Previews

Hands on with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates

Unravelling the threads of Square Enix's much anticipated action-RPG

Hands on with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates

Part of a surprise showing during the recent Game Developers Conference, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates sat in the middle of Nintendo's booth on the expo floor. Headlining the display of DS games, this latest Square Enix RPG is the handheld's next significant game in a so far rather dry 2008.

Whether it can invigorate DS later this month is still questionable, though, following our hands-on play.

Ring of Fates follows a cute little boy named Yuri and his twin sister Chelinka in a quest to track down fabled magical crystals. The single-player campaign chronicles their adventure, although much of the focus is being placed on multiplayer. A total of four players can connect locally to cooperatively work through exclusive multiplayer missions.

Sadly, we know the game won't support online multiplayer; instead, it'll feature a Moogle mail system via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Fate prevented us from having a glimpse of this in action, however, since only the introductory level of the campaign was playable.

Controlling Yuri, we surveyed the Hill Caves for treasure and a bit of action. The top display shows a map of the area and pertinent information, whereas the touchscreen houses all the action. Combat occurs in real-time on the exploration screen via taps of the face buttons. Pressing A triggers a basic attack, whereas jumping onto an enemy with the B button and then attacking yields a stronger blow. This proved essential in bringing down the bats flying about the dank caves.

Along with these basic strikes, advanced moves are at your disposal – holding down the R button prompts a special attacks menu. Available abilities depend on each character's tribal affiliation; in other words, each character belongs to a tribe which bestows specific skills upon them. Activating these abilities costs skill points. As long as you have enough, you just hold the R button, select the skill you want to use, then tap the target using the stylus.

Regardless of whether you're trudging through the campaign or linking up with buddies wirelessly, working cooperatively is a must in Ring of Fates. Certainly a well-coordinated offensive makes combat a breeze, but really cooperation is vital in solving the game's simple puzzles. For example, opening a locked door required inserting a geometric key into a similarly-shaped receptacle. Tapping the Y button hoisted the key block above Yuri's head. Positioning him next to the key hole, we hit Y again to drop it into the hole. And voilà, the door opened.

In this level, having Yuri gather the key and open a door was no problem. However, later stages will demand switching between party members to stave off enemy attacks and manage possession of keys and other important items. Cooperation in multiplayer will be even more important since distinct character classes require everyone to work together and overcome their individual shortcomings.

And multiplayer is the one area of Ring of Fates we're extremely eager to learn more about. Our brief time with the campaign doesn't have us exactly thrilled, so we're hoping the cooperative action fares better in a more social dynamic. Given the game's US release in about two weeks (no specific European date other than 'spring 2008' exists), it shouldn't be long before we find out.

Tracy Erickson
Tracy Erickson
Manning our editorial outpost in America, Tracy comes with years of expertise at mashing a keyboard. When he's not out painting the town red, he jets across the home of the brave, covering press events under the Pocket Gamer banner.