For a couple of hours the story shows great promise, with a few twists and turns (although granted the villain was easy to spot) interspersed with some fun dungeon crawling. Of course, it wouldn't be a video game if something didn't go wrong, and the sudden bout of sickness suffered by one of the village youngsters leads to a quest into the outside world a world that has forgotten about your people, save for a few scary tales to keep the kids out of the woods. After facing numerous enemies, solving a few puzzles and battling the game's first boss, the customised protagonist returns to the village for a well-earned birthday party. The game begins with your creation entering the forest on their 16th birthday in a rather warped and violent rite of passage ceremony. Before all of the combat and puzzle solving begins, players are asked to create a character from one of four races available, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. It retains the Final Fantasy tradition of equipping items, levelling up and exploring villages and dungeons, but swaps turn-based battles with straightforward melee combat and a simplified magic system. In order to become a more palatable multiplayer game, Echoes Of Time is an action RPG. While the first Crystal Chronicles title on the Gamecube offered link-up play with the GBA, Echoes Of Time takes it a step further, and with the aid of the brand new Pollux engine, Wii and DS owners can team up regardless of which version they own. However cynically you choose to view Square's blatant Final Fantasy flogging, it can't be denied that the Crystal Chronicles series has attempted to try something that other Final Fantasies haven't namely, to allow multiple FF fans the chance to enjoy their experiences simultaneously, without the need for subscription fees, high speed internet connections and hours of level grinding. On paper it shares very little in common with the main series, but chuck in a moogle or two and suddenly you've got a Final Fantasy title and an extra few thousand sales to boot. Attaching the Final Fantasy name to something has become a license to print money for the Japanese gaming giant, and the Crystal Chronicles series typifies Square's current approach to the franchise. Not content with the popularity of the main series, Square Enix has expanded its Final Fantasy repertoire to include a whole manner of spinoffs, merchandise, films and books, with the guarantee that the goods will fly off the shelves.
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