For those of you who are not aware, Project Crystallis is a fan-based movement that was created to gain information regarding Final Fantasy Versus XIII and convince Square Enix to localize Final Fantasy Type-0. Originally, I was very excited to hear about this and was glad to see that fans were taking some action. Like many other Final Fantasy fans, I too have been waiting for Versus ever since it was announced seven years earlier. Heck, it’s one of the major reasons why I purchased a PlayStation 3.
Square Enix has cast a veil on Versus XIII for far too long. Sure, we’ve seen a few trailers, and received some information, but that’s pretty much it. The last trailer was revealed two years back, after which fans have waited eagerly, but to no avail. Project Crystallis aims to turn that around. But so far, with no success.
As it turns out, Project Crystallis is not strong enough. This can be seen by the fact that soon after Project Crystallis was initiated, a new fan-based movement focused on trying to achieve localization for Type-0 sprung up. The members of this new fan-based movement, called Operation Suzaku, managed to gain petition signatures faster than Project Crystallis. Sure, Operation Suzaku hasn’t been quite active or successful either, but the point here is that in it’s initial stages, Project Crystallis wasn’t properly focused on it’s objective which led to the second fan-movement being started.
Though, I must say that PC has improved recently, especially after our news article which was taken a little too seriously by the fans and received some heat on the PC Facebook fan page. The fans over at the page lashed out, not being able to handle unintended criticism from a news article, mind you. Chris, a member of Project Crystallis, said “We only seek unity between all of the awesome Final Fantasy fans, and not to divide us…”
Well, Chris, you haven’t been successful so far, have you?
He also said “We have a very firm plan of action in place with many fun and interesting things to come.”
Chris was right there. Soon after, Project Playthrough commenced in which the PC members played through all the Final Fantasy games from I to XIII. This was definitely exciting and a good way to gain attention. I was an avid viewer myself, feeling a wave of nostalgia through every game. PC is right to wait and get larger before sending emails and phone calls, and these playthroughs were a good idea, but it’s been four months without any proper gain. If they wanted to wait before sending emails to Square Enix, they could at least utilize this time to get the attention of major video game websites such as Kotaku and IGN (Which, by the way, has not even written a news article on Project Crystallis yet). I see that PC is encouraging fans to send letters to Square Enix, but it’s sad to see how this is not getting enough attention. Instead, PC is too busy advertising irrelevent things on their Facebook page, as I will elaborate later.
What’s worse is that there is no Wikipedia article on the movement either. Since this is an internet-based movement, the lack of a Wikipedia article leaves the members worried and thinking of whether or not PC is serious. It’s quite obvious that fans would search for Project Crystallis to get information about it. And what’s the best place to get information? Wikipedia. See what I’m pointing at?
Furthermore, we have received reports that the donations received by PC are being put into questionable uses. Member, Chris Mix has contacted sword crafter Michaelctulhu to purchase a Buster Sword that is worth $1,200. The objective of purchasing this Buster Sword is to ‘smash through different items for each 1000 petition signatures’ PC receives. In fact, Chris is willing to pay more money to be bumped up on the crafter’s order list. I highly doubt this money is coming out of Chris’s own pocket.
According to our source, PC aims to create a video of themselves smashing items with the Buster Sword in order to garner views on YouTube and hence make PC more renowned.
Not only is this move childish and immature, but it is also unethical on PC’s part to use donations to buy an expensive replica for themselves. Ultimately, this will remain with the members of PC. In other words, they’re buying a toy for themselves. If they’re really intent on making this video, why not simply purchase a cheap replica or create their own Buster Sword (trust me, it’s not hard) and save the money from the donations? It’s not like anyone will be examining the sword to check if it’s authentic. Even if it’s not, it should not make a difference. What’s more is that it is very difficult to believe that such a video would go viral. There are already a large number of such videos on YouTube and they are no way viral.
Okay, fine, if donations are used to pay domain prices and other necessary costs, that’s fine. But for a non-profit organization, PC does seem to have quite a few expenses. They also purchased two HD capture cards which were used for Project Playthrough. This is a reasonable purchase, but these cards cost about $200, maybe more. Once again, donations were being used for these purchases, when one can simply rent these, or borrow them from others since it’s only for a few games.
And then there are the giveaways. I doubt these are being funded from sources other than donations either. Giving away games and items is fine, but is it really necessary? There are a number of better ways to promote yourself without spending money. PC needs to learn. Just recently, they pre-ordered Final Fantasy Versus XIII for a fan for creating a Little Big Planet level that was related to PC. This person definitely deserves to get something, but spending $60 on him just doesn’t seem right. Now I know fans reading this will lash out once more as they read this, but they need to realize that donations are not being put to good use. Did the people really want their donations to be spent on a game for someone else?
Lastly, what’s up with the upcoming web comics? I mean, seriously? What’s the point of web comics? Are you trying to turn into a comic page now? I like comics, and a comic with FF-like characters and an FF-like story would be great, but PC is not supposed to be about comics. It’s supposed to be about some serious work regarding Versus XIII and Type-0. I hope they have not forgotten that.
Yes, these comics are based on the PC members themselves. They’ve been getting quite popular. Now, that’s not a bad thing, but could it be that they’re focusing more on their own popularity and how to boost it, instead of working? One of the PC members, Evyn, is going to dye her hair pink because 956 people saw her post. What has hair got to do with that anyway? What relation does her hair have with Final Fantasy? This is like a publicity stunt, except that it’s for Evyn itself instead of Project Crystallis.
Oh and everyone should take a look at this. Apparently, a replica of Cerberus from Dirge of Cerberus Final Fantasy VII was being given away earlier to the person who could correctly answer questions. Of course, one would expect such questions to be related to Final Fantasy, right? Wrong.
5. Who ordered Chris’s pizza?
13. What beer was Kushi drinking on camera?
18. Why did James break up with his girlfriend? (two points)
These were the questions asked. It’s like the members are considering themselves to be celebrities. They expect people to be like the paparazzi, stalking their every move. I understand that the purpose of the questions and of the giveaway were to attract more people in Project Playthrough, but this is completely immature and I’m pretty sure it didn’t attract a lot of people. No one should be desperate enough to observe these people intently and listen to stories about breaking up with girlfriends.
Basically, PC has no Wiki page, no recognition from major websites, unneeded expenses and still no clear focus. Why? Because the members are too busy having fun and indulging in unnecessary acts such as dying their hair pink to show the fans, trying to buy expensive toys, creating web comics and executing immature and irrelevant publicity stunts.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Project Playthrough (save for the useless bits) and I might enjoy the comics too. But this is not helping with the Versus XIII and Type-0 situation. Project Crystallis is like a fancy car, overly decorated with vinyls and fancy lights, but with no wheels.
Step your game up, PC.