It has been a decade since the “Final Fantasy” name appeared on a Nintendo game box – an eternity in technological time. Developer Square Enix’s “Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles” marks the series’ return to the house that Mario built, but gamers without the extra hardware necessary to enjoy its multi-player features may want to stick with more serious role-playing.
“Chronicles” is a departure from the typical “Final Fantasy”-styled RPG; the game more closely resembles Link’s four-player adventuring in “Zelda: Four Swords” than the exploits of “Final Fantasy” heroes Cloud or Tidus. Like “Zelda,” the player hacks and slashes his way through enemy lairs in real time, unlike the “Final Fantasy” series’ round-based combat, and the experience/level-up system is gone.
The series generally features great production value, and “Chronicles” does not disappoint in this area.
The graphics are clean, detailed and have a reserved elegance. The color palette is bland, but the shading and textures look fantastic, giving the game a real storybook appearance. Transparency is used in abundance for gorgeous water and spell effects.
The character models have an anime-like, “super deformed” look more influenced by “Final Fantasy IX” than its new, realistic-looking PlayStation2 cousins.
The game runs at a nice 30 frames per second, but big spells, monsters and playing with friends can chop up the smooth frame-rate a bit. Thankfully, the frame-rate cuts do not dramatically hinder gameplay.
The music is top-notch and seems like a cross between the orchestrated “Final Fantasy Tactics” tracks and cheery, Celtic folk music. It’s inspired and well-composed, and it carries a sense of tranquility and adventure that many new soundtracks lack. Some familiar “Final Fantasy” themes appear as well.
“Chronicles” biggest flaws lie in the way it tries to reinvent the action/RPG wheel.
Despite the GameCube’s built-in four controller ports to play “Chronicles” in multi-player, each player must have his own Game Boy Advance system to use as a controller. Nintendo is trying to push its “connectivity” feature between the Gamecube and Game Boy Advance, but using the GBA does not exhibit the kind of radical enhancements that might warrant its use.
Gamers often own extra controllers for friends to use, but having to own extra GBA systems is an unheard-of requirement. Nintendo probably expects each player to own their own GBA, but this simply is not a reality and detracts from the overall utility of the game. The worst part about this limitation is that less people will be able to experience “Chronicles” in its true form.
Multi-player gives players more things to do; like cast spells simultaneously for different variances and play more mini-games – enhancing the gaming experience. The game design makes it obvious that the game was designed to function best with more than one player, and one person alone will feel like something is missing.
Another annoyance is the chalice system. One person must carry a chalice that provides a halo of protection against the outside environment. This is designed to keep the players from wandering off in different directions, but it is more logical to allow all four players to fight unimpeded and make the screen the boundary of mobility. In single-player, a helper moogle creature can carry it for you, but the camera is centered on the chalice, so the player’s vision and movement are hindered by its slower speed.
“Chronicles” is an attractive, but average-playing, single-player experience. Despite a few hang-ups, players will find entertainment if they can meet the steep hardware requirements for multi-play.
