Imbued with the power of crystals. Layne is a crystal bearer and his love of danger sends him on adventures. (www.plasticpals.com) Like the other games in the Crystal Chronicles line-up, The Crystal Bearers is an action-oriented spin-off to the popular Final Fantasy role-playing games. This one is a bit of a deviation from the previous chapters, because the story is given more attention, and it's strictly single player. You play as a human Crystal Bearer, mutant outcasts that are generally untrusted because of their magical powers. The story takes a few hours to get going, but once it does it's pretty good and develops the existing Crystal Chronicles lore.<br/><br/>And because this is Square-Enix's first (and only) top-tier title on the Wii so far (following the bizarre reboot of the Chocobo's Dungeon series), the designers have tried to make use of its unique controller to create a new type of experience. Some of it works, some of it doesn't, but at least they tried to deliver something fresh.<br/><br/>You play as Layle, who has the Jedi-like power to grab and pick up objects and enemies and toss them around. You can target characters, monsters, and props by moving a cursor around the screen with the Wii remote. Once you've targeted something, you flick the remote to grab it and pull it towards you. Instead of fighting with weapons, Layle can simply pick up an enemy and toss them into another to cause damage. You can also pick up objects in the environment and use them as projectile weapons. It's pretty simple and the physics aren't anywhere near as interesting as those in something like Half-Life 2 (which has a similar mechanic in the gravity gun), but it does make excellent use of the Wii remote.<br/><br/>Every area shifts from a peaceful exploration mode to a monster-infested battle mode roughly every five minutes. This actually balances things out OK, because you don't always want to have to deal with monsters. You can just run passed them if you want to, but wiping them all out is the main way to increase your energy meter. The time limit can definitely be frustrating if you have only one enemy left to kill and you run out of time. Monsters will also leave behind materials which can be used to make accessories which upgrade your stats, including the reach of your telepathic powers.<br/><br/>To keep things interesting, the game throws a number of events your way which play out like little mini-games, and they're pretty fun for the most part. In the game's introduction, for example, you shoot down swarms of flying monsters like a shooting gallery, followed by a sequence where you have to steer an airship as it careens through a canyon.<br/><br/>One of the main annoyances of the game is its camera, which requires near constant babysitting to keep it pointed in the right direction. You control it with the directional pad on the Wii remote, while player movement is done using the analog stick on the nunchuk. It will probably take some time to adjust to it, since most Wii owners are accustomed to Nintendo's titles which don't have this problem. Another slight annoyance is the lack of any sort of mini-map, which would make it easier for players to navigate the environment (fortunately the settings never get that complicated).<br/><br/>As expected, this is easily one of the better looking Wii titles and features some nice visual effects rarely seen on the console. Most of the story is presented using the in-game graphics and there's good camera direction to heighten the drama in important scenes. Of course, the Wii isn't exactly a graphical powerhouse but the textures are noticeably more detailed than they would be on the GameCube or PlayStation 2.<br/><br/>You can tell that a lot of time and effort went into designing the many settings, which are filled with nice touches and intricate architectural design details. The characters are a bit on the cartoony side, which I am fine with, but their faces aren't quite as expressive as their counterparts in the Kingdom Hearts series, for example. And some of the designs are a bit ugly (intentionally so, it would seem). Unlike many role-playing games, the voice acting isn't annoying. The music is also high quality, as one would expect from a Square-Enix title.<br/><br/>The Crystal Bearers is a short game by Square-Enix standards, clocking in at around 12 hours for a standard play through. That's probably a good thing, because it's about all the game play mechanics can withstand. The combat isn't particularly interesting, having very little strategic depth, and there aren't any puzzles, leaving the player with little to do besides move from point A to B to progress the story. The story is better than expected, though, and does a good job of propelling you to the next destination.<br/><br/>On one hand I want to say the game is fundamentally mediocre, but on the other I have to applaud Square-Enix for taking so many risks with it. They used the Wii's unique controller to create a new game experience that may not always work, but is still enjoyable and puts a new spin on ideas that are too often regurgitated ad nauseam. It seems as though Square-Enix sort of sent this one to die at retail, though, releasing it on December 26th (well after the Christmas rush has ended), and professional game critics were pretty harsh on it. I enjoyed this game much more than I thought I would as I heard so many negative things about it. I also took forever buying it for that reason thus when I finally purchased it, I got it for only 9.96 which was most certainly well worth the price. It was not perfect as it was a bit on the short side, had trouble at times with the combat, but for the most part this one was a joy to play. I enjoyed maneuvering the main character of the piece through a very nice world. Not the biggest place mind you, but still fun to explore. The story is about a young youth named Layle who is a crystal bearer, a person who is imbued with the power of crystals, his power being the ability to control gravity. He and a buddy are guarding an airship during its initial flight and trouble soon comes in the form of monsters and a being who belongs to a race that was thought to have been vanquished by the Lilty another of the four races of the game. Selkie and Clavet being the other two races, both of these resemble humans while the Lilty look a bit like vegetables and the Yute which is what the being causing trouble initially looks like is a bit hard to describe. Well Layle soon ends up on a quest trying to find this Yute he calls golden rod, but whose name is Amidatelion to find out what this character is trying to do. The fighting is not as bad as I had heard, but it is mainly using Layle's powers to pick up objects or enemies and hurling them. However, lots of mini type games in this one too as there is a fun one right off the bat involving shooting dragons while falling to the ground. There is also a sweet train level, which I absolutely love as trains in role playing games are great! I loved it in Final Fantasy VI, Grandia, and various others. Wish there were more trains to ride in games as action on a train is always more awesome, like in the non role playing game Uncharted 2. The game is short, which would not be so bad as a lot of role playing games are way to long these days. I had this one beat in less than twelve hours, however, and that is a bit to short. Ideally, I think a role playing game should wrap up between 20 and 40 hours, anything less to short anything more to long. This game does things differently than a lot of role playing games in that it has numerous towns, but there are virtually no characters to talk to outside of shop owners. There is plenty going on, but you no longer feel compelled to talk to everyone. Of course, I may be the only one so anal I must talk with everyone. The game also feels a bit incomplete in a couple of areas too, like they wanted to do a lot more, but rushed things a bit. Overall, it is a very good game, but man my arms were tired after the final battle.
Rambyzilin replied
364 weeks ago