What more can we expect from the strong reputation of Final Fantasy games. They’ve never let us down, using such gob smacking cut scenes, heart touching scripts and grand environmental visuals. Load up any Final Fantasy and the opening music never fails to set us in the mood. Square Enix are like visual authors, continuously they amaze in story telling and taking us away from reality. Once more Square Enix have given us another reason to pack your DS rather than your favourite book, another addition to an ever growing popular series meet –
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles : Ring of Fates.
This is the first of the FF series on a handheld console to feature audio dialogue which gives the game that little more charm, combined with a typical but never tired plot where good must overcome evil, it’s hard to not let the bundle of cutesy characters grow on you.
What I love most about the Crystal Chronicle games is that I’m relieved of the dull, common, nasty drawback that comes with every RPG; the turned based fighting system. With use of just the D-pad and A/B buttons, you can dash, dodge and hack away at those monsters without ever having to wait in line. No time bars, no constant menu directories, it’s pure, free-roaming battling baby!
The DS title brings new attack commands including grabbing the enemy and giving them a good poke or two with your sword at hand. (I say poke but in this child-like violence it’s a pretty good damage doer.) Or if you don’t want to do that, while holding the enemy you can also choose to slam them against a nearby wall and hopefully they’ll drop some handy goodies. However I can’t quite figure out why the developers didn’t think about giving us the option to throw the enemies. Surely if we need to be picking up and throwing about dungeon keys, that same coding could have been implemented into another useful combat technique.
There’s still the magic, items and skills at hand too, but god knows how such fiddly functions got past the QA team. Not only are we navigating through depths of dungeons and fighting our way through with both hands on the DS. At times you’ve got to faff around getting the stylus out to pick something in your inventory for use or when you’re using your special ability, then its time to put your stylus away again to manoeuvre an incoming attack. However I can happily forgive these minor irritations as the game has got a good balance for platform action and puzzle solving.
An important lesson to learn about FFCC : Ring of Fates is that there’s no pause button! Be more aware about preparation for combat and defence – With a turn based system chucked away you’ve got to be thinking on your feet at all times!
For anybody who’s played FFCC on the Gamecube, rest assured you can wave goodbye to the old, haunting bucket of myrrh. Hoorah! There’s also no restrictions to your running space (although I do miss having a furry companion.) I’ll admit the Moogles of FFCC are the darned cutest ones ever! I was overjoyed to see that the DS title still includes a “Moogle Painting” mini activity. I’m sure no one can resist doodling over the fluffy creatures’ faces. But don’t forget that when your not painting them, our adorable little friends each give you a stamp to collect along your journey! A loyalty card which will surely bring some awesome rewards.
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