Crystal Bearers: Two Hours In...

So I am currently two hours into Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers, and although I'm not completely blown away, I am pleasantly surprised. I think a lot of the negative press the game has gotten has been due to unrealistic (and incorrect) expectations about how the game would actually play.

We knew from early announcements that FFCC: TCB was going to be a single player story-driven game, but S-E never stated that it would be a traditional RPG. In fact, we were kept in the dark completely up until the game was due to be released. Upon release in Japan, it got decent (but not great) reviews, with complaints lodged mostly at the controls.

Reviewers here in the States have blasted it as a minigame collection in disguise, which I believe is an unfair assessment. Basically, here's what you have in this psuedo-action-RPG-casual-hybrid game:

* Graphics with a wonderful Square-Enix art style and technology/effects that hold up against some of their later PS2 releases. Sadly, this is a HUGE compliment when you compare the graphics of this game against Chocobo's Dungeon and Dragon Quest Swords. Against Nintendo's finest, the graphics are still competent. Let's see more of this on Wii.

* Varied gameplay. Within the first 2 hours I've had no less than 5 minigames with different sets of controls. Admittedly some are more fun than others. This game was most certainly aimed at Final Fantasy n00bz that may or may not be familiar with the series. They try to use the Wiimote in many different ways, and not all of them work well.

* Battles themselves are...interesting. Those who have played Dawn of Mana will feel at home here, since all battles revolve around grabbing stuff and hurling it at enemies. Because you have to control the camera manually and you can't lock onto enemies while you're holding an object, this creates some serious problems with more difficult battles.

* The physics engine, however, leaves a bit to be desired. Dawn of Mana used HAVOK, which gave objects a sense of weight and mass. All objects in FFCC:TCB react the same when tossed around, which is disappointing. There was a lot of potential here for physics hijinks that is totally unrealized.

* The story is action-packed and there's an open world and tons of sidequests to undertake. I'm just afraid of running up against a minigame or battle that just proves too unfairly frustrating with the controls...

So, overall, not bad. I wouldn't have paid $50 for it, but it's definitely a decent rental. A step in the right direction for S-E development on Wii. Not great - but not terrible either.



If I compare this game against Nintendo's first-party lineup, it holds up graphically but falters with the use of the Wiimote - which is passable but definitely not intuitive and can also be unresponsive at times.