While she picked up a rose for Mother Superior, it is snatched from her by Matias, a talking frog, whom she follows to Narim Cathedral (inspired by the Las Lajas Shrine), in order to unleash her powers.

Later, Crisbell is commended in a series of missions, until she finds the village farm in flames and invaded by goblins under the command of the Empress of Time, whose aim is to take over the Crystallis Kingdom.

[3] It was officially announced at E3 2019,[4] which was claimed as a tribute to classic Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs) like Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger and Persona, among other franchises.

[6] For its art style, the game was influenced by the works of Genndy Tartakovsky, Mary Blair, Eyvind Earle, among others; while the character designs were inspired by the 2009 animated film The Secret of Kells.

[19] Tom Marks from IGN claims that Cris Tales "looks a bit like Paper Mario with Persona 5's UI", praising the concept, the hand-drawn graphics, and the time jump-based gameplay.

[9] Nintendo Life praised the premise for taking the classic JRPGs in gameplay ideas and art style, but criticized some aspects of the combat, calling it "frustrating".

[21] IGN praised the cast and the art, but criticised the gameplay, citing it as "a clever time-traveling JRPG that’s held back by monotonous combat".