Ranking Every Final Fantasy Spin-Off Game

The second title in the Crystal Chronicles subseries made the jump from home console to handheld upon its release in 2007. Both the DS and online console gaming were in their infancy at this point, making Ring Of Fates the first non-MMO game in the franchise to offer online multiplayer play in the West (Dirge of Cerberus had a multiplayer mode in Japan, but this was dropped when the game was tweaked for American and European release).

Said multiplayer was a great idea in principle, but, perhaps hamstrung by early networking limitations, was a nightmare to endure given the huge drop in framerate that occurred as the game struggled to process all of the players and animations on the screen at any given time. Many only experienced the single player options as a result, which were hindered by mindlessly mediocre AI partners as much as Echoes Of Time was.

These issues with Ring Of Fates and Echoes Of Time, combined with the sheer mediocrity of The Crystal Bearers, has resulted in the entire Crystal Chronicles subseries being entirely skipped over by many players. Ring Of Fates is worth exploring slightly more than its successors for its relatively coherent story, user-friendliness, good use of the DS’ split and touch screen features and enjoyable extras such as kart-racing, but still a long way from being a ‘must play’ experience.