Square and Nintendo remind me of two old lovers getting back together. The two companies had a long and prosperous relationship spanning six Final Fantasy titles. After a few years of separation, the two are rekindling the romance. The first date, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, was a sizzling pairing that reminded each company why they fell in love in the first place. The second outing, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, is more like a fun date where each party has a good time but is very much aware of the other's flaws. That analogy aside, Crystal Chronicles is a good game with wonderful aesthetics and fantastic extras, but its core gameplay has some fundamental flaws.

In many ways, Crystal Chronicles reminds me of a Japanese interpretation of the action-RPG style recently made popular by Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. You and up to three other players go from location to location bashing up monsters and collecting treasure. Naturally, Crystal Chronicles features many Final Fantasy trappings that fans of the main series are sure to adore, not to mention aural and visual polish that's a notch above Western action-RPGs.

The game is set in a world that's dominated by a substance called miasma. It permeates the air and is harmful to the world's four humanoid races, but doesn't affect monsters in any way. Luckily, there are some magical crystals that repel the effects of miasma; the inhabitants of the world have built their villages around these crystals. The crystal's energy must be replenished by magical myrrh. Every year, each village sends out a caravan to retrieve myrrh to power up their crystal. You and your party must venture out to the monster-filled areas where myrrh trees go. As your caravan adventures, you learn more about the nature of miasma, monsters, and crystals, and attempt to find a way to rid the world of the miasma menace. Overall, I think most gamers will find the story okay, but I rather enjoyed it.

Four-player madness.
Your adventure is structured by years. Your caravan carries a magic chalice that repels miasma over a short distance and is also used to carry myrrh. You must fill the chalice with three drops of myrrh and bring it back to the village. Along with the monster bashing, treasure hunting, and leveling up, there are numerous secondary features that add to the fun. There are moogle houses for you to discover; your family members play a certain role, depending on the occupation you pick for them; there's a letter-writing system that reminded me a bit of Animal Crossing; there's a nifty item-creation system; and much more. I really enjoyed all the secondary features of Crystal Chronicles; they add lots of diversity and were a pleasant distraction from my myrrh-collecting adventure.

As a single-player game, Crystal Chronicles' gameplay is very basic. Square's action-RPG style is fun, but the game is really easy. Hacking and slashing your way through each area is pretty much a cakewalk. The boss battles are a bit more challenging, but all in all there were maybe three areas that I found tricky. There are some neat support features that can be accessed by plugging a GBA into the second controller port, but it doesn't add any complexity to the game. The simplicity of the gameplay is there for a reason, though: multiplayer gaming.