Almost two years, there were commercials for the latest Final Fantasy game on the Wii: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. Peppered with rave reviews from mainstream magazines, the commercial showed the beautiful game in action. However, something didn’t feel right to me, and I let it fall off my radar until a few weeks ago. After playing the game for a while now, my initial impressions were not only spot on but incorrect as well.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers takes place in a more realized world of Crystal Chronicles. (You remember that Game Cube game, right? Where you had to collect three drops of myrhh/crystals to protect your village from miasma and you lost whatever loot you gained at the end of each level?) This time, you control Layle, a young clavat who has been cursed (or blessed) since birth with the power to control gravity. Since this makes him a crystal bearer (and no one will let him forget it), he’s considered a social outcast and tends to take jobs that have the highest risk. And the latest high-end risk is to discover the reason a Yuke wants to collect crystals and causes massive damage. So what is the reason for this odd happening?
If this sounds a bit too complex, pretentious and clichéd, you’re right. The game steals — I mean, borrows — themes from other Final Fantasy games: Cid, Bahamut, crystals that need to be saved, feisty princesses, monsters from the series and other elements have been mixed and matched. In fact, The Crystal Bearers revels in itself. The game takes on a dramatic style that is downright cool to watch. However, it isn’t hard to wish for more gameplay and less talking.
Graphics are directly connected to its narcissism. The Crystal Bearers is one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever seen on the Wii. Yes, the graphics are anime-inspired. But they are exceedingly well detailed. Every little scene “pops” across the screen, reminding you that this is a living world. Characters go about their daily lives in spite of Layle’s presence. If you do something to them, such as move a guard around, they’ll respond. Furthermore, each monster has its own movement and flair, from bombs exploding to zuus flying around a dark abyss.
Gameplay is a mixture of various gameplay styles. The first five minutes of gameplay consist of Layle shooting down zuus while falling toward an airship. Next thing you know, you’re controlling said airship without any warning (or very well). Then you run around a castle town and bam! You’re back on the rails again. While this doesn’t allow for consistency, it does keep things interesting. You’re never really doing one thing for a long time, and the variety helps keep the game moving.
The main “game” that you’ll be playing is having Layle running around and flinging monsters around. You’ll use the Wii-mote to aim and the B button to focus on it. You can then either lift it up if it is stunned or fling it around. If it is lifted up, you can then throw it against a wall or against another opponent. And almost everything is fair game. Oddly enough, it’s a lot of fun causing damage to enemies using the countryside.
However, there is a reason minigames tend to be held with a lower sense of esteem. Minigames, in general, tend to make a game a bit too unfocused and only fun while playing with friends. And it shows in almost every layer of the game, except a friend cannot play with you except at very specific parts. If the camera is facing one way and Layle is facing another, whatever Layle throws will be thrown in the direction the camera is facing if he is not locked onto a monster. The alchemy element for crafting accessories is underutilized as the shop is rare and there is no need for them other than to make the game easier. And ultimately, the d-pad cannot take the place of an analog stick to rotate the camera. Don’t misinterpret the information as it is a solidly made game and the Wii motion elements are decently handled. However, the heights the game reaches for are not obtained because the lacks some focus and the controls don’t match up with the scenes.
I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the medal system. You see, the game “rewards” you with a medal when you meet a certain criteria. Some are exceedingly easy, such as picking up an ingredient for the first time or advancing parts of the plot. Others are quite hard, such as defeating a boss in a specific amount of time. The problem is this: There’s no reason to complete them. And I’ve been running this thought through my head since I’ve seen it. There is something to be said about earning a “gamer score” or a “trophy.” These I can brag about, and they tend to occur naturally as I play a game or as a specific challenge that ultimately benefits me. The challenges here, in The Crystal Bearers, makes you work for them with no real award. No bonus accessory for beating a boss in 90 seconds, spinning a giant beetle ball around or tipping a cow over for milk and earning a pail of milk. So here’s the main question that is raised: What’s the point of doing them if the medals rarely benefit you? My answer is that it is to pad the length of the game.
Sound design is downright solid. The sound effects are where they should be: The gravity effect sounds neat, you can hear Layle’s footsteps as he traverses the environment and people exclaim over events in their daily lives. There is voice acting in the game, and it is inconsistent. The actors do not fit their characters, and the dialogue doesn’t always match to a character’s personality. Layle tries to act like an amalgamation of Squall, Cloud and Zidane. But he fails because the manual paints him as an adrenaline junkie and not as a cold adventurer. In his case the actor fits him, just not the dialogue. Belle, a female thief, is just downright annoying as she exclaims every single treasure “chest is empty!”
Overall, The Crystal Bearers is nothing more than a funhouse ride. It pulls all of the proper stops and does an excellent job keeping you interested during its run. It has great graphics, a great musical score and strong concept. However, it is nothing that you will want to visit once it has closed shop for the season. And the reason is simple: The Crystal Bearers is in love with itself. It’s proud of all of the silly plot points, the pretty (or handsome, if you will) exterior, the sufficient (but not “wonderfully competent”) control system and the medal system that shows “what a good of a player you are!”
I was fortunate to find a copy of The Crystal Bearers for about $20, and I wouldn’t pay a penny more for it. It is a solid action game that should make any action fan happy for a short period of time. If you are huge Final Fantasy fan and are likely to think this is going to be awesome, then prepare to be disappointed. It does not need the Final Fantasy title attached to it. This is, in no shape or form, a “true” RPG. This is an action game through and through. Despite all of the carping, I do like this game. But its edges are far too jagged for its goals. Remember, folks, this may not be a game that crystallizes in your library.
