I have been following Cris Tales since its’ announcement at E3 2019. Developed by Colombian studio Dreams Uncorporated, Cris Tales was (and still is) immediately eye-catching. Two years later, having spent quite a lot of time with Cris Tales, I can say that it has definitely been worth the wait. While it has its rough spots and places in which the formula could be improved, it is a heartfelt love letter to games like Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger in all the right ways.

Cris Tales puts you in the role of Crisbell, a girl who discovers that she has the ability to see the past, present, and future simultaneously. She is a Time Mage and gains the ability to wield the Sword of the Lady, to fight the Empress of Time. The Empress seeks to destroy the world for reasons unknown, and it is up to Crisbell and a cast of colorful, interesting allies to stop her.

The combat plays out like a typical Turn-Based RPG, however, there are a few alterations. For one, both attacking and blocking can be enhanced by timed button presses, similar to games like Paper Mario. I wish the developers had considered adding in an accessibility option for perfect blocking (or even decent blocking) by default because the timed presses can be tricky for people with slower reflexes. Ikenfell did that, and it was a great help for people who have a hard time with those sorts of things. The attacks aren’t telegraphed well all the time, so it can get pretty tricky to block.

In fact, the first five or so hours of the game are incredibly difficult combat-wise, because Crisbell doesn’t gain a healing spell until level 5, and in the early game items are incredibly scarce. On top of that, early on you have difficulty making money (known as marbles) to buy items, so it will seem like you are constantly at a disadvantage unless you find yourself getting good at the blocking.

The random encounter rate is also incredibly high in the early game, so between that and scarce healing, some people might be discouraged. I would encourage you to stick with it if you love these sorts of JRPG’s because it is worth it. It gets a bit easier too as you get out of the first few areas.

Timing for blocking each enemy is different, as each enemy has multiple attacks. If you perfectly block an attack that causes a status ailment though, it can block that status ailment entirely. On the subject of status ailments, things like Poison and Burn play a large part in the game, due to Crisbell’s ability to send enemies forward (or backward) through time.

If you poison an enemy in the present and send them to the future, they’ll take a large cluster of damage instead of damage over time. If you send them to the past, set them on fire, and then bring them back to the present, they will also take a large cluster of damage. Different mechanics work together according to the time state an enemy is in.

Additionally, each enemy has (technically) three versions, a past, present, and future version. Each version has different stats and health. The future version of a soldier might be stronger, but might be weaker to magic. Alternately, a Goblin may be stronger in magic at an older age but have less health due to it being frail and old.

In a lot of ways, despite my issues with the early game and the timed contextual blocking/attacking, Cris Tales has revived something that has been missing in JRPG’s for a long time. In the early days of Final Fantasy games, certain bosses were a puzzle. You didn’t just exploit their weakness and whittle down their health while you tried to stay alive.

Instead, they had some sort of gimmick, whether it was hitting them at a certain point in the battle to interrupt a spell they were casting or breaking the arms of a robot to keep it from attacking for a few turns so you could do heavy damage. Cris Tales brings that strategy and tactical mindset back in ways that really make boss encounters feel climactic and challenging.

A large part of Cris Tales’ heart and endearing nature is its characters and colorful environments. Being able to see your actions affect the future of the towns you visit is a really cool, really exciting thing. Choice is a big deal in Cris Tales. In each town you visit and each place you go, you’ll have choices. If you do all of the side quests in an area, you’ll be able to get even more options to unlock better outcomes for the people of each city.

Cris Tales has multiple endings, and I can honestly say that its story does not go the way you’ll expect it to. It also takes after Chrono Trigger, by making you think one thing is happening until a twist shows up. I thought I knew what the twist was going to be, but I had no clue. Aside from that though, Cris Tales is a joy to play most of the time.

I don’t know what it is like on other platforms, but the Nintendo Switch has a lot of loading screens. If the loading screens weren’t bright white it might not be so much of an issue, but as someone prone to migraines the loading screens did give me headaches after a bit of playing. I only had the game crash once, but I had been playing for about seven hours, and I had just saved the game.

Save points are plentiful throughout Cris Tales as well, which is great. There are usually at least two in each dungeon area, and you can save on the world map. Dungeons aren’t super large, though they can be confusing if you’re trying to get all the chests and collectibles. If you spend a little extra time in the dungeon, you’ll be fighting more, which will get you money for armor, accessories, and consumables.

Money has a lot of places to go in Cris Tales. You can upgrade each of your party members’ weapons, though the upgrades are expensive. You can buy armor, accessories, and keychains to give your weapons unique effects. One keychain may make physical attacks poison an enemy. Another keychain might increase the weapon’s damage or make enemies take damage when they hit you.

The visuals are gorgeous, the voice acting is fantastic, and the story is very well done. So, if you can get past the frustrating learning curve, and the sometimes annoying combat, I highly recommend Cris Tales. The loading screens are a bit much, and there are some issues for people with reflex problems, but overall it is a diamond in the rough.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Cris Tales was provided by Modus Games for this review.

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Cris Tales

$39.99 USD

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Strategic Combat
• Beautiful Graphics
• Fun Story with Multiple Endings
• Lots of Party Customization
• Rewarding Side Quests

Cons

• Random Encounter Rate is High
• Loading Screens are Frequent
• Loading Screens are Hard on the Eyes
• Enemies Don't Telegraph Attacks Well
• Timed Reflex Mechanics