Games Gamecube Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles

Written by Toma-kun January 03, 2009 Hits: 711 Favorites

Game Info:

Platform:

Gamecube

Developer:

Square-Enix

Publisher:

Nintendo

Players:

Up to 4

Format:

1 DVD

Gallery:

Gamecube » Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles (6)

Editor review

Nintendo and Square reunite

What an accomplishment for Square-Enix. You would not expect their first Gamecube release to look so stunningly beautiful! They certainly did not disappoint with this game. Character models are fairly well done, even if they look overly cute. When the camera scrolls out from your character during action sequences, the anime style won't matter much anyway since the character animations are very nice and fluid. There are four different races to select from in this game, Selkies, Clavats, Lilties, and Yukes and they all look vastly different, which is great. There are dozens of different monsters you can encounter during your quest and many of them will look familiar such as bombs, tonberries, behemoths, and cactuars. They are immediately recognizable which is fantastic. The smaller monsters such as ghosts, veterans, and cactuars do not look very detailed, but when you encounter larger beasts such as a behemoth or zuu, the detail will be visible at first glance. Dare I say that these are the best looking Final Fantasy monsters to date with the exception of Final Fantasy XII which is yet to be released? If the monsters look great then surely the bosses look even better, right? Very much so! The first boss you meet will be a gigantic crab boss with an extremely colourful shell that has dozens of arrows and swords lodged into it. Not to mention you fight this thing right beside of a serene waterfall which enhances the extreme beauty of this boss even more. As you progress, you will run into some spectacular bosses such as the Malboro and Iron Giant which are simply stunning to look at. The bosses in this game are all gigantic, towering beasts with immense detail on every inch of their body. I had trouble fighting the crab boss at first because I was too busy gazing at it. Characters, monsters, and bosses all look very good, but surely it CAN'T get better.. Right? Wrong. The models pale in comparison to the jaw droppingly beautiful environments you must run around in. The very first stage you run through (yes, with the crab boss) is a wonderful treat. The landscapes are carved so well with roads, dirt, grass, pebbles.. And the water.. Oh, the water in this game!! It is easily the most realistic water I have ever seen in any game bar none. And thats about it for graphics. A few spots are a little rough, but overall the graphics are simply amazing.

Don't expect incredible sound or music.. This isn't an Uematsu game, unfortunately, but it can still hold it's own against other games. The sound effects, unfortunately, are mainly the basics we have all heard before. They were good in Final Fantasy VII seven years ago, but this is 2004 now and these old sounds are pretty mediocre now. If you can find a sound effect that does sound fresh and new in this game, then I will quite honestly congratulate you. The only time the sound effects really sound above average are during the boss fights but seriously, this game isn't so shallow that you will only be fighting bosses. The sound could have used a lot of work, it's just.. Really average, unfortunately. Music is a completely different story. While a lot of it isn't very catchy or exciting, some of the in-game tunes are very exciting to listen to. The boss music is easily one of the most exciting boss tunes I have heard since Final Fantasy IX's (and before that, Final Fantasy V). Most of the town themes consist of loud, annoying bagpipes or quiet flutes. Most of the music isn't really all that redeeming which is a bummer. But like I said, the boss theme is simply stunning. A few stages you visit have very fitting themes that will really set the mood. The only parts where the music falters would be on the world map and in just about any town. Aside from that, the sound and music is tolerable and you might find yourself TRYING to hum a few tunes without much success since most of the instruments in this game cannot be duplicated by a humming human, but ah well. Thats what OST's are for!

Everyone knows what the big innovation of this game is. Multiplayer. Unfortunately, I do not own a Game Boy Advance, nor do I know anyone who owns one except for my eleven year old step sister.. And only one of my buds has a Gamecube.. So I don't think that Square-Enix did their homework too well when they were planning how multiplayer would work for this game. I understand how they wanted to keep the screen less cluttered, but I think that it would have worked just as well without the Game Boy Advances. Sure, it would probably be tedious having each player take turns using their menu, but it is more cost efficient and more accessible to most people. Unfortunately, Square-Enix was just looking for the best way to milk the game.. So in short, I can't judge the multiplayer aspect of this game, sorry. This game really doesn't do much that we haven't seen before. You have your basic menu with items, equip, status, gil, etc.. There are a few interesting things to note though. You can only hold so many items in your inventory for starters. I didn't count how many slots there were. You cannot hold more than one item in one slot anymore (ie. Potion x 99), so your item slots will fill up fast.. You can equip many of your items which could help you keep the mess under control.. Equipping items, thats something else I would like to touch upon. Upon starting the game, you begin with four command slots. Two of these are already occupied by Attack and Defend which you cannot remove. In the empty command slots, you can place healing items, weapons (if you want to use another besides the one you have equipped for Attack), magicite, and more. Some of you will recognize the "magicite" term from Final Fantasy VI. That is what dead espers were called. You could equip them and harness their powers. Well, the magicite in Crystal Chronicles works almost the same way. equip your fire magicite and boom, you will be able to cast fire. If you place another fire materia below the already equipped one, you will be able to combine them into fira. Later on when you have more command slots you wll be able to make the strongest spells, such as firaga and such. How do you get more command slots? Well, it all depends on which artifacts you pick up during a stage. Artifacts are dropped by monsters and there are four in each stage. When you kill the boss, you will receive bonus points for doing something in the level (amount of damage sustained, etc.) which, with the artifacts you collect, will decide which treasure you get to take along with you. Some of the items will boost your stats, some will give you more hearts, and yes, some will give you more command slots. Also, when you do beat a boss you get to send a letter to your family along with an item or gil. Depending on how you respond and what you send, your family will become more proud of you or they may change their mind and dislike what you are doing.

Equip items, hack, slash, collect artifacts, beat boss, send letter, next dungeon. That is the entire premise of this game. While it may sound simplistic, the gameplay is obviously inspired by other series such as Zelda. You must trek through dungeons collecting items, flipping switches, and defeating monsters just like Link.. Then you reach the boss and defeat it. Instead of receiving a Triforce piece, your character will receive a drop of myrrh which will go into your chalice. Myrrh is what the game is all about. Once you fill your chalice, the year ends and you return home. The myrrh helps keep the deadly miasma out of your town, so you are the lucky person who goes out to get the myrrh. Miasma is a dangerous mist that slowly kills anyone exposed to it, as you will learn on your journey since the world is covered in it. Fortunately, you will have a trusty moogle by your side named Mog (go figure) who will carry out the chalice for you. The chalice repels the miasma so you will be safe as long as you stick close to the chalice. Unfortunately, you will have to drop your chalice on switches and venture into the miasma at times, but if you are a decent player you will survive, especially if you have cure magicite. Overall, the gameplay is pretty basic.. The chalice just adds a bit of strategy to the standard hacking and slashing.

If you like Adventure/RPG games then you will probably be able to appreciate Crystal Chronicles. The gameplay and story aren't really anything new, so serious gamers will probably be turned off from the game. If you own a Game Boy Advance and have friends who do as well, then I'm sure that the life of this game will be prolonged vastly.

Highs:	Visually stunning, multiplayer options
Lows:	Ho-hum gameplay, blah soundtrack
Bottom Line:	While this game is not suited well for the Final Fantasy series, it is an enjoyable hack and slash adventure game that should entertain you for a little while. Rent it first, then decide if you want to take the plunge and purchase.