final fantasy crystal chronicles echoes of time wii

FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES ECHOES OF TIME WII PORTABLE
FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES ECHOES OF TIME WII SERIES

Spells are represented by coloured symbols on the bottom screen: Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Cure, Rise and Clear. These physical attacks are augmented by magical attacks, and, unusually, the seven basic spell types in the game are available from the off. Later you'll need to start combining attacks with the jump and lift commands to execute dive-in and lift attacks, during which you hoist a poor squirrel into the air and slash at its underbelly. You've a stock attack move, the range of which is dictated by your weapon type and, in general, simply hammering this in the direction of any antagonistic woodland creature bold enough to attack you is enough to get through the first couple of dungeons. It's here you learn combat basics, which, to begin with at least, are basic. Whoever you choose, your hero begins the game on the eve of their sixteenth birthday, setting off into the forest that borders their village for a coming-of-age fetch quest. You begin by choosing a character from one of four races - the sword-wielding Clavats, the spell-casting Yukes, the high-jumping Seklies or the long-range fighting Lilties. Towns offer a vast array of mini-games and side-quests, most of which can be tackled in multiplayer modes and many of which contain a high-score challenge, encouraging repeat play. Your quality of experience is going to be somewhat influenced by the platform on which you play (more on that later) but the game within is sound.

FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES ECHOES OF TIME WII PORTABLE

Conversations are never drawn out and the cut-scenes are brief, as indeed are many of the missions, ensuring the game's suitability for portable play.

These systems are then tied together by a straightforward, childish story that's mercifully light enough not to get in the way. It's a fully 3D dungeon-exploring adventure with a heavy emphasis on item collection and equipment customisation. On that basis one can't help but feel that the Final Fantasy branding might cost Echoes of Time sales it would otherwise have attracted.Īs the latest member of the Crystal Chronicles suite of Final Fantasy spin-offs, this is closer in style to the mediocre Ring of Fates than the WiiWare release of mixed success, My Life as a King. Its USP - that Wii and Nintendo DS owners can adventure together simultaneously - is executed robustly and the finer details of the experience are crammed with creativity and sensible implementation. This is a snappy action-RPG in which storytelling plays second fiddle to Zelda-style puzzling and Diablo-esque dungeon exploration. In the case of Echoes of Time this is something of a minor tragedy, as the game represents a great many things that Final Fantasy does not.

How many readers chose not to click on this review simply because it bears the words 'final' and 'fantasy' and so couldn't possibly be relevant to them, for example?

FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES ECHOES OF TIME WII SERIES

As a result, Square-Enix's increasingly regular habit of slapping the brand on products that have little resemblance to their flagship series risks seeing these games dismissed by swathes of gamers. The words call to mind images of interminable, winding adventures, capricious random battles, protracted cut-scenes, juvenile philosophising and hermaphrodite heroes. It’s a shame that the bits that make it a game are absolutely rubbish.Despite being one of the most recognisable names in gaming, there's a sense in which the Final Fantasy moniker can do as much harm as good to a new game. The presentation is the best part of the game. The music is catchy and the sound effects and voices are all pretty good. Yes, it really comes to something when an apparently current-generation home console is sharing graphics with the DS, but there you go. Bear in mind that the game looks the same on the Wii as the DS. It looks as good as polygons will get on the handheld system, and the designs are are cute and affable as always. It’s all there for the taking in Echoes of Time, and frankly, it’s not worth your time, or my time, to see through to its grisly conclusion.Īs far as the graphics go, this is one of the better representations of 3D graphics you’ll get on the DS. Messy and chaotic combat, characters not picking up the right objects because is clustered and cluttered, platforming disasters that we’ve not seen since the N64 era. However, the game’s unquestionable commitment to being terrible fights you every step of the way, and each time I started to get into the game, another problem, usually one that Square Enix should have fixed from prior games, rears its ugly head. I stuck with Echoes of Time as long as I was able to because, like I said, there is fun to be had somewhere.

Final fantasy crystal chronicles echoes of time wii