Would this still be a cliche?

[Raven War]

Okay, I know crystals has been overused way too much, but my friend asked this of me, and I decided to see what you guys think.

What if you were sent to find a crystal for whatever reason, and when you got to the crystal, it calls an ascended being? Not a god, but a person on a higher plain of existence, who made the crystal. So, the crystal itself is just a stone used pretty much to say 'Hey, we're here, get your ass down here and help us!' instead of like banishing the darkness from the land, as in FF1. Would this still fall under the crystal cliche?

[Revo]

While different form the FF1 concept, this is still pretty cliche. This falls under the "crystals have divine powers" cliche. Although understand this: Cliches aren't always bad. Some are unavoidable. This one isn't terrible bad, so it should be okay.

Hope this helped. That is all.

[Code Geass]

Dr. Victor is right on this one.

Cliches arn't back, if you just put some fresh coatings on them, they work very well, they're cliches for a reason XD

though, I think the crystal use here is pretty solid, don't worry about it.

[Raven War]

Okay, so I guess it can be used. I'll pass that onto my friend, thanks!

[modern algebra]

I'm iffy on this one. Some cliches are fine to use, but the problem with this one is that there really isn't enough of a coat on it. Functionally, the game still revolves around finding a crystal - even if the way it operates is different, the player will only see the difference at the very end of the game or maybe are told it by some NPC, but even so - it is pretty well impossible for the player to see that there is a "fresh coat" on the cliche, and the game still plays as if there is no difference from the cliche. For that reason, I think it will turn off players, even with the modificatitons you suggest.

[Rubymatt]

To be quite honest, almost anything you put in a game these days can be considered a cliché, since there are very VERY few ideas that haven't actually been done.  Experimenting on people has been overl cliché since FF7.

But, as said above, cliché isn't bad if you put your own twist on it.  I mean, look at FF9's Kuja.  He wasn't an awfully original character if you look at him.  But the way FF9 portrayed him removed this cliché element.