Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for GameCube

Square-Enix’s return to Nintendo consoles began with Final Fantasy Tactics and Sword of Mana for Game Boy Advance, but their first GameCube title: Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, is an outstanding work of art in all aspects, and it is a multiplayer experience not to be missed.

The world is covered by a malicious presence referred to as miasma-- a sort of poison mist that permeates every facet of the world. The only way for people to repel the miasma is by the means of giant crystals located in the town centers. The crystals, however, are limited in their power and must be replenished with myrrh from magical trees each year, lest they fail to protect the citizens from the miasma. You are part of a group of adventurers representing your town: a crystal caravan. It is your job to set out into the world and collect three drops of myrrh from trees to sustain your crystal for the year, but to do so, you must enter monster-infested dungeons to collect treasure, grow stronger and acquire a precious drop of myrrh from the boss monster.

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles is an overhead adventure-role playing game that plays similarly to titles such as Zelda, Sword of Mana, Diablo and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. While FFCC shares the same principles as its predecessors such as treasure collecting and level gaining, these similarities are merely superficial relative to the underlying gameplay. Combat is more involved and intricate than the timeless strategy of simply duking it out with monsters until they are defeated. Movement, timing, aim and teamwork are critical to success in FFCC. The use of magic and special attacks requires a certain degree of precision not commonly found in games of the same vein, and it is a welcome change of pace from the usual whack-a-thon present in so many action-adventure games. As a result, combat is rarely, if ever, tedious and boring. The boss battles are especially challenging and will often require second attempts to defeat. Thankfully, the game allows you to immediately retry a boss battle should you experience defeat.

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles features a solid single player game, but it is a fantastic multiplayer experience (2-4 players are supported). While each player needs a Game Boy Advance and a GameCube-GBA link cable, the investment is worth it for the sheer fun of playing with friends, and the implementation of the GBA into the game is nothing short of genius, if not essential to the game design. Each player has a private menu screen provided by the GBA, allowing the other players to act freely while he/she fumbles around in the menus. This eliminates the annoying caveat of most multiplayer role-playing games: other players do not have to wait on each other to do personal menu business. The tightly integrated teamwork extends beyond combat into navigation. Each player’s GBA contains a piece of the map; for example, one player will have the terrain detail, while others will have a radar that detects enemy or treasure locations. One player must carry the crystal chalice, which is not only a bucket used to collect the drops of myrrh from the tree, but also as a protector to the caravan. The chalice is a valuable asset, for it keeps the miasma away from the characters and it heals those who stay inside of its vicinity, but the player who carries it is at a competitive disadvantage to the others in regards to combat and treasure collection. All too often, the carrier will drop the chalice intending to join in the fray, but find all of the enemies already defeated and treasures taken. Teamwork and sharing the chalice must be emphasized in this case, but it seems that the carrier suffers too many penalties and not enough benefits for bearing the burden. As players become more familiar with the flow of the game, expect the competition level to rise considerably as everyone scrambles to accomplish their bonus objectives to claim priority on post-dungeon rewards.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is a beautiful game and it takes advantage of the GameCube’s ATI graphics hardware to its fullest. High-resolution textures, great special effects and a distinctive use of fur rendering are its best features. The water effect is convincing and impressive, despite its limited interactivity. The game is replete with subtle touches of bump mapping and reflective surfaces, and the character models are smooth and well animated. Additionally, the game supports progressive scan for those who own HDTVs. The only notable flaw is the game’s lack of mip-mapping, which causes distant textures to flicker and shimmer considerably; however, it is not noticeable during gameplay because of the camera’s overhead angle.

In addition to its impressive graphics, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles has an excellent soundtrack. Kumi Tanioka’s Celtic music is surreal and facilitates the aesthetically pleasing atmosphere of the game with distinction. The sound effects are clear and precise, although the music is by far the most impressive accomplishment. Despite the game’s lack of Dolby Pro-Logic II support, FFCC is a fantastic aural experience. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles may have a few annoyances such as unbalanced chalice mechanics and limited controls due to the use of GameBoy Advance, but its good points outweigh its faults significantly. If you and a few friends own GBAs and are itching for an adventure, do not pass this title up: it is a contender for best multiplayer title of the year.

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