While the title has some decent elements found in other action-RPGs, gamers may find Ring of Fates lacking as a whole.
Fast forward three years later. Nintendo's DS had performed better than expected despite their more-advanced competition, and the wireless multiplayer capabilities of the DS and the newly released DS Lite coaxed developers to come up with new multiplayer ideas. When Square Enix had announced that a portable entry of their Crystal Chronicles franchise would be released, many waited and speculated in eager anticipation regarding how the memorable multiplayer experiences of the previous title would translate to a handheld with wireless capabilities. While the finished product is a decent action-RPG, some of the gameplay decisions had left something lacking to the experience.
The story is a little convoluted in that it starts off as lighthearted but (as can be expected of Final Fantasy titles) turns dark and confusing. The main protagonists are the fraternal twins Yuri and Chelinka, the children of a retired royal knight/training instructor and a kidnapped "starsinger" (basically an oracle who can utilize and amplify the power of crystals). While exploring the caves near their home using their newly-earned hatchet as protection, they battle and defeat a monster with a strange crystal attached to it's tail, after which the ghost of a mysterious girl approaches them, causing them to flee. A dark figure wearing a mask and cape has apparently witnessed the battle and not doubt has plans for the two.
Accompanying their father to the capital city Rebena Te Ra the next day, the twins follow what they assumed to their father into an abandoned section of the city and found themselves fighting and defeating another huge beast which has a foul crystal attached to it's belly. Afterward, the mysterious girl appears again, and after the twins flee the mysterious man (now known as Cu Chaspel) again makes his appearance.
These events eventually culminate in an kidnapping attempt on Chelinka, who happens to have the same powers as her mother regarding the manipulation of crystal power which a cult needs for their as-yet unexplained goals. While the father fights valiantly, his skills are no match for the malicious Cu Chaspel who slays him in front of his children, causing the twins' powers to escalate to such a level that they finally drive the would-be kidnapper out of the house. After some time during which Yuri strengthens his sword abilities and Chelinka recovers from the ordeal, the pair decide to find their long-lost friends, avenge their father's death and to discover the true nature of the cult who kidnapped their mother and slew their father.
Just like the previous Crystal Chronicles, the game's races are all present but many of the abilities have been modified to a certain extent, though the reasoning behind this is unknown. While the player eventually has full access to each race as the story develops, the challenge is in switching between the characters to use each of their unique abilities. The Clavat (in this case, Yuri) in this title isn't exactly the "all-around useful" race like the previous title and is now relegated to melee combat; however the extent of his use is up to the player. He can, however execute a downward thrust by jumping and then pressing the attack button as well as perform power melee attacks and combos. The Yuke Alhanhelm (mystic bird-like race who never remove their helmets) are still master magicians but has little in the way of defense and get stunned easily. The Selkie Gnash (human-like race with extra speed and wearing tribal clothing and weapons) still has his trademark speed and is also blessed with a double-jump ability, allowing the player to bypass tall obstacles that other tribes would find a challenge. The female Lilty Meeth (small, big-bellied dwarf/munchkin race whose trademark is extra strength) is the party's alchemist. Depending on the player, she can still deal extra damage as per her Lilty race but her strength now is in creating magicite for the player to use in casting spells, especially in the later dungeons where constant use of magic is necessary. Meeth's ability was DESPERATELY needed in the later portions of the game, where recovery spells were necessary not only for survival but in weakening "dead" enemies in order to defeat them.
Regarding the controls, this is one DS game which may turn off some players who don't like games that use every available button in addition to the stylus for input. The A button is for basic attacks, the B button makes your character jump, the X button is for casting magic and the Y button is for picking up items and even small enemies (which you'll be doing a LOT of in this game). The L button is for affixing you magic targeting recticle in a certain location (more on that in a bit) or for calling your AI-controlled teammates when they stray into water, lava pits or are close to being killed by enemies due to their lackluster AI.
In addition, each character has a "tribal ability" which can be activated by pressing the R button. Clavats (humans) can deliver a critical hit by pressing R and using the stylus to tap on an enemy. Yukes can use magic torches to light candles or make invisible bridges and blocks visible for use, however, the stylus must be used to draw a magical line between the two. Selkies have a powered-up, long-range arrow shot, and Lilties pull out their pots to create additional magicite for the party. A lot of DS owners like to either have an "all button" control option or an "all stylus" option; not everyone is keen to being forced to hold the stylus between their fingers as they're playing with both hands. The only way to circumvent this is to press the icons on the lower screen with their thumbs, but who wants to intentionally put thumb prints on their DS screens?
Speaking of magicite, Ring of Fates inherits the former game's magic mechanics by only allowing the player a finite amount of magic and items, forcing the player to focus not only on survival but on resource management. Each spell casting costs one magicite which can be cast almost anywhere on the field or on an enemy by pressing the X button and moving the recticle to the desired location. The player will eventual learn to ability to "stack" magic recticles thereby casting more potent spells. Some environmental puzzle require the player to give up an elemental magicite sphere (by dragging a magicite sphere out of a slot) Failure to properly space out one's magicite reserves or conserve potions and ethers means either backtracking to town (in the early portions of the game) or certain defeat in the later levels as the town would be unavailable. I've always wondered why my magic casting wasn't tied to my magic points in any way, but found out that the spell points were only for a smaller tier of tribal abilities that could be utilized by holding down the A button. To me this was nothing but confusion and not everyone will want (or need) to take advantage of these "hidden" abilities when a few quick presses of the A button or some magic will render a foe lifeless.
Regarding enemies and item drops, like an MMORPG enemies drop lots of loot when defeated but instead of simply running over the items to automatically pick them up, the player must press the Y button repeatedly to pick up each and every single gil (money), scroll or item ingredient. These spoils are essential for item creation or for replenishing you magicite stock at the shops in the capital but for those of you who simply want to play through the game (as I did) one can just purchase the best armor and weapons at the local shop and win the game without dealing with any of the customization mechanics. It's not that I didn't try, it's just that the results of my item customization experiences left me with weaker equipment that was overshadowed by my store-bought equipment and my resource management. I DID finish the game and only used the custom shop once (back in the game's earlier portion.
The environments are varied, with differing locales including a cave, an abandoned portion of the capital city, a forest-cum-jungle, ice mountains, a ruined and flooded dam/training center, an active volcano/prison, the realm of the dead and a temple taken over by an evil moon-worshipping cult. Progress through these environments is done in the usual action-RPG manner - clear a room of enemies, find a key, solve a puzzle (or series of puzzles), or all of the above. While the environments are colorful and large considering the hardware, the game's control issues come to light from time to time, as well as the AI of the characters not in your control. For example, to reach the exit on the other side of a room, the player would have to switch from his melee character to the Lilty to make a hovering pot. Just before the pot begins hovering, the player would have to switch to the Selkie to stand on the pot, then double-jump to the new platform. The new platform would have a magic candle which is available only to the Yuke, so I would then press L to teleport the other team members to my location, pray that the Yuke doesn't fall off, then switch to the Yuke so that I could use his tribal ability and then take my stylus and trace a magic flame from the torch to the candle to activate a new platform. Then I would switch back to the Selkie to use the new platform (as jumping is rather stiff in this game), then get up to a new area, then switch back to the Clavat to clear out more enemies, after which a key would appear to activate a lock...
These puzzles begin appearing in the middle portion of the game, where the suspect AI of the uncontrolled characters, the enemies and the harsh environments take a heavy toll on your resources. In addition, the AI characters tend to sit and watch when you're defeating an enemy rather than join in, or tend to fall in pits constantly attempting to chase enemies and defeat then physically when they could be more easily defeated by spells from safer locations. The only way to keep these characters under control is to more or less keep pressing the L button to reform your party but certainly Square Enix could have programmed better artificial intelligence for the characters currently not under the player's control.
A final point of Ring of Fates that bears mention is the wireless multiplayer. Unlike the original Crystal Chronicles in which up to four players can play through the main story, Ring of Fates has a separate multiplayer mode which tasks players to simply complete dungeons a la World of Warcraft to repopulate the capital and earn extra items in the process. Players cannot use the characters leveled up in Story Mode but must choose a separate character starting with level one stats. Unlike WoW, there is no online multiplayer but being that the original Crystal Chronicles did not have online capability, this shouldn't be viewed as a negative point. Fortunately, the player can choose from any of the races, choose the gender and give their character a name, which imbues a small bit of personality to the experience.
As a whole, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates has it's strengths and it's weaknesses. If you're a fan of three-dimensional action-RPGs with colorful environments then this game is worthy of a look. If you like the idea of character leveling and collecting loot for item customization a la WoW or Torchlight then this game would definitely appeal to that audience. If you're a gamer who likes to play action-RPGs for the story or for intuitive controls, then this game may not be for you. The characters are more annoying than charming, the AI is definitely hit-or-miss, the story gets more and more convoluted as it continues, the controls are unintuitive and the game's value is still up for debate. Still, for game collectors like myself it has still earned a place in my library as an example of a franchise entry gone wrong with many of it's mistakes to be corrected in it's future follow-up.