Well there's been five videos for Crystal Bearers released in the last couple of days including some awesome stuff.

Not only does Layle have Bon Jovi song on his commercial, he also suspiciously looks like a slightly younger Jon Bo Jovi and possesses the ability to harness the power of rock:


He also knows the secret to using Cows as weapons:


Also a new miniseries of trailers called theatre bearers, it's in Japanese but there's gameplay footage in all three some time after one minute in.
Some epic pwnage in this video:


A showcase of the telekinesis and what you can use it for:


Video focusing quite a bit on Keiss and Belle, some parts might be considered NSFW.

So I hear Famitsu gave The Crystal Bearers a 30/40... While the score itself doesn't matter, it means Famitsu believes it's the worst Final Fantasy game as yet released tied with Echoes of Time on the DS and Wii. It also means that they think the original Crystal Chronicles was better, which is pretty bad in reality.

Apparently, some of the problems the reviewers had was a terrible camera, a tutorial that's too long, nothing exceptional in terms of length and very little NPC interaction (so the world feels too isolated). Nothing major, but I can see why the shift towards solo play and away from multiplayer has hurt a, primarily, Co-Op franchise.

Well 1up has some quotes about it:
 

1up

"The story, woven by a cast of colorful characters, is extremely fascinating," one reviewer wrote. "The way the story develops, along with the unique characters and world setting, is brilliant. There are lots of little details to everything." On the other hand, according to Famitsu, The Crystal Bearers has a fair amount of annoying niggles. "The telekinesis setup is fun -- you get to perform a lot of actions in the playable events, but I wish people gave more of a response to getting moved around," one writer said. "The levels are well-made and full of gimmicks," wrote another, "but the map doesn't give you much info, making it hard to figure out where you are at times. It's hard to get a grip on your surroundings, and the game feels a bit like a long fetch quest, But the playable events and wide variety of minigames ensure that players never get bored."

 
In my opinion, those quotes don't match up to the score and they tend to have a weird opinion of the Crystal Chronicles series anyway, no way is Ring of Fates worth 35/40 if Echoes of Time is only worth 30/40, and the fact that the difference between the Wii version and DS version is only 1 point should tell you something.
 
The complaint about the camera is the most valid one, especially considering the main story of the game is 15-20 hours(but there's over 250 sidemissions, some that can be done multiple times), I'm not too sure about tutorial length but the Kingdom Hearts games have really, really long tutorials and have got better scores.
 
For the interaction, I think that's just plain BS. For instance in one video Layle throws a vase and breaks it, a bunch of guards come after him and give him a hefty fine for the action, then he decides to rob on another man by throwing him and grabbing his bag of money to pay off his fine. When has that level of interaction been in a Final Fantasy game? They did address the issue in the quotes on 1up, but the fact that you can actually move people with your powers means Crystal Bearers is already the most interactive FF game ever.
 
 

Someone's getting a little too defensive.

Well we do know how reviews get lop sided with well known franchises.  Crystal Chronicles will never be looked at with the same light as FF and no need to either.  Though we do know a FF title will easily outscore any rpg for the most part.
 
About the interaction thing it can be looked at two ways.  One is the interaction by talking with many NPC which the reviewers are saying Bearers doesn't do.  The other is by interacting with them physically which Bearers does 100x more.
 
Forced long turorials can always be problematic no ways around it so can't do anything about that.  All that really matters is I'm gonna play it haha

What do you mean I don't have a life?
I'm a gamer, I have tons of lives.

PS360WII

Well we do know how reviews get lop sided with well known franchises.  Crystal Chronicles will never be looked at with the same light as FF and no need to either.  Though we do know a FF title will easily outscore any rpg for the most part.

That's basically the issue I have, Crystal Chronicles game are rated way too harshly in my opinion(or main FF titles not harsh enough) and they get a lot of hate for no reason, especially when a lot of people haven't tried them but purely off review scores. It also leads to stuff like Echoes of Time being the worst FF by Famitsu standards when even if you're not a CC fan you can probably recognise that it's better than stuff like Dirge of Cerberus and Mystic Quest. That's why I was getting defensive about it.

I think Crystal Bearers still does have traditional interaction as well, I'm not sure how much, but the guard I mentioned talks to you and you interact with shopkeeps and Cid and Stiltzkin. That's pretty much just based on videos and screens I've seen.

Yeah I don't know.  The Crystal Chronicles series does get a bad rap imo too.  It's been well done after the first attempt and even that one was alright.  While I think FF titles may get a less sentance in regards to skrutiny people also allow themself to get caught up in the story more for them as well.  So sure the review will already be known but the reviewer has a more open mind in regards to how the story and gameplay take over.  Just like a Halo fan trying to play Killzone and vise versa they won't let the game have a chance to be anything other than what they want it to be... a game less worthy.
 
Though of course there is always the possibility that Crystal Bearers isn't that great lol but I'm going with my first thought just because

What do you mean I don't have a life?
I'm a gamer, I have tons of lives.

Yes, I suppose you're right, some people just don't like it because it's different, but that's what I do like about the Crystal Chronicles games(well one of the reasons I like them anyway). The first Crystal Chronicles was a typical Kawazu-produced game, fantastic concept with some problems with the execution, luckily they vastly improved the existing formula for Ring of Fates and Echoes of Time(although the Wii port wasn't a great idea).

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Though of course there is always the possibility that Crystal Bearers isn't that great lol but I'm going with my first thought just because

Yer, there is a slim chance but I don't think that the score was reflected in what the reviewers wrote at all. I am going to get it and form my own opinion, after all I loved The Last Remnant!

SpoonyRedMage


That's basically the issue I have, Crystal Chronicles game are rated way too harshly in my opinion(or main FF titles not harsh enough) and they get a lot of hate for no reason, especially when a lot of people haven't tried them but purely off review scores. It also leads to stuff like Echoes of Time being the worst FF by Famitsu standards when even if you're not a CC fan you can probably recognise that it's better than stuff like Dirge of Cerberus and Mystic Quest. That's why I was getting defensive about it.

Hey now... That's going a bit too far. You're ignoring the fact that the Crystal Chronicles series owes everything to Final Fantasy. Without that, nobody would've given the series the time of day and it wouldn't have gotten past the first game. There's no need to go badmouthing one of the best RPG series going just because you think it's distant cousin deserves better praise. Just remember that, if it weren't for Final Fantasy, you wouldn't have made this thread because this game and the whole Crystal Chronicles series would never exist in the first place.

Haven't you sat back and thought "Maybe this series isn't for everyone?" I mean, I've never sat there and said Disgaea 3 deserves better than a 32 and that, I dunno, Dragon Quest games are judged too lightly. That Dragon Quest IX doesn't deserve a 40 while Disgaea 3 deserves at least a 35. Why? 'Cause I accept that Disgaea is Disgaea and I'm happy it's not as popular as other SRPGs if it means the series won't radically alter what it does so perfectly right in my eyes to try to accrue a larger audience. Just look at the difference between Echoes of Time and The Crystal Bearers if you want to see what I don't want to happen to Disgaea.

Now whether the game itself is good or not, or whether the series deserves more praise (although, to be frank, it's always rated at least a 7 so it can't be as loathed as you seem to think), is kind of moot at this time. The point is that Crystal Bearers is rated lowly within its own series. Which obviously doesn't bode well, considering that the rest of the series isn't much to write home about to begin with. So, simply get ready to face the possibility that this new entry isn't the best in the series - or anywhere near the best.

I'm not bad mouthing FF, I still love the main FFs but I think they are treated much better than other series by reviewers, the same with Dragon Quest. Although Famitsu are obviously Matsuno fanboys.
 
Yer I suppose you're right about that and reviews are subjective and not all reviews are like Jim Sterling's review of Echoes of Time(where he gave it a bad score for copying Monster Hunter). For the last point about the series changing, Itahana said that they'd still be making the Co-op focused ones as well but I like that they're willing to try change it and try new stuff(and I don't think CB is different in an attempt to get a bigger audience).
 
It's rated low in it's series by Famitsu though and I completely disagree with the order they go in. To me it goes EoT(DS)>RoF>CC>EoT(Wii) and the difference in quality between RoF and EoT is tiny.
 
It also doesn't help that people are branding the game a flop straight away because of the 30/40.... that annoys me.

i'll still get it since i need a good game on the wii

meepmoopmeep


i'll still get it since i need a good game on the wii

You do that but make sure to check out other games too.

SpoonyRedMage

meepmoopmeep


i'll still get it since i need a good game on the wii

You do that but make sure to check out other games too.

i'm just looking forward to Fragile and this, i guess, and maybe Dead Space.
Metroid Other M as well

meepmoopmeep

i'm just looking forward to Fragile and this, i guess, and maybe Dead Space.
Metroid Other M as well

Well that's a decent list but no love for Monster Hunter, Tales of Graces and Arc Rise Fantasia?
 
Also I might as well post these three new theatre bearers videos.
 



 
Volume 6 was only released today and has the most interesting stuff, including Crystal Bearers version of Prelude(it was already on the CB site).
 
Oh yeah, Crystal Bearers has a version of Chocobo Hot and Cold in it as well!

Well Corrupt it is all in how one looks at it.  Yes they tacked on the Final Fantasy name onto Crystal Chronicles to get people to look at it but it is a large step back to the roots of Final Fantasy imo.  Plus I'm just posting this so I can say it again: Rings of Fate > Crisis Core

What do you mean I don't have a life?
I'm a gamer, I have tons of lives.

PS360WII

Plus I'm just posting this so I can say it again: Rings of Fate > Crisis Core

*cuts off your robotic-extention arm*




never played Rings of Fate but yeah... 

meepmoopmeep

PS360WII

Plus I'm just posting this so I can say it again: Rings of Fate > Crisis Core

*cuts off your robotic-extention arm*




never played Rings of Fate but yeah... 

heh well I played both and I just couldn't get into Crisis Core.  It's a great story but horrid gameplay.  IMO of course (but not really it's just true lol)

What do you mean I don't have a life?
I'm a gamer, I have tons of lives.

PS360WII

heh well I played both and I just couldn't get into Crisis Core.  It's a great story but horrid gameplay.  IMO of course (but not really it's just true lol)

hrmm... it's hard to argue with you having not played RoF myself,
but i did like the CC gameplay. like the blocking and stuff, it was different. story was better than i expected.

i must now play RoF to see what it's about. (after i finish FFIV, of course) 

what platform is RoF on? Wii or DS?

It's on DS.  I liked it for an action rpg but I get why people like Crisis Core more.  To me it was a Final Fantasy Dynasty Warriors with a random element for progress.  I don't know SE said lets make a game for fans of FFVII by making it nothing like FFVII... Brilliant! 

What do you mean I don't have a life?
I'm a gamer, I have tons of lives.

PS360WII


Well Corrupt it is all in how one looks at it.  Yes they tacked on the Final Fantasy name onto Crystal Chronicles to get people to look at it but it is a large step back to the roots of Final Fantasy imo.  Plus I'm just posting this so I can say it again: Rings of Fate > Crisis Core

Well Akitoshi Kawazu said that all the Final Fantasy name means is that the game tells a story, and it's been that way since he worked on the original FF. What he meant was "Shut up! I decide what FF is, not some Kitase person who thinks Dragon Quest was better!".
 
I've mentioned it before but Crystal Chronicles is the somewhat successor to FFIX, sharing some characters(Artemicion and Stiltzkin) and originally the main FFIX cast were in the games, theres also other connections like Miasma and the Mist parallels. Plus it references the past games, for instance my Lilty in Echoes of Time is currently wearing Mage Mail from FFVI.
Also slightly related Echoes and Time and Ring of Fates> Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days in nearly every way.
 
EDIT: Ring of Fates is a very odd one by the way, it's a prequel to the original Crystal Chronicles with numerous elements from the original appearing, like the Giant Enemy Crab(who's been in CC, RoF and EoT, I hope he's in Crystal Bearers). It's also split between multiplayer and single player unlike CC and EoT.