Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Remastered Edition Image
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60

Mixed or average reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews What's this?

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4.5

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 93 Ratings

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  • Summary: The Return of a Masterpiece

    FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES is back and more beautiful than ever on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, fifteen years after the classic original. FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES Remastered Edition follows a young group, known as the Crystal Caravans, as
    The Return of a Masterpiece

    FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES is back and more beautiful than ever on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, fifteen years after the classic original.

    FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES Remastered Edition follows a young group, known as the Crystal Caravans, as they embark on an epic journey to search for myrrh, a precious and rare liquid needed to cleanse and maintain a crystal protecting their world from the deadly gas, miasma.

    Team up with faraway friends to take down fearsome foes! Enlist comrades to your crystal caravan in an online multiplayer mode for up to four players.
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Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Gameplay Movie 4
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 22
  2. Negative: 0 out of 22
  1. Mar 5, 2021
    90
    This is an absolute must have for fans of the franchise, but also a fantastic game for those new to the series. Multiplayer and crossplay both work incredibly well, and offering both an inexpensive full version and a free lite version means everyone can play together, regardless of their device or budget.
  2. Aug 26, 2020
    80
    Although a little marked by time, the graphics and sound improvements are successful. The magic of the title still operates as much even after sixteen years, not to mention the multiplatform side making the title more accessible. In short, whether or not you missed the original, this remaster, certainly not flawless, remains an adventure that we invite you to (re) live alone or with someone.
  3. Aug 26, 2020
    70
    All the changes and additions are welcome, although the playable core is weighed by the years and the online options are not quite convincing. Fortunately, it still retains its charm.
  4. 60
    Whereas the original rewarded players for bringing friends, this version is frustrating and downright inconvenient if you want to enjoy it with others. It’s sad because Crystal Chronicles is still a fun game with a deep story and interesting mechanics, one which I truly wanted to enjoy again. Perhaps when we can meet in person, my old party can hang out and play through a couple of raids. Maybe meeting in person really is the only way this game can be fun. As it is right now, with social distancing and self-quarantining being the norm in the United States, I can’t recommend this title.
  5. Aug 26, 2020
    60
    Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Remastered recreates the original's flaws, and like before, it's best enjoyed as a multiplayer-only game.
  6. Oct 8, 2020
    58
    Not the best Final fantasy to choose for a re-release and not the best remaster at all, with cumbersome online multiplayer and n o local co-op. Better save your money for the next entry in the franchise.
  7. Aug 26, 2020
    50
    The original was hardly viewed as a classic even at the time and while a lot of work has gone into this remaster it can’t hide the game’s intrinsic shallowness and repetition.

See all 22 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 56
  2. Negative: 39 out of 56
  1. Aug 29, 2020
    10
    I understand the flaws that others have had with this game, but for me I have been having a blast. I never got to experience multiplayer inI understand the flaws that others have had with this game, but for me I have been having a blast. I never got to experience multiplayer in the original and so just being able to try it has been incredible. Really enjoying the experience and will probably continue doing so for a long time. Expand
  2. Aug 28, 2020
    8
    "If SE ever patches in local multiplayer I will come back and edit my review back to a 10." - Me, Just now

    The hardest review i've ever had
    "If SE ever patches in local multiplayer I will come back and edit my review back to a 10." - Me, Just now

    The hardest review i've ever had to write both because of the points I have to dock and not being sure how much to dock. Crystal Chronicles is my favorite videogame of all time; that is to say, the original Gamecube release is. You can imagine my immense shock when the remaster was announced and it felt like someone at Square Enix snuck in to my house to find out what game to add next to their line up.

    FIRST, the good. Crystal Chronicles core gameplay is ever faithful. The only true RPG Party Game i've ever played, running these dungeons with friends is memorable and you still form amazing memories. The sound track is BEAUTIFULLY remastered, the visuals are starkly upgraded, and the high res models make me realize details in the original designs I never noticed before. If you never played the original the storytelling, incredible level and boss design, and overall presentation are what make this game a gem.

    The new content is great, the challenge dungeons are a good edition and essentially add thirteen new dungeons to the game built around high level characters. This fixes a pitfall of the original where, after your first playthrough, knowing how to get everything quickly means by year four you're way overpowered. Now you take those busted characters in to brand new challenging content.

    Unfortunately, in the end, CC: Remastered is a slighty worse take on the original. A slightly worse take on a 10/10 can only be an 8/10 right? The problem is how the multiplayer works. Not just the lack of local multi, which is huge, but also the lack of being able to truly share this adventure. Friends can only join you during dungeons via online co-op. Only the host gets Myrrh, only the host gets letters, and at the end of the day only the host can partake in the road events and memories. The sensation of going on an adventure is gone in that way.

    Another side effect of this is how hard it is to level all the profession families. Where as before you'd effectively be leveling four at a time, you can now do one at a time. Since you only get letters when you get Myrrh maxing out an entire village would take 40 years where it might normally take 10 or less. Little problems like this are numerous and all of them could easily be solved by adding local multi.
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  3. Sep 3, 2020
    5
    El juego es como el original, nunca ha sido una de las mayores maravillas del mundo, pero jugarlo con gente es bastante divertido, cosa queEl juego es como el original, nunca ha sido una de las mayores maravillas del mundo, pero jugarlo con gente es bastante divertido, cosa que facilita el online. Sin embargo SE ha hecho lo minimo para que se pudiera jugar online.

    Hay muchas cosas evidentes que no se entiende que no hayan tenido en cuenta.
    -Las escenas no se pueden saltar en el online, esto es a la larga, posiblemnte lo peor del juego, horas perdidas.
    -La mazmorra solo la completa el que la ha creado, aunque los otros se llevan los objetos que hayan pillado y el artefacto del final, no cuenta como completada ni te llevas la mirra.
    --En relacion a lo anterior, especial mencion a un par de mazmorras que no se pueden completar aunque seas tu el creador. Tanto el desierto como los canales tienes que ir en modo un jugador porque lo que haces alli no afecta luego al mapa del mundo (conseguir el elemento desc y revivir las plantas)
    ---Y hablando del elemento desc, no se s es un bug del juego o esta causado por intentar la pantalla en online primero, pero el puzzle del desierto esta completo...
    -Cuando terminas una mazmorra solo tienes la opcion de repetirla o salir, no puedes usar la misma sala para hacer otra mazmorra o pasar el lider, tienes que salir y crear otra sala .
    -Se han cargado el minijuego y han usado las estampas para proporcionar skins a los jugadores, el problema es, que al igual que el original, solo puedes entrar cuando vas solo, cosa que no pasa nunca, tienes que hacer las mazmorras solo expresamente para conseguir las skins. En el original tenia "mas o menos" sentido porque solo podias jugar con amigos de vez en cuando, el propietario del juego tendria tiempo de hacerlo.
    -Aparte de eso, el juego se bugea bastante por culpa del online, teleports raros, los circulos se quedan pillados y no se combinan las magias, algunos bixos como fantasmas o voladores solo cambian de estado para algunos jugadores...

    Conclusion, no se ni para que lo retrasaron si no han hecho una mierda, casi mejor que hubieran dedicado ese tiempo a adaptar el modo local, estamos en un mundo con moviles, podrian haber aprobechado la version lite del juego para emular lo que era la gba en su momento, o podrian haberlo adaptado a jugar en una pantalla, lo unico que molestaria seria cuando la gente abriera el menu, en el original el menu estaba en la gba.
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  4. Aug 29, 2020
    3
    This game was ruined for me because of the removal of local multiplayer. Online multiplayer is not a sufficient compromise as the progressThis game was ruined for me because of the removal of local multiplayer. Online multiplayer is not a sufficient compromise as the progress made by the host isn't shared with the player who joined. Anyone who played the original remembers how much of a nightmare local multiplayer was because of the required gba to gamecube adapter, but that would've been preferable to the product we're now presented with. Expand
  5. Aug 30, 2020
    1
    The original game is actually fun, but this review is about the remaster edition, which is one of the worst remasters I played, I give it a 1The original game is actually fun, but this review is about the remaster edition, which is one of the worst remasters I played, I give it a 1 because the 0 is for warcraft 3 reforged.

    In the original game, with local co-op, every player was a member of the village and everyone would advance the story together. In the remaster, you have to play every level 4 times if you are 4 players, and you can't access your friends villages for their professions.
    Also the matching system is kind of annoying, we had to host a new game and find it for everytime we wanted to do a dungeon. It would have been waaaaay better to make a game seasion in the main menu before loading the game, and then everyone becames part of the host village and everyone advances, share cinematics, gets mail, and have to complete the levels once, as it used to be on the original game.
    Again with the matching system, we were making the game with the "private game" option, and still somebody randomly joined us O_o so we had to cap the game to 3 players even in private.
    You need to pay multiple nintendo onlne or ps+ just to have a half done matching system, that constantly gives the error "This feature is not available right now, try later".

    About the quality of the remaster, they only upscaled the game to 1080p without updating the resolution of the textures, witch makes everything very smooth on the edges, and pixalted inside. Why take the effort to add voice acting if you leave the visual quality half done? Because this the game still looks old, but the worse is that even looking old, the nintendo switch version runs with very low fps and sometimes even freezes!

    Overall, totally disappointed with this remaster. It already felt half done before launch when they announced no local co-op, but even with 3 switches with nintendo online subscription and 1 of the with the original game, the experience was horrible, way worse than expected.
    I played this game 15 years ago with 3 GBAs and 1 gamecube with 1 original game (so aprox. same setup) and it was one of my favorite games ever. I think is way better to just take out the dust of the old consoles and play the game again with them.
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  6. Sep 9, 2020
    1
    This game was originally made to be played with friends, the whole gameplay has been designed for multiplayer. So why this version doesn'tThis game was originally made to be played with friends, the whole gameplay has been designed for multiplayer. So why this version doesn't include decent multiplayer ??
    And I'm not talking about the lack of local co-op, which is already a strange decision from SE, this game does not include any way to play with your friends.
    ''But wait, there actually is online multi'' you may ask.
    You can join or invite people while doing a donjon and that's it. You can't invite people to join your team and travel through the game together.
    So that mean, if you want to discover the game with your friends, it is absolutely impossible, you will have to beat the game separately because finishing a donjon only make the host progress.
    It is impossible, by any mean, to have the original experience back. This game should add value to the original one, but it took away what makes it interesting.
    The only way to enjoy it would be to play it solo, but if that's not your intention, do not buy this game !
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  7. Jun 25, 2021
    0
    Huge disappointment. The entire IDEA of this game was local multiplayer with friends. If you don't understand that Developers, you shouldHuge disappointment. The entire IDEA of this game was local multiplayer with friends. If you don't understand that Developers, you should find a new career.
    I feel like a local multiplayer patch is 100% necessary. If not, just delete the game from the store.
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See all 56 User Reviews