Long time no see! It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything up. I haven’t been up to much except work so I don’t really have time to actually play much of anything, let alone post about them. But don’t fret, Tally is here to blog about another game that a handful of you might be dying to play. After my last hiatus, I bought Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates to replace the void in my gaming addiction. I didn’t get to pick it up before the street date like I did with Phantom Hourglass, but I still think I’m a baller.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates came out in Japan on August 23, 2007 and it seems like it won’t be out in the US until the second quarter of 2008. Being me, I can’t wait for an NDS game to come out a year later in the US, so I bought the JP version. This game isn’t very easy on you when it comes to the language barrier so I don’t really recommend importing this game unless your knowledge of kanji is up there. Also, unlike Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass there are no furigana to help you translate the kanji and all the dialogue takes place in the upper screen along with the action.

To start things off, an opening cutscene takes place in small village where you meet the two main characters, Yuri and Cherinka, fraternal twins, as little children. Yuri and Cherinka are fighting over who gets to be the first one to chop up the logs. Their father, Ratov, tells them to do it together instead. Without their father’s guidance they can’t pick up the axe, but Ratov tells them to concentrate and try to work together. During this cutscene they introduce you to the other two playable characters, Misu and Aruhanaremu. Gnash, the archer won’t be introduce until later on. I’ve included a clip of the opening scene below.

Anyway, the story is your usual Final Fantasy style, young heroes/heroines embarking on an epic journey for peace and revenge…Need I add more? The gameplay is similar, if not the same as the FFCC for the GC. Instead of controlling your character’s movements and actions via stylus, the buttons are used. You still control where magics are cast with the directional buttons and just release the X button to cast it. Also, you can combine spells together with another character to turn it into a higher tier version of said spell. After every monster killed, they drop items either spell magicites, potions or items use for creating better weapons and equipments.

I have yet to try out the game with another owner of the game, but I did make an archer character and I tried one simple mission and it seemed like it would be quite fun if you had 1-3 other players along for the ride. The missions are based on your level and the number of party members (up to 4 players). In multi-player mode your character is separate from the character in single player mode…so yes you will have to create a “new” character; overall it would be a lot easier to grind through levels if you can co-op with someone else for the levels instead of soloing dungeons. You get rewarded with prizes accordingly to how well you did in the missions.

Overall, I really like this game. Sadly US gamers won’t be able to get it until next year. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek:

As promised, here’s the ad for the upcoming games for the Nintendo DS that was in the FFCC: Ring of Fates manual. (left) Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Fuketsu no Gurimoa and (right) Final Fantasy IV both for the DS. I’ll probably get the imports of both those when they’re available. I’ve been calling about Tactics A2 for DS all week so hopefully that should be here soon!

So with Ring of Fates and those two imports (just mentioned in the spoiler), not to mention the FFXI expansion which I might be interested in, my Final Fantasy cravings should be more than satisfied! Of course, for those you waiting for the US versions, don’t worry, I’ll be sure to let you guys know how they are.

Speaking of imports and US versions, one last note about Ring of Fate — I don’t recommend buying the import unless you understand a lot of kanji. If your overall Japanese is just conversational, that might not cut it here. So level up! Or wait til next year…

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