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Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
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Graphics & Sound:
How you feel about Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers depends largely on how you feel about the state of the modern RPG. If your idea of role-playing bliss is still built on a D&D foundation, this game isn't going to fit the bill. If you're sold on the epic scale and depth of games like Mass Effect, there's also likely to be a disconnect. What we can say with confidence is that if you've been in love with the world of Final Fantasy in any incarnation, The Crystal Bearers is a great addition to your library. Where it veers away somewhat from past games in the series, it stays true to the Crystal Chronicles mythos and the Final Fantasy vibe. There's a sense of directorial vision behind the game, whether in the settings you'll explore, the character designs, or the way in which the story plays out. We've struggled to fall in love with some games that feel more like interactive movies, but The Crystal Bearers gets the blend just right. Seamless transitions and relatively bite-sized cinematics help to move the story forward. Not that this is a quick pick-up-and-play type of game, because you'll want to invest a few hours each sitting to explore; the rewards for exploration are many, and we loved the frequency of little surprises throughout the game world. New areas, new treasure, and seriously high attention to detail permeate The Crystal Bearers.
The character design is typical of other games in the series, and the music is stirring when it needs to be. We'd buy the soundtrack, based on many of the more chill tunes that pop up while you navigate the world. Frequent shifts in location are accompanied by a change in the music, and encounters involve a complete transformation of your surroundings. Instead of random encounters that pull you away from the world, you'll find the world changing to announce new encounters. Skies darken, ominous dark funnel clouds form, and friendly creatures or local denizens are replaced by monsters. The same process rolls itself back once the encounter is over, either because you've defeated all the monsters or because enough time has elapsed. The larger-than-life monsters we've seen on an isometric battlefield are now free to move around the field, and this is a fun experience for Final Fantasy players that haven't yet been introduced to this mechanic. Smaller touches in the game, such as the ability to customize what logo appears on the main character Layle's clothing show a devotion to design and quality that rewards players that dig deeper and spend more time with The Crystal Bearers. Some of the design features almost go too far, like the ticker tape-style messages that scroll at the bottom of the screen, sharing the history and reputation of the places you visit. |
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Gameplay:
Fans of Crystal Chronicles will know what to expect, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers doesn't disappoint with its gameplay. The focus this time is squarely on playing solo, with the exception of some minimal interaction a second player can have in certain parts of the game. Where the typical RPG is about leveling up and balancing a party, The Crystal Bearers is all about Layle. You play as this rambunctious adventurer, who has a piece of crystal fused permanently into his body. This crystal grants Layle some awesome powers, but also makes him feared by most of the people he meets throughout the world. The Crystal Bearers introduces lots of memorable characters, but it's Layle you will walk away remembering most vividly. It's not that there's much real story development, but the spoken dialogue is great and the attitude of each character (including Layle) is painted vividly during every cut-scene. The mechanics of the game even support the notion that Layle is a bit of a troublemaker, encouraging you to use your powers to stir things up in towns and cities.
The story elements that carry over from previous games include the history of the four people, with special focus placed on a Yuke that has returned to harvest crystal energy. A chance encounter with Layle leaves him convinced that he and the mysterious Yuke have a score to settle. The miasma that plagued the land is back, and deposits weird creatures periodically in Layle's path. Battles bring loot, and Layle will also find lots of hidden items stashed in chests or available as prizes for player actions, almost like little quests outside the main story. Shops are also around to fill holes in your inventory, but this game doesn't concern itself with weapons. Layle's powers are all about moving objects with his mind, so anything in your surroundings becomes a weapon. Monsters can also be manipulated as weapons, or just grabbed and bashed against a nearby rock. The exploration you do in the game constantly leverages Layle's powers, whether to flip switches and open doors, or to leap and pull yourself up to higher ground. Replay value is decent, approaching excellent. There are numerous unlockable awards, somewhat like achievements, that range from totally hidden to subtle hints as you play. The ultimate reward is your enjoyment as you play through the game, but dedicated fans might want a second shot at collecting more items and scoring higher in various player action sequences. |
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Difficulty:
Good design means the player is rarely confused or turned around in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. There are hints provided during big battles, visually and through character dialogue. The first really big Bahamut battle goes overboard in this respect, telling you again and again that there "might be something" on the ground you can use for the battle. Even after we'd attacked successfully, this message looped, showing some lack of finesse or awareness of context. The game doesn't give up all its secrets that easily, making you work to find hidden chests and hidden objects. Scouring the in-game newspaper or other objects you find along the way can tip you off to not only where you're likely to find a particular object, but what you can expect as drops from specific monsters. Winning the game isn't about having the most money, though; funds are fairly easy to come by if you look high and low for those treasure chests. What you'll have difficulty finding are the specialty objects that only some monsters drop, that you'll need if you hope to make powerful objects during the game.
We weren't huge fans of either included control scheme, as both put camera controls in an awkward spot. Centering the camera is easy, with the tap of a button. What's hard is juggling the controls for movement during the attack sequences with the D-pad for camera movement. Automatically adjusting the camera just isn't good enough in this game, since you frequently have to look around, down, and up in search of objects. There will be some that just don't like the control scheme, and it can only be switched between one of two schemes, rather than fully customized. Chances are the default setting works for you, but you'll just have to do a bit more running and fumbling during battles. The monsters can be overpowered by many means, but getting too close to them will always cause problems. Layle is best as a distance fighter, rather than brute-force brawler. A few monsters are real pushovers, and seem placed in the battle arena for the sole purpose of being thrown at the other monsters... |
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Game Mechanics:
The greatest thing about Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers is how it moves easily from one type of control to another, building a game experience that cuts across many genres. One minute you'll be exploring casually in an area, and then you'll be leaping Platformer-style from ledge to ledge, or scaling cliffs to grab some treasure, pausing briefly to enjoy the sights and sounds of the world around you. There are flying and riding sections, whether under your own power or hanging from the bottom of a giant bird-monster. The developers even managed to work in some sections where you slide, as if you were skiing or snowboarding, down streams or rivers. Collecting treasure along the way is an option, but not required in most cases to pass on to more advanced levels. The motion controls are generally very tight and creatively implemented. On-rails shooting sections work exactly as you would imagine, but with the addition of a grab-and-throw mechanic that ties into Layle's powers. Whipping the Wii-mote is one way to make these actions happen, or you can use the (B) trigger button to throw objects. A counter in the form of a slowly filling circle shows when you have a lock on your enemy or an object in your environment, and you can experiment to create new effects by interacting with objects in each area. The poor camera controls only really come to the fore during boss battles, luckily.
In its best moments, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers feels like a product of some very creative minds that set out to overturn convention and remake the RPG as it might appear for the first time, today on the Wii. The game is filled with intention and purpose, using motion controls to bring you closer to the main character and to make you feel more engaged in the player actions, rather than just creating gratuitous mini-game moments. The story fits nicely into the larger narrative of the Crystal Chronicles world, taking us deeper into the stories behind each of the four clans. If you don't respond to the main character's brash style, The Crystal Bearers won't work, but we definitely fell for Layle. He's like a great combination of the loud-talking sideman and the strong, silent hero. With power to back up his bold attitude, he's pretty irresistible. Surrounding him with an interesting, but more predictable, cast of characters rounds out the package and makes for a fun tour of duty. Sure, this is a light snack compared to the upcoming goodness of Final Fantasy XIII, but it's awfully tasty all the same. |
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-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock |
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