Deep, Fun, Fantasy.
Do YOU live in a small village with voracity for adventure and power? Most protagonists with a Japanese author do; and Square Enix continues its mundane production line with yet another save-the-world scenario. However, if one ignores the boring foundations that assemble the story, one will find a deep, captivating epilogue to be told…
The Ring of Fates is a prequel to the first Crystal Chronicles for GameCube – It was released after the original game, but the events are set one thousand years before those in the first one.
As already implied, the player will begin (after the usual epic prologue) in a small village. There are in fact 2 main characters; the young boy Yuri and his twin sister Chelinka. Yuri wields a sword whilst Chelinka is some sort of naturally gifted witch. Whenever you are in game play, you only see Yuri. Chelinka can be seen in cutscenes. Where does she hide? Inside Yuri, of course…
Anyhoo, Yuri & Chelinka live a lovely life in the village with their father Latov, and two weird characters called Meeth and Alhanalem. It is revealed that the siblings work excellently as a team. The cheeky protagonists enter their local dungeon called ‘Hill Caves’ with thirst for a thrill. After monotonous rooms with minimal amounts of enemies and a big boss at the end, you finally complete the cave, revealing a ghostly young girl speaking of a few mysteries concerning the eponymous Crystals. These features are going to play a large part in the storyline of the game…
All of the dungeons are similar to this idea of rooms, puzzles with respawning monsters to defeat and a climatic boss to complete it. Like the original Crystal Chronicles, Ring of Fates is not turn-based, but fighting isn’t necessarily speedy in battle.
Return to the village and Latov brings you to the city Rebena te Ra. You will be returning to this place a lot more. The characters soon confront Chaspel, an antagonist working for a higher power attempting to steal Chelinka. Latov is killed in the attempt to save her, but in anger, the twins blast some incomprehensible beam of light to repel Chaspel. Meeth and Alhanalem are no longer in the village, so things seem pretty lonely. Chelinka seems to have entered a coma but later awakes, unable to speak but still conscious. The only way of communicating is via telepathy, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I’d personally find hardship in not being able to waffle on from dawn till dusk.
Now your quest is clear. Avenge your father, save the world, get more powerful, find your kooky fellow villagers Meeth & Alhanalem, kill that Chaspel guy… actually, the story does seem pretty random at times, but at least the trauma the characters suffer serves as something interesting. The drama encountered and the pure despair Yuri and Chelinka experience will keep you glued to your screen for a while.
There are 4 races in the game: Clavat, Yuke, Lilty & Selkie. You’ll get a chance to play with them all in your party. Whilst you’re playing as one of them, the other 3 will lend a hand when brawling.
A merit to the Crystal Chronicles saga
Clavats are the warriors and the all-round class. Yuri and Chelinka are Clavats. They usually stay alive for the longest duration. Alhanalem is a Yuke (who likes to finish every sentence with a phonetic ‘al’ sound. i.e comical, general). He has a medium ranged blast of magic and can interact with crystals to create temporary bridges of fictitious material. Meeth the Lilty is later recruited and has yet another quirky dialect, repeating an annoying ‘eee’ sound after every phrase. She is the alchemist, with the alluring ability to turn into a pot and roll around the place hurting enemies who get in her way. Lastly, the Selkie to join your crew is Gnash. Brought up in the wild, he also has a weird way of talking. Actually, he’s pretty lexically impeded, speaking in short, disjointed sentences. He’s my favourite character though, being an archer and being able to double jump. Fun times!
Multiplayer with friends who also have DSs is another treat; but you generally never feel lonely with your band of computer-controlled heroes assisting you in battle. Multiplayer actually presents a different story to the main one, intended to be played after you’ve completed it. It includes campaigning through the areas you see in the single-player story in order to repopulate the desolate Rebena Te Ra.
So the game play is typical but fun and consistent when fighting along-side A.I. (although they do have a tendency of being eaten by bosses). As most RPGs, there’s an assortment of spoils to be found and an array of weapons to be bought from those ubiquitous Moogles so commonly found in Square Enix games. My personal favourite is the ‘Bastard sword’… It’s okay. There’s no need to applause my comedic genius…
The sound department of the Ring of Fates is a credit to the series. Kumi Tanioka, Crystal Chronicles’ resident composer acclaims her fame from the series itself. The non-diegetic music works well atmospherically: Crumhorn and Harpsichord for the main city’s medieval-personae; Xylophone and Flute for an abandoned town overrun with flora; electronic pads and frequent modulation to create mystery in caves. Perhaps the use of connotations adds to the ever prevalent theme of mundanity, but I believe that Tanioka has contributed wonderfully to the world of Final Fantasy and to games music itself. The cut scenes present voices, and confrontations with enemies invoke simple attacking sounds, equipped with a variety of grunts, whimpers and bellows. This is non-intrusive and allows the player to appreciate the music.
Graphics for the DS aren’t expected to be exceptional, but Ring of Fates made little effort with its negligible character design. Never has the polygon of a character’s face been so crude and apparent! Terrains have mediocre decoration but are distinguishable thanks to the extremities (i.e there’s grass, lava, ice, sand, rock; you name it!). The graphics may not be the most abhorrent for DS games, but they certainly aren’t the Ring of Fates’ forte. One would expect more, especially from such a prestigious game company with notably brilliant graphics as Square Enix.
Playing Ring of Fates has been memorable. The story, especially the dark and deep situations the characters find themselves provided me with the incentive to keep playing until the end. Ring of Fates is a commendable game and a merit to the Crystal Chronicles saga.
The Bad: Graphics are rather feeble; Computer controlled characters die very easily
Bronze Y Award