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Categories: Review
Tags: ds, final fantasy, rpg
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Platform: Nintendo DS
Released: 3/11/2008Yuri and Chelinka are brother and sister twins raised by their father Latov in a small village. Chelinka carries a piece of magically imbued crystal, but she needs Yuri’s presence for magic to happen. Likewise, Yuri’s strength only comes from his connection to Chelinka. Their combination of magic and melee is enough to take down a monster which threatens the capital city of Rebena Te Ra, but it also attracts the attention of the sinister Hierophant Galdes — setting up a chain of events which, of course, threatens the very world.
Ring of Fates is a party-based action RPG which uses a real time combat and magic system. Collecting party members during the early part of the game, Yuri and Chelinka eventually meet Alhanalem, Meeth, and Gnash. Each party member is a different race with racial differences putting them into different character classes. Alhanalem is magic user with an old connection to the court of Rebena Te Ra. Meeth is an alchemist who can create magic from her cauldron (which also serves as a weapon and transportation device). Gnash is a Tarzan-like archer who can double-jump.
The game is combat-based where combos are formed by hammering the A-button. Players can also perform jump attacks, charged attacks, or even pick up monsters and slam them against walls yielding items. Magic is performed by activating Magicite in the party’s inventory pool and placing a target ring on an opponent. Magicite comes in the form of different colored spheres corresponding to Fire, Thunder, Blizzard, Cure, Clear and Raise. Magic can be stacked, either by locking a target ring onto a monster or by ordering other party members to use their magic. Stacking magic can be tricky, but pays off with increased devastation (or regeneration).
Yuri is the main character (Chelinka only appears in cinematics), but the player can control someone else by tapping on their portrait — conveniently most of the touch screen interaction is designed with thumbs in mind so you never have to take out the stylus in the middle of action. Because you can switch characters on the fly, you can make the most of their special abilities either in combat or while exploring a level. Left to their own devices, the AI-controlled party members engage the enemy with weapons, rarely using magic, and never using charged attacks. Problematic pathfinding is solved by pressing a button to respawn the characters next to the lead characters and falling off a ledge only shaves off a few hit points.
Ring of Fates has a small world map and doesn’t allow free roaming, but levels are huge and encourage exploration. I’m not embarrassed to admit that I got lost a few times or that some of the in-game puzzles really challenged me. And, once again, I’m amazed at what can be achieved on the DS. The level of detail in Rebena Te Ra, specifically touches like the glow from the forges behind the workshop, present a convincing fantasy world. Even better, you actually get to see your characters wear the armor and wield the weapons you buy them.
Which brings me to the inventory system. You can grind away, save up money, and buy weapons, but it’s cheaper and more rewarding to find an armor or weapon template, collect the items needed to make it, and then order it from a workshop – and every character can order special equipment specific to them.
Playing through the single-player story took me 12 hours, which sounds short for a Final Fantasy game, but Ring of Fates takes more of an intimate approach. The game is definitely long enough to become invested in the characters – helped by good voice work. It’s also long enough to spin a story involving the creation of a universe, the workings of magic, and the bonds of family. Plus I only found a fraction of the hidden Moogles needed to unlock the Blazin’ Caravans race game.
While I’ve covered the single-player game, there’s a separate multiplayer aspect using the multi-card mode which lets you create your own character and go on new quests with your friends. It’s also worth replaying the single-player game to test all the swag dropped by the final boss and to uncover a secret boss.
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This is by far my favorite game for ds since it came out !
Cool post and very cool site !