Myself, what I remember of this game back in the day is lots of complaining about the GBA requirement and how this felt like Nintendo's replacement for online play. I was probably even one who complained about the GBA stuff, myself. But it seemed like most people who actually got the opportunity to play it actually liked the game itself, and I always thought it looked like a fun game. It's always been one I felt could do with a re-release on the 3/DS or Wii U since those systems seemed perfect for it, it'd be more accessible and could have online play. Better late than never I s'pose.
Echoes of Time was the one Crystal Chronicles game I never played, but if it is anything like the other sequels then it is not nearly as good, but that could also be my bias.
The only other sequel I know of is Ring of Fates. I don't have that one but from videos I seen, the gameplay appears similar to Echoes of Time but EoT seems more refined. Ring of Fates doesn't have online play the way EoT does so that's why I never bothered with it.
The other Crystal Chronicles game is Crystal Beareres on Wii, which is more a spin-off of this spin-off. I actually enjoyed that one, but it's rather different than the multiplayer games.