Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates hands-on

That’s the screen I saw for the majority of my playtime with FFCC:RoF. I was trying to pick up where someone else had left off, and I had no idea what the hell was going on. I didn’t know the controls, nor how to complete the mission. Oh wait, I didn’t even know the mission either. Eventually I gave up and started over. That’s when I started to have some fun with the game.

The demo had you talking to a king that would give you a set amount of quests to go out on. Some were your typical fetch quests, fight enemies, others were just plain strange. One of them had you saving cows from alien invaders. I am not quite sure how that fits into the FFCC universe, but hopefully that will come across in the final version. After skimming through the lists of missions, I chose a simple dungeon crawling adventure. I figured this was the best way to get a feel for the game.

I couldn’t get over how gorgeous the game was. FFCC: RoF has some truly spectacular DS graphics. Character models a nice, solid feel to them, and the enemies look to have the same amount of detail as well. Even with all the action of enemy fights and myself casting magic, there wasn’t a hint of slowdown. The game is definitely a showcase for what the DS can pull off when it comes to 3d.

When I got to the fighting, things seemed just like they did in the original Crystal Chronicles. You just run up and beat the crap out of anything in your way. I honestly don’t know how compelling the game is in single player. I am really looking forward to the multiplayer, which is a huge aspect of the game. I don’t want to judge the title on the time I had today, seeing that I plan to play the final game with three other friends.

It seems like there will be a lot more in the way of magic to work with in this game. The bottom screen was filled with all kinds of magic attacks to pull off. Fire, ice, healing, and more…there was a lot to do. This should make things even more fun when you get into the game with your group of friends.

The demo running at the show didn’t really do a good job of showing off what to expect from the final game. I don’t believe it’s the type of game that should be demoed in single player. I’ll have to reserve any real thoughts on the game until I have a chance with the retail copy.