When Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles first launched on the Nintendo GameDice again in 2004, it was a fairly large deal. After all, it had been almost a decade since a brand new entry within the collection had launched on a Nintendo console, and it appeared that there have been some laborious emotions between Nintendo and Square. Fast ahead 16 years, and Final Fantasy games are fairly widespread on Nintendo platforms. Now, Square Enix has introduced Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Remastered Edition to fashionable consoles, elevating the query of whether or not its preliminary success may need been tied to its novelty.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is a little bit of a departure for the franchise. Rather than a turn-based RPG, Crystal Chronicles is a dungeon-crawler for one-to-four gamers. In the game, the world has been coated by a substance referred to as “Miasma.” In order to guard their city, Caravanners should journey the world accumulating a substance referred to as “Myrrh” inside a Chalice. Myrrh is used to energy the crystals that defend every city from Miasma, and the game’s narrative exhibits gamers what can occur to their city ought to they fail of their quest.
Crystal Chronicles might be performed as a single-player marketing campaign, however the expertise simply is not that pleasant solo. Because of the Miasma that surrounds the game’s world, gamers should keep inside vary of the Chalice always. In multiplayer, one of many gamers should carry it to be able to navigate every space or dungeon, however in single-player, your Moogle associate does the carrying; properly, most of it, at the very least. Often, the character will develop drained and pressure you to select up the slack. Then, after just a few seconds, they’re going to be prepared to select it up once more, however the course of repeats itself so usually that it turns into irritating, and coping with the Chalice in any respect looks like an pointless annoyance.
The single-player marketing campaign really is a solo affair, as properly. Your caravan is not stuffed out with computer-controlled gamers as in dungeon crawlers like Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Instead, it is only one character taking over every dungeon. This actually makes the game lonely and a bit boring, as all of the enemy’s consideration will likely be on that single character, making it tougher to do something too superior. Instead, gamers will discover themselves attacking, then dodging, and repeating this time and again to defeat every enemy. This turns into monotonous pretty rapidly.
The monotony of the fight is difficult by the game’s controls. Players have one button that controls attacking, defending, and utilizing magic, and toggling by way of these selections is a chore. It’s simpler in multiplayer when gamers produce other companions serving to them, but it surely felt pointless to spend the time switching to the defend command when it is a lot simpler to simply transfer out of an enemy’s vary.
The spotlight of Crystal Chronicles has at all times been the multiplayer gameplay. On Nintendo GameDice, the method required every participant to have their very own Game Boy Advance to make use of as a controller, in addition to a hyperlink cable. While that set-up was cumbersome, the pay-off felt price it. It’s technically less complicated to interact in multiplayer classes in Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition, but it surely does not appear higher than the previous technique. An enormous a part of that’s the absence of sofa co-op, which is unlucky, to say the least.
That’s to not say the multiplayer state of affairs is all dangerous. The game affords a number of choices, together with the flexibility to host a game, be part of one other participant’s game, or bounce into a fast match that is already in progress. Jumping into a fast multiplayer session with a bunch of different gamers is a blast when all the pieces works the way in which it is speculated to, and it is one of many highlights of enjoying the game on cellular. Dungeons aren’t terribly lengthy within the game, so leaping into an in-progress match is an effective way to play for these searching for a fast session.
Load instances in Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition are agonizingly lengthy. If followers want any type of reminder that the game initially launched 16 years in the past, the load instances will rapidly present the game’s age. The load instances additionally made it really feel like a chore to go to areas that weren’t required. This is especially disappointing, because the game’s presentation actually has stood the take a look at of time, and it needs to be extra pleasant to see the game’s world.
The Final Fantasy franchise has at all times been identified for its music, and Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition is not any exception. There are some tracks that show a bit extra grating than others, however general, the standard is kind of robust. Unfortunately, the identical can’t be stated for the game’s voice appearing. Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition provides new voice work that wasn’t within the authentic game, and it largely falls flat. There’s one thing that simply feels off about it, and it by no means feels prefer it suits the established world.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Remastered Edition looks like a squandered alternative. The game has seen plenty of delays over the past yr, but it surely does not really feel like Square Enix utilized that point to enhance the game over its predecessor. The voice work is tough, the controls are irritating, load instances are laughable, and the dearth of sofa co-op is evident. The game’s music and general presentation are nice and multiplayer remains to be enjoyable in spite of everything these years, but it surely’s laborious to advocate the game when it looks like such a step again.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition is now accessible on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android, and PC. A retail code was offered by the writer for the aim of this evaluation, and it was reviewed on a base mannequin PlayStation Four and on iPhone.
