Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Impressions



02/11/04

Ryan

Well, my good friends Dan, Trevor and I played Crystal Chronicles just yesterday, and I’ve decided to give you a rundown on what I thought. So here we go:

As soon as you start up FF:CC, you are enticed by a delicious 3 minute cinema, of all the characters and the world in which you will explore during your adventure. The visuals were absolutely splendid, and the music mesmerizing!

Once that was done, we quickly busied ourselves creating our characters. (Me being the guy that changes his mind frequently, have already created 3 characters) . You can choose from Clavats, Selkies, Yukes, and Lilties. Furthermore you can choose from 4 males and 4 females for each tribe, and also the family trade. Each of which will have a slight impact on your adventure. Once we were finished we set out on our adventure.

Navigating the world map is quite easy. It has arrows in which your caravan can go, and you simply choose which direction. Along the map, every now and then you’ll engage in some random encounters. Nothing too special, just nice little cut scenes that are there more for amusement than actually progressing the storyline.

Anyways...enough of what happens when you start the game. Time for what I thought!

In my opinion, this has been one of my favorite games for the ‘cube. I found the controls to be quite simplistic (although lacking some functionality but still nothing to gripe about). I know many people had problems with using the GBA as a controller, but I support this move and think it’s a great idea.

As for the graphics, and sound: All I really have to say is fantastic! If you want to know what I mean, you’ll just have to play for yourself. The music is ear tingling good, and the visuals might actually make your jaw drop. Well maybe. I just might be easily impressed.

Well, those are my quick thoughts on the game, now it’s time for Dan to take over and tell you what he thought:

Daniel-San

Well, as my associate has noted, the first thing you really notice is that this game is absolutely gorgeous. Everything just reeks of high production value. The opening cinema is very easy on the eyes and ears, it even features a full blown vocal track. Very nice in that is sets the mood and style of the game perfectly.

Once I created a character (Yukes 4 eva!) we set out on our journey. Saving story details and such for a review, I’ll just throw you some random impressions.

This game is really pushing the whole GBA connectivity thing. Players manage inventory and whatnot from their own GBA screen, this cuts down on clutter and confusing menus on the main screen. Control is fine, but it limited to more or less the two face buttons on the GBA itself. It works fine, but is kind of a hassle when you need to re-equip items and such.

The best part is just being able to work your way through the enemy infested areas with a buddy. Depending on what items we picked up, Ryan and I began to more or less know our roles and how we could benefit each other in order to survive. For instance if he picked up some healing magic it was more or less assumed that he would watch both our backs.

Most items such as magic you find are taken away after you complete an area, which is actually good since it allows the game flow to change a lot. One time I might have picked up all the physical magic, but in the next level it was all about physical attacks, and so on. It keeps everything real fresh.

Truth is we played for a good 6 hours straight, there is much I could say, it was a great experience, but I will leave the more in-depth details for a review.

Just know that if you have friends with GBA’s, this game is more or less a must own title. And while the GBA connectivity has been touted as a gimmick, this game really proves it can work, and add incredibly to a game. It’s a whole new way to play, folks.

Written By Ryan Krause and Dan Chubaty