Well, I’m sure surprised it took us this long to get here.
During my
Mega Man reviews, I talked at length about how that was the series that
got me into gaming. I have so many memories of seeing and playing it
for the first time as a child and being blown away.
But over time, I started to gravitate away from the blue bomber as I
got older and my tastes changed. Enter Final Fantasy. If Mega Man was the reason I started playing video games, FF is the reason I kept playing them and continue to play them.
Like Mega Man, Final Fantasy
certainly has its offshoot games. Of all of them in my collection,
Crystal Chronicles is probably the biggest deviation from the rest of
the series. Released on the GameCube
in the early 00’s, FFCC was the first game in the series on a Nintendo
console in more than 10 years.
The story goes that SquareSoft, the publisher behind Final Fantasy,
felt their games had essentially outgrown Nintendo’s cartridge based
format. They wanted video cinemas and CD quality sound, and they
weren’t going to get that from the Nintendo 64 or SNES. Off to Sony
they went, releasing some of the most classic games of all time for the
PlayStation. Most other RPG franchises followed and that spelled the end
of Nintendo’s domination of the genre. Final
Fantasy 7 is the game that made me switch from a
“Nintendo Person” to a “Sony Person.” But after the turn of the
century, the big N had finally decided to ditch cartridges for good
(even if it was for those weird mini-discs) and Final Fantasy “came home”
in the form of Crystal Chronicles.
Given the
situation, there was certainly some hype. But was it justified? Eh.
Crystal Chronicles has a lot going for it, but it was NOT designed to be
a single player experience. It was very clear
within the first few minutes of the game that this was an experience
designed for multiplayer. It was also designed to sell Nintendo
peripherals, as players could attach their GameBoy Advances via the
little used GBA link cable. As is par for the course
with Nintendo, this is a cool idea in theory. But when you really stop
and think about it, how often are you going to have three friends, each
with a GBA and a cable, in one spot to play a random Final Fantasy
game? Rarely, if ever. The whole linking thing
worked with Pokémon, but that’s because you were on a handheld, only
needed one other person to play with and only one of you needed a link
cable. This would have just been too much. You can play the game solo,
but it really loses a lot of its spark.
Don’t get
me wrong though, its a perfectly serviceable action RPG. You play as a
created character from one of five tribes, each with its own set of
unique stats. Some are more magic focused while others
excel at physical attacks. You also get to pick one of eight “family”
jobs. Depending on what you choose, your in-game family members will
help you out with items, weapons or other perks. It doesn’t come into
play much, but its a cool idea. Regardless
of who you pick, your character is the head of a caravan from the town
of Tipa. Each town is protected by a crystal, which keeps away the
mysterious miasma and the monsters that come with it. These crystals
are powered by something called Myhr, so its up
to caravans to track this stuff down and keep their towns safe.
As you
can see, there isn’t much of a story here. You do get some cutscenes
here and there that flesh out the world, some business about a black
knight and a Miasma-related plot twist at the end, but
FFCC keeps it simple. The world is interesting, although a little
underdeveloped for a Final Fantasy
game. The graphics here are great though. Everything is clear, bright
and colorful. It has its dark moments, but FFCC is certainly a much
more whimsical
interpretation of the Final Fantasy
Universe. The characters are cartoony and chibi-esque, which I don’t
normally love but it fits the dynamic. The sound is also excellent.
Again, its not up to normal Final Fantasy
standards, but a lot of effort clearly
went into it. That about sums up the presentation as a whole. One
touch I did like was the narrator reading lore about each of the
dungeons. I think more RPGs should do that.
While it
is simple, the gameplay is interesting enough to keep you hooked. You
swing your weapon with the A button and you can chain up to three
attacks in a row. The shoulder buttons allow you to switch
between your command slots, which you can allocate to healing items or
materia (I don’t know if this game calls them that, but they’re colored
orbs in a Final Fantasy
game that let you use magic, so as far as I’m concerned they’re
materia). You hold the A
button to charge up spells or weapon attacks and use the joystick to
target enemies. It sounds a bit convoluted, but it works. Also, you
can combine materia for more powerful spells. Unfortunately, there are
few options as you are limited to the three primary
elements, cure, esuna and life. In the one player game, life is
essentially useless so that’s a grand total of six options, although it
feels like way more due to the combining mechanic.
You can
also use the B button to pick up items or the X button to have your pet
Moogle pick them up for you. You need to stay within the range of your
myhr vessel to avoid taking damage, and this mechanic
definitely feels like it was created with multiplayer in mind. I could
see this being a thing where all the players would have to follow
someone around who acts as a support character, but in the one player
game you will almost always have your moogle carry
the vessel. This eliminates a great deal of strategy when working
through the dungeons. There really isn’t much to think about here, you
need to be selective when you attack and exploit enemy weak points, but
that is about it. I will say though that the
dungeons are unique, varied and well designed. One or two were a
little short, but for the most part they were the perfect length and
nicely balanced.
As a
whole, the game is pretty short, I was able to finish it in under 15
hours. There are only five chapters, each of which boils down to
completing three dungeons. They are relatively easy and the
boss fights aren’t difficult, so you can complete most in about 30-40
minutes. There are few places to visit outside the dungeons and very
few side quests. The few that are there generally aren’t worth doing.
The biggest is finding the hidden moogles, who
will give you a moogle stamp for your trouble. Collect enough and you
can play a mini game...if you have the aforementioned GBA link cable.
That was very disappointing.
I feel
like I’ve just been typing without actually saying or accomplishing
anything and frankly, I kind of felt the same way while I was playing
through this game. It’s fun and there isn’t anything particularly
wrong with it, but it lacks any sort of spark. I wouldn’t say avoid
it, but there isn’t enough worthwhile to warrant a playthrough for most
solo gamers. If you and your buddies are among the handful of people
who have a copy of this game, three GBA link
cables and 3 GBAs, maybe you will enjoy it more. Final Fantasy
diehards (like me) who do their best to play all the games in the
series won’t feel like they wasted their time either. It isn’t up to
the series’ standard, but that standard is quite high and
at least the tangible qualities of the game are top notch.
The final
group that may find something here are parents of younger gamers, or
gamers themselves, who want a more family friendly introduction to the Final Fantasy
universe. This game was rated “T” for
13+, but I think that was overdoing it. I would let an 8-12 year old
play this any day. All the familiar FF staples are there, Moogles,
crystals, Malboros, Behemoths, Iron Giants and everything in between.
The game is bright and colorful and lacks most
of the mature themes of the FFs 6-12. It’s also relatively easy and
doesn’t require the stat and equipment management of the traditional Final Fantasy games. Overall, not a bad effort but skippable for non fans.
6.5/10
Play this if:
You are looking for an entry level action RPG
You have the required peripherals to play multiplayer
You absolutely must play every Final Fantasy game
Avoid if:
You saw Final Fantasy in the title and expected a 30-40 hour epic
You prefer “hard for the sake of being hard” games
The darker, more brooding FF games are more your speed
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