Review: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates

Gamers, I’m back this week with another gem from the developers at Square Enix, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates for the Nintendo DS. The Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicle series got its start on the Gamecube system back in 2004 as more of a Secret of Mana hack and slash RPG, rather than the turn based RPG we’ve come to expect from most Final Fantasy games.



The latest instalment, Ring of Fates is actual a prequel in the Crystal Chronicles storyline and focuses on twin brother and sister, Yuri and Chelinka as they journey to defeat the evil that has plagued their land. You play with Yuri as your sword welder and Chelinka as your magic caster, but you don’t actual switch between them, but rather play them as one character. More characters will join your team as you work your way through the story and will add their special skills to the cause.



Game play controls allow you to attack monsters at will, jump, climb, carry items, cast magic and perform a special attack. The stylus is used for the special attacks and magic and the d-pad/buttons for normal controls which made it a bit awkward switching back and forth between the two during battle. If stylus would have been used for menu and map functions only, the controls would be easier during battle and I would have probably died less.

Multiplayer mode allows you to join up with three friends to battle together, but you can also play alone to level up your custom character. You can create up to 8 different characters from 5 different races, the Clavats, the tiny melee class, Lilties, the archer-types, Selkies, and magic class, Yukes. New loot and equipment can be found in multiplayer mode and it is well-worth the time if you want to explore the game beyond the story mode.



Since I’m still without an amazing RPG like Final Fantasy XII or Kingdom Hearts to sweep me off my feet right now, I’m happy to snuggle up with FFCC: RoF in bed at night. This cute, little RPG series has enough dungeons and enemies to keep battling long into the wee hours of the morning, and so I definitely recommending it to all the other lonely Final Fantasy and RPG fans out there.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Buy it!