.: Crystal Bearers Storyline Discussion Thread :.

[SOULd OUT]

Finished this game about a day ago, so here's what I have to say about it for those who are kind of on the fence about it.

Graphics:
I have to say that I was completely surprised with the graphics, as this was released on the Nintendo Wii. The cut scenes were very well done, character design was also good, and the levels that you pass through were very intricate and beautiful for the Wii.

Characters:
The main character, Layle, is a nice change from the usual heroic persona that has plagued games of all kinds for decades. He is a self-absorbed, only cares about getting paid, but is also very loyal to those he has given his word too. I thought that overall he was well done, as a whole.
His voice actor, Darrel Guilbeau, wasn't horrible but he didn't do the best job either, when compared to the Japanese voice actor.(But it's hard to compare.)
The other characters were all really done well, I especially liked Jegral and how well his character was developed as the game progressed. His voice actor was very good.
By far the best character was the Yuke, Amidatelion, who's story and voice actor were the best out of all of the characters. Amidatelion was by far the best developed and most creative character.

Storyline/cut scenes:
The story was very good, but it was probably not up to par with other "mainstream" Final Fantasy games. There were a fair amount of twists and turns that were nice, a fair amount of humor, almost non-existent love, surprise, and mystery. I felt that it could have been less watered down however. I think they did it because of the target market the Wii has attracted though. I wish the storyline would have been a little more mature, and less kiddie. It could have been so much worse though.

The story also gets a little slow, especially if you get side tracked with side-quests like I did, towards the middle. But get's really, and I mean really good at the end.

The cut scenes were done beautifully(again for the Wii), however the voices did not match the mouths--ever. Which was so distracting I turned on the subtitles.

Music:
I have always thought since the beginning that the "FFCC:..." series has always had good music. If you buy the game through Best Buy you will receive some excerpts which was a nice surprise.
The music is very typical of the whole FFCC series, so people either like it or hate it. I however love it.(Sample)

Gameplay:
Gameplay of the previous installments has been very "travel by map to next area." Also, it relied heavily on multi-player participation. However, this latest installment is more like the new style of Final Fantasy game play.(X, X-2, XII, ect...)

I will say if you really liked the whole, "get together with my friends and beat up stuff" aspect of the previous games...you're not going to find much of that at all. But it's still really good.

The Wii remote was used the best out of all of the games for the Wii that I have seen yet. Where you use the remote to gesture objects at foes, to yourself, as well as opening doors and such.

The Bad:
-Poor voice acting, overall.
-Poor matching of words and mouths.
-Map is terrible and is hard to tell where you are.
-Sometimes you aren't sure where to go.
-Arm cramps.( wink )

The Good:
-Superb storyline.
-Good character development.
-Stunning graphics, for the Wii.
-Entertaining Mini-games.
-Single player, with multi-player help sparingly.
-Overall game play.  

[FluffyBunniestheInnocent]

The battle with Jeral was so horrible I decided I will never beat the game and just do sidequests  

[akiirokitsune]

I agree fully with Sould's description of the game as well as the pros and cons.

My husband played the game and I watched the entire time. It looked like fun and I actually got to play a bit. My favorite parts were the getaway, the beach mini-game, and the dancing mini-game.

"The only thing that bugged me," my husband says as I type this, "is that the story was too short."

"You did beat the game in like 3 days!" I laugh.

"I'd have beat it sooner if I didn't BS it in the middle," he responds.

Also, regarding the multi-player, you can have dual play while Layle is walking along and during the miasm ( sp? ) storms. We've done this together. Quite a few of the mini-games are co-op as well. We've done the battle with Blaze together. So, that was also one of my favorite aspects.

All in all, my husband and I loved this game and we honestly can't see why so many people have trashed this game like they have.