Final Fantasy conquers new ground

Back in 2004, Square-Enix introduced us to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, a spin-off dungeon crawler whose depth came less from epic narrative than from pure old-fashioned FF-style ass whoopin’. 

This was (arguably) before Square became infamous here in the states over their never-ending supply of re-visitations and side-projects, and as such the Gamecube-exclusive Crystal Chronicles was something to get excited over. Plus, the game touted multiplayer co-op over a solitary adventure, a smart move considering the game’s design.

Though the game was far from perfect, if you could get over the technological hurtles required for multiplayer, it was a fun, lighthearted Final Fantasy-lite. But therein lay the problem: In order to experience multiplayer, you didn’t need just a ‘Cube and the game—every player also needed to link a Game Boy Advances to the system.  Needless to say, it was costly and messy.

Well now it’s 2009, and Square-Enix is trying their hands at system-to-system interconnectivity, this time between the all-wireless DS and Wii. But rather than, say, taking the old fashioned route of the GC original, Square opted to release Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (how’s that for an acronym) for both systems.

So right now maybe you’re thinking a multiplatform release would be a good thing, with each version of the game being tailored to suit the strengths of the respective console it appears on. Ordinarily, I’d agree. But with this Crystal Chronicles Square’s thrown us a curve ball, and one that seems disappointingly lazy.

How? Well, to put it simply, the Wii version doesn’t have better sound or visuals. The character models aren’t any sharper and don’t use more polygons. The controls are a little wonky. This is because the Wii version is a direct port of the DS version.

Yes, that’s right. The Wii version is exactly the same game, down to the dual screen presentation, as what you get on the DS.

For the sake of Wii owners, I sorely wish Square had put a little more effort into making the game stand out for a home console. Better graphics, easier control, a reworked version of the portable’s dual-screen set-up—hell, even just the option to play the game full-screen would be better than the bizarre adjustable-size dual-screens offered here.

In any case, there seems very little point in buying the game on the Wii, unless for some reason you somehow own one but don’t have a DS.

That being said, Echoes of Time is by no means a bad game, and if you can get past the technical idiosyncrasies of its mechanics (or just play the DS version) it’s actually a lot of fun.

Since last year’s DS-only Crystal Chronicles entry Ring of Fates was released, the era of endlessly lugging an obnoxious jug around to stay alive are over (you need play the GC original but once to get the reference), meaning you and (presumably) your friends can focus simply on real-time combat and party/ability customization, which makes up the bulk of your adventuring.

Like other Crystal Chronicles games, the story here is more of a means to an end, but that’s OK. Do we really need an epic storyline about a semi-randomized hero and some crystals? Not particularly. So, true to the spin-off’s format, the draw is how you go about traversing the game’s many dungeons.

From almost the get-go, you’re given access to form a party made up of four unique races that have their own strengths and weaknesses. What’s fun is you can utilize your party in whatever ways you see fit, meaning you could have a team of pure brawn, just magic users or something in between.

Or you can just play online with people. That’s more fun. Not to say that Echoes of Time can’t be enjoyed solo, but clearly it wasn’t meant to be, if for no other reason than the game has the dumbest AI I’ve seen in years. Probably.

Up to three AI buddies will follow you onto the battlefield, but don’t expect them to do much of anything else, despite the different settings you can give them for battle behavior.

Although they’ll occasionally attack or cast magic spells, AI players generally won’t react to an enemy until you do. They won’t heal you or revive dead party members on their own, and generally just stand around stupidly until something kills them (again, automated teammates seem like an afterthought, as this game was clearly meant to be played online with actual people).

At any rate, things can get a bit frustrating having to manually switch control between players on the Wii. Whereas on the DS you just tap the touch screen to change, you have a weird Wiimote/nunchuk combo elsewhere.

But complaints aside, Echoes of Time is enjoyable. The combat is streamlined but fun, the game has Square’s usual high production values (mostly), and the music is great. Even the control issues on the Wii (non-existent on the DS) are manageable after a time, and playing online is a hell of a lot easier than co-op was back on the Gamecube.

As far as the Wii version is concerned, clearly Echoes of Time is just a holdover until the full-fledged Crystal Bearers hits later this year. So, should you bother with this one? If you like a more arcadey FF experience, yes. But to prospective Wii adventurers, I say caveat emptor. Or just buy the DS version.