As the latest addition to the Crystal Chronicles vein of the long-running, highly worshiped Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time arrives as a revamped, improved version of its predecessor, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates. Learning from its predecessor’s pitfalls, Echoes of Time keeps what worked, reforms and redesigns what was broken, and includes a few new trimmings. Altogether, this new package is a refined version of the Ring of Fates prototype, but sadly not quite a final product; a few nagging traits continue to persist that its adoring fans will most certainly scrutinize in anticipation of the next Crystal Chronicles incarnation.
Echoes of Time begins as any hack’n’slash/action-RPG does, with a character creation screen of the Crystal Chronicles universe’s canonical races: the magically-inclined Yukes, the agile Selkies, the SSS (slow, short, strong) Lilties, and your all-around Humes. Although there’s very little by way of personal customization, this is made up by the fact that there’s hundreds of different headgear and body armor, which is reflected in hundreds of different looks and outfits for each character; adapted from Ring Of Fates, this feature is tried, true, and probably didn’t need any revising.
Whatever in-game avatar you fashion yourself, your story will be the same: you’re 16, it’s your village coming-of-age ceremony, and it’s time to prove yourself as a (wo)man. Venturing into your local forest, it’s up to you to fight your way through, on a brave pilgrimage to the world’s final remaining crystal, hidden at the forest’s center. Upon your triumphant return, one of your dear friends falls ill, and the others officially diagnose her with the ‘crystal sickness’. Now a (wo)man, it falls to you to venture out into the world to find a cure and unravel the crystal mystery.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, you should not be coming to this game for the story. Bearing no relation to the events that transpired in Ring of Fates, it’s an entirely original story with not-so-original plot devices. To be fair, it’s hard to be original with a story/fantasy in this day and age, so I harbor no ill will to Echoes of Time in particular. Gamers expecting hoards of enemies to fight and items and materials to collect will find it in droves, but those looking for a striking, gripping story will have to look elsewhere.
This game certainly has plenty to offer. In comparison to other games in its competition, one of Echoes of Time’s most prominent features is its replayability, with several things going for it. Echoes of Time inherits the item crafting feature found in Ring of Fates, an extensive list for those with the time and desire to collect the necessary materials and ingredients, and inserts hundreds of gems for further customization, extending the options for the tweak-inclined gamer to tailor their equipment with boosted stats, resistances, or other bonuses. Aside from the massive amount of items to collect and craft, the game is far from over when the last cutscene plays out: yes, there is a bonus dungeon and a hard mode, along with a very hard mode, for the inner masochist. Of course, with such harder challenges comes rarer equipment, as well as new, specialized heroes to recruit and play as.
Perhaps the biggest contribution to Echoes of Time’s replayability is the much longed for and much awaited online multiplayer feature. Building on Ring of Fates’ ad hoc multiplayer system, Echoes of Time features gameplay over the internet through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connectio, allowing players to play with friends, with others in the U.S., or even others internationally. It is truly a magnificent endeavor and I personally applaud Nintendo for the effort. However, it is not without its flaws. While it sets an excellent precedent for future games, the multiplayer feature has a few kinks that need to be dealt with. First, latency, which tends to plague every other game played over the internet, rears its head in Echoes of Time. There is often up to a second in lag time before commands register, which is less than ideal when a dungeon requires timely acrobatic ability lest you fall into an endless abyss that necessitates retry? after retry? after retry. Furthermore, another prominent issue is the lack of a filter system. As it stands now, players will often randomly enter the game world together at grossly different levels: either one will be overpowered, or the other will be under leveled, and the game ends shortly as frustration drives players to disconnect. Communication is also a rather troublesome affair. Although every message possibly required in every situation is included, this means there is a rather complicated network of commands and categories to click through. It most certainly leaves ad hoc gameplay as the greener side of things.
Sadly, the single player side of Echoes of Time also features its share of blemishes. While it is certainly easier having the computer fill in with 1-3 cronies of its own to aid you in your adventures, its AI only has minimal changeability. Even then, you can find yourself idle in some of the thickest of moments. The dungeons themselves are only few in number as well, with less than ten to explore and fight your way through. Within those dungeons also lie things worse than your enemies and the ‘boss’ at the end: the cumbersome puzzles interspersed in between. Often, you may find that your time spent fighting is less than the time you will spend solving a puzzle. Unfortunately, the puzzles are less tests in your problem-solving ability and more your patience, as most, typically involve pushing a block from one end of a room to the other, at a realistic but ultimately slow pace. Sure, your partners could speed up the process, but the AI is far too under equipped for such things, leaving you wishing you were in ad hoc instead of single player.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time is most certainly a step in the right direction. Combat is fast, fluid, and far from boring, with different types of enemies requiring different strategies — from swinging your sword, to using a spell, to completely picking them up and smashing them against a wall. There’s plenty of replay value for those who have finished the game (you didn’t really pick it up for the story, did you?), and multiplayer definitely adds in an exciting, if not flawed, facet to an already very fulfilling game. If you’ve never tried a Crystal Chronicles game before, this would be the one to start with. For veterans of the series or those just looking for a good action-RPG game to play on the go, this remains an excellent choice, with multiplayer options that allow others to weave themselves seamlessly into the storyline. As they say, the friends that adventure together, stay together? just don’t forget to equip your paddle (Yes, this is a VS mode reference/tip).
