A unique and wonderful experience. The game has a sad, yet ultimately cathartic, feeling to it. There's great care in fleshing out the cast, the scenario is unique and there's some heavy themes it deals with in an amazing way. I'd say more but it's best to experience that firsthand. A wonderful score by Sakuzyo and an amazing script by Naoki Hisaya, along with beautiful designs by Riuichi and ntny are the main appeals of this game. It also features a wonderful cast of Japanese seiyuu (don't play this game dubbed, or else).
The game has two major flaws - dungeon design and enemy responsiveness/variety. Both reveal its nature as a rather low budget game, but they shouldn't prove to be a hindrance, as long as you have the perseverance to push through.
The game has two major flaws - dungeon design and enemy responsiveness/variety. Both reveal its nature as a rather low budget game, but they shouldn't prove to be a hindrance, as long as you have the perseverance to push through.
i am probably never gonna actually finish this because it makes kingdom hearts 1 feel like bayonetta. but the vibes are kinda enticing (i cry a lot too!!!) & theres a fluffy dog. one of those games where the specter of unlockable swimsuits haunts every moment
This must be what Yoko Taro games feel like to people who hate them
God tier characters and story, really cool albeit somewhat repetitive visuals on the stages, great OST, and an overall wonderful presentation that just oozes with soul. Sadly the whole thing is topped off with fairly boring gameplay which honestly did ramp up for me sometime midway through the game so I still ended up having a pretty enjoyable time in that aspect. Definitely worth picking up if you're perfectly fine with jank in your games and want a crazy emotional rollercoaster of a ride.
Also Nanana best.
Also Nanana best.
Everyone talks about how bad the gameplay is, and I very much agree, but everything else about the game make me fall in love with it. A strong aesthetic with extremely emotional writing.
Sen. Rei.
What a great group.
If the combat was good this game would be worldwide.
What a great group.
If the combat was good this game would be worldwide.
Is your heart still asleep?
Fine. It can wait for a bit. My wish doesn't have to reach you just yet. Not until you wake up.
Whether yesterday was unhappy. Or today is unhappy. Or tomorrow will be unhappy...
For every tear that is shed... rather, because tears will be shed, there may still be smiles in the future.
There's no law that enforces kindness in the world. The world is empty. The world is unreasonable. But, however, because of that...
You must give meaning to your tears through your will. You must give meaning to the sadness and pain you endure. Because it'll be unrequited. Because it is unfair.
Most importantly, use your tears to smile. I'm sure your future will be wonderful.
So give meaning to the tears.
You get exactly one paragraph on mechanics from me: It's repetitive cornmeal. I don't care HOW much of a mechanics-focused action game or RPG labber you think you are: You aren't finding anything special here. Trust me, I tried. All you need to know is that everything works in a (to my experience) bug-free manner, but the actual design is still frustrating (such as attacks not properly snapping to enemies and with imprecise controls). You spend way more time in repetitive dungeon-crawling than the systems' depth support, so if you play this game, you are doing so for experience of playing the story on offer. Hell, I even recommend setting the difficulty to easy so you spend less time on the dungeon crawls.
That aside, let's talk about other stuff.
There's no way I can be objective or measured about this: Crystar is one of my favorite games of all time because of literally everything besides the act of playing it, and that's saying something coming from me, someone who's about gameplay first and foremost always. The game presents a compelling story about death, grief, mourning, and how sorrow can transform us for better or worse. And it does so with fleshed-out characters that never feel too far into anime stereotype territory and a plot that isn't afraid to do great and terrible things to them. What's more, the plot is both complicated and sensible, with threads being resolved in intuitive ways full of twists that don't even feel like ass-pulls (at least for the bits that really matter).
This is to say nothing of the presentation: The English voice dub is excellent, so much so that I hesitate to think of playing it in Japanese on my next playthrough (especially when the game has that age-old problem of not translating combat dialogue and whatnot, which I feel gives a degree of context and personality to the characters). Brianna Knickerbocker absolutely kills the role as the main character Rei Hatada, with every sigh, gasp, sniffle, sob, and line delivery perfectly capturing how she's feeling at every moment. The rest of the cast does some real heavy lifting too.
The Sakuzyo soundtrack is also a delight, delivering tracks ranging from sadly beautiful to exciting when the time calls for it. And the art is just genuinely gorgeous. Both these things especially come together in Rei's room, the main menu that may seriously be my favorite main menu in video games now, presenting little "slideshow" vignettes of what a depressed, heartbroken Rei does at home in her room all day.
As someone experiencing a great deal of grief right now myself, this game just hits different, now. All its themes of depression and survivor's guilt and grief transforming us in great and terrible ways speak to me on a visceral level that I appreciated before, but not quite as much as I do now with intimate knowledge of how it feels. Being brutally honest, I was sobbing my eyes out during the credits, even though I already knew how the story went from my first playthrough going on almost 4 years ago, now.
I know this is all honestly a bunch of word salad, me blubbering about how much I love this game without actually getting into specifics, and I'm sorry about that. I'm truly not at my best right now. But I had to get something out there the same day I beat the game: Crystar is a rare example of a game that comes around once in a blue moon, seemingly nothing special on the surface, but truly one of the most magical experiences you can have while playing a video game that's less than stellar to play. I used to tell people I can't recommend it to anyone, but now I instead say:
Give it a shot. You might find something special here.
Fine. It can wait for a bit. My wish doesn't have to reach you just yet. Not until you wake up.
Whether yesterday was unhappy. Or today is unhappy. Or tomorrow will be unhappy...
For every tear that is shed... rather, because tears will be shed, there may still be smiles in the future.
There's no law that enforces kindness in the world. The world is empty. The world is unreasonable. But, however, because of that...
You must give meaning to your tears through your will. You must give meaning to the sadness and pain you endure. Because it'll be unrequited. Because it is unfair.
Most importantly, use your tears to smile. I'm sure your future will be wonderful.
So give meaning to the tears.
You get exactly one paragraph on mechanics from me: It's repetitive cornmeal. I don't care HOW much of a mechanics-focused action game or RPG labber you think you are: You aren't finding anything special here. Trust me, I tried. All you need to know is that everything works in a (to my experience) bug-free manner, but the actual design is still frustrating (such as attacks not properly snapping to enemies and with imprecise controls). You spend way more time in repetitive dungeon-crawling than the systems' depth support, so if you play this game, you are doing so for experience of playing the story on offer. Hell, I even recommend setting the difficulty to easy so you spend less time on the dungeon crawls.
That aside, let's talk about other stuff.
There's no way I can be objective or measured about this: Crystar is one of my favorite games of all time because of literally everything besides the act of playing it, and that's saying something coming from me, someone who's about gameplay first and foremost always. The game presents a compelling story about death, grief, mourning, and how sorrow can transform us for better or worse. And it does so with fleshed-out characters that never feel too far into anime stereotype territory and a plot that isn't afraid to do great and terrible things to them. What's more, the plot is both complicated and sensible, with threads being resolved in intuitive ways full of twists that don't even feel like ass-pulls (at least for the bits that really matter).
This is to say nothing of the presentation: The English voice dub is excellent, so much so that I hesitate to think of playing it in Japanese on my next playthrough (especially when the game has that age-old problem of not translating combat dialogue and whatnot, which I feel gives a degree of context and personality to the characters). Brianna Knickerbocker absolutely kills the role as the main character Rei Hatada, with every sigh, gasp, sniffle, sob, and line delivery perfectly capturing how she's feeling at every moment. The rest of the cast does some real heavy lifting too.
The Sakuzyo soundtrack is also a delight, delivering tracks ranging from sadly beautiful to exciting when the time calls for it. And the art is just genuinely gorgeous. Both these things especially come together in Rei's room, the main menu that may seriously be my favorite main menu in video games now, presenting little "slideshow" vignettes of what a depressed, heartbroken Rei does at home in her room all day.
As someone experiencing a great deal of grief right now myself, this game just hits different, now. All its themes of depression and survivor's guilt and grief transforming us in great and terrible ways speak to me on a visceral level that I appreciated before, but not quite as much as I do now with intimate knowledge of how it feels. Being brutally honest, I was sobbing my eyes out during the credits, even though I already knew how the story went from my first playthrough going on almost 4 years ago, now.
I know this is all honestly a bunch of word salad, me blubbering about how much I love this game without actually getting into specifics, and I'm sorry about that. I'm truly not at my best right now. But I had to get something out there the same day I beat the game: Crystar is a rare example of a game that comes around once in a blue moon, seemingly nothing special on the surface, but truly one of the most magical experiences you can have while playing a video game that's less than stellar to play. I used to tell people I can't recommend it to anyone, but now I instead say:
Give it a shot. You might find something special here.
Based on the Japanese version of the game.
Crystar isn't very fun to play at all, but everything else about it is above average to excellent. The art direction and character designs are evocative, affording the game a distinct visual presence, and it never "breaks character" in terms of aesthetics or tone. It also excels on the audio side of things, with a solid soundtrack courtesy of Sakuzyo and excellent performances from all of the voice actors.
The plot and writing are also approached with much more care than the average mass market title; Crystar successfully maintains a serious atmosphere throughout and handles heavy topics with the appropriate gravitas. One noteworthy aspect of the narrative is that there is essentially no optional story content whatsoever. Many modern JRPGs lean on social link systems (or similar) to flesh out the characters and provide a sense of breadth, but Crystar eschews that line of thinking. As a result, I can see people finding the story progression being too linear/rigid (the repetitive gameplay doesn't help matters), but I see it as a boon; since there are no side events, every character must be used in the main story and interact with each other throughout, which results in the cast having a genuine depth and sense of camaraderie that the social link format can't really accomplish. The plot itself also doesn't pull any punches, pulling off consistently surprising developments alongside meaningful twists and revelations. I also appreciate that, while the setting itself has some pretty interesting background elements that you can discover for yourself by reading through the memories you pick up from enemies throughout the game, the ultimate conflict is a personal one and the characters are only really interested in proving themselves and overcoming their own traumas, not changing the world or killing god or anything (though they do accomplish something pretty major in the process). The final sequence of events might have felt eye-rollingly cheesy in some other games, but Crystar actually managed to pull it off. I should also reiterate here that the voice acting is absolutely fantastic throughout; the performances really sell the characters, especially Nanana and Rei. Every single line of the game is voiced, too, which is somewhat of a rarity even in JRPGs now.
My only real complaint with the narrative elements is that it feels like some things could have been pushed even further; in particular, I feel like the ending was maybe just a bit too straightforward. (Rot13) V guvax vg jbhyq unir orra vagrerfgvat gb frr Zvenv npghnyyl erghea gb gur jbeyq bs gur yvivat jvgu Erv, jvgu gur gjb bs gurz univat gb errinyhngr gurve eryngvbafuvc pbzcyrgryl, naq Erv yvivat jvgu gur xabjyrqtr gung ure fvfgre vf rffragvnyyl n znff zheqrere jub tbg njnl jvgu vg. Univat Zvenv qrpvqr gb tb guebhtu gur ervapneangvba cebprff vf gur "zbeny" jnl gb cynl guvatf, ohg V guvax vg jbhyq unir orra n ovg zber ernyvfgvp naq creuncf rira zber gehr gb gur gurzrf bs gur fgbel vs fur jrera'g jvyyvat gb tvir hc ba Erv, naq guhf yvsr, fb rnfvyl. V qhaab, znlor guvf jbhyq or gbb qnex nsgre gur erfg bs gur raqvatf? (End Rot13) In general I think JRPGs should spend more time on the ending sequences and epilogues, and Crystar did feel like it ended a little too abruptly for my tastes. At the same time, the characters have all been through a lot, so maybe it's best to give them a bit of a respite at the very end, lol.
I must also emphasize that the game is not at all fun to play. The ARPG combat doesn't feel awful to play or anything, but there's no depth to the system at all and only a few enemy types. The map design is also extremely haphazard, with chunks of terrain pasted together in unnatural ways and no design elements of note other than a few chests here and there; it almost feels like it's procedurally generated, even if it isn't. You end up just sort of mindlessly button mashing your way through a bunch of very similar maps, some of which you need to play more than once. I suggest putting the game on easy mode (the difficulties don't seem to affect anything but enemy HP and damage output) and engaging with the gameplay as little as possible.
My final criticism would be that a lot of the music, despite being very good on its own, simply isn't used very well. The map themes are way too quiet (I ended up having to turn the game volume itself way up and then reduce the volume for the sound effects and voices separately), and many tracks just don't play for very long at all, with several only being used once or twice near the end of the game. Given how many tracks there actually are, and how much work Sakuzyo put into them, this was pretty disappointing.
Overall, Crystar is a game that is very flawed as, well, a game, but succeeds to varying degrees in every other way and delivers a satisfying narrative with well-realized characters. While it's not on the same level as DoD3 or Berseria, if you want a commercial JRPG with 1) a female protagonist and 2) a serious, relatively mature story, Crystar should definitely scratch that itch. As long as you can put up with the monotonous experience that is actually playing the game, anyway.
[While I wouldn't really classify Crystar as a yuri game, all of the principal cast members are female and develop meaningful relationships with one another, in addition to simply possessing agency in their own right. Mirai's obsession with Rei is also pretty... satisfying? Writing this now, I realized you can kind of see the game as Hisaya's version of Madoka, so people who liked that will probably like Crystar too...]
Crystar isn't very fun to play at all, but everything else about it is above average to excellent. The art direction and character designs are evocative, affording the game a distinct visual presence, and it never "breaks character" in terms of aesthetics or tone. It also excels on the audio side of things, with a solid soundtrack courtesy of Sakuzyo and excellent performances from all of the voice actors.
The plot and writing are also approached with much more care than the average mass market title; Crystar successfully maintains a serious atmosphere throughout and handles heavy topics with the appropriate gravitas. One noteworthy aspect of the narrative is that there is essentially no optional story content whatsoever. Many modern JRPGs lean on social link systems (or similar) to flesh out the characters and provide a sense of breadth, but Crystar eschews that line of thinking. As a result, I can see people finding the story progression being too linear/rigid (the repetitive gameplay doesn't help matters), but I see it as a boon; since there are no side events, every character must be used in the main story and interact with each other throughout, which results in the cast having a genuine depth and sense of camaraderie that the social link format can't really accomplish. The plot itself also doesn't pull any punches, pulling off consistently surprising developments alongside meaningful twists and revelations. I also appreciate that, while the setting itself has some pretty interesting background elements that you can discover for yourself by reading through the memories you pick up from enemies throughout the game, the ultimate conflict is a personal one and the characters are only really interested in proving themselves and overcoming their own traumas, not changing the world or killing god or anything (though they do accomplish something pretty major in the process). The final sequence of events might have felt eye-rollingly cheesy in some other games, but Crystar actually managed to pull it off. I should also reiterate here that the voice acting is absolutely fantastic throughout; the performances really sell the characters, especially Nanana and Rei. Every single line of the game is voiced, too, which is somewhat of a rarity even in JRPGs now.
My only real complaint with the narrative elements is that it feels like some things could have been pushed even further; in particular, I feel like the ending was maybe just a bit too straightforward. (Rot13) V guvax vg jbhyq unir orra vagrerfgvat gb frr Zvenv npghnyyl erghea gb gur jbeyq bs gur yvivat jvgu Erv, jvgu gur gjb bs gurz univat gb errinyhngr gurve eryngvbafuvc pbzcyrgryl, naq Erv yvivat jvgu gur xabjyrqtr gung ure fvfgre vf rffragvnyyl n znff zheqrere jub tbg njnl jvgu vg. Univat Zvenv qrpvqr gb tb guebhtu gur ervapneangvba cebprff vf gur "zbeny" jnl gb cynl guvatf, ohg V guvax vg jbhyq unir orra n ovg zber ernyvfgvp naq creuncf rira zber gehr gb gur gurzrf bs gur fgbel vs fur jrera'g jvyyvat gb tvir hc ba Erv, naq guhf yvsr, fb rnfvyl. V qhaab, znlor guvf jbhyq or gbb qnex nsgre gur erfg bs gur raqvatf? (End Rot13) In general I think JRPGs should spend more time on the ending sequences and epilogues, and Crystar did feel like it ended a little too abruptly for my tastes. At the same time, the characters have all been through a lot, so maybe it's best to give them a bit of a respite at the very end, lol.
I must also emphasize that the game is not at all fun to play. The ARPG combat doesn't feel awful to play or anything, but there's no depth to the system at all and only a few enemy types. The map design is also extremely haphazard, with chunks of terrain pasted together in unnatural ways and no design elements of note other than a few chests here and there; it almost feels like it's procedurally generated, even if it isn't. You end up just sort of mindlessly button mashing your way through a bunch of very similar maps, some of which you need to play more than once. I suggest putting the game on easy mode (the difficulties don't seem to affect anything but enemy HP and damage output) and engaging with the gameplay as little as possible.
My final criticism would be that a lot of the music, despite being very good on its own, simply isn't used very well. The map themes are way too quiet (I ended up having to turn the game volume itself way up and then reduce the volume for the sound effects and voices separately), and many tracks just don't play for very long at all, with several only being used once or twice near the end of the game. Given how many tracks there actually are, and how much work Sakuzyo put into them, this was pretty disappointing.
Overall, Crystar is a game that is very flawed as, well, a game, but succeeds to varying degrees in every other way and delivers a satisfying narrative with well-realized characters. While it's not on the same level as DoD3 or Berseria, if you want a commercial JRPG with 1) a female protagonist and 2) a serious, relatively mature story, Crystar should definitely scratch that itch. As long as you can put up with the monotonous experience that is actually playing the game, anyway.
[While I wouldn't really classify Crystar as a yuri game, all of the principal cast members are female and develop meaningful relationships with one another, in addition to simply possessing agency in their own right. Mirai's obsession with Rei is also pretty... satisfying? Writing this now, I realized you can kind of see the game as Hisaya's version of Madoka, so people who liked that will probably like Crystar too...]
Make a girl cry? That's gonna fly here. Sorry Rex Xenoblade
Very interesting story, but the combat does get repetitive after a while when you got to replay the main story a couple of times.
i'm rating it this way not because of the gameplay, but in spite of it. this game is so much my shit. everything good about this game feels far above average, but the actual gameplay and aspects of the presentation are so firmly and hopelessly average... or worse. my brain is sighing.
What can I say about this game that hasn't already been said by multiple people already? If you were like me who went into this game after seeing the gameplay but seeing it was incredible cheap when it was on sale then you know already that this game's combat is very barebones, from minute 30 all the way to final hour nothing changes I ended up only using Rei and Sen the whole time because they were only ones I really needed. Now if you're wondering why I continued playing this game from start to finish then the answer is simple: the story. If there's any positives that I can give Crystar it's definitely its story, the whole idea of someone going through literal purgatory/limbo in order to get the soul back of someone they love by making a deal with the devil is interesting as hell, while I won't go into detail about everything I will say that it definitely is worth it to get the true ending it may require multiple playthroughs but it definitely is worth it.
This was a pretty special one to me. Its gameplay was serviceable, not exactly great, and the story didn't quite affect me the way I think the game intended. I still came out greatly appreciating what Crystar tried to do and all the ways it succeeded. It reminds me of teen angst a lot, it dabbles on some pretty sensitive topics without delving too far into them to be overbearing. The main character, Rei, ended up striking a lot of nerves with me because I could relate to her in many ways I wasn't happy to admit, and that made the game become very introspective as I watched her grow and examined how I could also improve. It wasn't really a great game, but it was very important to me.
A game with a really good story to tell but the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired. The characters are cute and have a nice dynamic. The game has a lot of aha moments towards the end that kept me going through the game. The enemies could have been less stiff and the player characters as well - combat always felt like you are still while attacking.
I hate this game. The general gameplay just feels never ending of the same things. The artstyle is the only reason why I played this game and the story I did enjoy, but I will never come back to get all the endings.
the dub for this is racist and a hate crime, I will not elaborate.
This game has great and unique ideas that stand out from other generic jrpgs, but the execution is really bad. The combat is repetitive and super boring. This whole game is a low-budget mess.
This is how straight people feel when you put ketchup on pizza.
Had gotten this game for my birthday two years ago and just now was able to play and complete it in the past week. This one was a doozy. To be honest, the dungeon crawling and combat become very repetitive and monotonous, however even with the added party members and special moves you can learn and chain together I often found myself just running through a bunch of areas to see what would happen next. The dungeon layout and gameplay seem like something that would fit a psvita title. However where this game really shines is the art and the characters as well as the story. Wasn't expecting this to be a jrpg in regards to the length, even so, the story and events that kept occurring were enough to keep me invested. At first, I was almost ready to toss this to the side, but I'm glad I stuck with it. Sen is best girl! Holler if you hear me!!
A good story wrapped up in a boring bundle.
Crystar has been sitting on my pick back up pile for a long time now. I started this game a few years ago but just stopped playing it for no particular reason. With the release of Crymachina I thought it would be fun to go back and finally finish Crystar. By the end I found myself really enjoying the story but really just wanting to finish the game and get it over with due to its horrible midpoint gameplay choices that followed through until the end.
What did I enjoy about this game ?
To start off, the story was very nice and one that will keep you interested until the end. The story of Crystar is simple on a base level, having you play as Rei , a girl whose sister has died. In order to get your sister back you make a deal with the devil that sets you out on a journey in Purgatory / Limbo. Crystar does a good job building up its story to its eventual climax giving you multiple characters you will meet and care for throughout the runtime. Beyond that , the OST is great and has tracks you will want to listen to when you are not even playing. Furthermore , the artwork is simply amazing making you wish they had even more of it in game because I loved the character artworks , specific cutscene artwork.
Sadly this is where it gets tricky.
I want to touch upon the story real quick because while I think it was overall great I was not fond of the ending. There was so much aftermath we the players deserved to see but simply didn't. My biggest complaint which ultimately ruined the game however was its gameplay and runtime of the game. First off, the game doesn’t have a high quality feel to it which is FINE not every game needs to have a AAA feel to it. However, this doesn’t mean you can have boring and repetitive gameplay and think it will be passable. To simply put , the gameplay is BORING and downright BAD not ever feeling fluid or fun. Hits don’t feel impactful , certain skills are insanely OP making what you use severely limited as you will end up using what is OP. This sadly translates over to characters as 2 out of 4 characters overpower the other 2 by a crap ton. By the end I saw myself using literally 1 character as there was ZERO reason to use anyone else. Furthermore, the loot pool is boring as it all comes down to numbers and looks. The weapons will not have special effects or stats the higher the tier they will simply look different and have better numbers. You will not sit and think about what to equip, you will just equip what is best and move on. The game features an upgrade system which is utterly useless as upgrading weapons do not really boost the stats to a degree that makes it worth grinding for. All these small things will begin to add up quickly and maybe wouldn’t have taken as much of a toll on me if it wasn’t for the runtime of this game. By now you would think these would be my biggest issues right? Well you would be wrong weirdly enough. I always find enjoyment in games and do not mind middle of the road gameplay HOWEVER the story makes one of the worst decisions gameplay wise. The story hits a point in which you will have to replay the SAME EXACT MISSIONS OVER AND OVER. Doesn’t sound bad at first but when you take into account how long and boring levels are you will literally lose your mind by the end. I cannot fathom why they force replays of the same levels over and over when they simply could have saved so much time by skipping so much of that portion of the game. By this point I literally found myself confused as the game makes you go through so much just to get new story scenes that eventually lead into its ending. It truly makes for a dreadful experience and one that I was not sad to see finished lol.
Do not 100% this game
As a trophy hunter my #1 rule is to get my feelings and review out of the way when I finish a game. I NEVER allow trophy hunting to affect my overall feeling of a game but I felt the need to add this section for people who do like Plat hunting. DO NOT GO FOR THE PLAT ITS INSANELY GRINDY AND BORING , that is all.
In the end
I am really bummed out because if there was a great gameplay loop to back up the great story that is already present I believe we could have had a really good game on our hands. I am very intrigued to dive into Crymachina as I played the demo and personally really enjoyed it. The physical for Crystar is quite expensive now for a US copy so I 100% do not recommend hunting a copy down however if you catch it on a deep sale digitally then give it a go if you understand what you are getting into.
Crystar has been sitting on my pick back up pile for a long time now. I started this game a few years ago but just stopped playing it for no particular reason. With the release of Crymachina I thought it would be fun to go back and finally finish Crystar. By the end I found myself really enjoying the story but really just wanting to finish the game and get it over with due to its horrible midpoint gameplay choices that followed through until the end.
What did I enjoy about this game ?
To start off, the story was very nice and one that will keep you interested until the end. The story of Crystar is simple on a base level, having you play as Rei , a girl whose sister has died. In order to get your sister back you make a deal with the devil that sets you out on a journey in Purgatory / Limbo. Crystar does a good job building up its story to its eventual climax giving you multiple characters you will meet and care for throughout the runtime. Beyond that , the OST is great and has tracks you will want to listen to when you are not even playing. Furthermore , the artwork is simply amazing making you wish they had even more of it in game because I loved the character artworks , specific cutscene artwork.
Sadly this is where it gets tricky.
I want to touch upon the story real quick because while I think it was overall great I was not fond of the ending. There was so much aftermath we the players deserved to see but simply didn't. My biggest complaint which ultimately ruined the game however was its gameplay and runtime of the game. First off, the game doesn’t have a high quality feel to it which is FINE not every game needs to have a AAA feel to it. However, this doesn’t mean you can have boring and repetitive gameplay and think it will be passable. To simply put , the gameplay is BORING and downright BAD not ever feeling fluid or fun. Hits don’t feel impactful , certain skills are insanely OP making what you use severely limited as you will end up using what is OP. This sadly translates over to characters as 2 out of 4 characters overpower the other 2 by a crap ton. By the end I saw myself using literally 1 character as there was ZERO reason to use anyone else. Furthermore, the loot pool is boring as it all comes down to numbers and looks. The weapons will not have special effects or stats the higher the tier they will simply look different and have better numbers. You will not sit and think about what to equip, you will just equip what is best and move on. The game features an upgrade system which is utterly useless as upgrading weapons do not really boost the stats to a degree that makes it worth grinding for. All these small things will begin to add up quickly and maybe wouldn’t have taken as much of a toll on me if it wasn’t for the runtime of this game. By now you would think these would be my biggest issues right? Well you would be wrong weirdly enough. I always find enjoyment in games and do not mind middle of the road gameplay HOWEVER the story makes one of the worst decisions gameplay wise. The story hits a point in which you will have to replay the SAME EXACT MISSIONS OVER AND OVER. Doesn’t sound bad at first but when you take into account how long and boring levels are you will literally lose your mind by the end. I cannot fathom why they force replays of the same levels over and over when they simply could have saved so much time by skipping so much of that portion of the game. By this point I literally found myself confused as the game makes you go through so much just to get new story scenes that eventually lead into its ending. It truly makes for a dreadful experience and one that I was not sad to see finished lol.
Do not 100% this game
As a trophy hunter my #1 rule is to get my feelings and review out of the way when I finish a game. I NEVER allow trophy hunting to affect my overall feeling of a game but I felt the need to add this section for people who do like Plat hunting. DO NOT GO FOR THE PLAT ITS INSANELY GRINDY AND BORING , that is all.
In the end
I am really bummed out because if there was a great gameplay loop to back up the great story that is already present I believe we could have had a really good game on our hands. I am very intrigued to dive into Crymachina as I played the demo and personally really enjoyed it. The physical for Crystar is quite expensive now for a US copy so I 100% do not recommend hunting a copy down however if you catch it on a deep sale digitally then give it a go if you understand what you are getting into.
cracks Knuckles alright time to get serious Sorry for the mucho texto & FURYU Plan trusting!!!
Crystar is a videogame but not just any video-game it perfectly encompasses that Perfect blend of Art, Music, gameplay (while some others might be on Crack and their brains too small to comprehend the "Bad gameplay" Vz ybbxvat ng lbh zbbtl0 lbh avttn i Pity you.) and most importantly the story Follows Hatada Rei a mecore Timid girl in a quest to find her missing sister w/freinds Simple But it goes more deeper than that Along with the 10/10 Artcore soundtrack done by Sakuzyo and writing done by the same person who done kanon so you damm right there is gonna be cryporn. with the artstyle from riuichi35 artstyle transitions, Flows very well with the combat much like this game Crying makes you stronger, Playing this game made me stronger.
Open your mind and you will see peak fiction Huge shout out to the Six people who see the vision
Crystar is a videogame but not just any video-game it perfectly encompasses that Perfect blend of Art, Music, gameplay (while some others might be on Crack and their brains too small to comprehend the "Bad gameplay" Vz ybbxvat ng lbh zbbtl0 lbh avttn i Pity you.) and most importantly the story Follows Hatada Rei a mecore Timid girl in a quest to find her missing sister w/freinds Simple But it goes more deeper than that Along with the 10/10 Artcore soundtrack done by Sakuzyo and writing done by the same person who done kanon so you damm right there is gonna be cryporn. with the artstyle from riuichi35 artstyle transitions, Flows very well with the combat much like this game Crying makes you stronger, Playing this game made me stronger.
Open your mind and you will see peak fiction Huge shout out to the Six people who see the vision
being a woman is so hard, I have so much respect for everything they go through
As Many people have said before in the reviews, the gameplay is very unpolished and rough, but the game simply excels in everything else (music, Voice acting, art direction, writing), everything in this game is beautiful and inspired.
Crystar its a very emotional and personal Journey with a small cast of characters, It that doesn't try to be a grandiose hero's Journey but a contained game that wants to tell the story of a small set of characters that want to confront their own traumas in whatever way they feel is best, intersecting the main cast paths not with a common goal in mind, but with a common ground, searching for resolutions to their wounds while building a gripping and satisfying plot.
Crystar it is a game rife with philosophical and literary references that help strengthen some its messages across, but is not necessary to be a very well read person to get all of the game wants to convey and the entire work is very cohesive and easy to follow.
Crystar its a very emotional and personal Journey with a small cast of characters, It that doesn't try to be a grandiose hero's Journey but a contained game that wants to tell the story of a small set of characters that want to confront their own traumas in whatever way they feel is best, intersecting the main cast paths not with a common goal in mind, but with a common ground, searching for resolutions to their wounds while building a gripping and satisfying plot.
Crystar it is a game rife with philosophical and literary references that help strengthen some its messages across, but is not necessary to be a very well read person to get all of the game wants to convey and the entire work is very cohesive and easy to follow.
It's a bit like listening to an amazarashi album, but in the form of a very bad video game instead. Thankfully I love amazarashi enough to have seen him live in Japan, so I still liked this a whole ton.
An incredibly emotional yet overly ambitious low-budget game which tries to do way too much for it's own good. Probably some of the worst most repetitive action RPG gameplay you'll ever experience but with a great soundtrack, interesting (if sometimes slow and repetitive) tear-jerking story. An experience that's well worth it if you can slog through the repeated routes and make it to the true ending
Crystar is an interesting game. It has admittedly been on my backlog for the better part of a year & I finally decided to play it recently & it took me around 30 hours to finish the main story in its entirety. And honestly I admit I’m a little conflicted on it.
Now I won’t waste too much time talking about this game’s mechanics cause I’m pretty sure most people have done that several times. I have always been one who prioritises gameplay over everything else cause well this is a game. I’m not saying everything else is unimportant it’s just if you can’t make a game fun to play? Then you’ve already failed. Doesn’t matter how incredible your story is, if I’m not enjoying playing I’m unlikely to keep going. So that already marks a couple points off Crystar right off the bat cause this game? It’s dull. It’s repetitive. And its combat lacks any sort of depth. The dungeons are incredibly samey & don’t have a lot of variety to them at all. Most encounters you resort to the same tactic mashing the same buttons over & over. Several hours in it really did get mind numbing & yeah it’s just not very fun at all. So with all that in mind you’d think I don’t like this game very much
However despite its majorly unsatisfying gameplay loop, I can still say I liked Crystar. It’s an extremely compelling story about grief & loss & I think it handles those themes really well for the most part. The art & characters are also pretty fantastic. There’s a lot of depth to the cast I feel & the performances in the English dub are pretty solid. Though I will say I found some dialogue…very cringe inducing (looking at you Kokoro) but I’d say that I did really like the bond of the party as you go through Purgatory the main area of the game. There’s a lot of complexity to the cast with my favourites being probably Rei & Sen. And the way the narrative explores the trauma of each of the girls is incredibly compelling. I think there’s a lot to be said about this game’s narrative & how much it pulls on the heartstrings especially in the latter chapters.
Now while yes I enjoyed the narrative for the most part…I’m going to say the endgame? What the fuck. This entire section was absolutely mind boggling since you need to repeat several chapters multiple times just to get all the endings. It felt like padding for the sake of extending the length. And while yes I will say the combat does improve slightly around that point, it’s still mostly the same throughout. I’ve never been much of a fan of multiple endings with exceptions going to games such as NieR Automata. However I will admit on the true ending path, all these different outcomes really did make the journey worth it. Even if I also will say that the true ending left me feeling a little…underwhelmed.
Honestly if you trimmed this game by 10 hours & fixed up the gameplay to make it less tedious? This would be a pretty easy recommendation from me but no matter how much I enjoyed Crystar, I can’t really recommend this title to anyone without first warning them about its many flaws. It was a good game though, one I definitely am glad I persevered with even despite the repetition.
Final score: 7/10
Now I won’t waste too much time talking about this game’s mechanics cause I’m pretty sure most people have done that several times. I have always been one who prioritises gameplay over everything else cause well this is a game. I’m not saying everything else is unimportant it’s just if you can’t make a game fun to play? Then you’ve already failed. Doesn’t matter how incredible your story is, if I’m not enjoying playing I’m unlikely to keep going. So that already marks a couple points off Crystar right off the bat cause this game? It’s dull. It’s repetitive. And its combat lacks any sort of depth. The dungeons are incredibly samey & don’t have a lot of variety to them at all. Most encounters you resort to the same tactic mashing the same buttons over & over. Several hours in it really did get mind numbing & yeah it’s just not very fun at all. So with all that in mind you’d think I don’t like this game very much
However despite its majorly unsatisfying gameplay loop, I can still say I liked Crystar. It’s an extremely compelling story about grief & loss & I think it handles those themes really well for the most part. The art & characters are also pretty fantastic. There’s a lot of depth to the cast I feel & the performances in the English dub are pretty solid. Though I will say I found some dialogue…very cringe inducing (looking at you Kokoro) but I’d say that I did really like the bond of the party as you go through Purgatory the main area of the game. There’s a lot of complexity to the cast with my favourites being probably Rei & Sen. And the way the narrative explores the trauma of each of the girls is incredibly compelling. I think there’s a lot to be said about this game’s narrative & how much it pulls on the heartstrings especially in the latter chapters.
Now while yes I enjoyed the narrative for the most part…I’m going to say the endgame? What the fuck. This entire section was absolutely mind boggling since you need to repeat several chapters multiple times just to get all the endings. It felt like padding for the sake of extending the length. And while yes I will say the combat does improve slightly around that point, it’s still mostly the same throughout. I’ve never been much of a fan of multiple endings with exceptions going to games such as NieR Automata. However I will admit on the true ending path, all these different outcomes really did make the journey worth it. Even if I also will say that the true ending left me feeling a little…underwhelmed.
Honestly if you trimmed this game by 10 hours & fixed up the gameplay to make it less tedious? This would be a pretty easy recommendation from me but no matter how much I enjoyed Crystar, I can’t really recommend this title to anyone without first warning them about its many flaws. It was a good game though, one I definitely am glad I persevered with even despite the repetition.
Final score: 7/10
The story is so good you persevere through shitty gameplay, multiple times!
With tears shed, you shall revive the dead.
A very cool and enjoyable game.
Gameplay is also very cool but it's a bit repetitive.
A very cool and enjoyable game.
Gameplay is also very cool but it's a bit repetitive.
Gameplay was mid and the equipment and abilities system made me want to actually cry, the story was ok but I saw the twist miles before, but the characters were cool and somehow in general it was mostly enjoyable
Your enjoyment of Crystar will depend on your ability to turn off your brain during the combat segments, because the gameplay is absolute ass. If you can do that, however, you will find a powerful Faustian narrative that repurposes concepts of Ancient Greek philosophy and literary theory to deliver a metatextual story-about-stories about healing through trauma and becoming a better person through catharsis.
Sen is so cool I wish she was my husband.
Sen is so cool I wish she was my husband.