The Tale of various Cris'

Crisbell, Christopher, crystals, Christ like religious figure...

Welcome to a new (ish) game that I've never played, Cristales. I have no idea what this is about, but it looked pretty, and Epic gave it away a while back. I've been wanting something new, and Cristales came out in 2021! It was developed by the Columbian studios of Dreams Uncorporated and Syko. I can't find much on them, but this appears to be their only game. And with a lack of information, let's see if this is any good!

I boot up the game and see an opening cutscene that tells me nothing but shows me everything. When we get to the game proper, we're already in a fight! We're playing as Crisbell, a young girl with an oversized sword and flower pendant in her hair. It's obviously just tutorial stuff, but a yellow frog tells us how to fight. Using the Persona UI, we can attack with Mario RPG controls. If we get the timing right, it's a critical. Too early or too late still gets a second attack, and the timing is pretty forgiving. The same works for when we're on defense. We're fighting a goblin now, but we're up against two in a pincer attack next. A knight named Christopher joins us, and he wonders if the diminutive Crisbell can fight. He's surprised she can! A third battle kicks off against two tall women who act as one being. Volcano, who seems more sane, and her twin, Galley. Galley doesn't play well with her pet goblins. Fun fact: their names come from a volcano in Columbia. Christopher tries to attack the women, but their giant shield easily deflects his attack. He worries about doing no damage, so a yellow frog tells Crisbell to "use the crystals!" And then we warp back in time.

The camera cuts through scenes of Narim Village. The massive cathedral dominates the village's skyline, but the camera settles on a flower garden being tended to by Crisbell. She's pruning the roses and cuts off the top of one. A yellow frog in a top hat steals it. A voice calls out to Crisbell, Mother Superior. MS is the nun or mother of this orphanage, and she wants to speak to Crisbell. It's just a "do your job that you were already doing" thing, but Cris tells her director about the strange frog, so MS instructs our MC to get the rose back. It seems like a small thing to worry about, but maybe it's an orphanage thing? Either way, we have our first quest.

We can now roam around the village and talk to people, getting a lay of the land. The other orphans tending the garden don't like their job. One misses Cris' grandmother, the prior director. There's a trail of petals we can follow if we get lost. But head south to see the grand cathedral. Other people of inconsequential status are out here but follow the petals to an argument outside the mayor's house. A farmer, Robert, is talking to Mayor Anton. The mayor is wearing heavy knight armor and exalting the merits of technology. The farmer believes that is bringing the goblins to town and will ultimately destroy Nerim one day. The mayor's assistant, Lana, quickly ends this debate to point out we're here. We share some common courtesy before asking if they've seen a yellow frog in a top hat. They're not on drugs and have not. Our search continues.

We continue the trail to the farms outside town. Robert's daughter, Polly, is a friend of Cris. She shares some worries as well but hasn't seen any amphibians. We leave the wheat fields and see the petals are on the cathedral. We're not supposed to be here alone, but Cris enters anyway.

The rose is sitting on the altar, and Crisbell approaches it. She takes the flower and looks at the stained glass images behind the chapel. Suddenly, everything flashes, and our vision changes. We now see three different things! Crisbell is shocked and confused, but a voice tries to calm her. A yellow frog wearing a top hat steps out from behind a statue. It speaks! His name is Matias, and he's been watching over us for some time. He believes us to be special. Crisbell asks him what happened, and Matias suggests we talk to a friend that lives in the woods out of town. I left town, but I spent time looking around. We can see the village in three different ways, but we can only interact with the dimension around Cris.

The world map is vast but empty. There are ruins to the west, but we can't enter them. Just go east. Inside is a house. Matias knocks, and a young voice that I mistook for a woman responds. But this is Wilhelm, a time mage. He tells Cris that she's been granted the power to see the past and the (possible) future. He tests this by having us plant a tree in some nearby soil. We can see the tree grow on the right side of our screen. The stained glass relief, which depicted a woman who resembled Crisbell, gave us two stones: one of the past and the other of the future. More importantly, Wilhelm opens a portal to a black and white dimension. There's a magic sword at the end of a walkway. Cris picks it up, and Wilhelm declares her a time mage, just like him! Cris is shocked, but she's worried about her friends at the orphanage. Or at least how Mother Superior will act.

We return home and see everything in a desolate state. The flowers are mostly withered, and the orphanage has an odd look to it. It seems Vris' vision was dominated by the stone of the future because it looks normal to us. Give our "mom" the rose head. We tell her about our power and about Wilhelm and Matias, who has gone missing, by the way. MS seems to blow it off but suggests we find our frog friend. But don't neglect to prune the roses!

Matias is by the cathedral again. He hung around here because he thought the idea of a talking frog would shock her. Okay... But he suggests we test this new power. Cris has noticed the change that may come to Narim. I'm interested in the people, but she's seen the damaged buildings. The Miller's home is destroyed, as is the apothecary's. Can we fix them? We asked June, the apothecary, but she's dealing with an issue now. She suggests we speak to Carpenter Joe. Cris brings up the visual look of the houses, and the old man thinks they've been infected with Ash Rot. This happened when he was young and was treated with a potion that June should know how to brew. We eventually get June to tell us a sticker has been removed from two of her mushroom jars. One jar heals people, but the other kills them. But there's confusion now.

Matias reveals his secret power now. He can warp between the times Cris can see. He warps into the past and pushes a box out of the way. Cris can now see a skull sticker on a red capped jar. We spoke to two boys earlier who were excited they found a cool sticker. Cris politely gets it from them and returns it to June. She's down to create the potion for Ash Rot, but we need a rare glowfruit to brew it. They once grew in the forest, but they're gone now.

We return to Wilhelm's forest and see that the tree he had us plant grew the glowfruit. Matias leaped into the future and picked it up. We returned to town and got one potion. But there are two houses infected: the Miller's and June's. I felt like it would be a bad move to make the doctor homeless, especially since she made the potion, so I gave it to her. Cris' future sense saw the house repair itself. I assume this is a major decision, so maybe we'll see the outcome one day? But there's no time to worry. The farm is on fire, and that's how the Rot spread before!

Cris is told by Polly and Robert to leave, but Cris is worried about everything. She can't leave. And then the goblins show up.

These play out the same they did during the tutorial. We beat them, Christopher shows up, and Matias tells us to use the stones! And here's where the power of time comes into play during battle. We can send Volcano into the future. They proclaim they are stronger now, and they are. Their primary attack, sending a wall of fire at us, can be used multiple times a turn. However, status effects do strange things when sent forward in time. Christopher can make the girls wet (shut up). Dousing them turns their shield to rust, making their defense much lower. After a few turns, if you keep using Christopher's skill, we should win. Use this battle to master defending. You can do so multiple times! The sisters will run away, warning us they'll tell their master, the Empress. We did it! We saved the town!

Too bad... Anton and Lana come to the farm. He's glad we're alright. Anton asks about what happened, and Christopher tells us about the Empress of Time and the Volcano Sisters. He followed them from Clairity. Lana thinks he's lying. She believes we're in on the whole thing to get a reward or some fame. Or even to stop the industrial revolution. Considering we can see the windmills turn into smokestacks in Cris' future sense, she's not wrong- if I had the choice. Lana calls the guards, and we run to the cathedral.

I've forgotten how, but we told Mother Superior to meet us here. After telling her everything, she tells us to flee town. Throughout the world are more grand cathedrals dedicated to The Lady. Visiting them might reveal more about our powers and maybe even Cris' parents and past. She wishes us well and hopes that we'll return one day.

The path to Clairty is through Wilhelm's forest. We tell him what happened, and he joins us! Despite being a time mage, he uses plants as a weapon. He can inflict poison on creatures, and he teaches us how to combine them with Cris' time stones.

The Evergreen Forest is a beautiful location. The artist for Cristales is absolutely amazing! Waterfalls, white flowers, and a pleasant river or two make this the most beautiful dungeon I may have ever seen. Halfway through, we get a nice camp scene with the group. We get some backstory on Christopher. He's chasing the Volcano Sisters because they killed his older brother. Wilhelm gives us time seeds that I don't understand how to use. The mobs we'll fight are panthers and plant people. The pathers are weak, and the plants are weirdly vulnerable to poison. Using Cris' time stones is the quickest strategy. The stones also change their appearance and de/age them. There are wolves guarding the exit gate, and these are the boss.

There are two ways to get through them:
1.) Die.
2.) Exploit their water weakness. If you're using this strategy, Crisbell is going to be using Heal a lot. The wolf's bites are deadly, and they can even call backup. Beating them rewards us with an item that makes Christopher stronger, but we don't get it if the monsters win.

Regardless of how we get here, Crisbell gets mad. She breaks the stones over the wolves, banishing one elsewhere... I guess. But this means she lost her power. Fortunately, we're out of the forest, so Clairty must be nearby. We'll find it...

...tomorrow!

I'm really liking this so far. The visuals are magical, and the soundtrack is amazing! The battle system is part Persona, part Mario RPG, part Final Fantasy X, and part generic RPG. The devs called Cristales a love letter to classic RPGs, and it fits. I hope the story and characters keep up, but I'm super interested!