You and up to three friends can take part in a grand adventure to seek the water of life. In the world of Crystal Chronicles, the land is plagued with a lethal dark substance called miasma. If the citizens of the world are exposed to miasma for even a short time they could perish. That’s where the crystals come in. The light from the crystals holds the power to protect the people from the miasma. Unfortunately, the crystals lose their power over the course of time and they must be rejuvenated each year by blessing them with myrrh. This liquid substance can be collected across the great lands from special trees. Only by collecting enough myrrh each year will the citizens continue to live without fear. Each town harbors a great crystal that must be rekindled annually. Thus, groups of adventurers set out in crystal caravans to seek the gift of life itself; myrrh.

Putting the role back into role-playing, Crystal Chronicles allows the players to choose the character class, name, and profession of their choice. Four classes exist, with eight choices per class, and eight professions. When playing with other players it can be important to diversify the group to make the voyage that much easier. As can be expected, different classes have varying amounts of strength, defense, magic power, and range of attacks. To begin a multiplayer adventure, you will have to be equipped with some hefty hardware. Each player will have to have his or her own Game Boy Advance system as well as a GameCube to GBA link cable. So, if you’re playing a 2-player game, 2 GBA systems and link cables will be needed. There is no way to play the game multiplayer without this type of setup. It will be important to communicate with your companions during the game to maximize your chances of success. This is often true in most cooperative games, but even more important in Crystal Chronicles due to the separation of information. Each player is given information that only he or she can see via the Game Boy Advance screen. Even at the very beginning of the game where each player chooses a character is hidden from the rest of the group. At the start of each mission each player is given different data on the GBA screen. One player will have the map of the area, another will have the location of monsters, another has monster data, and the last player gets to see where nearby treasure chests are located. This information will change hands in different dungeons.

The GBA screen is used primarily for menus and item management. On the TV screen each player has slots that can be filled with commands or items. Scrolling through the slots is accomplished by pressing the R and L buttons. Fight and defend are always up there, but any magicite or items that are found can be placed in the slots as well to cast spells or recover HP. At any time a player can change the command slot by pressing select on the GBA to pick new commands on the GBA screen. When in this mode, if the other players are moving around the screen the player accessing the GBA simply moves along with them so the exploring doesn’t have to stop every time someone uses the GBA function. This is a welcome change from games like Secret of Mana (SNES) where every time someone went into a menu it slowed down the action for everyone else.

Whereas the traditional Final Fantasy games rely on turn-based battles, experience points, and a hefty amount of cinema scenes, Crystal Chronicles takes a more basic approach. The action in the game is real-time, not unlike Zelda, but more akin to Gauntlet and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. All the players appear on the same screen at once and must stay within the crystal’s circle of power to avoid being poisoned by the miasma. Monsters and other enemies aren’t hurt by miasma so they can roam about as they please. One player must carry the chalice holding the small crystal in order to traverse the lands. Of course the chalice can be set down at any time to do battle and any player can carry it. In one player mode a moogle toddles along and can carry the chalice. The dungeons and other battlegrounds pretty much harbor the same premise. Upon entering the area, there are a slew of enemies to be killed and treasure chests and items to be found. At the very end there will be a boss to defeat and some myrrh to be collected from the tree. There are artifacts to collect as well. Each player is given a random goal on the GBA screen to maximize points. For example, one player might be told to use only magical attacks, and another might be told to take physical damage to gain points. These points are tallied up at the end of the dungeon and the player with the most points gets first dibs on selecting an artifact that was found. Artifacts permanently impact a character’s stats by increasing things like attack power, magic, defense, hit points, or adding a command slot. Once the myrrh is collected, the caravan sets off on another adventure in a different location; wash and repeat.

When fighting monsters there are several attacks one can perform. By pressing the “A” button, your character will attack using whatever command is currently activated in your command list at the moment. A weapon attack will swing or fire the weapon. Pressing the “A” button repeatedly will yield weapon combos. Holding the “A” button will charge the weapon and a reticule will appear on the screen. Move it over an enemy and release the button to unleash a charged attack. Magic is cast the same way, but must be currently active in the command list. When playing multiplayer, attacks can be combined for some deadly results. Casting the same magic will yield bigger and better spells, but the attacks must be timed exactly right or the magic will fail to combine. Try combining different types of magic to unleash new spells like Gravity to bring winged creatures crashing down to the ground where they’re easier to slice up.

Two things that Square Enix does best are providing incredibly beautiful graphics and awesome music in their games. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles really is a showpiece of detailed eye candy and harbors one of the best soundtracks yet heard on the GameCube. The graphic style harks back to earlier Final Fantasy games with a more medieval feel. Bright colors abound in the towns and world map, whereas dark and dreary textures are found in the mines and dungeons. Lighting effects are superb, with flickering candles and lamps casting shadows in every direction. The awesome special effects displayed when crossing the miasma stream left everyone playing the game stunned. Indeed, the entire game benefits from the GameCube hardware, which is quite evident the first time you lay your eyes on the spectacular water effects and the fur shading on the moogles. Familiar enemies abound throughout the quest, and while the game boasts mostly original music, there are a couple of musical tracks that veterans of the Final Fantasy series will instantly recognize. Since most Nintendo-made games don’t offer much in the way of visual or audio production, many Nintendo-only owners will be surprised upon playing this game. The intro cinema is fully orchestrated with Celtic instruments and vocal overlay. Each new dungeon area is kicked off with a narrative and the music is not only catchy, but also superbly composed. Suffice to say there shouldn’t be any complaints in the audio-visual departments.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is a very enjoyable game to play with other people. If you will be unable to have friends join in and play, you may find yourself bored before long. The game plays like a glorified Gauntlet, with more emphasis on helping each other out and sharing items. You have to be especially nice to the characters that have the Life and Cure spells if you hope to be revived in the dungeons. While the game is extremely fun in the multiplayer mode, there are a few areas of the game that could have used some work. The towns are pretty boring. They’re pretty to look at, but you can’t enter any of the buildings and the townspeople are extremely generic. There’s not much story here and not much incentive to even talk to them. Then there’s the lack of experience points. The developers get around this by awarding artifacts, but it seems like an experience point system would have impacted the characters’ development in more meaningful ways. There really isn’t any reward for killing monsters, except they do leave treasures behind. Oftentimes a nearby “friend” will pick up the spoils without lifting a finger against the beast. And then there’s the spell system. Each time you enter a new cave or dungeon you start off with only your weapons, armor, and items, but not your spells. I suppose this is to shake up the command lists a bit and give other people a chance to be the “healer” and whatnot, but it gets old after awhile. These are just a few blemishes on a fun multiplayer game. If you enjoy hack and slash games you should have a good time with Crystal Chronicles. Crystal Chronicles is a great attempt at connectivity and a fun game as long as you have the massive hardware requirements needed to fully enjoy it.