This was one of my most anticipated Wii games of 2009.
Silly me.
Anticipation is dumb. It nearly always builds unrealistic expectations and leads to inevitable disappointment. The Crystal Bearers is no exception. It’s disappointing. Not only that, but it’s pleasantly surprising as well. Though The Crystal Bearers might not be the game that I want it to be, it is a game that I eventually grew to love.
What the hell am I speaking about? Hit the jump to find out.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers (Wii)
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
Released: December 18, 2009
MSRP: $49.99
The Crystal Bearers is the first single-player-only action/adventure game to take place in the FFCC world. It’s a world of multiple mythical races, Moogle mailmen, crystal-powered magic machines, and casual encounters with all manner of Final Fantasy monsters. This one takes place long after the last FFCC game, and one of the series (the Yukes) seems to have gone extinct in the meantime. You play as Layle, a crystal bearer. He’s infused with the power of the crystals, which means he can levitate objects (including himself), and add his power to the many crystal-powered things in his world. This causes him to be feared and despised by most. It’s under these conditions that he sets off to discover what happened to the Yukes, and the meaning of his own existence. Issues of racism, genocide, and the afterlife are all explored along the way.
Sounds heavy, right? Well, it’s not. Crystal Bearers is extremely breezy. Its atmosphere and tone are reminiscent of a mid-’90s anime OVA, like Tenchi-Muyo or El Hazard. The Crystal Bearers grants you to enter a surreal, sweet, and exciting world where everyone is good-looking and even the worst of troubles aren’t that bad. There are problems here, but they are generally big-boobed, lollipop-colored problems that will probably be solved sooner or later… or not. Whatever. You’ll be having too much fun picking up stray cats and throwing them at defenseless Moogles to really care.
A lot of this carefree attitude comes from the combat system. Fighting enemies is often where a game gains its sense of urgency, danger, and excitement. The Crystal Bearers lacks all of the above. With the exception of boss fights, combat is largely optional. Each five to ten minutes, a portal appears in the sky and enemies (oftentimes Final Fantasy regulars like Toneberry, Flan, Bomb, and Goblin) arrive. Wait five to ten minutes, and they disappear. If you can beat them all before times runs out, you do get a reward, but you aren’t punished if you let some live. This lack of punishment leads to a lack of consequence, which will be disappointing to fans of traditional 3D action games who thrive off doom and danger.
The combat might not be perilous, but it is pretty entertaining in its own right. Being a psychic, you don’t actually fight enemies with physical attacks. Instead, you either throw found objects (rocks, electric guitars, other enemies) at your foes, or stun them with your telekinetic powers, then pick them up and toss them around. All this is done with the Wii’s pointer controls. Being able to affect the world around you so drastically without physically engaging can make you feel like a god (a little white dog-shaper god, to be exact), but it does make even the toughest battles feel a tiny one-sided. The weird thing is, the point of The Crystal Bearers battles isn’t conflict, it’s discovery. There are so many different ways to interact with enemies (violent or not), that discovering them all ends up being more fun than actually killing them. Grab two giant beetles and toss them together and see them turn into a giant insecticide pinball. Toss the ball around the battlefield and smile at the devastation you’ve caused.
That’s called an interaction, and the game has tons of them. It keeps track of them, like Accomplishments. It’s hard to know for sure when you’re going to hit upon one, but if the creatures you’re dealing with have a heart or another emoticon above their head, then you might be on to something. Finding the King from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King is one. Grabbing an electric guitar and telekinetically jamming your enemies to death is another. Ripping the machine gun off a giant robot and then shooting him with it is yet another. I know there is one involving cow poop, but I can’t remember what it is.
I’m not going to try and name them all, but trust me, there are a lot.
Interactions are a part of non-combat as well. In fact, the only difference between interacting with enemies and non-enemy NPCs in The Crystal Bearers is that your health bar disappears when you aren’t in combat, and non-enemy NPCs don’t have health, either. See an old lady in town? Pick her up with your powers and toss her around, then grab her money just like she was a common foe. No moral repercussions here, but that doesn’t mean that she won’t get pissed at you and tackle you for what you’ve done, taking your money in return.
One of my favorite experiences with NPC hostilities in The Crystal Bearers happened about 3 hours into the game when I was at the beach. I knocked over a fruit stand, and all the bikini girls went berserk. Everywhere I went, they chased me, and tried to kick my ass. I had at least six of them on my tail at one point, and they were completely relentless, following me even after I swam off into the ocean. This type of tomfoolery feels a bit like the mischief found in Noby Noby Boy or The Sims, but it’s stranger given the Final Fantasy context. You can even ride a chocobo indoors. Madness!
Talking of the context, The Crystal Bearers takes place in a relatively big, inclusive world. If someone were to measure the game in virtual square feet, I don’t think it would turn out to be quite as massive as Twilight Princess, but it’s close. Beautiful, blissful environments are everywhere. There is an underground pirate cove, a blooming cherry tree forest, a picturesque vineyard (and wine cellar); so many storybook, serene settings. Most environments are outdoors, which lend the game a Shadow of the Colossus/Wind Waker natural sandbox feel. Urban areas are included, too, but they tend to tend to be smaller, and are more notable for the crystal powered-technology they harbor. Of course, Airships are a part of the scene, but I actually had more fun with the train system this time around.
Periods of wandering this vast world and using your powers to cause trouble and kick ass are punctuated by boss fights, showpieces and mini-games. It’s a strange mix; you’ll be battling Bahamut one minute, and assisting in a butt-bumping beach sumo match the next. I’d have preferred that the boss fights outnumber these sorts of light-hearted interludes. The bike chasing and snowboarding bits in Final Fantasy VII were fun, but just imagine if stuff like that happened more often than boss battles. It’s hard to envision that the game would have become a classic. I fear that The Crystal Chronicles will suffer the same fate. There is just a little too much fluff here for some gamers to take the title seriously.
Fluff might be a problem, but it sure is shiny fluff. The Crystal Chronicles doesn’t suffer from any lack of polish. The controls are great, the graphics are pretty, and the music is fantastic. The range of musical styles is exceptional. Bluegrass, classical, metal, and even Henry Mancini-sounding comedy jazz are all present. All fit the game extremely well, and keep the mood pleasing and light throughout.
The game is a little shorter than your average 3D action/adventure. I beat it in about 15 hours, but that was with a lot of messing around and taking my time. That said, I was nowhere near 100% completion the first time I beat the game. There is also a New Game+ option, which changes things up a bit. There aren’t multiple endings that I know of, but there are new scenes that become available after you’ve beaten the game once, and you get to keep all your stuff, which is nice. With so many interactions to discover, customizable clothes to make, and items to farm, I couldn’t help but jump right back into the game after I beat it. The Crystal Bearers is a game that I could see myself replaying at least a few times, if it weren’t for the fact that I have a job that requires me to purchase new games almost every week.
