On Vox: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - Rings of Fate: A Game Review
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - Ring of Fates
Phew. What a long name for a good game that can entice your creative mind juices with puzzles and a different type of gameplay. FFCC - Ring of Fates is the prequel to the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles that was created by Square-Enix for the gamecube platform which was released 5 years ago.
Immediately, the game have different modes to choose from; from the story to the multiplayer gameplays that enables you to play with 3 other players and join forces to finish quests that was given to you by the King of Rebena Te Ra; to the story mode where you can now experience first hand what really happened with the protagonists. FFCC - Ring of Fates also utilized the Nintendo DS' capability of Wi-Fi connection as players can trade customized Moogles.
The story itself was touching, as a player discovers the sibling-love between the fraternal twins, Yuri and Chelinka and their struggles as they try and put the world at peace. Aided by their friends Gnash, Meeth and Alhanalem, they fight the Lunites that threatens to destroy / conquer the world.
There are 4 races existing in the FFCC - Ring of Fates world: the peaceful Clavat, the magic-wielding Yukes, the magicite creating Lilties and the aggressive Selkie. Each of the four races has special abilities that will aid the players in dungeons and proceed with the story. All races have the ability to cast spells by collecting Magicites (orbs of mana) while battling monsters and opening chests.
The 3D rendering of the gameplay and movies are awesome, just like what Square-Enix did with Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings. The music is also good, very entertaining and portraying the emotion of the story as the protagonist progress.
Unfortunately, switching of camera angle was not supported, thus it is sometimes a pain whenever Yuri and the gang are fighting a monster. Also, switching from one character to another is a tedious task especially when you are pressed for time and fighting the current boss of the dungeon. And the AI system is not that effective in battles -- most of the time they are just standing on the side watching that character that the player is controlling fighting the monster. Although they sometimes serve as great decoys whenever a monster appears out of nowhere.
The multiplayer system might be a great addition to the game but with every player connecting to complete quests, lag issues were unraveled. But if players just disregard the lag, it would be a lot of fun completing and leveling up like playing a MMORPG.
Overall, even if the game was not the best game Square-Enix created, this is still one of the good games that was released in 2008. The graphics are still the best CG in all the games that was created for the DS and the art of story telling is still essential as the game progresses.
Originally posted on acidandroid.vox.com