I haven't bought R2 yet. I,m trying to get a higher score for online and I need to finish the 13th level. I don't like lossing crystals so I'll start over alot of the time. Sometimes I'll continue if I lost some though.

You guys are right about the time mages. Getting a bunch together is the ticket, and yet I think they do some damage.

Thanks, guys. After some more play, I see it definitely requires several of them to have a noticeable impact on the speed of opponents. I just wasn't trying them in bigger quantity before. Why spend the gil when the pieces didn't seem to help? Now if I could just clear the first time mage level without losing a crystal! Can't quite beat the last guy yet...

And here I thought the newer games were easy!!! Guess I was wrong.... (Maybe I suck a Galaga for a reason...)

I'm stuck on BOTH Crystal Defenders R1 and R2. Heh heh. I'm getting kicked as well. Like in R2, I'm at the second White/snowy level (I dunno if that's the last level or not) and the White Pudding enemy gets to me because it seems like only Black Mages and Time Mages attack it... Oh and thieves. Weird. Even though it's resistant to Physical Attacks, it's like they don't even try to stop it! Anyway, I ended up passing it once but had exactly one crystal and I forget who it was but the next enemy took my remaining crystal away from me so I was never able to encounter the last wave with what seems to be a boss..?

Make sure that it's only "resistent" and not Invunerable to it. Sounds like it's the later, but I don't remember if thats the case. If they're only resistant, you should still be able to physically hurt them.

The thing is, by the time they arrive I don't have many Black Mages since some of the other enemies before it are resistant to it so I only put like one early on. I keep trying to think up good strategies for this particular level. My last strategy was pretty good. I had like 5 Soldiers lined up at the very beginning and Maxed out like 3 of them. Then added in a Thief later on and started racking in some good Gil. Then the next time I replaced that with Archers but that didn't work as well. But boy do I love this game. I'm so getting R3 when it comes.

I am completely stuck on the 7th level of R2 (the first level where you have a time mage). I can't even finish the level, let alone get a perfect, and I've made a ton of attempts so far. Once I hit wave 15 with the fast hounds, some of them get by me...then it's all downhill from there.

Oh, the fast hounds? Try a bunch of Time Mages maxed out (at least 3) and place at least 2 maxed out Soldiers in the same vicinity. If I could see a picture remembering what the map is like I could help you since I HAVE passed the stage.

I'm glad you don't regret getting r1. I personally haven't gotten r2 yet.
On your problem, try building your soldiers up just enough to where you KNOW they'll take out the enemy to start off, then start building up your magic users here and there. Also, remember, time mages count as magic users, so try to start some early on. If I had enough money I'd start off with one time mage and add 2 or three of the cheaper magic users and build them up a little. Then, when you've got extra, slowly level your time mages. You might want to make sure that you have some of your characters near the the end of the road in case someone makes it through(I hate when they do that!)
By the way, I make alot of stupid mistakes trying to get my score higher on the first crown level. I start over alot, because a few (or worse, one) make it through. I really like being able to use the thieves to rack up the money and points.