advertisement

Final Fantasy Crystal Bearers arrive on Wii Dec. 26

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Sep 14, 2009 12:34 pm PT

Square Enix's latest take on Crystal Chronicles role-playing spin-off series set for North American launch at year's end.

On the day after Christmas, when gamers hit the stores en masse to exchange ill-advised gifts for the things they really wanted, Square Enix is hoping to catch their eyes with a rarely spotted creature: an anticipated new release in the last week of the year. The publisher today announced that Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers will go on sale in North America on December 26.

In the world of The Crystal Bearers, magic of any sort is taboo.

Final Fantasy fans have been looking forward to The Crystal Bearers for years. The title was first announced in May of 2006, half a year before the Wii first went on sale. At the time, the game's director, Toshiyiki Itahuna, promised it would be a "daring fusion of graphics and style that is full of life while still maintaining the basic role-playing game tradition."

Although it takes place in the same universe as the original Crystal Chronicles, the Crystal Bearers picks up the story 1,000 years down the line and trades in the multiplayer-focused action for on-rails shooting segments with third-person action. The game will still allow some multiplayer fun, as a second player with an extra Wii Remote can lend limited assistance.

While Square Enix's role-playing franchise has made appearances on the Wii before, The Crystal Bearers has been dubbed by the publisher as the "first major Final Fantasy experience for the Wii." Apparently not qualifying as "major" releases were Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time, Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon, and the downloadable offerings Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord.

For more on The Crystal Bearers, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

38 Comments

  • Slash_out

    Posted Sep 16, 2009 2:08 am PT

    I thought the one on the pic was a girl... And well apparently from the video it's a male... Yay for girly looking heroes -_-.

  • keith577500

    Posted Sep 16, 2009 1:51 am PT

    WAIT THIS YEAR!? i was a pretty big FFCC fan since the original but the newest one echoes of time was a bit of a crappy game im glad there taking this game for real

  • jetstopia

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 7:51 pm PT

    meh

  • lyoko411

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 4:50 pm PT

    CANT WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • NuKkU

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 2:49 pm PT

    thise crystal spinoff games arent usually that good so i pass

  • kavadias1981

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 11:01 am PT

    ...or you could buy Dissidia: Final Fantasy right now. Sorry but my God that game is fun. I can't stop playing it.

  • XeonForce

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 9:08 am PT

    If they really are taking the multiplayer segment out, then you can count me out. I was one of the few big fans of the original FF:CC, and what drew me in was the aesthetic hack-n-slash multiplayer co-op feel. That's what the FF:CC series has always been about, so why do they want to change it? I'm a little worried...

  • Link_86_1

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 8:29 am PT

    Bout freakin time, I'll be one of the few looking to buy this game on day freaking one! This actually looks like something playable, since the original FFCC

  • hm360

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 7:06 am PT

    UK release please, Square Enix?

  • Yuck_Too

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 6:52 am PT

    @lamprey263

    I agree with you for the most part but the other thing is in this case people who want the game are going to get it whenever it shipps and it won't get lost in the shuffle of Wii Fits and other stuff at Christmas.

  • joynul

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 6:26 am PT

    finally a date for the game. what about the uk?

  • Serbine

    Posted Sep 14, 2009 8:37 pm PT

    Great to hear the game getting release this year, also the game has a similar gameplay styIe to the Legend of Zelda game expect you fight with Gravitation Magic(In other word Jedi Force Power), the on-rail shooting part are limited to event scene example when Layle(the guy in the picture above)fall off(or Jump off, Not too sure)the airship and go into an all out air battle with those dragons. P.S. Buy this game you'll love it.

  • brian_13un

    Posted Sep 14, 2009 5:50 pm PT

    Great

  • da_chub

    Posted Sep 14, 2009 4:37 pm PT

    people have tons of gift certs. after xmas, that is why they doing it then....2nd biggest shopping day of year.....and i know i will be getting it then!!!!

  • lamprey263

    Posted Sep 14, 2009 4:31 pm PT

    @x8VXU6 - "why didnt they release the game like a week before X-mas they could have made more money"

    The Japanese have never understood that 4th quarter (holiday sales) are significantly much higher in the West, I've even heard that sales in this period account for almost half the annual revenues for the video game industry. I think you're right, they would have made more money releasing this before Christmas.

    Then agian, because 4th quarter sales have so much profit potential you sometimes see very competitive release times between games, or certain publishers will push back release dates if they think something won't do well if they release it earlier, and often look for release windows where compitition won't be so high. Maybe that's what they're doing here... but to my surprise, this year's 4th quarter doesn't have as much competition as say all the games that came out last year in October and November, games like Fallout 3, Fable 2, Little Big Planet, Resitance 2, Motorstorm 2, Left 4 Dead, Gears of War 2, Call of Duty: WaW, Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Endwar, Tomb Raider Underworld, Far Cry 2, and these titles all came out within a month of each other, and they all got relatively great reviews but some titles suffered poorer than expected sales due to competition.

  • x8VXU6

    Posted Sep 14, 2009 3:56 pm PT

    why didnt they release the game like a week before X-mas they could have made more money

  • Cruse34

    Posted Sep 14, 2009 3:26 pm PT

    probably shoulf have bumped it up a week because most stores won't have got it out yet (at least in Canada)

  • ruffluffs

    Posted Sep 14, 2009 3:01 pm PT

    meh I expect an average of 7.5 at the highest from most reviews
    I will probably never buy anything with on rails shooting. they are kinda fun but not worth their usual price tags

  • hobo_wrath

    Posted Sep 14, 2009 2:32 pm PT

    @ Kakua_Omari
    It could be weirder. Don't forget Darksiders 1/1/10 release date.
    personally i think that's a weirder release date than this. but yeah your right this is a pretty odd release date.

Final Fantasy Crystal Quick Links

Summary | Reviews | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | Answers | Forum | Check Prices

Check Prices: $44.99 – 49.99

GameStop $44.99 SHOP ›
Amazon.com $49.99 SHOP ›
Dell Home & Home Office $49.99 SHOP ›
advertisement
advertisement
Click Here

Related Unions

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers Boxshot
Final Fantasy Crystal

Game Stats

Full Game Details »Close

Games you may like…

Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.

See More Similar Games
advertisement