Crystalis (USA) ROM

What a cult classic! The Legend of Zelda makes sweet, passionate love to Final Fantasy and you have one beautiful baby named Crystalis. Just an epic blend of fantasy/sci-fi and action/rpg.

The most underrated game on the NES, crystalis is an amazing action rpg for the system, combing overhead combat in the style of The Legend of Zelda, with rpg elements, and a well made sound track, this may be the best game for the nes, that youve never heard of.

Crystalis seems to be one of those hidden gems of the NES. I can't remember anyone else ever talking about it and if I asked them about it, they'd always say they'd never heard of it. It is certainly worth playing despite its apparent under-popularity. Basically, its Zelda with more RPG qualities added in. You gain levels, use money, and collect weapons and items. All the makings of a great game. It has decent graphics for the time and pretty good music. The controls and gameplay are good and I especially like the charge-up sword idea. I really enjoyed the world exploration and different towns to discover, too. Not much else to say except that some parts are a bit too difficult and some are a bit too easy, it really spikes the difficulty sometimes and you have to go all the way back through dungeons just to get to the boss. It could be longer and I think would have been a better decision to release on the SNES, but aside from that, a good old game.

Crystalis is an action RPG that seems to have pretty mixed feelings surrounding it. Upon loading it up, I instantly remembered the game from many, many years ago just by the music. Of the classic, original NES RPGs I'd have to say this one is one of the easier ones solely because almost every single thing can be figured out based on very plainly spoken NPC dialogue. Nothing too cryptic in this game. Tedious is the second thing that comes to mind upon thinking of this game...

Controls are responsive but mechanic makes everything quite loose. Movement speed is pretty high and at first that feels like a good thing, however it encourages skipping monsters which just leads to lengthy grind sessions to make mandatory minimum levels to attack anything. The on-ice feeling is intentional, apparently.

Graphics are underwhelming and I never felt wow'd. The best looking thing in the environment is probably the tall grass. Weapon/spell effects are kinda cool, too. The game probably has 4 dungeon maps that are recolored endlessly and it just got...boring.

The music is pretty catchy and the one thing I don't have any complaints about. It never became annoying and when I noticed it, I liked it. SFX were generally good, only a few obnoxious beeps here and there.

Gameplay is mostly fluid and simple as you're led from one trigger to the next. Speaking to NPCs is integral to the game not only because that's how you receive all information about where to go, but also because the game simply does not progress without it. If you don't speak to x, y will not spawn in the next area, etc. I enjoyed the sense of immersion this gave as many early titles in this genre are very difficult to navigate due to a lack of direction. Having to tab to GameFAQs is very anti-immersion.

One of the key elements in the game is levels. It isn't just a matter of things getting harder, it's monsters who you can not even damage period without the appropriate level. The action part of this game coupled with the speed the character moves (as well as items and spells obtained later) and the utterly ridiculous level of status effects really discourages actually fighting at all unless forced to. Another factor is the tedious weapon swapping as all enemies have a list of elements which can and cannot harm them. Considering that fighting trash, or at least being surrounded by it, is more than 80% of the game, you'd think they would have made combat more enjoyable. Sadly, it's the worst part of the game. (the best part obviously being the mode of transportation over non-land)

The story is actually pretty neat and one might wonder if they borrowed some aspects from another castle in the sky story...I thoroughly enjoyed it and that's what made me keep playing.

Overall, I'd say this is a game absolutely worth playing. But...I wouldn't really say it matches up to the likes of FF or LoZ. There's a reason why it's an obscure 'hidden gem'.

This is a great game, making you an adventurer trying to save the world from destruction, you're pitted against many monsters and must gain a point value for each promotion, which results in better equipment, armor, shields, swords and special items to help you accomplish your task, it is pretty difficult, but worth the effort.