Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is an action role playing game developed by The Game Designers Studio and published by Square Enix in 2003 for the Nintendo GameCube. This was the first Final Fantasy game to include real-time fighting, which has since become a staple of Final Fantasy games. It was also the first Final Fantasy game to be published on a Nintendo console since Final Fantasy VI on the SNES.
You play as a caravanner, trying to beat dungeons to collect myrrh drops to be able to sustain your village's crystal energy, which protects the villagers from the mortal effects of the miasma. In this run, you go out as a Yuke, a race of mages, to go explore the whole world and beating every boss in the game to cleanse the world of all miasma corrupted monsters.
Game objectives
- Emulator used: Dolphin 5.0
- Completing all dungeons at least 1 time by beating the boss at the end of each of them
- Finishing the game as fast as possible
- Don't use any glitch
Secondary objectives
- Taking damage to save time
- Using the RTA suboptimal race
- Being an overall jerk against your in game family
- Having the worst character name in history
This is my third TAS of this game, and third time on this category. I chose this category because with All Dungeons, we can see more of the game, the different dungeons and the bigger picture of the overworld. In any%, you do almost the same thing but you skip longer dungeons, which I don't skip here. Also, I do glitchless because the only glitches known in this game are multiplayer exclusive.
Final Fantasy is my favorite game of all time, even if it's mostly nostalgia. Here, you go on an epic quest to discover characters and cities, new stories unfold and there is sidequests offered to you along the way. Unfortunately, in this run, I skip most of it. In this game, the fastest way to beat it is to get to the last dungeon, wich is blocked by a miasma wall. The only way to pass it is to get the unknown element in the Lynari Desert, which is only accessable at year 5. You have to collect 3 drops of myrrh to complete a year, wich means I have to beat 12 dungeons before even being able to get to the last boss, 13 if we count reviving the flowers in Veo Lu Sluice to rise up the river to even get there. I do all 14 single dungeons in this game, and I also do a revisit of River Belle Path to get a necessary drop.
I chose to play the Yuke, because he is not only the fastest caster, but his casts are even faster than autoattacks. Not only that, but spells are way more flexible and fusions can offer some great gameplay to beat boss easily. Also, with this race, I skip having to buy equipment, instead I focus on getting good artifacts to gain magic power. Since it's a TAS, I dont have to worry that much about my defense either since I can manipulate rngs all I want.
You choose, after each dungeon, an artifact that will give you permanent bonuses. In my case, I obviously the ones helpful for my magician. There is 2 ways to get artifacts: with points, or by dropping them inside the dungeon. The game works on a global timer, so each frame dungeons get a different seed wich affects bonus points conditions and ennemy drops (in the first room). The best way to manipulate what you want is to wait frames before entering a dungeon or a zone. It's also the same strategy I do after beating bosses to get the good set of artifacts I want. You also gain bonus points by killing ennemies and picking up things. It is important to know that my magical power only grow each multiple of 5. So most of the time I try to get to the higher one, with fruits and droppable artifacts. We start with 15, and we will be at the last boss with 76.
Money is also something important in this game, to pay the boat's fee. It costs me a total of 1200 gils, 2200 if I want to do a dialogue skip of 1 second. I got just over 1200 with all the money I dropped, and the items I sold to my merchant dad.
River Belle Path
- Points needed: 119
- Items needed: I make sure I get the most fruits I can because they'll be usefull later in the run. I also take a fire magicite, wich will be my primary damage here
- Other: I get the artifact Kris wich gives +3 magic power. We change the element to water after the dungeon to pass the miasma stream
Mushroom Forest
- Points needed: 135
- Items needed: I need to use a fruit against the boss to boost my magic power to 20. I also use 1 in the dungeon to go faster. I take a fire magicite and a ice magicite, wich enables gravity against the boss
- Other: I get the artifact Sage's Staff which gives +3 magic power
Cathuriges Mine
- Points needed: 116
- Items needed: I take fruits and easy droppable money when it does not cost that much time. Also, I use fire as my magicite
- Other: I take the artifact Moogle Pocket, wich gives a new command slot, thus allowing me to to a triple fusion
Goblin Wall
- Points needed: 172
- Items needed: I drop 2 ice magicites to get blizzaga fusion, wich helps me defeating monsters faster
- Other: I take the artifact Dark Matter, wich gives +5 magic power. I change my element to fire after that, then in water later
Tida
- Points needed: 0
- Items needed: I take the first key from a bomb, wich is faster than the one in the worm. Then I manipulate 3 fire magicite drops to get Firaga
- Other: I take the artifact Dragon's Wisker wich gives +1 magic power. I change my element to wind after the dungeon
Moschet Manor
- Points needed: 84
- Items needed: I need only the fire, and I need to kill all Tonberry Chefs to spawn the boss. I also take a +3 ability power in a chest to get to 30
- Other: I take the artifact Red Slippers, wich gives +3 magic power.Tiles rng is determined by your movement. Like all years, I'll simply refuse to talk to my dad like I refuse to answer letters
River Belle Path
- Points needed: 119
- Items needed: I make sure I take haste and gravity because this boss is cycle 2 difficulty, and is way harder to beat fast
- Other: I take the artifact Mage's Staff, wich gives +5 magic power
Selepation Cave
- Points needed: 0
- Items needed: I take an ice and thunder magicite to get a gravity and thunder against the boss. I also eat a fruit to get to 40
- Other: I take the artifact Wonder Wand in a chest, wich gives +3 magic power
Daemon's Court
- Points needed: 0
- Items needed: I manipulate the position of the 2 golden lizards that drops the boss keys. Also, I drop 2 thunder magicites to make thundara
- Other: I take the artifact Winged Cap, wich gives +1 magic power. After the year passes, I sell the items I have in my inventory before the fruits to get money and free space. I change my element to earth, then water
Kilanda
- Points needed: 0
- Items needed: I take an early fire magicite while waiting for a bridge to build up. I eat a fruit to get to 46
- Other: I take the artifact Noah's Lute on a monster, wich gives +5 magic power
Conall Curach
- Points needed: 0
- Items needed: I take a fire and a life magicite to get holy, wich is pretty wide and will be used against the boss
- Other: I take the artifact Mage Masher in a chest, wich gives +1 magic power. I have to manipulate every single monster that block my path to be able to get out of their way without killing them
Rebena Te Ra
- Points needed: 0
- Items needed: I first take fire, blizzard and thunder to open doors, then life to make holy against the boss, in wich I eat a fruit to get to 50
- Other: I take the artifact Rune Bell in a well guarded chest, wich gives +3 magic power
Lynari Desert
- Points needed: 0
- Items needed: I take in total 3 magicites of ice to make blizzaga, 1 thunder, 1 fire, and 1 life. Gravity and Holy are used to make the unknown hotspot appear. 1 fruit is used against the boss arena to go to 51
- Other: I take the artifact Book of Light in a chest, wich gives +1 magic power. I change my element inside the dungeon because it's not possible outside
Veo Lu Sluice
- Points needed: 0
- Items needed: Life is used on plants to refill the river, and 2 fires are used to get Fira
- Other: I take the artifact Ring of Blizzard, wich gives +1 magic power and the ability to have the equivalent of an ice magicite
Mount Vellenge
- Points needed: -
- Items needed: I drop 2 ice magicites and 4 artifacts, +9 +9 +5 +3, finishing with 76
- Other: Needing to wait for the boss phases, the dialogues, and the quizz, is long
You will all be happy to know I really improved since my last runs. This game use TAS imputs to double the number of directions. It gives a new smoother movement, and a better feel when it's watched. This run takes more time moving and playing inside the dungeons, and less time battling repetitive bosses, wich is a plus. Also, I put every tricks I know and discovered to make a pleasant smooth watch.
Unless new tricks and routes are found, it's pretty much the best I can do. With better rng and maybe better movement some places, I could shave some little seconds. I'm proud and happy of this result.
Special thanks
- Leossier, my best friend, this run is dedicated to him
- The speedrunning community of FFCC. This game is for their enjoyment after all
- The TAS community, wich is the reason this beautiful video can be made and published for others to see in the first place
