Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition is Disappointing

The HD rerelease of the GameCube cult classic, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, is finally out in the form of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered  Edition and Square Enix has made the game available on as many platforms as they could. You can find the Remastered Edition on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, iOS, and Android devices and the game supports cross-play between all of these platforms. Not to mention a very reasonable $30 price tag. But as good as this all sounds, perhaps putting the game on so many platforms was too ambitious as the game can’t seem to get one key feature right.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition sounds incredible on paper. A solid JRPG co-op experience that was only hindered by the complex nature of how to achieve multiplayer gameplay back on the Nintendo GameCube. While the original game was technically playable in single-player mode, most of the fun came from playing with friends. Performing attacks and combining spells together while micromanaging chalice duty was a good time. But if you didn't own 4 GameCube - Game Boy Advance link cables GBA of your own, and 3 friends who each had their own GBAs, single-player was kind of your only option. While it was possible to play with less than 4 players, it just didn't feel right. The dynamic of the game really felt like it was made to be played as a full party of 4.

I always considered the original FFCC to be ahead of its time. That maybe if the game came out during the era where online console play was the norm, that maybe it would fare better. When Square Enix announced that FFCC was getting a modern release with online play, you could find me yelling excitedly at people who hadn't even heard of the Crystal Chronicles side of the Final Fantasy brand.

When I heard that Square Enix had made a sort of demo for the remastered edition that had online play, I jumped on that in a heartbeat thinking that this would be the way that I could convince friends and playgroups to try it out with me. Interestingly enough, the demo isn't really a demo. Labeled as Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition Lite, this version is actually a limited version of the game consisting of a few of the early areas and the first 3 dungeons in single player. FFCCED Lite also lets you connect with other players who have it as well as those who have purchased the full game. Progress made in Lite will also carry over if you do decide to purchase the full version.

While the gameplay of FFCC may not have aged as well as I remember, I still found some enjoyment playing the remastered edition. Sadly, I can't recommend this game in its current state. Games with other players are just a laggy mess. Sure, you can hop into an already active game in the middle of a run but seeing both enemies and allies teleporting around nearly 100% of the time isn't great. That is to say, if you even get that far as there have been reports of users not being able to find and join any online sessions. Said issue was even worse in Australia and New Zealand where the connection issues were so consistently bad that Nintendo has pulled the game from the eShop until a fix is applied.

As much as I love Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and as much as I'd love to play the remaster, there was one thing that convinced me not to commit to a purchase. It's when the game didn't let me connect to friends. I'd forgive a laggy session as I can easily pass the blame to ISP connections and whatnot, but for the game to instantly say "Matchmaking Failed" right off the bat is an immediate turn-off to any multiplayer game. Square Enix has mentioned that they are working on fixing the connection issues and I'll hold them their word. But until then, I'll take a pass on Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition.

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