I've imported games before, usually the Japan-only variety. Radiant Silvergun. Sin & Punishment. Now that I think about it, usually the Treasure, Japan-only variety. But I've never entertained the thought of importing an RPG. That's just foolish. Without knowledge of the major Japanese character sets, the thought of navigating through mountains of text just makes me nauseous. Well, when Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles launched in Japan in August, I happened to be in the neighborhood and my bias against the yet-to-be-translated RPG faded, due in large part to the delay they slapped on it.
 
After getting into the GBA tethered multiplayer and breathing new life into my 'Cube, I can safely say to all the naysayers, skeptics, and wary consumers, that playing is believing. If Four Swords, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, and Sword of Mana had a baby, it'd be Crystal Chronicles.
 
Crystal Chronicles' world has an old school FF feel to it, not all that unlike FFTA in that respect. There are small towns and settlements spotted all over the place with large crystals in the centers. The crystals are there to ward off a deadly mist that covers the entire world and kills everything it touches. The crystal's power isn't eternal, however, and must be purified every year with mana water from mana trees. Each year, the villages send out caravans of the towns' youth to retrieve the mana water and extend the life of the crystals.
 
Visually, Crystal Chronicles is one of the most impressive games I've ever witnessed. The graphics are crisp and specifically, the water effects are to die for. Subtle nuances like the refraction/reflection effects when your characters pass behind a crystal, or the shadows from the clouds passing overhead really show how meticulous Game Designer's Studio were when crafting the visuals. The lighting effects are among the best ever. The game actually gives me a similar impression as Wind Waker did, very childlike and whimsical. The character designs and such are reminiscent of those in FFIX. Overall, it has a warm, innocent feel to it.
 
The game's soundtrack is the best thing, not scored by Uematsu, to come out of Square in ages. Kumi Tanioka, who did some work under Uematsu on FFXI's soundtrack, composed, arranged, and produced the whole thing. She's really outdone herself. Japanese pop star Yae lent her vocals to a few of the songs and the opening theme "Kazenone" is ethereal and beautiful. The entire score was performed with ancient instruments that really drive home the medieval theme. Best use of woodwinds and strings in a game, perhaps, ever.
 
Assuming the role of one of these adventurers is your first task, customizing your own character with a number of variables. After you've named your character, you pick gender, then race. There are no statistical differences between genders but each race has different strengths and weaknesses. Clavats are a human-like race. They're sort of middle ground. They have the second highest magic, third highest attack power, and second highest defense. The Selkies, also human-like (though the male Selkies don't look especially male) have the second highest offense, third highest magic, and highest defense. The Liltys are a diminutive race but what they lack in size they make up for in offensive strength. Their pikes deal the highest offensive damage, but they have the second highest defense and lowest magic power. The Yuke are some of the strangest things I've seen come out of Square yet. They're long and lanky, have feathered wing-like arms and wear helmets to hide their faces. They also seem to have wings but they don't at all seem suited for flight. The Yukes have the lowest defense and offense but have the highest magic and make excellent healers. After choosing your race you choose your parents' occupation. This affects your party because upon visiting your hometown after some dungeon crawling, you can visit your family and, depending on their occupation, they can provide for your caravan with different services. Blacksmiths can forge weapons, cow herders will give you meat (replenishes HP), and so on.
 
Family interaction extends further than the hometown, however. During your journey, your fam' will send you letters via a moogle name Stlitzkin, sometimes with extras attached, like money, provisions and such. It's all dependent on your family's affinity for you. You can reply with items, practically any item, or you can send money to raise your family's affinity towards you.
 
When your party sets out, you take a smaller crystal with you, attached to a bucket-like contraption dubbed the crystal cage. When you're in one of the levels or dungeons there's a visible circular border that separates the party from the vapor and certain death. In single player, you have a moogle to assist you that can carry the cage for you, but in multi-player, one party member must be charged with that duty. Being the cage carrier might be the most important job in the party. Making sure everyone's under the umbrella of protection and keeping them in a position to attack bosses is a serious challenge in CC's more frantic moments. The crystal cage also serves another function. After defeating bosses the cage is used to hold the mana water for safe return to the crystals. The cage must also be of a certain attribute to get you past the vapor streams separating the levels.
 
The game is very playable single player. You use the conventional controller and you have the option of plugging a GBA in the second port to display special radars. What radar is displayed depends on how you paint your moogle. Admittedly, CC is definitely designed specifically to be played by more than one person. To get the most out of it you'll need people with GBAs and the cables. The game's very accessible in that you can take your character you started in single-player, save him or her to your memory card, and join a multi-player game already in progress.
 
The GBA connectivity makes a lot of sense when put into practice. All your menus and such are accessed via the GBA in multiplayer. It may seem like it's distracting action on screen at first, but when you're in the middle of Daemon's Court, flanked by orcs, the only guy with life is dead, and you have to sift through your inventory for a phoenix down, your other party members can watch your back and the action goes uninterrupted. (Yes, that was spoken from experience.)
 
Combat is pretty simple. You can charge up attacks or you can execute simple combos by simply pressing the attack button three times. The effects differ from weapon to weapon though. While one sword may make your character dash across the screen after you release a charge, another sword may make your character jump towards a foe with a crushing blow. When you charge attacks and spells, a target appears that you must place under your target. You can also defend but I can't say that I did that much defending over the course of the game. Everything is pretty much executed by the same button, seeing as the GBA is short on those, so you change what the action button does via the shoulder buttons with your current selected action displayed under your portrait. I swear, by the time we were done playing, the guys I played with and I could write cure, lightning, fire, and blizzard in kana. You can make more advanced spells by combining with your other party members and aligning your targets. Some of them are obvious. Cure + cure + cure = Curaga. Others take a little experimentation, but that's half the fun.
 
Everything in CC stresses teamwork and party interaction. Everyone has different radars that are arbitrarily dealt before a level. There's a terrain map, treasure map, enemy location map, and scouter (which displays enemy data like weaknesses and HP). The game encourages communication and sharing on many levels and makes it really easy to trade items, money, and spells amongst your party members so you can pool your resources. Eventually you'll just fall into certain roles, combat wise: Healer, Black Magic Caster, etc.
 
I found CC's level designs to be particularly enjoyable. There's a really good variety there. There's a abandoned mine level with bombs hanging from the ceiling in lanterns. Another level is a village that was overtaken by the vapor, and has been overrun by monsters. The game's full of FF nuances. Moogles. Tonberrys. Lamias. There's even a couple of remixed old FF tunes. If anything, it's a nice departure for the series, and a nice app for the 'Cube, which can never really be a bad thing.
 
Squenix. If you're listening. I want a sequel with classic FF classes damnit. Fear the Red Mage.