Players take on the role of adventurers who travel in a caravan gathering mystical fuel for crystals which protect the world's settlements from the destructive Miasma.

The single-player campaign has the player escort the vessel carrying the crystal's energy, defending it from enemies and solving puzzles to progress.

The remastered version saw generally mixed reviews, with many faulting the change to online-only multiplayer, and by-then dated gameplay mechanics.

Each race has specific strengths, such as the human-like Clavats having high defence and magic statistics and the nomadic Selkies being able to use special abilities with less cooldown time.

In towns, the player can freely explore and use the available facilities to create and upgrade both items and equipment using materials and blueprints gathered during their journey.

Magic can be used to damage enemies or trigger status ailments, with multiple spells able to fuse and create new effects in battle.

The type of radar and what it shows is determined by the color the player's Moogle—one of a recurring Final Fantasy race—is painted during stays in towns and visits to the adventurers' hometown.

[6]: 6–7 [6]: 38–41  1000 years before the game's events, the world's sustaining Great Crystal was shattered by a meteorite carrying an alien lifeform called the Meteor Parasite.

In 2001, following the financial failure of the feature film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Sony purchased a stake in the company amounting to 19% of shares.

After considering their still-poor financial situation and wishing to keep their staff from leaving, Square decided to begin developing titles for Nintendo consoles once again.

Sony, whose rivalry with Nintendo had softened with the appearance of Microsoft's Xbox on the console market, agreed to the partnership on the condition that it would not impact development of titles for the PlayStation 2.

[18] The game's event planner was Masahiro Kataoka, a Square staff member who had previously worked in that capacity on Final Fantasy IX.

[21] Itahana heard about the project while he was attached to Final Fantasy XII during its early production, and transferred over to work on Crystal Chronicles.

Due to the multitude of elements new to Final Fantasy being incorporated into Crystal Chronicles, the development team faced multiple difficulties.

[26] The soundtrack makes extensive use of many medieval and Renaissance musical instruments such as the recorder, the crumhorn and the lute, creating a distinctively rustic feel.

[32] Describing her localization of the songs, Burke felt it was a challenge as Japanese is a more compact language than English, meaning she needed to "pad [the lyrics] out about 30-40%".

[33] Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: A Musical Journey was a European promotional album which was given alongside the game on March 11, 2004 as a pre-order bonus.

[22][52] Araki had joined Square Enix originally after seeing Crystal Chronicles, and so when the chance came he expressed his wish to revive the game for a modern generation.

[46] While they had the option to remake it, Araki wanted to keep the game faithful to the memories of earlier players, both evoking nostalgia and assuring them that Crystal Chronicles was returning unchanged.

One of these changes was the timing system for casting magic, which was adjusted to both work through an online connection and be more lenient on players than the original version.

[53] Commenting on the delays, Araki said the team were prioritising a smooth playing experience, but he ended up being "reprimanded by a lot of important people".

[56] Eurogamer's Rob Fahey gave the game a near-perfect score, noting the clear production values and calling it "one of the best action RPGs" he played; his only major fault was the implementation of multiplayer and its potential problems.

[60] Mary Jane Irwin of IGN also gave praise to its gameplay concepts and design, but noted a lack of replay value and the steep entry requirements for multiplayer.

A consensus in both Japanese and international reviews was that it was an innovative title, but with several flaws keeping it from being ranked among the best Final Fantasy games.

[61][62] Jordan Rudek of Nintendo World Report felt that the single-player campaign lacked compelling content, and the multiplayer was hampered by the new additions to the point of making it worse than the original.

[63] IGN's Seth Macy was very negative, feeling that the game only made the original frustrating mechanics worse and added new problems.

[64] Mitch Vogel, writing for Nintendo Life, felt that the game would not appeal to a wide demographic and the new multiplayer functions sapped much of the original version's entertainment.

[66] Kirstin Swalley of Hardcore Gamer was notably more positive, noting the age of its graphics design but otherwise finding it a fun and enjoyable Final Fantasy title.

[69] By 2004, Crystal Chronicles had sold nearly 355,000 units, becoming the twenty-eighth best-selling game title of the year in Japan and boosting GameCube sales for August.

[75] Crystal Chronicles received the Grand Prize at the 2003 Japan Media Arts Festival, based on its multiplayer function and graphical achievements.