Product Description

WARNING! This import game can't be used on UK/European consoles. It requires special equipment.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4600 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Nintendo
• Model: 45496961275
• Released on: 2004-03-12
• Rating: To Be Announced
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platform: GameCube
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .75" h x 5.50" w x 7.75" l, .36 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Crystal Chronicles marks the long-awaited reunion of Nintendo and Final Fantasy. It's been nearly a decade since the series was playable on a Nintendo home console; thankfully, this innovative title makes up for lost time.

Crystal Chronicles' main selling point is its multi-player take on the traditionally solo role-playing concept. Up to four players can take their part here, and a real sense of teamwork and camaraderie quickly develops between members of the adventuring posse. It's a breath of fresh air in one of the most stagnant game genres.

More invention arrives in the form of Crystal Chronicles' use of Nintendo's much-vaunted GameCube-to-Game Boy Advance link-up feature. With Game Boy Advance handhelds hooked up to the main GameCube system, players can manage their inventories with consummate ease and quickly access maps and other useful information. This is just one unique feature of a truly unique game.

The Final Fantasy series' famous qualities--from its intuitive battles through its epic soundtrack to the sprawling nature of its worlds--are all preserved here. For GameCube owners, this is the ultimate team-based RPG. With gorgeous visuals and a game world full of character and life, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is a title of stellar quality. --Jonti Davies

GamesMaster Magazine
"A little beauty, but lower that score if playing alone; this is a dedicated multi-player for dedicated RPG chummies. 87%"

Manufacturer's Description
Connected gameplay expands the Final Fantasy universe in Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, an epic role-playing game unlike any other. In a world ravaged by plague, the people depend on a blessed crystal. To sustain it, the Crystal Caravan is sent out every year to collect Mirula Droplets and this year you and up to three friends must go. As you take a long and perilous trek through a wilderness overrun by monsters, you'll fight through an epic role-playing game with the story and graphic quality players have come to expect from the Final Fantasy series. Your party members connect their Game Boy Advance systems to the GameCube, and as you move, fight and solve puzzles together on the TV screen, what their characters see and hear will be secretly transmitted to their Game Boy Advance systems. Cycle through weapons and magical powers, check radars and sensors and communicate with your companions--work together, or the world is doomed.

Customer Reviews

Wonderful for multiplayer, single players may get jealous!
Bizarrely, alot of people reviewing this seem to have had a problem with Square's first outing on a Nintendo for quite some time. Did these people not catch reviews of the game? A quick glance at the blurb on the back of the box? Or did seeing the words Final Fantasy splashed across the front of the box make their hands fly in an uncontrollable spasm to a greasy wad of notes to puchase this game? I don't know.

One thing is for sure, this is NOT the big epic storyline driven FF RPG that we're all used to, but that was apparent from the beginning. The only thing it shares with other installations in the series is the name and perhaps a graphical nod towards the styling of FF9.

No turn based battles, no squad of three taking on random bad guys. This has all been replaced by a real time adventure based game. Monsters in dungeons are on the map and you take them on as you wish, slashing a sword when you want to, chucking a spell when you want to. Very hands on. For those of you lucky enough to have 3 extra mates with GBAs and link cables (ESSENTIAL for multiplayer, not a 'nice to have') you can have the joy of 4 player romps through the game. A nice co-operative ploy that will be conjouring up memories of Gauntlet. Unfortunately this is also a major drawback. Do you actually know 3 other people with GBAs? Would you really want to go out and buy a load of them so that you can play the multiplayer game? No. I once saw a photo of someone who had networked 5 GCs and 5 TVs together to get round this, but thats just SO pratical. I can forsee this being an underused function of the game especially with GC being the only console not to go online. For me ... the GBA is reduced to being my map and status device for the game. Nifty though, a nice touch to have this little device you can peer at to help you out! And what other company thought of having such a wonderful link up idea? More games should be exploiting this.

Now the plot, this is actually very simple for an FF game. The world is enveloped in a deadly Miasma, your village has sent you out on a quest to collect Myrrh from dungeons scattered around the land to find precious drops of this stuff to keep the protective crystal in your village safe. And thats it! You and a squad of another potential 7 travellers set off on this quest. You don't HAVE to use the other 7 character spaces in this game, you can stick with one person the whole way through, and it does seem to be there purely for usage in the multiplayer game ... I find it a shame that in the one player game you can't have some form of computer AI take control of another 3 members in your squad. It would make the gameplay a bit more exciting and frantic. More like a up to date version of Secret of Mana. The only incentive to add members to your squad is to get members with different skills and family trades set up so that the various shops and locations you visit during the game are open to you.

The graphics and music are absolutely lush in this game (check the moments where your character has to push through an elemental miasma boundary - oooh!), again it doesn't quite feel like your usual Final Fantasy which is a bit of a treat. Nobody likes to have the same old stuff served up every time.

If you walk into this game dreaming of a GC alternative to FF7, you're going to be disappointed. The game does have its merits though, its an enjoyable adventure romp. Alot of the fun functions of the game are reserved for the all singing all dancing GBA link up lucky people and you do feel like you're missing out on a bit of the fun that way round. So not quite perfect for the single player but a nice little game anyway. Lets see some more Nintendo outings for this series ... in fact lets see a PROPER next-gen version of the classic Secret Of Mana. Now THAT would be a wicked multiplayer treat.

An expensive Game but well worth it
First things First. In-order to play the four player mode you will need Four GBA's and Four GC-GBA Connection wires. Oh and a ton of batteries. But I can tell you, it is well worth it. Basically you and your mates move around a fairly basic FF World. A ton of dungeons and a village here and there. Unlike the previous versions though. You can't actually move in and out the various houses on show. All you do is talk to the people outside. They can range from simple Farmers and Fishermen to the More helpful Black smith and Taylor who can make Weapons, armour and accesories for you. To do this though you need to collect the various bags and scrolls placed within the many dungeons, and you let me tell you there is alot to collect. While you and your mates move around the very well designed dungeons you will be attacked by monsters. The first thing you'll probably find out is that the fighting is in real time. No more waiting for you attack bar to appear, you just run to an enemy and hit A. You can still attack, defend, Use items and cast spells, but it's all in real time. This makes for a better game in my opinion. I bet you're all wondering about the GBA connections right, well I'll tell you (Oh and for those without GBA's, you can use a controller in the one player game). Basically instead of having your menu screen come up on your telly, It comes up on the GBA screen. This is so you cant annoy anyone during play. You just press SELECT and then you turn to your GBA, it's that simple. You can also view a Dungeon map aswell. Really the whole point of the multiplayer game is team work. Inorder for you to do this Square-Enix have made an Object, that can make this possible.
The crystal. Basically One person carries this, and the crystal creates a forcefield. Keep within it and you'll be fine, but go beyond the walls and your health will start falling. This means that the person with the crystal leads the way leaving the others to cure, fight or cast magic. It's very ingenious. You and your mates can also combine the many spells on offer to create better ones. E.G Combine two fires and you get Fire 2, Combine two cures and you get Cure 2. But combine Fire and ice and you get Gravity, which is useful for grounding enemies. It's a very clever system. Now lets talk about the graphics. They are simply amazing. You can not appriciate the game by a couple os screen shots, you actually have to see the game in play. The only real drawback with game I played, is that it was Japanese (I imported it.). But by the standards set by this I'd have to say that this is the greatest 4-player game ever and probably the best Final Fantasy. I can't wait for the English Version.

What about those who don't have a Gameboy Advance
I bought this game expecting it to be brilliant, having had good reports of other final fantaay games on the playstation. However, i was very disappointed when i finally go to play it that most of the game requires a Gameboy Advance. All the multiplayer parts require each of your friends and you to have a Gameboy Advance and unfortunately i don't have one so can't comment on those areas of the game.

The parts of the game that don't need an GA are ok. But a little repetitive, the fact that it is possible to do the same levels to get the myrrh for your village is frustrating but also necessary since sometimes it is not possible to travel through the miasma streams because you have the wrong element and can't change it to the correct one.

All in all i became very frustrated with the game very quickly, please stop making gamecube games that need a GA for all the good bits!