Sqorgar said:
I've only played Ring of Fates and I'm two-thirds through Echoes of Time (which is great). This game looks great too. But I've never played the original Crystal Chronicles game. Is it worth tracking down? How similar is it to the two DS games?
When it comes to story, the original Crystal Chronicles isn't quite cinematic like the Rings of Fates and Echoes of Time. But like Fuu mentioned, there are subtle things you can pick up in the game, not straight in your face drama and story. There's less character development, your hero is just the quiet type who sets forth to collect 3 drops of Crystal each year. Then there is festival in your hometown and you start the same process each year again. You can read on your book (as a sort of log) for what you have been up to. I remember it was written nicely and with lots of personal touch. And you encounter optional characters randomly on the world map. You never know who you are dealing with after you see them.
So far so average...
But that's not the game's main point. The game is really unique when it was released. The gameplay is very close to Ring of Fates, except you combine magic to make new magic. You can eat food as items, each race prefers some kind of food. Like one prefering fish while others love eating fruit. At the start of the game, you can select out of the 4 races, gender, and your family's job. That last one is very important for the whole game, after each crystal drop, you receive letters from your parents from a moogle. You can answer them back and give them items. If you treat them well enough, you receive more items or money from them after each year. Very nice. And the way you customize your character is also dfferent, after defeating each boss in a dungeon, you get to make a choice to pick a permanent stat boost, like attack plus 2 etc. In the main menu you can keep track of how many total stat boosts there are and how much you own. Great for grind lovers and collectors. I think the monsters got also harder each year.
The graphics are gorgeous, one of the prettiest games on the gamecube. It was made with so much care and warmth. The music is probably just as good if not better, it's still Kumi Tanioka's best composition in FFCC imo.
And one thing, which isn't liked by many (I don't mind) is that cage your moogles carries for you for protection from the miasma. With that you always have to stay close to it, some people didn't like that and just wanted to move around wherever they pleased.
Also, people didn't like it because you were meant to play it with friends. And well...each friend needed to have a gba and a cable. Which is stupid, but I enjoyed it a lot on my own.
In short, the game is unique. Very different compared to other games when it was first released, way too different to be called a Final Fantasy. But what it does, it does good. It gave me a great sense of adventure. It's definitely a game that has divided opinions a bit like Shenmue. I'd say you should certainly give it a try. To know more about the history of CC and the unique gameplay design choices it has.
Fuu said:
Don't be! It is kinda hard to know the details from the CC series because there are so many subtle things and so few exposition (and it's part of what makes it interesting too). The translations you're providing are appreciated.
Fuu! You're so kind...Thanks