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GameCube Previews
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Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
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Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
One of the huge announcements early in the Gamecube’s life was that Nintendo and Square had kissed and made up. People’s predictions ranged from full Square support, Square releasing a mediocre title, or just to get to the gold mine that is the Game Boy Advance. When it was announced that a Final Fantasy game would arrive on the Gamecube, and after over six years of absence from any Nintendo console, it brought a smile to many faces. It was soon revealed, though, that this would be no ordinary Final Fantasy game. In Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, Square-Enix has taken multiplayer action to a whole new level. With the help of the Game Boy Advance and the Link Cable, Square-Enix might just provide one of the most engaging and exciting gaming experiences ever seen.
Key Features
·Travel through a huge, fantastical world full of foes to battle with.
·Have up to three friends play along as you battle your way through the adventure.
·Use the Game Boy Advance to control character data and view character information.
·Perform combos with your teammates to perform more powerful attacks.
Gameplay
Square-Enix has decided to take a detour from the original Final Fantasy formula and completely focus on giving gamers the best gameplay experience available. This also means that while the gameplay in Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles is looking to be top notch; the story didn’t receive the highest amount of attention. (Some of the Final Fantasy stories recently, though, have proven to be sub-par so I doubt we are missing much.) There are also many other differences between Crystal Chronicles and the numbered Final Fantasy games. One is that Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles plays more like a game from the Seiken Densetsu series, known as Final Fantasy Adventure and Secret of Mana in America, rather than the turn-based style of Final Fantasy. Crystal Chronicles is an action-RPG with no random battles, which means that Crystal Chronicles will require more emphasis on the control of your character more than other Final Fantasy games have had.
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles was developed to be played by more than one person, preferably four. While you can play with just one person, this takes a lot of the fun out of the game and the player really wouldn’t get the same experience as another player battling with three of his friends at his side. One of the big examples of the focus on multiplayer action is the circular bubble that you must battle inside. This bubble protects your characters from noxious gases in the atmosphere that will damage and potentially kill your character. One of the characters in your group must carry around a crystal to control the bubble. So while one player is trying to keep his teammates from getting damaged, he is also trying to fight off enemies attacking him. As you can see this requires good communication and teamwork among the players.
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles’s battle system is fairly straightforward but has the potential of becoming very complex later on. Performing an attack is as simple as cycling through the attacks available to your character and choosing one to use. Your character can either use a physical attack or use magic to damage your opponent or in some cases heal your friends. All this sounds like standard RPG fare, but it gets more complicated. There are also combos that can be used in the game. This means that you and a friend can combine two attacks or spells to create a more powerful attack or spell. This will most likely demand some timing and will also require a little trial and error until you find your favorite combos. Beyond that, the multiplayer focus of Crystal Chronicle’s will also lead to situations where teammates use more advanced strategy than a full-force assault to defeat an enemy. This can range from distracting the enemy while your friends put an attack together to using your surroundings to your advantage.
The Game Boy Advance and Link Cable will play significant parts in your gameplay experience. The Game Boy Advance’s first use is as a controller. The L and R buttons are used to cycle through the attacks available. The A button is the attack button and the B button allows you to interact with the objects on screen which could help you solve puzzles later in the game. Besides, the use of the Game Boy Advance as a simple controller, it will also be used for a variety of other functions. The Game Boy Advance will allow you to view character information while controlling your characters on the television as well. This cuts out the need to pause to see how your character is doing. If it lacked this feature it could become very annoying when you are playing with other people. The Game Boy Advance shows the overhead map to make traveling much simpler in Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles than it has been in previous games.
Visuals
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles will not have the ultra-realistic graphics that Final Fantasy X had nor will it have the FMV that has become such a trademark of the Final Fantasy series. With the emphasis on gameplay, Square-Enix has decided to take the graphics in a different and much simpler approach. This does not mean that Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles looks bad, by any means. The characters are slightly deformed and are very similar in design to the ones that were used in Final Fantasy IX. The characters are very well detailed and the animation in them seems flawless. Some of the attacks performed truly make this game an eye pleaser. The enemies also seem to have been molded with great attention to detail. You shouldn’t be shocked to see some recognizable Final Fantasy enemies throughout this title. Probably the strongest point of the visuals in this game is the backgrounds. The beauty of the forest and plains are truly a sight to be seen and it seems that not corner was left untouched by the talented artist at Square-Enix. Every tree, monster, or house radiates with the style that this game possesses. While the makers of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles did not go after a realistic look, they did produce a very colorful, lively world, which truly shows a fantasy at its best.
Prospects
I grew up loving the Final Fantasy series, because of its fantastical nature and great gameplay. Recent Final Fantasy games seemed to have gotten away from these two key points and gone for a more mature, sleek style. It was truly a happy day for myself when I saw that Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles was a return to the focus on gameplay and fantasy setting that I had grown up with. While the Action-RPG aspect of the game is new for the series, it looks to have been executed brilliantly with simple yet engaging gameplay. Even though Square-Enix might have overdone it on the GBA-GCN connectivity in Crystal Chronicles, the connectivity does show off some great gameplay ideas that were not possible until now. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles is a must buy for any gamers who just want to play a good RPG with lots of action and even more fun.
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