Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord, released in Japan as Hikari to Yami no Himegishi to Sekai Seifuku no Tō: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (subtitle translated as The Daughter of Light and Darkness, and the Tower of the World Conquest), is an installment in the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series for the Nintendo Wii available through the WiiWare download service. It is a sequel to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King.

Characters

 * Adventurers: enemies that attack the towers.
 * Mira: Daughter of the former Darklord, she battles Adventurers trying to take the Dark Crystal from her tower by setting up traps and monsters in their way.
 * Tonbetty: A female Tonberry that provides strategies to Mira during battles.
 * Tonberries: A group of tonberries that are loyal to Mira and help carry out her plans.
 * King Leo: The young Clavat King of Padarak who defeated the original Darklord. He invades Mira's tower as the final boss along with an army from Padarak.
 * Chancellor Chime: The mentor and sister figure of King Leo. Trailers feature her as one of the many Adventurers trying to invade Mira's tower.
 * Hugh Yurg: A retired warrior of Padarak, who is sent to invade Mira's tower.
 * Fiona: The half Lilty, half Clavat Queen of Alfitaria. She invades Mira's tower and is fought as a boss at one stage.
 * Bel Dat: A Selkie who is the young sister of Bal Dat, leader of the Striped Brigands.
 * Stiltzkin: A moogle who travels the world.

Story
The story is set after the events of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King follows Mira, the highly fashionable daughter of the former Darklord, who is charged with dispatching intruding do-gooders by strategically placing traps and monsters around the tower she calls home.

After the miasma was cleared the monsters were in a dire situation, so they holed themselves inside the massive Darklord tower where they spend their days fighting adventurers who dared trespass. In order to save the monsters, Craydall sealed himself inside the Dark Crystal. The tranquil days returned to the tower until the Darklord only daughter was crowned in her sixteenth birthday and declared total war between monsters and people.

Mira embarks on a conquest journey aboard her Flying Tower. She arrives to a town where, despite their initial attack, does not cower in fear from her sight. Tonbetty explain that thanks to the humorous-looking shape of the tower, the villagers confused it for a kind of celebration. Mira then left the town in order to resolve the issue.

To do so she commanded her servants, Tonberries, to find a famous hero who she could crush. In search for a hero to defeat, Mira arrives to the hideout of a caravan of burglars, in hope that by the defeating the famous Striped Brigands, she will obtain the reputation of a dreaded Darklord and lots striped apples for pie.

But when Mira defeats the leader of the gang, it is discovered that they are actually the Stripped Brigands, lead by Bel Dat. Bel Dat, irritated by the whole ordeal, expresses that she does have a great treasure, the secret of the new Darklord being half-demon, half-Clavat, and she starts to spread the secret all over the world.

After that Mira goes on a rampage, promptly giving Tonbetty a drop kick that almost makes her head fly off. When asked to discuss the matter with his father, she quickly refuse and sent the tonberries to find her another hero, a female adventurer ready to challenge the Darklord.

Upon defeat the adventurer turn out to be no other than Princess Fiona of Alfitaria, who wishes Mira could serve as a bridge between people and monsters so all races could live at peace. Mira, struck by emotion, forgot to deliver the final blow, letting the princess escape.

While Mira enclose in her bedroom, Stiltzkin arrives to the Darklord Flying Tower, to pay a visit to his old friend Tonbetty. Mira quickly found out the meeting and proceed to punish them both revealing Tonbetty to be a Clavat. At that very moment a legendary hero and his apprentice arrived at the steps of the Flying Tower. Postponing Tonbetty and Stiltzkin punishment after their defeat.

After defeating Hugh Yurg, Mira is ready to deliver punishment to Tonbetty and Stiltzkin when suddenly Darklord Craydall appeared and revealed he was the one who put Tonbetty at her service. After a brief father-daughter conversation, she forgets about the punishment and embarks in the final confrontation against the king of the most prosperous kingdom. When the battle is won by Mira, she shocks the king by revealing the end of her campaign. Mira and King Leo then agree to work together to create a world where humans and monsters can live in peace. However, even when she strives for peace she will remain the Darklord she has become.

Gameplay
Once Mira's tower appears in enemy territory, Adventurers will begin to invade it. Players must defend the tower, starting by building some floors; if the Adventures reach the top of Mira's tower and get to the Dark Crystal, the game ends. There are several types of floors players can build. At first, players start with a simple offensive floor that will do damage to enemies and slow them down, but over time more types of floors will unlocked. Some will help defend monsters, some will do very clever - and strange - things to Adventurers attempting to invade Mira's tower. Heroes of all the tribes and Job classes from the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series will storm the Darklord's lair in real time.

Monsters
Monsters are summoned to battle the Adventurers trying to invade Mira's tower, since Floors are not enough to defend it. Players will start off with Goblins, but as the game progresses, more monsters of different ranks, such as Bombs, Cactuars, Scorpions, and more, will be unlocked.

Demo
A demo version was released for download for free on the Wii Shop channel for a short time in early 2010.

Downloads
Similar to My Life as a King, My Life as a Darklord includes downloadable content that includes extra costumes, monsters, stages, and an extra chapter after the completion of the game. Additional content is priced between 200 and 600 Wii Points.

Development
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord was announced on March 25th, 2009, during the Game Developers Conference. Characters' designs are by Yasuhisa Izumisawa, who previously designed characters for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time, with Toshiyuki Itahana as art supervisor. The scenario writer is Motomu Toriyama, who filled the same role for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King. Kumi Tanioka, who has worked on all previous Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles games, is composer for the game. The game's director is Hiroyasu Kaneko.