Originally posted by Bahamut2000X
Technically the series started with the orbs. But meh, orbs, crystals, both made of glass.

But ya that is a pretty interesting view to the point of the crystal in FFIX.
No, it did start with Crystals, indeed. It just got translated to Orbs for some reason when it first got it's english translation. I assume it's because the translator(s) didn't have enough space in the dialogues to call it Crystals.