Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Square Enix - 2004 Final Fantasy is a long standing name of great gaming. For the majority, the FF series has been under the genre of role-playing- games. FFCC breaks from this mold somewhat, as I would consider it to be an adventure/action game with a dash of role-playing, but not enough to really grant it that genre. By breaking off from the classic FF genre, FFCC is considered an off-shoot. In other words, a wanna-be. Crystal Chronicles is different in many ways from the majority of the Final Fantasy brand name. First note is the genre switch-up. Secondly, the entire point of the game is multiplayer. Being only released on the Gamecube, Square Enix was able to implement usage of the Gameboy Advanced/Gamecube functionality. By hooking up multiple GBAs as controllers, the players can go into their equipment and items without interupting play for everyone. However, this does make the game slightly difficult, as having to switch materia at a critical moment can be devastating the entire party as one player becomes useless and needs protection from the remaining players. You can pause the game still, which is important if someone needs to take a quick break for drinks or restroom. The game is rather entertaining, especially if you can four GBAs, four connection cables, four friends, and eight AA batteries... Yeah, that last part's just annoying. Just don't go with an off-brand power cable/battery pack thing. We did that for two GBAs, and it was devastating when the cord moved ever so slightly and we lost a player, sometimes two. Crystal Chronicals takes place in a world covered in miasma, a deadly cloud-vapor thing that chokes the life of four of the five civilized races. The one that's unaffected is Moogles. The other four have formed cities around crystals that keep the deadly mist at bay, but to keep the crystal's power flowing, the brave souls from each town must venture away from their home to gather myrrh (spelled something like that). They travel in what are called crystal caravans, which is where you come in. It's a game, so of course your character is a brave soul, and of course you can't be a moogle. Nobody's that cool. So go gather myrrh! Since rotting away is never an option... So here's how the numbers go... Graphics- Characters - Before you begin, you make your character. You only have a limited number of options, and for the most part, there's only one good option per race/sex. I might just be picky. The character designs are pretty spiffy and they make sense and all. Nothing really sticks out too much. As for your major enemies... Again, nothing really notable. 7/10 Environment - The environment is pretty neat looking. The farmland looks like a farm, the plains look like a plain. It's actually really neat. There's nothing really notable about the environment, but it's really nice looking... I'll give it the extra point, mainly for Tida Village. It's a village like yours, except that the crystal caravan didn't make it home one year. You can feel for the lost souls. 8/10 Boundaries - I was pretty impressed here. You can't run through walls. Your arms can't go through walls if you're right next to one. You are a solid object, and so are your enemies... Except to your weapon, then they become a lot less solid as you bash, slash, stab, or beat their face. Even little items can't be walked through or over: You push them if you try. Kudos, I say. 10/10. Smoothness - Fantastic. Everything looks nice, and it all flows really well. All your attacks and spells are wicked smooth, the enemies are just as smooth. Very slick stuff here. I can't recall anything jumping or clicking really... 10/10 Cinematics - Ummm... There's no actual cinematics. When you enter an area to gather myrrh, they show you a neat little area intro thingy, voiced over (in english) by Donna Burk, who's got a lovely voice. Everything they show for the cinematics is actual gameplay graphics, so kudos for making it look that nice to begin with. There is one thing that I'm still not sure if I liked or not... The scene during the credits is kind of.. odd.. We'll leave it at that. 8/10 =Graphics (43/50) Sounds- SFX - Special footsteps for when you're crossing a bridge, nice attack sounds... Everything you'd expect is here, including the little noises that goblins make. It's good with the sound effects, though nothing sticks out... 7/10 Music - At times, the music is amazing, including when the credits roll, with Donna Burk singing a rather relaxing song in the English version of the game. However, you want to die on occassion (i.e. Goblin Wall). The final boss themes are splendid. Overall, the game's got a really neat soundtrack due to the usage of instruments no longer used in today's music. It's authentic feeling. 8/10 Environment - None whatsoever, really. The game doesn't really need anything though, since there are no birds to chirp, wolves to howl, etc. due to the miasma. Square Enix did a nice job on the monster noises for when they're near but still off-screen. It's what was expected. 7/10 =Sound (22/30) Gameplay- Controls - The controls were designed, for the most part, to be used with the GBA, which makes it a little tricky to switch between the single player mode and the multiplayer mode. However, the way they set things up for multiplayer is pretty awesome. We'll call it a 4/5 for innovation. Story - Lacking. The game is divided into years, which every year is pretty much the same. You meet random people along your travels around the world, but it's just... It's lacking. The final boss is a random boss that suddenly pops up, classic Final Fantasy fashion. There's some sort of attempt to tie everything together under the theme of memories, but it just doesn't work. 5/10. Adequate, but lacking. Believability - Okay... So there's this meteor, right? It hits and causes the whole miasma thing. So the monsters? They come from forgotten memories or something... And then the myrrh, that's from other memories... You still with me? Good, 'cause I'm lost. It's interesting, and it makes sense. Until you beat the game, that is. Then you're just confused. Up until then, it's all good. 8/15 Playability - The game's fun. It really is. It's great for when you have friends with GBAs. Only problem is that the game become less and less and less fun as the years drag on. You just run around doing the same thing over and over. It's still entertaining though. Maybe if we hadn't gotten completely lost for 6 years, then maybe we would have enjoyed it a lot more. That's another thing, they don't give you enough of a clue of how to get the ultimate element, which you have to have in order to beat the game. 12/20 Replayability - Ummm.. How about no... Honestly, I'm done with this game. But it is a Final Fantasy, which usually means you can only play it once ever three years. Maybe if I get a bunch of friends with GBAs, cables, and batteries... 5/10 Multiplayer - Spell fusion is fun. (see Abilities). All in all, the multiplayer is fun, but expensive. You have to have the GBAs, cables, and batteries in order to go multiplayer, which is my only problem with it. You all function on a single screen, which means you have to move together... You have to anyway because the miasma is everywhere. You have a chalice that blocks a radius of the mist, but that's a majority of the screen. 8/10 Abilities - You can attack. You can attack in combos, which require proper timing. You can charge an attack. You can cast spells. You can cast fusion spells (higher level spells, basically), or, in multiplayer, you can fuse spells with friends. You can also combine a charged attack with an elemental spell to perform a spiffy looking charged attack. Anywho, you can't do as much in single player as you can in multiplayer, just because of the game design. And in all actuality, you can't do all that much. It's fun to play with spell fusion with your friends though. 6/10 Length - Two point loss on the fact that the game can be never-ending. If you don't get the ultimate element, you can't beat the game. That's what happened to us. It's incredibly annoying. You'd have to have the same thing happen for you to understand. 5/10 Concept - (see story) Okay, so you are an adventurer on a crystal caravan. Go. It's a nifty idea, and a fun game. They do set everything up nicely. Overall, it's different from other games, but it does kinda feel like four-player Zelda. 7/10 Script - Donna Burk has a fantastic voice, and her slight accent fits excellently with the music. The area intros are the only voice acting, which they're told from the point of view of a crystal caravaneer. It's neat. As for what everyone else says and all that, it's expected. It's all good. 8/10 =Gameplay (66/110) Other - What was I saying earlier? It was neat. It was fun. It was somewhat innovative. I give 'em points on the build-a-character because you pick your family's profession, which determines what you can do in your home town. You can get things cheaper, get free stuff at the start of the year (your allowance), and it's kinda fun to see everyone around town. The different races determine your starting stats: Clavats are balanced, Lilties kick ass, Yukes are mages, and Selkies are kinda quick... But that last one kinda sucks. Anywho.. 8/10 Total Score = 141/200 = 70.5% = C- This game is just below average, so if you have the friends, the GBAs, the cables, and the batteries, try it out... Just remember that you can beat the game in less than ten years.