The Crystal Chronicals GBA dilema
 

the idea that the GBA-GC connectivity in FF:CC is a bad thing, and that Nintendo is a moneygrubbing company for doing so, seems to be a popular topic as of late. and i'm wondering why.

is the concept of requiring 4 GBAs and a GameCube that much more rediculous than the concept of having 4 seperate Xboxes, TVs and copies of Halo (& Xbox Live subscriptions) (and more if you're playing larger than 4 player games)? At worst, you end up buying a GBA, which is easily the best handheld on the market (for the time being), which i really don't see as any form of punishment.

yes, i suppose Nintendo could have gotten everything to run on the GC without the need for the GBA hookup, but the gameplay would not be as smooth as it is.

Well, that's if you want multi-player for four people. You only need one GBA per person, and if you want to play on your own, you don't need a GBA in the first place.

As for moneygrubbing, all businesses do that. They call it "being successful" or something.

Yes I do see it as money grubbing. The scenario you mentioned with Halo? I think that is ludocris, and I wouldn't pay for that, and that's why I don't have an X-Box. I expected better of GC, and then they pulled this BS with CC. All I can say is that Nintendo is pretty sick that you NEED GBA's to play ANY GC game is money grubbing in my opinion, and while I do own one GBA because I like the games, no game, EVER in my opinion, should require a whole different system to run a game, as in, you shouldn't need a GBA to run any GC game, and I think it's messed up that they do.

Also, VGCats has a comic up about the whole situation that I agree with as well.

You want a dilema, how about being unemployed and thus unable to pay for the game you've been waiting for years. Yes years, any RPG on a nintendo system by Square.

I've said this before, but for those of us who already have a gamecube and a GBA, this is a blessing. I bought my GameCube so I could play GC games and I bought my GBA so I could play GBA games. Having both already, I love the idea of being able to use them in conjunction to play an excellent game that would otherwise be more difficult (in some cases) to play.

Far too many people are seeing this the wrong way. "You mean I have to pay $590 for 4 GBA SP's, a Gamecube, 4 link cables, plus $50 just for one game?" No. You should already have the gamecube if you're considering the game. You may need to get a GBA (for $50 used at Gamestop, a deal if you consider the great games out for it). Your friends should also already have the GBA's or consider buying their own (the possibilities beyond FFCC should be enough to pursuade them. All you have left is the game itself. For you, at most $100. However FFCC is a multiplayer game. I suggest at least three people at one time.

Square made the game, NOT NINTENDO.

Generally, from what I see, those who complain about the GBA requirement for multiplayer haven't actually looked into how it works. It's not just some gimmick, it's an important part of the game. All your menus, commands, management etc, are inputted through it.

Why would they do this? It's simple. If you're playing an action RPG with three other people, do you want to have to stop playing EVERY SINGLE TIME someone needs to do something with their inventory or setup? If someone needs to fish out a heal or arrange their spells, that's time that EVERYONE has to sit there twiddling their thumbs doing nothing. Ever tried to play Secret of Mana multiplayer? The action parts are nice, but it's incredibly frustrating when other players need to pause to do any number of things, especially during boss battles where they'll be pausing every other second to cast spells. The GBA connectivity completely eliminates that hassle and makes for a much more cohesive, immersive game.

Gathering four GBAs isn't that difficult anyway (a lot more people tend to have GBAs than Gamecubes), and many retailers offered the connection cords with pre-orders of the game. It's not like they're asking you to do something impossible to enjoy the game.

Apparently no one understands how the game. I think the best way to talk about it is if you've actually played the game, and extensively too, as I have.

First of all, you don't need to have GBAs to play the game. Second of all, even if you want to play multiplayer, think about it practically--no one, except the fanatics are going to buy 4 GBAs. That's preposterous, and I don't know why people always say this. The idea is you have these things called friends-- and they have GBAs too! And, if they have gamecube, like you, which they probably would if you're inviting them to play final fantasy crystal chronicles, you have a GCN-GBA link cable too!

I think this is the comic you're looking for.

And for those that don't have three friends with a GBA? I know my group of friends, while being gamers, also have a disturbing tendancy to play mostly sports games, and shy away from anything Nintendo because "It's kiddy". I think their idiots for there bias, but I can't convince them otherwise (Sadly their the only gamers at my new school, so I do what I can. If it was back at my last school, I wouldn't need this rant.) Yes, the comic was funny and true, but it also seems to insinuate that everyone knows a bunch of Nintendo gamers, when the X-Box and PS2 do all they can to shrug off GC games as "kiddy" games, and popular culture agrees. I will probably get CC anyway and enjoy sngle player, but I still don't agree with the decision to force players to use GBA's to play multi.

Oh, and I have played SoM multi, and it wasn't that big a deal. We all knew what we were doing, and most pause screen moments either last only a second or two, or they were filled with conversation from the others, a novel concept, eh, that pauseing a game doesn't mean the whole world stops and waits.

Sucks to be you. Seriously, it is nice to know others agree with me (thanks Novasol & Lockeownzj00). However I also agree with Forever Zero in that they should have allowed you to play with a normal controller and pause it when you need to. But then again, I don't know how long or how often that would need to be done. And it could get annoying with 4 people doing it all the time.

Like I said before, I suggest against playing it one player. FFCC is a multi-player game. There are just certain games that don't do well single-player, or otherwise do much better with multi-player. I believe this is definantly one of those games.

actualy, i think that VG Cats comic (the actual event that sparked my thought process on this topic) raises an important point that we're missing. the joke is made that this game will validate your life and everyone needs it desperately.

we are not consumer sheep, people dont need this game. this game is not intended to force people to buy stock in Nintendo or anything like that. its meant as a game that: a) if you have a Gamecube b) you have freinds who have GBAs c) you want to play a multiplayer FF game; then you might want to check this game out.

not to pick on Forever Zero or anyone here, but if you dont want to pay "that much" for a single game, then dont.

I don't stess over it. I already had one GBA-GC cord before I preordered the game, so now I have 2. My neighbor has a GBA, so we often play with just us two. People complain about how one person has to carry the chalice, and can't attack, and moves too slow. They're all idiots. You can drop it at any time and join the fray, walking speed isn't really a factor, and whover has the chalise is law, unless the others enjoy eating Miasma. Also, I can just take my GC and all the stuff over to someone elese's house, or even to school on Fridays, and I can easily find lots of people to play with. The only cost I could forsee is for the cables, that's $15, boo hoo. I don't see any problem with spending a little dough for possibly the best off-line multiplayer RPG ever.