Belated Throwback Thursday - Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles

Welcome to another Throwback Thursday, our weekly look into my Top 100 games and general nostalgia.  Sorry again for the delay folks; Life events and Zelda are to blame, of which you can look forward to a review of such in the near future (Spoiler Alert: It's good).

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On the agenda for this week: The game of traveling caravans and magical lands that is Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.

Released in the US on February 9th, 2004, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is a cooperative action RPG for the Nintendo GameCube.  Players choose one of four humanoid races (Clavats, Lilties, Selkies, and Yukes), each with varying benefits in terms of health, magic, and so on.  They then begin their journey seeking out myrrh to fill their crystal chalice and transport to their village, which protects them from the threatening miasma, a noxious gas spreading throughout the lands.  As the collected myrrh only lasts for about one year, these brave caravans must travel to farther and farther reaches each year in their search for more myrrh, of which they'll discover new lands, new travelers, and unravel the mystery and origins of this miasma.



The world building is one of this game's most striking features.  Each land to explore starts with a rich and captivating lore and backstory, setting the mood for the dungeon about to be explored.  Then coupled with its fantastical music and art direction, it was quite easy to get engrossed in the game.  Unfortunately, the pace in which you can explore these lands was held back considerably by the fact that players had to carry their crystal chalice with them to protect them from the miasma.  While it worked nicely into the world building of this game, it was an annoying feature that held back the gameplay of what is an otherwise fun and compelling adventure.

Crystal Chronicles is also one of the few games to make use of GameBoy Advance cables for the Nintendo GameCube for use of unique cooperative gameplay.  While it was a bit cumbersome and difficult to get a hold of enough players with GBA's and cables, the results of such were rather cool once playing.  The GBA screen managed the inventory and map for each player, allowing players to use these menus without interrupting the action on the main TV for other players.  If it weren't for the pacing issues presented from the crystal chalice, this feature would have set a new standard for fast and fluid gameplay in local cooperative games.  Hopefully these lessons will not be forgotten and be carried on to new platforms, because games like this would be a perfect fit for a socially engaging and powerful system coupled with easy setup for cooperative gaming, like maybe the Nintendo Switch (wink wink Square Enix wink wink).