The original Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, which debuted four years ago on GameCube, remains one of that system's excellent unsung role-playing games. More Secret of Mana than Final Fantasy thanks to its cooperative multiplayer action, the prototype Crystal Chronicles offered many delights, from its sparkling character and visual designs to its mellifluous orchestral score to the simple-but-fun cooperative melee-and-magic combat. It had cool cut-scenes with peripheral characters and side quests, a charming letter-writing system that deepened your investment in your customized character, and it offered a tangible sense of progression and passing time thanks to the seasonal celebrations that signaled each game year's end.
The downside was that Crystal Chronicles had a horrible inventory system, unreasonably fussy hardware requirements for multiplayer play (which meant that most people played through solo), and -- in perhaps the its biggest shortcoming -- forced at least one player to carry a protective chalice around, which turned the game into something it shouldn't have been: work. Ring of Fates on the DS takes advantage of the system's inherent wireless technology to all but eliminate the GameCube version's multiplayer shortcomings, and it streamlines the game itself as well.
First off, Ring of Fates arrives in two distinct flavors: solo and multiplayer. These modes are separated in much the same way Sega's Phantasy Star Universe offers an offline, story-driven mode in which players control preset, predesigned characters, while including a multiplayer mode in which gamers can steer their own customized, personalized avatar through the game's levels. This is a distinct departure from the original Crystal Chronicles, wherein part of the game's charm was in guiding your own mute custom character through the game's challenges. In Ring of Fates, you either play through the story mode, or you play through the story mode's levels solo or with friends, but devoid of any plot. The game offers incentive to do this, though, and it's the same incentive that's driven nearly every MMO and dungeon crawler since the days of Diablo II: loot.
Technologically stunning, Ring of Fates performs the neat trick of changing the character models to reflect whatever gear they may have equipped, which in the world of Final Fantasy means that the better armor sets are those of the classic FF archetypes like White Mages, Dark Knights and Dragoons. It's this type of carrot-dangling that compels and propels action-RPG fans to plow through games like this, repeatedly and often. Only a level or two more, and you'll be able to equip that cool ninja armor. The mostly digital-input controls make it a breeze to pummel foes, and each of the game's distinct character classes reflects this in the manner of their attacks. The humans (Clavats), tiny melee class (Lilties), archer-types (Selkies), and magic class (Yukes) all play differently, gaining new abilities as they level up. While the Selkies have a tough time at the start due to their slow rate of attack, once they've leveled up enough to fire a split shot that unleashes multiple arrows at once, they're a force to be reckoned with (especially in multiplayer as a support class).
The real enjoyment here is found in multiplayer, in case you couldn't tell. While the story mode is a cute tour through the game's many levels (some of which are exclusive to the North American version), you can't take your loot with you, meaning that the real investment is found only in multiplayer. Level your character up, solo or with friends, and the progress is reflected in your armor and weapons. Wireless play is easily activated and endlessly amusing, although one side effect is significant slowdown of the graphics in some areas, especially when four players are connected. Beyond the sheer joy of multiplayer, Ring of Fates has a surprisingly deep crafting feature, as monsters drop scrolls (recipes) for armor and weapons. By farming levels, monsters, and bosses for materials, you're able to craft better equipment (although one hang-up is that you can't identify whether a piece of armor is better or worse than what you're already wearing, since scrolls don't indicate statistics). The deeper you forge into the game is also reflected in how many townspeople move back into your hometown, opening up additional options at the weapon, armor, and magicite (the material used to cast magic) shops.
Melee combat is a simple matter of pressing buttons, and if you press the directional pad and attack at the same time, it results in faster strikes. Magic use is a little trickier, requiring actual timing (and proper spacing, so enemies don't interrupt your casting). Some classes are better than others in their specific roles (melee, magic, ranged attacks), and Ring of Fates is surprisingly well-balanced for a handheld game of this nature. It's almost like a portable Phantasy Star Online, and I mean that in a good way. Other diversions and activities, like Moogle painting, which originally appeared in the GameCube version, have returned -- only this time, you can actually trade your customized Moogles with friends. An unlockable racing game awaits thorough collectors, too, but this is little more than a disposable, throwaway mode, like Square's own Chocobo Racing (PS1).
The bottom line with Ring of Fates is that despite its flaws as a single-player game, it thrives in multiplayer (even when played solo). The type of player who'll really enjoy this iteration of Crystal Chronicles is the Diablo/Phantasy Star Online, dungeon-crawling loot whore. With nearly 300 pieces of armor to earn and unlock, item-collection fanatics will have more than enough incentive to keep them occupied, and the game's competent controls and stellar visuals will satisfy every other craving. It's balanced and has just the right loot curve, unlike games such as Champions of Norrath, which offer too many loot drops but nothing worth keeping. Come for the single-player appetizer, but stay for the multiplayer grandeur. Ring of Fates is a keeper.
Source: 1up.com
Version of the .nds is North American (U)
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03-12-2008, 06:11 PM
Join Date: Nov 2007
