The gameplay, which has always been aimed at as wide an audience as possible within a genre, generally involves either multiple players or a large group working together.
Recurring staff include composer Kumi Tanioka, who created the series's distinctive medieval-influenced music; Toshiyuki Itahana, who worked on the art design and directed The Crystal Bearers; and Yasuhisa Izumisawa, lead artist for Echoes of Time and the two titles released through the WiiWare service.
While distinct in terms of gameplay and narrative, all titles share the same world inhabited by four tribes; the human-like Clavats, stocky Lilties, magic-wielding Yukes and nomadic Selkies.
[8]: 21–26 [42] Both Ring of Fates and Echoes of Time revolve around dungeon exploration and loot collection, comparable to the gameplay of Diablo.
[43] My Life as a King focuses on city-building and construction, with the protagonist sending adventurers out on quests to gather materials and spread influence.
[16] My Life as a Darklord again focuses on a group, but this time within the tower defense genre and subverting narrative and stylistic tropes within the series.
[34] The Crystal Bearers broke away from many of the series' established gameplay mechanics; in addition to a focus on action-adventure and physics-based combat, there were also numerous minigames.
[31] Because of the latter commitment, Tanioka was not greatly involved in the music of The Crystal Bearers, which was instead composed by Hidenori Iwasaki and Ryo Yamazaki.
[31][45] Tanioka returned for the Crystal Chronicles remaster alongside Iwasaki to both remix the original music and compose new tracks.
[45] The original Crystal Chronicles reached high positions in sales charts upon release,[64][65][66] going on to sell 1.3 million units worldwide.
[69] The Crystal Bearers met with low sales in Japan and North America,[70][71] and was not mentioned in Square Enix's fiscal report for the year ending in 2010.