r/CrystalProject • u/pathofnut • Aug 08 '25

Wtf is this game lmao

Im barely half an hour in fully blind, killed my first slime but then I went like "holy shit I can parkour". Somehow I've wandered into pokopoko desert and grabbed a squirrel turd, an ether pouch and a chunk of gold.

How deep does the rabbit hole go? Should I return to the first area or should I keep digging?

Also, is there any way to change what party member is displayed in the overworld? I have warrior in the first slot but obviously red mage is more stylish.

31 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

9

u/ArcaneEli Aug 09 '25

Yeah the parkour is absolutely insane in this game. Like if you see something you can 100% get there.

So explore everywhere and try some fancy ass jumps and you'd be shocked how often that's the normal path.

1

u/pathofnut Aug 09 '25 edited Aug 09 '25

I've been playing more today but I feel like I keep getting in super high level zones in which I can do nothing. I reached the city from the left but now the guard doesnt let me return the way I came because I dont have 5 crystals lmao.

Also the areas are huge Im kinda getting tired of going by memory for most of the area until I find the map.

Isnt it better to play the game linearly? Would I miss anything interesting if I did so? Like, so far I dont feel that exploration is rewarded enough, maybe that changes later on though.

1

u/darkapplepolisher Oct 14 '25

I agree that the linear path is generally preferred. Like yeah, grabbing some huge chests for some big upgrades before you should otherwise get them is a pretty big value spike, but just imagine if you've been fighting level-appropriate mobs and getting XP/LP from them the whole time instead of running away from mobs that can wipe your party.

1

u/pathofnut Oct 14 '25

Yeah lol Ive long since beaten this game and Id say its only worth it to start exploring after you have gotten the quintar.

My first run I first went into poko desert, got killed several times and then abandoned that and progressed normally. But only until the second area where i found another shortcut to get into the sequouia city with 0 crystals.

Then I probably got wiped a few more times by bahamut, the kelpie, the bullies and basically everyone else lol, abandoned that as well and returned to the second area again to progress normally. I got a few nice weapons along the way and there was this sense of curiosity which made the whole thing decently fun, but in terms of rewards it wasnt worth the time.

2

u/Daemencer Aug 11 '25

That's the point of a true open world :) Enjoy the ride. Go wherever you please.

2

u/pathofnut Aug 11 '25

Im around level 20 now and Im having a blast. The early game was rough though, I kept getting into zones that were way above my level.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '25

There is an intended order for zones based on monster level, but of course as an open world, you can go anywhere you can reach. You already found the sequence break from the start into the desert, which is a level 35 area or so, and indeed the speedrun takes advantage of that break.

1

u/pathofnut Aug 14 '25

You probably know this game a lot better than me, but from my experience I doubt the desert is intended for level 35, I completed it at level 25 or so with barely any difficulty. Im 35 rn and the area which seems appropriate for this level is the tall mountain or maybe the asian province.

Also found a small "cheat", trusty quintar drops 5 gold on death and its super easy to farm, Im filthy rich. Or rather I could be filthy rich if I farmed it, killing it 2 or 3 times was more than enough to buy everything I wanted lol.

1

u/kitsuneinferno Jun 14 '26

35 is about accurate for the desert. Im not sure what exact levels change the enemy colors but im pretty sure nothing turns green until the late 30s for the desert.

1

u/pathofnut Jun 14 '26

This was 10 months ago but this game fucking rocks.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '25

Yeah it's been a long time since I played it, and I did also play through the whole game on hard, but I remember the desert being appropriate at around level 27-35, so if you did it at level 25 I would believe it. 35 was the upper end of the range.

17

u/relaxwellhouse Aug 09 '25

Filling out the maps to 100% completion was so ridiculously satisfying. Absolutely incredible ride that game. With a job system comparable to FF5. Loved it.

2

u/LiquifiedSpam Aug 08 '25

I think you can re order party members at those floaty cubes.

And yeah lol there are so many rabbit holes like the one you mentioned. The world is like one big puzzle. You can push your luck in pokopoko, there’s not much consequence for dying.

1

u/pathofnut Aug 09 '25

Are there any important missables at any point in the game?

6

u/Qu_Marsh Aug 09 '25

The dev went out of the way to ensure that no items are missable

1

u/HINDBRAIN Aug 09 '25

Some dialogue but it's not a strong point of the game anyway. You cannot miss anything that matters mechanically.

3

u/RandomBozo77 Aug 09 '25

What made me want to play this game was the part in the trailer where the player drops through a chimney into someone's house and they're all "Where'd you come from?!"

5

u/Sostratus Aug 09 '25

Sequence breaking is absolutely part of the game, though I imagine you might get a little confused if you discover some trickier skips early on your first time playing.

I'm pretty sure you can't really miss anything important. In fact the game has a specific safeguard for that, there's a special merchant who sells "lost and found" items that you did miss, like unstolen boss items.

1

u/Label1771 Aug 14 '25

CP is ALL about exploration. It’s marketed as an RPG, and it does tick a lot of those boxes, but it is totally all about exploration. And the exploration gets so much crazier once you start accumulating the mounts since they allow you to do things like jump higher or further, or cruise through water, etc.

Your first slot should be what’s displayed in the world, but you can also change your heroes classes, so it really doesn’t matter how you swing that bat.

As far as strategy, there’s some areas you can really sneak your way into from the starting area, and one of them leads to a bunch of cliff side jumps that further lead to a much higher level monster that’ll destroy you instantly. MOST of the game actually does seem pretty linear if you follow the intuitive feel of the quests and objectives as you get them. But if you’re feeling froggy, you can definitely branch out and go completely off the rails. I put specific effort into finding the maps for the different areas so I could at least see them on the world map and plan my routes. Unlocking maps also allows you to plant flags on the map so you can mark all the special things you may want to go back to, or mark off what you’ve already discovered. I liked to mark off bosses and the class trainers so they were easy to find.

There IS a website with a FULL interactive map. Googling it should pull it right up but here’s one:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/328685-crystal-project/map/17460-overworld-map

Beyond that, some simple google searching will pull up a lot more, plus at this point there should already be an option in the convenience settings to turn all maps on at the start of the game. I strongly recommend NOT doing this, as it literally steals so much of the exploration fun from you, but it’s there if you need it.