I completed Crystar on PC a few days ago. I got the game recently for 90% off and found it a pleasant surprise. I ended up completing the game, doing 3 playthroughs for true ending and getting all the achievements.
The protagonist Rei Hatada finds herself in afterlife, Purgatory. Souls that end up there slowly descent to the deepest parts of the Purgatory where they will reach reincarnation. To her surprise Rei finds her little sister Mirai in the very same Purgatory.
Rei is offered a deal by demon twins: if she becomes an "Executor", her sister will be brought back to life. Rei is ordered to kill Revenants, souls that have broken the rules of Purgatory. Delivering seven "Ideas" from the Revenants is required for Mirai's revival. Rei accepts the deal to save her dear sister.
If Rei doesn't hurry and carry out her mission, Mirai will reach the deepest depths of Purgatory and get reincarnated - which means losing her memories along with her identity and being reborn in a new body.
What first caught my eye were the nice character designs and art direction. There's this magical girl vibe when Rei suits up for battle. The Japanese voice acting was good, as was the music. The opening theme is a banger!
Gameplay felt effortless and fun. You delve into the Purgatory where you traverse maps level by level. Combat is somewhat fast-paced hack and slash style with special skills you can activate in addition to regular button mashing. There's four playable characters each with their own fighting style and skills. You can swap characters during battle. Combat mechanics and game systems weren't too complicated so it was smooth sailing.
I've seen complaints about too few enemy models but that didn't bother me.
There's some unusual game mechanics. Rei can basically grow stronger by crying. Inside Purgatory, crying fills up a power gauge that lets her unleash her Guardian that will help in fights. When returning home, crying will purify Torments, painful memories that latch onto Rei as she kills enemies in Purgatory. Upon purification Torments will transform into Sentiments, equipment that can be used to boost Rei's and her party members' offensive and defensive capabilities.
I enjoyed the game's nice quality of life features: auto-sprint after running for a few seconds, auto-use of healing items, toggle for translucent overlay map in place of minimap, etc.
Sadly there was no way to skip cutscenes / dialogue which would have been a welcome feature when replaying some levels to get all collectibles.
The story went to interesting places and changed slightly on different playthroughs, slowly revealing the truth of the events. Three playthroughs are required for true ending. Subsequent playthroughs are shorter and can be made faster to clear by lowering difficulty.
The second ending was my favorite and I have to applaud the writers. Unfortunately I found the first and true endings a bit too "vanilla" for my tastes.
The themes in the game may not be suitable for everyone (e.g. suicide references and psychological disorders). I personally liked how the game wasn't afraid to include sensitive themes. It was a nice window into human psyche and what some people are willing to do for one reason or another.
I've grown fond of the publisher Furyu's output as they aren't afraid of taking risks. They release entertaining games that aren't super polished but they often have this peculiar charm that appeals to me. Crystar is another shining example of this.
It took me 52 hours to finish three playthroughs and get all the achievements, which includes collecting all memoirs of the dead. Even though the true ending wasn't that much to my liking, I found the game enjoyable to play and I appreciate the experience it offered.
I recommend giving Crystar a go if you aren't sensitive to darker themes and tolerate "relaxing" action games that don't challenge you with split-second reaction time requirements. You may find good life lessons here too.
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