CRYSTAR

Crystar pairs an original and compelling story with fairly average gameplay. The repetitive nature can become tedious, especially during the later parts, but the narrative concept is interesting enough to push the player to guiding Rei to the end of Purgatory. This is one of those games where the recommendation would have more to do with the level of personal interest in the story than anything else as that’s the most noteworthy feature in an otherwise good but unremarkable action RPG.

I was ready to be done with Crystar after its first 15 hours and leave somewhat satisfied, but the last chunk of the game really soured the rest of the experience. I was willing to give a pass to the stiff combat and the average writing precisely because it was building up to be a tighter, more entertaining experience. However, by artificially extending the length of a game that didn’t even make good use of its extra time, Crystar’s faults end up being impossible to tolerate and very easy to loathe. I really wanted to like Crystar, but I guess I couldn’t find much light in its darkness.

Even though it might just look like another game featuring teenage anime girls, that didn’t make the narrative any less compelling. What made Crystar‘s story so impressive was how it always kept me on my toes. Always introducing new plot points when I kept thinking I had everything figured out. While there was a lot to keep in mind, everything that happened in the story made sense. The narrative of Crystar is worth experiencing because of how real and relatable it is. It’s just a shame that the rest of the game couldn’t have been on the same level.