad could create a unique experience in a market that’s full of very similar titles.FF8’sTriple Triad is considered the best in-game card gameby many, so if Square Enix is creating a new card game, it will likely dig into its history for inspiration withVoice of Cards.
Voice of Cards: Isle Dragon Roarsis rumored to be in development.
