Introducing...The World's First Moogle Painting Simulator!
Written: Feb 23 '04 (Updated Feb 23 '04)
Product Rating:
Pros: Strategic Action-RPG goodness
Cons: Storyline...where did my usual FF storyline go?
The Bottom Line: That's right, touch the moogle! Touch it, damnit! For that .2% completion percentage! You know you want to touch the moogle! Oops, wrong Final Fantasy game...
awoolcott's Full Review: Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles for GameCube
It's been nearly a decade now since Nintendo made the mistake that set the wheels in motion for Sony's dominance with the PlayStation - that is, when they ticked off Squaresoft. While Square was putting together the game that would become Final Fantasy VII, Nintendo made the now-infamous decision to stick with game cartridges over the newfangled CD-ROM technology of its competition. As such, Square packed their bags, headed for Sony and the PlayStation, and the rest is pretty much history.
Time eases wounds though, and the last year or so, Nintendo and Square have kissed & made up, moving forward even though the PS2 was Square's primary focus no matter what. While Square is more interested in porting some of their older classics to the Game Boy, Nintendo did enough convincing to get Square (now Square Enix, of course) to create a new Final Fantasy title for the GameCube, the first FF game on a Nintendo home console since Final Fantasy VI (III in the US) back in the mid-1990's. Dubbed Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Square Enix's effort barely resembles Final Fantasy, in many, many ways. Abandoning traditional RPG elements for a more Action-RPG feel, and sharply focusing on multiplayer connectivity, FF:CC is a radical departure - and not one that works wonderfully at all times. While it's obvious the Final Fantasy name was tacked on for name recognition, Crystal Chronicles is a good game for solo players, and a great one for multiplayer - but with such ridiculous requirements for that multiplayer, it might be a mode of play that might never be fully enjoyed.
No matter which mode of play you choose, the story is the same. The land is in danger, covered by a deadly substance called Miasma. The only means of protecting the towns from being overrun with this toxic destruction is a special crystal that sits in the middle of the town, with powers that ward off Miasma and keep the villagers safe. However, it comes at a catch - each year, the crystal requires a special substance, called myrrh, to power it. This substance is scattered all over the world, in myrrh trees. Your job is to, over the span of 5 years, maintain your own Crystal Caravan, and find myrrh 3 times each year to keep your town alive. If you're on your own, it's just you on the caravan, if you have multiplayer action, there's 4 party members out to whoop some tail.
While the single-player is competent (and will be the focus of this review, as it will be played by most in this fashion, I'm sure) and at least worth checking out, the multiplayer is both the focus and its downfall. With 4 players at once, the quest becomes much different, with special puzzles to solve together, and boss battles function differently with multiple characters as well. One character though, is crippled most of the battle, as they've forced to carry the Crystal Chalice, which keeps the party safe from the Miasma, unless they drop it to fight. In actuality, the chalice serves as a barrier to prevent a character from leaving the screen, as the MP is all together, without split-screen play.
The problem is, arranging a party of 4 might be impossible, due to the requirements. In order to play FF:CC in multiplayer, you must have 4 Game Boy Advance systems, be it the original or the SP, and matching GBA/GCN link cables to attach, as you use the GBA as a controller, as well as manage your inventory separately from the screen (as you don't share with the party, you keep your own goodies that you grab). This is not an option - this is a requirement. Hell, just to play the single player, it's suggested that you have a GBA, to connect for using as radar, as you don't get one otherwise. In many ways, FF:CC only pushes the cynics view that the Cube is nothing but a fancy accessory for the GBA - worse off, it defeats the purpose of the Wavebird for multiplayer, adding wires again when wireless controllers make party games a million times more manageable. Seriously, this is a game begging to be played online, as everything would work out perfectly. Alas, it isn't. But if you have the hardware and/or the friends with that hardware, it is a fine mode of play.
Crystal Chronicles abandons almost all traditional Final Fantasy norms, aside from the presence of the moogles. As a matter of fact, in the solo player game, a moogle carries your chalice all over instead, letting you fight enemies and progress to the myrrh trees. There's also a minigame that only moogles can help you unlock - by finding moogle homes across all the land, you get a card stamped by the moogles, and when you fill it all the way, you unlock Blazin' Caravans, a kart-style racer that you play on your GBA - multiplayer only, of course. *Sigh* You can even paint (and bathe) your own moogle-slave, which actually changes your radar for single player, and will even cast that color's support magic if you have them drop the chalice while fighting. Personally, having this slave moogle is penance for the hell of having to 'touch the moogle' in Final Fantasy X-2, but I digress.
Anyhow, you also get a different lead character - as in, a faceless, mute one. You pick one of 4 classes (tribes), pick their trade (Alchemist, Blacksmith, Hooker...well, not that last one), and then name them. From there, you travel around, do your thing, encounter numerous short and baffling cutscenes that demonstrate the total lack of storyline in the game, find an active mrryh tree, rinse and repeat. The storyline is absolutely awful in terms of depth, and hardly any of it makes much sense in the long-run. Compared to many epic FF stories in the past, this one is quite weak and disappointing. But when you don't have a set character, what can you expect?
Crystal Chronicles also takes an action RPG approach, with the inclusion of real-time battles, rather than turn-based. This, actually, is quite fun, as it requires a lot of strategy and skill to successfully clear the game. There's many different quirks to the game, and it might seem clumsy at first, it works pretty well. In many ways, it plays like Zelda, circa OOT or TWW, which is never a bad thing. In each area, you start fresh, with no magic or many abilities aside from the ones you earn (which we'll discuss in a minute). You get a few slots of inventory for real-time, where you can lock in spells that you find, health items, etc. It's always smart to have a Phoenix Down in your inventory and readily equipped, as when you die, it automatically revives you.
Battling with your weapon is split into 2 kinds; regular and focus. Regular attacks are pure hack & slash action, and also the weakest, leaving you open for retaliation against enemies as well. Focus attacks are charged-up attacks - you hold down the button, aim where you want to attack with the on-screen cursor, and launch yourself at the monster you're fighting. This is risky, but highly effective (and later on, the lone means of booty kicking, really), making battles quicker and less taxing.
The magic system is where single and multiplayer take a major shift. In single player, you earn spells along the way, and you can cast them like a focus attack, holding down the button and aiming where the spell needs to go. There's also something called fusion spells - mixing 2 different spells. For instance, mixing 2 of the 4 major spells (fire, ice, water, lighting) will produce Holy, or Flare (I believe, I can't remember the proper fusion off the top of my head). As you get later in the game and earn more active inventory slots, these become more important. In multiplayer, however, in order to fuse a spell, characters must cast their respective spells at the exact same time to fuse. This involves fun stuff like counting to 3 and releasing the button at simultaneously to pull them off.
Along the way, you earn artifacts that increase your skills, be it make you better with magic, add hearts (your life force), grow stronger, or add another active inventory slot. The downside is, along with magic, you can only choose one artifact to keep with you after a boss battle is taken care of. In single player, you can take any of the ones you find, but in multiplayer, the player who has the most points (in a specific category, like least damage taken or focus attacks used, etc) picks first until all the players choose, rendering the game a combination of cooperative and competitive play with friends and enemies.
It's the boss fights that frustrate me the most of all, at least in single player. As you're the lone player, you have to watch things at all times, which not only includes the boss of each area, but respawning regular enemies from that particular location. Add on that many boss battles can take 10-15 minutes at a time of constantly repetitive actions, and they become more tedious than interesting. They're not overly hard, mind you, just drag on so long that I just didn't care anymore about beating them.
While the game itself gets very repetitive after a while, and the very short and direct gametime means little replay (I doubt I'll ever play through the solo game again), the gameplay system of FF:CC is definitely a winner for a while, especially multiplayer. Even with this hack & slash feel, the battles are very strategic, requiring a lot of dodging, regrouping, counterattacking, and smart use of magic to keep you healthy. If a battle is getting too tough, you can retreat, use cure (as a note, all magic is constant, there's no MP anywhere), then restart your assault. For a game that lacks the usual FF turn-based strategy elements, there's definitely enough thought-provoking stuff in Crystal Chronicles to keep fans happy. It does get repetitive after a while despite its overall goodness, but in a game of this nature, it's bound to happen.
Without sidequests and a strong assortment of minigames, however, the game is incredibly linear despite being able to pretty much go around and do any area you choose long as you're able, and a myrrh tree is ripe for the picking in that location. This repetitive nature is hard to ignore despite the solid gameplay, and without a strong narrative or engaging storyline to keep you pressing along, there's nowhere near as much value in CC as current Final Fantasy RPG's these days. As a multiplayer experience, however, Crystal Chronicles is addictive and worthy, despite the outrageous hardware requirements. As said already, if you have the hardware to use, the game will satisfy as a great multiplayer adventure.
There's no arguing that Crystal Chronicles is a beautiful game, however. While the character designs are generic and not all that interesting, they do hearken an old-school, fantasy feel of bygone days, and my word, they animate incredibly well at all times. The world itself is colorful and loaded up with beautiful textures that paint each area perfectly, whether its the bright and cheery River Belle, the mysterious Mushroom Forest, or the dark and dingy mines or goblin hideouts, amongst other areas. The many towns are charming and designed nicely to fit the theme of the game quite well, full of regular citizens and merchants pushing their wares. Finally, the spell effects are nicely done, though very much subdued compared to traditional Final Fantasy RPG's.
The audio is most noted by a beautiful soundtrack. While not composed by the most famous FF composer, Nobuo Uematsu, this Celtic-based collection is catchy and charming at the same time, fitting the fantasy theme of the game very, very well. A lot of it repeats here and there, but so much of it is very memorable and worth picking up the soundtrack for. As the game maintains a quirky, lighthearted feel despite the serious quest (which isn't a shock since the outcome in each year seems never in doubt), the soundtrack reflects on this.
Unfortunately, this is rounded out by one awful thing - the voice-overs before each area. Not only do they play each time you re-visit an area, but they're hideously acted out and full of the lamest phrases this side of Max Payne. Thankfully, these can be skipped, but as it serves as the only form of voice in the game (as there's no voice acting among characters, only text bubbles, unfortunately), it's a downfall of otherwise strong audio.
The Bottom Line
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles serves as Square's return to Nintendo, but those expecting a game on the level of Final Fantasy's usual quality will be a bit surprised at this one. With a barely recognizable quest, emphasis on multiplayer, and ultra-super-linear progression, CC will be more appealing to non-FF fans, I figure, and hit the action RPG tastes of Zelda or Beyond Good & Evil instead. The solid, if not repetitive gameplay and great audio and video round out a package that's well worth a look if you're a Cube owner, even if multiplayer isn't an option. If you can handle a lack of storyline direction, zippo character development, and fall for the strategic gameplay, you just might like this one more than I did. Otherwise, if you are looking for multiplayer action, and have the means to play it, you'll get one of the best multiplayer games on the GameCube.
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