cloudine's Full Review: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for DS
Considering the lack of enthusiasm that the original Crystal Chronicles had, you wouldn't think a spin-off would be made. However somehow Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Rings of Fate was spawned and, since I somehow like the concept of the original game, it intrigued me to see if this title would be an improvement.
The game is almost a team version of a Zelda game. You control characters, most of the time 4, while trying to go through dungeons. Controls use actual buttons, but there are aspects that can be controlled with the stylus. If you want to be able to use both touch screen and the buttons during battle (when you probably don't want to use a cumbersome stylus), you should use the thumb strap. While you can only directly control 1 character at a time, and the others follow an AI, you still need to have all of them. Each characters have their own fighting method and special attacks. Yuri uses swords and can do very quick attacks. Alhanalem uses a staff and has increased magic abilities. He can also find hidden stonesteps from dungeons. Meeth uses a hammer and thus has a lot of strength. She can also create floating urns and magicite. Gnash uses arrows and therefore can attack from far away, as well as activate triggers from far away, but most importantly he can jump twice as high as any other character.
As I played the game I found Gnash very good for exploring, but preferred Yuri for actual battles. While there is an AI for other characters, it just doesn't act fast enough and it's more efficient to just use one character. All of your characters can use magic and items, though how much of it you can carry around depends on how much you invest for pockets. Speaking of inventory, buying equipment isn't that difficult. However making equipment can be painful. While the process itself isn't in any way difficult, you do not know what item each equipment scroll represents unless you take the time to make a list. Since the game is on the DS, a portable game, there's a good chance you won't be carrying an equipment synthesis list everywhere you play the game.
It may be hard to believe this is a positive review considering all of the little bugs that can be found: from the dysinformation of equipment making, to the AI being slow in battles, to them walking through lava and ice even though you want them to stay put, to the horrible voice acting during cutscenes, to the amount of squinting you'll have to do in dark dungeons if you play in the daylight (once again. DS..meant to be played everywhere at any time, they should think about how colors end up in different lighting).
However all of those bugs cannot put down the fun of the game. The dungeons are exciting, and even though the puzzles are simple, they do provide a fun break. The world is vast; the bosses and monsters aren't too weak nor too hard; the dungeon map tells you where you are though not where you're going (so being helpful without taking away the challenge); customizing your equipment does make a difference; and it's just plain fun to go exploring and having the ability to teleport your teammates to where your playable character is - a very welcome ability that nullifies the fact that AI characters often fall in holes. The storyline has all sorts of turns and twists to keep you excited, without being over the top.
You can also play multiplayer mode, which you access later on, where you can play your own character along with friends. However you can play multiplayer mode by yourself. It's really more of a mini-sequel after the main storyline. If you do play with others, they must have a copy of the game.
It may not be the greatest game, but it's not a bad game either. It's good solid on-the-go fun.
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