Destructoid’s Chris Carter was able to talk to Ryoma Araki, the director of the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered. Carter’s interview went over a lot of details about the game and he also took the opportunity to address the most pressing question fans have. Carter directly asked Araki why local multiplayer was dropped from the Remaster, a design decision fans consider a big mistake.
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Araki provided a lengthy response as to why local play, a fondly remembered feature of the original 2003 GameCube title, would not make a return in the Remaster. Araki says that despite local play not being a feature of the upcoming release, he believes players will “enjoy the same multiplayer experience they did back in the day” with the original Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.
Araki further elaborated that another big reason for the decision was due to the platforms that Crystal Chronicles Remastered will release on. Crystal Chronicles Remastered is coming to PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android devices. Three of the listed platforms are handheld which Araki considers a means to emulate local play. With the PlayStation 4 version being the only “stationary” way to play Crystal Chronicles Remastered, those wanting the local experience can just bring the other versions over. With this in mind, local play would not have worked on all versions of the game, thus Araki and the development team opted to focus on cross-platform play instead.
To many fans, Araki’s explanation for the team’s decision won’t alter much of the ill will put towards the game. The question of local-play within the Crystal Chronicles Remastered has been a subject of much debate. Back in May, rumor spread that Crystal Chronicles Remastered appeared to have local play due to a paragraph on the official page on the PlayStation website.
With Crystal Chronicles Remastered releasing later this month, many of those initially excited to return to the Final Fantasy spin-off have turned away from the title. Square Enix is gambling on cross-platform play to be the defining feature of the title with the publisher even offering a Lite version of Crystal Chronicles Remastered. This will be a free-to-play version of the game that will hopefully allow players to emulate the same co-op feeling of the original without having to buy another version.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Remastered will be releasing on August 27th 2020 for Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, and the Nintendo Switch.
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Source: Destructoid
