Nintendo DS
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
| Graphics: Sound: Gameplay: Overall: |
8.50 9.00 8.80 9.20 |
| Votes: | 10 |
| Reviews: | 1 |
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| Reviewer: Jakewake52 | Date: May 2, 2022 |
| I remember picking this up in my local Gamestation back when they were still around as a wee lad and while at the age I did play it I didn't quite understand everything that was going on it still left a profound impact on me.
Graphics: 9 This features decently detailed and intricate enemy models for the DS all featuring stunning texturing. This is complemented with some stunning lighting effects, at times especially on the crystals which is kind of a series staple. Areas are fairly diverse but lean towards more naturalistic- with most of your time being spent in either caves (unfortunately the weakest design,) lush forests, snowy mountain peaks, a sweltering volcano or intricate man made structures of differing levels of abandonment. Lighting overall severs as more pragmatic brightness with specific sources being used to add the nice artistic flair. There is an interesting diorama like presentation to the levels- which are presented in a tracked isometric perspective. This is similar to Paper Mario in the sense transition tend to trail off the area "world edge" Sound: 8 Hit sounds are impactful and music is typical quality of the Final Fantasy franchise, sometimes shining in cutscenes to really emphasize the emotional moments. The game has a shocking amount of voice acting with a lot of fully voiced cutscenes with really good voice work Gameplay: 9 As mentioned before the game is presented in an isometric perspective and follows a slowly growing party that can be swapped between for combat and puzzle solving. Typically you are tasked with working your way through an area, fighting enemies in real time to get to the boss and get the area mcguffin. While limited in abilities initially, you gradually unlock more abilities although there isn't extensive combo trees or anything (or if there is I didn't use them) What it may lack in that it makes up for in items and dynamic objects. A lot of enemies can be picked up and attacked or thrown, same with Barrels, keys and other misc items. Some larger enemies can be dangled from which is kinda funny. There is an elemental based magic system which is always nice. As the game progresses you unlock different characters of different classes which each have their own level up and equipment restrictions. A nice detail is the extensive equipment options are actually shown on model including some cutscenes Overall: 9 If you like dungeon crawling action games you will likely like this. It features a shocking coming of age story and features some of the best level ideas and some really fun mechanics that the Final Fantasy franchise seemingly abandoned in this forgotten crystal As a TLDR I would highly recommend this as you will get hours upon hours of entertainment balanced between fun dungeon crawling combat if you jive and an emotional story |
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