Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time

First of all I want to point out that the above is as terrible a title as it is a name for a game. The odds of all those words getting together and making a coherent statement is what astronomers refer to as "ri-goddamn-diculous". Final Fantasy in general is a fairly convoluted set of games, but I don't even know where to begin with this one. It's a sequel to a DS game (FF CC: Ring of Fates) which is a half sequel/half spin-off of a Game Cube game, which is itself a spin-off of the Final Fantasy Series, but more closely related to the Mana series. Somewhere the people who made these games are smoking cigars and laughing at us. They are geniuses. But, as usual, I digress. Despite that unsightly train wreck of a name the game itself is pretty good.

I loved the first DS Crystal Chronicles game, and I love this one. They're pretty much the same game though so that makes sense. I'm not joking. This game is almost identical in level design to its predecessor. It came out only a year after the first one though, so it's not too unusual for a company like Square Enix to recycle a game. And that's ok because it's surprising how amazing the 3D engine looks and feels. The battle is smoothly polished real-time combat too, so no complaints there. Add a whole new story, a bunch of aesthetic revisions in the menus, overworld. etc, and some sweet cutscenes and people like me will buy it.

Plus just look at the kitty in the Japanese cover art
Adorable.

That being said both games are host to a nightmarish version of Co-Op play. If you happen to have three friends with a DS and this particular game (I don't) then you will probably have a great time. If however your friends make fun of you for playing a Final Fantasy game with a cute kitty on the cover (mine do) then you have to make do with the A.I. controlled players that are provided. They are beyond useless. You can switch over and control them, but then your main character becomes brain dead. Overall switching between allies feels imprecise. It's like trying to juggle raw eggs with huge woolen mittens, but the eggs are stupid. And the eggs hate you.

If you don't recruit any computer controlled teammates (and why the hell would you?) it becomes very easy to lose a few hours just running around dungeons, killing dungeon things and solving dungeon puzzles.

Pastimes anyone could enjoy. Except the communists.