Video Game Review: Crystar

Developer & Publisher: NIS America

Genre: JRPG

Reviewed For: Nintendo Switch

Also Available On: PlayStation 4, PC

As a longtime JRPG fan, I’ve put up with many different hang-ups that the genre is known for. Since it’s my favorite genre, I have a higher tolerance for some of the tropes that we see in almost every game in the genre that usually lead to either a bland story, bland characters, or both. Usually these games make up for those characters with engaging gameplay. Rarely do I see a game do the opposite, and Crystar seems to be that oddity.

Please don’t get me wrong, I am not implying that Crystar is a bad game by any means. It is absolutely serviceable and even comes with some excellent gameplay ideas along the way. What makes it so noteworthy is how compelling and mature the story is, and how lackluster the combat ends up being over the course of the game’s 30-40 hour adventure.

In Crystar, protagonist Rei and her sister wind up lost in a strange world. Before long, they are ambushed by a monster attacks, and Rei suddenly unlocks some powers to help her defeat the monster. Unsurprisingly, she doesn’t have much control over these powers and accidentally kills her sister. Overcome with grief, Rei ends up striking a deal with some demons to give them the tears of those she slays in exchange for her sister coming back to life.

The story may sound familiar and maybe even generic, but it is driven by strong pacing and narration, making it easy to fall for the characters. The setting is believable enough, and while there are still some tropes throughout Crystar, most of them don’t stick out as much as the ones in other JRPGs do.

The gameplay is typical of traditional action JRPG combat. Players have access to light and heavy attacks and will dash around, stunning enemies, and really just mashing buttons. The game isn’t too difficult, so most battles just feel like they exist to slow the player down as they progress through the story. Outside of the unique crying mechanic, in which the character literally cries during downtime to boost stats and gauges, there isn’t anything unique gameplay wise.

The crying at least fits in with the narrative well. There is a lot on the protagonist’s shoulders, and players can look at memoirs that contain the last thoughts and words of monsters slain. It makes defeating enemeies hit harder than usual, so it only makes sense that Rei has a little cry before moving on.

Players can switch between characters that have slight variation in combat style, but it doesn’t add enough spice to feel truly diverse. At the end of the day, the battle is too simple, and even different paces or narration doesn’t change it up enough. Even worse, the enemies don’t vary enough, so the changes in characters still get stale.

Of course, Crystar is a JRPG port, and so it shouldn’t be surprising that a few sacrifices have been made. When compared to the PlayStation 4 version, there are some graphical downgrades, especially when played in handheld mode. In addition to this, there are a quite a few moments with choppy framerates, especially when there is a lot of action going on. Despite, this, Crystar is still absolutely playable on the Nintendo Switch, and it holds up better than a few of the JRPG ports from Idea Factory recently. For some, this might even be the best way to experience Crystar due to the added features and DLC included in the package. If players are able to tolerate some performance issues, this is a fine port.

Despite the fascinating story arcs, Crystar fails to overcome the bland gameplay and performance issues that plague it. If players have exhausted all other options, this is a passable JRPG. Otherwise, there are much better options on the Nintendo Switch.