The Crystal Chronicals GBA dilema

[Deathosaurus Wrecks]

the idea that the GBA-GC connectivity in FF:CC is a bad thing, and that Nintendo is a moneygrubbing company for doing so, seems to be a popular topic as of late. and i'm wondering why.

is the concept of requiring 4 GBAs and a GameCube that much more rediculous than the concept of having 4 seperate Xboxes, TVs and copies of Halo (& Xbox Live subscriptions) (and more if you're playing larger than 4 player games)? At worst, you end up buying a GBA, which is easily the best handheld on the market (for the time being), which i really don't see as any form of punishment.

yes, i suppose Nintendo could have gotten everything to run on the GC without the need for the GBA hookup, but the gameplay would not be as smooth as it is.

[Dante Reborn]

Well, that's if you want multi-player for four people. You only need one GBA per person, and if you want to play on your own, you don't need a GBA in the first place.

As for moneygrubbing, all businesses do that. They call it "being successful" or something.

[Forever Zero]

Yes I do see it as money grubbing. The scenario you mentioned with Halo? I think that is ludocris, and I wouldn't pay for that, and that's why I don't have an X-Box. I expected better of GC, and then they pulled this BS with CC. All I can say is that Nintendo is pretty sick that you NEED GBA's to play ANY GC game is money grubbing in my opinion, and while I do own one GBA because I like the games, no game, EVER in my opinion, should require a whole different system to run a game, as in, you shouldn't need a GBA to run any GC game, and I think it's messed up that they do.

Also, VGCats has a comic up about the whole situation that I agree with as well.

[dragonglove]

You want a dilema, how about being unemployed and thus unable to pay for the game you've been waiting for years. Yes years, any RPG on a nintendo system by Square.

I've said this before, but for those of us who already have a gamecube and a GBA, this is a blessing. I bought my GameCube so I could play GC games and I bought my GBA so I could play GBA games. Having both already, I love the idea of being able to use them in conjunction to play an excellent game that would otherwise be more difficult (in some cases) to play.

Far too many people are seeing this the wrong way. "You mean I have to pay $590 for 4 GBA SP's, a Gamecube, 4 link cables, plus $50 just for one game?" No. You should already have the gamecube if you're considering the game. You may need to get a GBA (for $50 used at Gamestop, a deal if you consider the great games out for it). Your friends should also already have the GBA's or consider buying their own (the possibilities beyond FFCC should be enough to pursuade them. All you have left is the game itself. For you, at most $100. However FFCC is a multiplayer game. I suggest at least three people at one time.

[Novasol]

Square made the game, NOT NINTENDO.

Generally, from what I see, those who complain about the GBA requirement for multiplayer haven't actually looked into how it works. It's not just some gimmick, it's an important part of the game. All your menus, commands, management etc, are inputted through it.

Why would they do this? It's simple. If you're playing an action RPG with three other people, do you want to have to stop playing EVERY SINGLE TIME someone needs to do something with their inventory or setup? If someone needs to fish out a heal or arrange their spells, that's time that EVERYONE has to sit there twiddling their thumbs doing nothing. Ever tried to play Secret of Mana multiplayer? The action parts are nice, but it's incredibly frustrating when other players need to pause to do any number of things, especially during boss battles where they'll be pausing every other second to cast spells. The GBA connectivity completely eliminates that hassle and makes for a much more cohesive, immersive game.

Gathering four GBAs isn't that difficult anyway (a lot more people tend to have GBAs than Gamecubes), and many retailers offered the connection cords with pre-orders of the game. It's not like they're asking you to do something impossible to enjoy the game.

[Lockeownzj00]

Apparently no one understands how the game. I think the best way to talk about it is if you've actually played the game, and extensively too, as I have.

First of all, you don't need to have GBAs to play the game. Second of all, even if you want to play multiplayer, think about it practically--no one, except the fanatics are going to buy 4 GBAs. That's preposterous, and I don't know why people always say this. The idea is you have these things called friends-- and they have GBAs too! And, if they have gamecube, like you, which they probably would if you're inviting them to play final fantasy crystal chronicles, you have a GCN-GBA link cable too!

I think this (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2003-08-25&res=l) is the comic you're looking for.

[Forever Zero]

And for those that don't have three friends with a GBA? I know my group of friends, while being gamers, also have a disturbing tendancy to play mostly sports games, and shy away from anything Nintendo because "It's kiddy". I think their idiots for there bias, but I can't convince them otherwise (Sadly their the only gamers at my new school, so I do what I can. If it was back at my last school, I wouldn't need this rant.) Yes, the comic was funny and true, but it also seems to insinuate that everyone knows a bunch of Nintendo gamers, when the X-Box and PS2 do all they can to shrug off GC games as "kiddy" games, and popular culture agrees. I will probably get CC anyway and enjoy sngle player, but I still don't agree with the decision to force players to use GBA's to play multi.

Oh, and I have played SoM multi, and it wasn't that big a deal. We all knew what we were doing, and most pause screen moments either last only a second or two, or they were filled with conversation from the others, a novel concept, eh, that pauseing a game doesn't mean the whole world stops and waits.

[dragonglove]

And for those that don't have three friends with a GBA?
Sucks to be you. Seriously, it is nice to know others agree with me (thanks Novasol & Lockeownzj00). However I also agree with Forever Zero in that they should have allowed you to play with a normal controller and pause it when you need to. But then again, I don't know how long or how often that would need to be done. And it could get annoying with 4 people doing it all the time.

Like I said before, I suggest against playing it one player. FFCC is a multi-player game. There are just certain games that don't do well single-player, or otherwise do much better with multi-player. I believe this is definantly one of those games.

[Deathosaurus Wrecks]

actualy, i think that VG Cats comic (the actual event that sparked my thought process on this topic) raises an important point that we're missing. the joke is made that this game will validate your life and everyone needs it desperately.

we are not consumer sheep, people dont need this game. this game is not intended to force people to buy stock in Nintendo or anything like that. its meant as a game that: a) if you have a Gamecube b) you have freinds who have GBAs c) you want to play a multiplayer FF game; then you might want to check this game out.

not to pick on Forever Zero or anyone here, but if you dont want to pay "that much" for a single game, then dont.

[The_Bear]

I don't stess over it. I already had one GBA-GC cord before I preordered the game, so now I have 2. My neighbor has a GBA, so we often play with just us two. People complain about how one person has to carry the chalice, and can't attack, and moves too slow. They're all idiots. You can drop it at any time and join the fray, walking speed isn't really a factor, and whover has the chalise is law, unless the others enjoy eating Miasma. Also, I can just take my GC and all the stuff over to someone elese's house, or even to school on Fridays, and I can easily find lots of people to play with. The only cost I could forsee is for the cables, that's $15, boo hoo. I don't see any problem with spending a little dough for possibly the best off-line multiplayer RPG ever.

[Dante Reborn]

Good points, all of them (except that last one). Everything you can get for cheap. For example, I got my friend's GBA (just for Crystal Chronicles) for what was worth $20. Granted, he's a moron, but I was willing to give up Mario Tennis, Super Smash Bros, and a simple N64 controller for a third GBA in the house.

[Forever Zero]

Meh, it's no big deal. I will eventually be able to play multiplayer, it will just have to wait until summer vacation when I go north and visit my cousins. Like I said, I enjoyed SoM single player when I played through it the first time, so I'll probably enjoy CC single player until I get a chance to play multi over the summer. I'll just buy the game alone, no extra GBA's or what have you, and not worry about all the excess stuff that goes with it.

My rant was less on me being able to play, or even the cost of one person trying to buy all this stuff, as it was more against the fact that Square was so presumptious as to believe that everyone would hail this system as a gaming revolution. It's not, it's a way to squeeze more money into Nintendo's pocket, because they can go on about ease of use and game flow, but when it comes down to it, there is absolutly no reason, from a technical standpoint, why they couldn't have allowed you to play it without the GBA, and the fact that they specifically programmed it so you couldn't play it without the GBA is BS. Even if you had all the required things to play, if you didn't want to play with all of that hooked up, you couldn't. Sometimes I can understand forceing you to buy a peripheral, like light gun games need you to buy a light gun, BUT, even if you don't buy the light gun, it lets you play the game without it in a really crappy controller mode where you move a little crosshair on screen. It sucks, but some people could decide to do it. They basically took away any ability to play it, no matter how bad the experience, unless you play be their rules, and they force you to buy the peripherals or you can't use all the features. I realise I shouldn't be surprised by this, because I suddenly remember the N64 Expansion card they had at one point, and you needed this card to play Perfect Dark. I don't own either, and I have no problem with it, cause I thought that was crap, and I think this is crap. If you can play CC in full multiplayer mode, good for you, but personally, I don't agree with what Nintendo did in this instance, and that's just my opinion of it.

[e-man2001]

its a great great game, seriously.

I picked it up and i dont even own a GBA yet, im jsut borrowing a friends of mine who wouldn't want to play FFCC anyways. So i can play it with my other friend... and it is fun.

While at first I was kinda pissed with nintendo for making so many GC games that do not REQUIRE the GBA, but the GBA makes the experience better or something (a la the tingle tuner for Zelda). But I've come to accept it, its not that big a deal especially for the incredibly high quality of nintendo's products.

So for now im borrowing a GBA and soon i will buy one when i have some extra money. The single player game is fun too even alone, its justa great game to play that doesnt get boring. Yes, someone has to be 'chalice bitch' but my friend and I have determined that whoever has the terrain radar is chalice bitch so he can direct us where we need to go. Its a good system i'd suggest it for everyone.

In the meantime, those who haven't played the game... dont talk. You can gripe about the ideas all u want but it is almost all forgotten once you play the game. Much like when Metroid Prime came out everyone was bitching about "FPS samus??!??!? Hellz n0 that is teh suxx0r5!!!!oneone!!" But then the instant you played it... the game was awesome.

Nintendo and square joined up to make a kickass game... perfect if u have friends with GBAs, and still pretty badass if you dont.

[lazy man]

I'll agree with e-man. The game's great, you just have to play it with friends and be able to enjoy something that's kinda like Gauntlet, only better. Plus you mainly only need to use the d-pad and the A button, so control is simple. The stroy's simple, yet unique and the way it's executed is great. The graphics are also really good. Another reason why I support it would be that I got a free link cable because my friend already had one and he preordered it, so I got one for free.

[Elite Shinobi]

Hey no one's mentioned the fact that single player is REALLY easy. What I am talking about is... when you want to look at your inventory etc... you push the Y button and it goes to thoes menus... Pausing the game outside of the menus.

"Oh look I died... oh well i had a phoenix down equipped and auto-resurrected. Now just to go to my command list menu to set another one... not having to worry about enemies killing me again while i do so... and bam!"

So as long as you have enough phoenix downs on you at all times... Single player is WAY easier... thus less fun. It was more challenging trying to run through your inventory to drop an item for a friend to use during a Boss battle and stay alive.

[VeritasHertz]

I'm going to get the game, I have no choice, the concept is too good NOT to get. I loved SOM multiplayer, and having the remote possibility of maybe obtaining a game that could conceivably provide slightly similar levels of entertainment WITH my friends makes me salivate. Not just like a little salivation, we're talking Pavlov's dogs hearing the bell after four weeks of near starvation salivating, we're talking blatently dangerous levels of salivation.

Be a naysayer if you will, but my friends and I have GBAs and one of them has a GC. I'd drop $60 for 4 links anyday to play this game and I know that my friends are paying for their own anyway. In short, this game rewards me and others like me for having friends who play GBAs. Even if it's a marketing ploy, it's a damn intelligent one.

[The_Bear]

I completely agree with Elite Shinobi, single player is easy. For more a challenge, play multi-player alone. There's no moogle to help you there, and none of his whining either. However, you do miss out on painting the moogle, I spent twenty minutes first painting mine and laughing as I made it fall over, "Kupo!" This is off topic, but I just gonna say Elite Shinobi, you have IMO the coolest animated gif ever. That's the ninja sprite from FFTA right? Awsome.

[Ralvuimago]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2003-08-25&res=l
They beat me to it.

[Rudoku]

And for those that don't have three friends with a GBA? I know my group of friends, while being gamers, also have a disturbing tendancy to play mostly sports games, and shy away from anything Nintendo because "It's kiddy".

These aren't the types of friends that would play the game, anyway.

[Mr. Wind-Up Bird]

Between all my friends we have something like six gbas. I just need to shell out ten bucks for a link.

[Hamelin]

Why couldn't they just make some sort of interface like Secret of Mana had? Except make it so the magic and item rings wouldn't freeze the gameplay. Then, as for armor and whatnot, make it so you can only mess with that stuff at certain times, so everyone would take care of it at the same time.

[Lockeownzj00]

And for those that don't have three friends with a GBA? I know my group of friends, while being gamers, also have a disturbing tendancy to play mostly sports games, and shy away from anything Nintendo because "It's kiddy". I think their idiots for there bias, but I can't convince them otherwise (Sadly their the only gamers at my new school, so I do what I can. If it was back at my last school, I wouldn't need this rant.) Yes, the comic was funny and true, but it also seems to insinuate that everyone knows a bunch of Nintendo gamers, when the X-Box and PS2 do all they can to shrug off GC games as "kiddy" games, and popular culture agrees. I will probably get CC anyway and enjoy sngle player, but I still don't agree with the decision to force players to use GBA's to play multi.

Oh, and I have played SoM multi, and it wasn't that big a deal. We all knew what we were doing, and most pause screen moments either last only a second or two, or they were filled with conversation from the others, a novel concept, eh, that pauseing a game doesn't mean the whole world stops and waits.

quote from way back in the thrad cos im a lazy bastard who forgets to check threads.

well, that's precisely my point--if you're not the type to play nintendo games much less own nintendo systems, then obviously you are not the type to play. Since you usually wouldn't be playing these games in the FIRST place, then obviously you wouldn't have friends with GBAs.

Is it any different from you owning 1 controller and your friends bringing over 2 more so you can all play together?