Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles

Initial impressions:

Gameplay: Pretty solid, especially in multiplayer.. but not flawless. Having to have one character carry what\'s essentially a bucket at all times during multiplayer.. just to move around the game world.. is annoying.

Audio: Good. Music is often simplistically orchestrated but quality, sound effects are fitting.

Video: I love the way this game looks. Excellent textures, excellent use of hardware effects. The water is stunning, there\'s bump-mapping on certain objects.. *cough* first boss *cough* Moogles are fur-shaded, lots of geometry on-screen, consistent 30fps framerate, and those are just some of the technical details. The art-style is fantastic. From the menus, to the world map, to the intricate detail of the worlds and the characters themselves.. it\'s close to jaw-dropping. It\'s got a very polished visual presentation, and may very well be the prettiest looking game on the GameCube; almost definitely the most artistic.

Overall impressions after 1 hour, some single.. some multiplayer: I like it. It does virtually require multiplayer to work correctly, though. Single-player is good but this game thrives when you have 2 or more.

Just picked it up and put an hour on it.

Love the presentation...graphics, story telling, music.

The only thing holding me back from saying I love it is the battle system...I\'ve never been a fan of real time battle and I don\'t think this game is going to change my mind.

The battle isn\'t all that great. It\'s better in multiplayer, nice co-op action.

Well, this game has gone from okay to being quite a disappointment.  I\'ll just start complaining...

 - What\'s the deal with the enemies, when they hit me I stagger.  I hit them and they hit right back.

 - Mog complains at the worst of times...he has complained in every boss fight so far and what sucks is that he slows down quite a bit leaving you to run around in the mist away from the gigantic bosses.  (The mist hurts)

 - Casting magic takes too long...you lose it after every dungeon which is just stupid.

 - Why can\'t I keep all the articfacts that I found?

 - Getting new armor and weapons requires that you bring a design for that item PLUS the material needed to make it.

 -  Gil is scarce

 - The henchmen in the boss fights are just annoying.

 - Party of one?  (plus mog but he\'s worthless anyway)  They should have thought of a different way to carry the myrhh and let you have a sidekick.  


The single player mode is severely lacking at this point and I don\'t feel like playing it anymore.  However, if multiplayer is as good as people say it is then I\'ll give it another shot...but only in multiplayer.  Now I just need a GBA...

Oh, yeah Ginko. This game is not designed for single-player, that being indicated by the lack of computer-controlled party members alone.. eheh. Some of your complaints I agree with, some of them haven\'t happened.

When does Mog complain?

When he gets tired of holding the chalice.  He has complained in every boss fight I\'ve been in so far and usually I have to ignore it but sometimes it hinders me so badly I can\'t avoid having to carry it for him.  (Otherwise I have to run around and usually end up in the mist)

Oh, yeah Ginko. This game is not designed for single-player, that being indicated by the lack of computer-controlled party members alone..

It is designed for single player...it even has its\' own mode and everything!  Only thing is that it\'s poorly designed in that aspect... what a waste.