I’m kind of curious about something. How many of you loved Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles on the GameCube? I bought it Day One thinking it was going to be the absolute best game I’d ever play for the rest of my life. I was pretty naïve back then.

Don’t get me wrong though, I absolutely loved the game for what it was and even played through it all again a few years later, but at the time my expectations were sorely unmet, partly because it promised a revolutionary multiplayer experience that cost way too much to enjoy: an experience that I never got a chance to try out since I didn’t have three other friends with Game Boy Advances and GBA Links to the GameCube. Regardless of all that I loved the first Crystal Chronicles game and saw a lot of potential in terms of story. Since then I’ve been waiting for a more substantial Crystal Chronicles title to deliver in terms of story. Well, here it is.

A Game For Some, A Joke For Others


The Crystal Bearers is the new title in the franchise for the Nintendo Wii. I had seen teasers for this one even before the Wii was out and already I was sufficiently psyched up since it looked awesome. Now that the game is finally out I can safely say that if you were like me and wanted the story-driven Crystal Chronicles game, you won’t be severely disappointed. If, however, you were looking for a game with amazing combat or anything, ANYTHING, that resembled either the Final Fantasy games as a whole or the Crystal Chronicles sub-franchise, yeah, move along, nothing to see here. The focus is story and it does it well. There are characters that you’ll like and some you’ll hate, but the point is that they’re all engaging. There is fun to be had.



Unfortunately, the fun doesn’t go as far with the battle mechanic, though it does churn out a heck of a lot of enjoyable times just playing with whatever you can pick up. The main character, a guy named Layle (because video games need people with crazy names “just because”), is capable of telekinesis, so he goes around levitating things and throwing them around and whatever. Not incredibly deep, but the concept works well enough to get you through the game with a bit of practice. Sadly, the Wiimote will get in your way a few times since, as we’ve figured out by now, it isn’t the perfect controller Nintendo wanted it to be unless you’re playing Metroid Prime 3 or something. Just be happy when it works, which is most of the time, and forget when it has some hiccups. Nod and smile and keep going for sake of the story.



The other big downside is the shortness of the title's playtime. It is going to sound odd but this is a Final Fantasy game with a very short playtime. I’m talking around 20 hours, roughly. Does that sound short to you? It will, especially since you’ll be enjoying the game so much. Oddly, the short playtime is a very good thing. While not all THAT short, it’s still short enough not to overstay its welcome but long enough to get you ...