Board 8 > Anyone else here played Crystal Project?

(+) Yeah! (+)

It might be the best 2D JRPG I've ever played but like 80% of the game is exploration and voxel platforming so I'm not sure I can actually recommend it to most JRPG fans

The answer is no, apparently!

Ive played a few hours of it. Its cool!!

Someone brought it up in TomNook7's FF topic, so at least one person has

I got about 12 or so hours into it. as the worlds biggest FF1 fan, its right up my alley. the combat is really hard once you get a ways in though and the platforming isnt really my jam.

edit: its not that the platforming is too hard, Im a huge 2d platforming guy and think Celeste is the goat. its just confusing where to go and not much fun. I always thought this was a game someone like Not Dave would love, but it fights back a little too much for my liking.

I hopped around for a few minutes in the demo. Or I watched a video of it. I can't really say which. I got the impression I wouldn't enjoy the platforming for exploration.

I love how the platforming works. My eyes are constantly looking around the screen for places I just might be able to traverse, and when I do find something it opens up all sorts of possibilities. Constant mental stimulation.

Combat is definitely difficult but I set it on Hard so that's what I'm here for.

how far are you? its the endgame stuff thats rough. the beginning isnt so bad

Oh yeah I'm like fifty hours in. I think I've got a good team and strategy but bosses can still hurt, especially the optional ones.

Ive never even heard of it.

Finished it this week, thanks to Kanzaris recommending it in the other topic!

Absolutely loved it.

transcience posted...

I always thought this was a game someone like Not Dave would love,

notdave posted...

Absolutely loved it.

Ha.

My monk (secondary) was by far my best damage dealer throughout the game. Never held a weapon.

I've heard of it and am interested, but like many games, I'm not sure where to find the time to fit it in. Hopefully soon!

notdave posted...

My monk (secondary) was by far my best damage dealer throughout the game. Never held a weapon.

I have one caster who does the vast majority of my up-front damage. Magic seems really strong overall. For bosses I supplement the kabooms with stacked status effect damage.

If you're not there yet, I hiiiighly recommend following a guide and using the assist options to turn mini games off to get the (final mount spoilers) golden Quintar.

worst part of the game by far if you don't do that

I got the super salmon in like 3 tries, how bad will that be in comparison?

100 times worse. It's really really bad. But some of the best gear in the game is locked behind having one.

Doesn't hurt to still do a few races and get a feel for it, but doing enough to get the final product takes a long time

Oof. Yeah thanks for the heads-up.

notdave posted...

If you're not there yet, I hiiiighly recommend following a guide and using the assist options to turn mini games off to get the (final mount spoilers) golden Quintar.

worst part of the game by far if you don't do that

Yeah this suggestion just saved me like 10 hours. Not the best sidequest line.

Beated. Last few fights were grueling, but I wouldn't change anything about the difficulty. Ending is disappointing in a story sense, but that wasn't really the point of the game.

Nice! There are a good amount of optional bosses to fight too.

Oh yeah I hunted down all the optional bosses and went for the 'true' ending. That's what I meant when I said the last few fights were grueling. Had to completely specialize my party for each encounter.

I played like 7 hours and eventually just kinda stopped. I changed my class, and the party stopped functioning very well, and rather than adapting, I just quit.

There's a mod now that makes abilities work regardless of weapon type, which will make party synergy work a whole lot better if you want to give it another chance

I'm kinda dreading the next JRPG I have to play that'll be missing so much of what Crystal Project nailed. No aggro-based combat, no FFX-style turn order, no exact damage and hit rate numbers, no easy respec, no status effects that actually matter...like, my motivation to play Octopath 2 has tanked.

i'd heard of it before and had it at "vaguely interested" level but i gave it a shot now because of this topic and am having a blast with the intro.

i like this kind of exploration in games because it feels more organic, like i'm actually discovering things rather than just following a clear path that's been laid out for me. there's a feeling of "wait, was i meant to be able to do that?!" which the answer is probably yes but it gives me the illusion of feeling like maybe i found something i was supposed to only reach later. and there's more stakes, finding stuff feels good when you know it's actually missable and not every player will find it.

uh btw is it intentional that the "Map" button in control settings is forced to be empty and i can't find any way to actually open the map beyond the mini-map in the corner?

i tried googling this and there is no one else asking this apparently so i can't tell if it's just a me issue and i'm being dumb, or if you're just not able to see the full map by design (for now)

Dels posted...

uh btw is it intentional that the "Map" button in control settings is forced to be empty and i can't find any way to actually open the map beyond the mini-map in the corner?

i tried googling this and there is no one else asking this apparently so i can't tell if it's just a me issue and i'm being dumb, or if you're just not able to see the full map by design (for now)

On controller I managed to bind map to left stick click. Select, or whatever you call the two squares button on an Xbox controller, didnt work. It just does the same thing as picking World Map from the menu though

i'm actually blind, i didn't see the "World Map" option on the menu lol

but yeah, trying to set Map on controls to start, select, or any face button just fails and leaves it empty so that made me think "maybe i don't have the full map yet" but you're right it works on pushing the analog stick.

Dels posted...

i like this kind of exploration in games because it feels more organic, like i'm actually discovering things rather than just following a clear path that's been laid out for me. there's a feeling of "wait, was i meant to be able to do that?!"

Yeah this was a big selling point for me. The entire game you feel like you're sequence breaking even when it's intended. Made exploration legitimately fascinating.

okay maybe i actually sequence broke?

i finished getting scholar at the top of of yamagawa M.A. and from there i dropped down to the spawning meadows and found an entrance to the poko poko desert by jumping off some trees. definitely seemed i wasn't "supposed to" be there since the enemies are way stronger than me, but i used scholar to learn their OP spells and then ran away, and then i entered this desert town and when i activated the save point, i got this:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/4/4/AAdoZGAAElLM.png

i did not do "the trial" yet (the thing that wants me to have 3 job crystals) and i certainly did not teleport here. did coming here early with a not-even-that-hidden path just break the achievements...?!

geez, the inn here costs 10x as much as the inns in the starter areas and the map to just the town costs 3x more money than i have. and the NPCs are talking about events that i haven't seen happen yet. uhhhh. i accidentally said yes to set this as my home point and the entrance to the desert i used was a one-way drop. i hope this doesn't cause issues.

Lol you might have, but I think there's a way to 'fix' it. I'll load up my game later just in case to verify but: inside the desert, travel north and east until you exit it. Then go east across bridges until you reach a city.

yeah i went on an adventure.

i was able to get the ferry pass, so i took the ferry over to the eastern-themed province and from there you can climb the cliffs to the left and it leads back to proving meadows eventually. and i found the teleport crystal in that town which explained the weird structure in the desert and the achievement lol

my sequence breaking has rewarded me with a handful of weapons but i was hoping for more. surprisingly little was accessible in the desert and the chests only have money and potions. i got two of the desert outposts but the third seems to require additional jump height? i'm pretty sure? which i'd guess maybe i get from the mount. the desert also has an exit along the beach to the volcano but i also get stuck there from not having enough jump height so i suspect that'll be an upgrade... sad though to have sequence broke and not be able to do much with it

but anyway, i'm not done, when i closed the game i was up in the ninja temple taking them down, enemies along the cliffside there were tough but not as tough as the desert enemies, so i could kill them.

my new goal is to do as much as i can without doing "the trial", whatever it is, because i love doing things out of order. i never found the path you mentioned despite searching the desert a bunch so maybe i'll check that out too at some point... so much to do in this game!!!

Here's my "final" party that I was pretty happy with (spoilers in case the image isn't hidden):

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/8/6/AADBTVAAEln-.jpg

Most bosses would die to this sequence:
Cast Overload (monster magic) on Assassin
Hit boss with Armor Break
Use Wind Scroll on boss
Hit boss with Wind Punch

I set it up to always hit (and always crit) on the first hit. The Assassin's passive made it hit for double if it would kill. If it wouldn't kill, I'd switch to a Nomad for the boost from its passive instead.

For longer bosses, I had Spotlight/Fire Scroll/Flare, with the Wizard's fire attacks boosted by the Flameseeker.

Chemist was to reduce cooldowns on Ninja skills, Cleric/Scholar for healing and putting enemies to sleep.

Next time, I'd get the Pointy Hat (extends debuff time) earlier and experiment with Summoner more. It was awesome in the short time I tried it out.

time to get a crystal project fiesta going

Damn you blitzed through even faster than I did. Cool team, took a different route than mine, which was:

Fencer/whatever's needed (crit build strong)
Valkyrie/Warrior/Aegis/Reaper (switch based on which specific tank abilities helped the most, Valkyrie was probably used the most)
Wizard/Summoner (things explode, summoner debuffs are ridic)
Warlock/Weaver (doublecast OP, time magic OP)

Ah nice, I didn't use Valkyrie or Aegis enough at all. Reaper was awesome though.

Doing stuff like this to endgame bosses is just so satisfying:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/2/2/AADBTVAAEl5u.jpg

okay so i got my ibek, and then i used it to go do the quintar caves and get my quintar. i feel this was definitely sequence breaking. looks like the quintar cave leads to the overpass and i'm guessing this is when players are supposed to reach shoudo province and the desert, which i already finished fully exploring. i stopped putting off "the trial" when i realized it was just a cave to the capital and i entered it from the exit and did it the other way around. sequence breaking is fun. i guess i'm mostly on track now though.

still enjoying it but my only complaint is that the random encounters are unfortunately getting a bit grating. it's like how in RPGs it really annoying when there's random encounters when you're trying to solve a puzzle - but in this case the puzzle is just... exploring the whole map. i've gotten really frustrated when i try to go back to an area to unlock something new and keep running into the same battles i've already done a dozen times. not a major issue i guess. i did some LP grinding in shoudou so that i can just take my best classes into the encounters and get through them quicker now. hunter is pretty OP for exploring since it has lots of strong attacks usable for free.

Crystal Project definitely has a problem where the on-map enemies chase you at ridiculous speeds. Kind of defeats the purposes of not having traditional random battles.

i learned how to dodge them real good when i was exploring the desert 15 levels underleveled

you can just spin 'em around a bit and they stop

but doesn't help as much in narrow corridors or when i inevitably slip up

You can dodge them, it just takes more effort than it should, and yeah you'll mess up eventually. I want to explore, not play tag.

honestly it got worse after i posted that. trying to navigate the giant maze that is shoudu province + its underground with those stupid flames chasing after you non-stop was maddening.

i guess maybe i was still a bit out of order, i did the volcano next and the enemies were easier. hard to really track what the right order is at this point anyway, there's a million areas to go to.

so now that i'm around midgame, been playing pretty blind so far but i wanna ask for some party composition advice, to maybe make these battles less frustrating. so far i've basically just been relying on my spellcasters to obliterate everything and use warlock's mana regen trait, but even then i run out of mana fast. nothing the non-spell jobs do can match up to 1200+ damage tempests and flares and etc, it seems, and i don't wanna spend ages in every encounter, which is what happens if i don't blow all my mana on those. and i'm not sure how to use the new classes that are outside of the cookie cutter tank/rogue/mage/healer setup. i have chemist, ninja, beatsmith, samurai, assassin, reaper... how should i be using those...? and what's the best tank setup for encounters now that i have three of them? (war/aegis/valk)

From my experience, physical attackers struggle in the mid-game. The solution I found was honestly just to pump up my magic user(s) as much as you can. Give them weapons and equipment that prioritize Mind. MP concerns can be solved by consumable items. Don't hoard them. There's a vendor in the main city that sells MP regen candies for cheap. If you're really pressed for MP, Dervish and Summoner get a lot for free, although you'll be doing a bit less damage compared to Wizard.

For your tank, Valkyrie is the best against random mobs because they have an AoE Taunt and a free revive each fight, so you don't have to worry as much about keeping them alive.

For your physical attackers during random battles, Ninja is probably the best at your current level (and is one of the best in endgame as well) for single-target damage. I swear by Fencer as being extremely flexible, and it's one of the few classes with an AoE physical move, although the class gets better in endgame when equipment has higher crit chance. Hunter also has an AoE move although you can't use it every turn.

yeah i've just been continuing to cheese battles with aoe magic. i guess that's just the play. i tried using ninja for the owlbear fight but it almost never lined up that my ninja could apply the fire seal before my wizard's turn but not with the boss getting its own turn between them so it was sort of frustrating. i do keep my healer on dervish yeah, typhoon is really strong anyway.

honestly at this point i feel my experience with the game is mostly going to be bad memories of random encounters frustrating me to death as i try to explore these massive late-game areas. but i'm just pushing through because i don't wanna turn on accessibility options.

Ive never played it. Doesnt sound interesting to me.

Thanks for sharing.

Anything for you

got my golden quintar. that wasn't so bad. i used a guide though, no way i'd ever care enough to experiment with the breeding system. luckily the races all have some trick you can use to easily win, except the 4th one which is bullshit but that you don't need to do more than once, and you can use desert quintar for it for extra speed. it was still pretty tedious though doing the same races over and over.