Although the Final Fantasy series is notorious for its mini-games, it has never delivered anything better than that Final Fantasy VIII Card game Triple triad-until now. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is brimming with more mini-games than you can handle, and while many of them are forgettable, Queen’s Blood stands out above the rest. The strategic card game is a wonderful side content that finally gives Triple Triad a worthy successor.
FF8 is a controversial entry in the series that suffered in part from having to follow FF7The meteoric success. While much of the content is hit and miss, that is one element of FF8 What feels undeniably good is the optional Triple Triad card game, which can be played with NPCs around the world. Triple Triad is played on a 3×3 grid where players place cards with statistics. The goal is to strategically place higher value cards next to your opponent’s cards to capture spots on the board. As the game progresses, new rules are added and the player even has the option to abolish certain rules, making the game a vibrant, ever-changing experience. FF9
But Rebirth has finally found the right recipe for a perfect card game with Queen’s Blood. Introduced to the player in the city of Kalm, Queen’s Blood can be played with NPCs of various challenging ranks spread across the map. You start with a basic deck and collect more cards to experiment by purchasing them from vendors or winning them in games. Like Triple Triad, Queen’s Blood is played on a grid, but this time it is a 3×5 grid with both participants starting on either side of the board. The three starting spaces closest to each player begin with a token on them. Each card costs a certain amount of tokens and has a power level and special attributes that can be used to add tokens to spaces. By strategically placing cards on the board, players attempt to score the most points on each row, which are calculated based on the cards’ total strength. As soon as the game is over, the rows won award their respective secondary points – whoever has the most points wins.
Queen’s Blood starts out simple, but quickly becomes a complex game thanks to the inclusion of cards with special abilities that turn the rules on their head. My favorite deck made copious use of cards that could destroy previously placed cards and take their place, which, if done right, results in a huge point total that quickly accumulates across the board. Above all, a good game of Queen’s Blood feels like a puzzle to be solved, rather than a two-sided competition. You must understand the basic rules, how your deck works, and your opponent’s strategy in order to emerge victorious. Some particularly challenging late-game matches really tested me and forced me to go back to the drawing board and build an entirely new deck. There are even Queen’s Blood puzzles that test your understanding of the game by presenting a board already in play with a set number of cards in your hand and challenging you to find the correct placement of each card the game wins. While the majority of Rebirth Spent in adrenaline-pumping real-time combat encounters, Queen’s Blood offers a different but equally satisfying challenge. Triple Triad fans, we eat well.
