Likewise, the game's insistence on a fixed camera can land you in some sticky situations. Even though its ineptitude usually results in something small (like skipping over an item/monster), the static camera can occasionally have dire consequences. For example, when you first meet your untimely demise, a single Phoenix Down appears to bring you back to life - if you can find it. Since you can’t pan the camera to easily locate your miracle juice, most boss battles have at least one intermission that sees you running around like a headless chicken herding a group of mindless chicks.

While we’re on the topic of death, I should note that the difficulty of Echoes of Time is a hard thing to pin down. As a game that’s meant to be played with four human players (any of whom innately possess more skill than any NPC you’ll encounter), it feels the most balanced when playing with friends. By yourself, however, it’s a game that requires a bit of grinding to get to a comfortable level where you can more or less solo throughout the game with your robotic partners by your side.

Thankfully, joining up with friends via WiFi is a rather simple affair, as you simply establish yourself as the “host” at any save crystal nearby and pick your friend that you’d like to do battle with. It works rather flawlessly, although it's worth noting that there is no local multiplayer on the Wii. Everyone has to have their own copy of Echoes of Time to play, so make sure you choose wisely (read: DS) when picking your poison.

Even though it works better as a multiplayer adventure, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time is still an enjoyable action-RPG for anyone who’s been waiting to play a FF game with friends online. With somewhere between 20-30 hours of core gameplay, as well as tons of extra quests, item synthesis, and post-game content to be had, there’s a lot of dungeon crawling packed in its tiny package. The core DS and Wii games are identical for all intents and purposes, so feel free to get whichever copy best suits your playing needs. While single players will need a bit of extra setup time, the enjoyable story and intuitive touch controls make Echoes of Time a blast to play for practically anyone – not just the diehard RPG fans out there.

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