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GameCube | RPG | Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles

Boxart for Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles 51 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 5.0
  • SOUND: 4.5
  • CONTROL: 3.5
  • FUN FACTOR 4.0
  • AVG USER SCORE 3.8
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 3.7

Review: Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles

Review by STARDINGO | 02/09/2004 | 08:55:45 AM PST

An enchanting, beautiful bit of multiplayer fun, but at what cost?

Aside from Moogles and magic-spell names, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles is highly unlike any of the ?regular? Final Fantasy games. It?s similar in concept to games like Champions of Norrath, an abstruse action/RPG at its most enchanting when played with three other friends. But before you round up your role-playing posse, be wary: this enchantment comes at a price.

Miasma and Me
Crystal Chronicles? greatest victory is finding a way to get players to behave intelligently in a multiplayer action/RPG. The concept: The world is being covered in Miasma, a substance absolutely lethal to almost all races on the planet. Giant magic crystals keep Miasma away from towns and enable people to exist in little secluded pockets?but the crystals need to be recharged on a yearly basis with a rare substance called myrrh, which only grows in hard-to-find trees around the world. You and your friends are part of a town?s Crystal Caravan, charged with the annual task of collecting enough myrrh to keep your town?s crystal protecting its people. You travel around the world bearing a Crystal Chalice that has its own crystal, a portable mini-bubble of sanctuary against the Miasma. In each dungeon, one player must bear the Crystal Chalice, trying to keep all the other players encircled in a ring of protection while everyone else works to keep their friends healed, deal out damage, and cast spells using the game?s extremely clever targeted, spell-linking system. If two players cast Fire in the same spot, for example, they join to become the stronger spell Fira. If one casts Fire while the other casts Blizzard, however, they become Gravity, which can pull flying enemies down out of the sky.

The gameplay, attacks, enemies, and spell charging are slow compared to those in other action/RPGs, but they all serve a smart design. Unlike in some four-player action/RPGs, which can just become insane frenzies of slashing, Crystal Chronicles requires a carefully coordinated team effort with everyone knowing (and communicating) his or her role in the battle. While the race/job combinations (Selkie Wolfie? Yuke Spoon?) are downright weird, Crystal Chronicles gives players the freedom to take the role of healer/tank/magician/chalice-bearer more or less on a dungeon-by-dungeon basis.

Cracks in the Crystal
The game is mostly nonlinear, but it?s also rather repetitive and slow (a fact that becomes more evident if you play solo) with each dungeon taking a similar walk-forward-kill-and-collect approach; there?s little by way of story or side-quests. Some may be annoyed by how items, magic, and skill points are handled in the game. There are no experience points, you?re not allowed to keep any of the magic crystals you find, and you can keep only one artifact after completing a dungeon, save for one. It makes for slow growth, but it also makes your character development a more carefully planned-and-parceled affair.

But be warned! Four-player multiplayer absolutely requires four Game Boy Advances and four GameCube/GBA link cables. The GBAs serve as your controllers and HUDs; area maps, stats, and menus are displayed on the GBA screen, meaning equipping stuff doesn?t pause the action. While it?s a brilliant use of the technology, it kinda sucks that you don?t have the option to play with regular controllers. If single-player mode doesn?t use the GBA, why force it in multiplayer? GBA/GameCube connectivity should enhance the gameplay not restrict it.

The High Price of Cooperation
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles represents the best and worst side of connectivity at the same time. Soloing is a bit repetitious and slow, but gather some friends?and a whole lot of hardware?and you?re in for one of the smartest, weirdest, and most magical four-player adventures you?re likely to play.


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