Now that all the buzz after the E3 conferences and the newly announced games is settling down, I think it is time to talk about those games that we knew about before already, but that have become more concrete recently.

The game that was on the top of my Wii-Most Wanted list pre E3 was actually the game that is so epic that its name didn't even fit into the title of this thread, it is Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers.

I seriously think that this game is Square Enix's top-tier attempt to make a stand on the Wii. When the console was announced, they announced a sequel to their own Nintendo franchise FF:CC. They probably didn't put too much effort and not the best teams on it, and the game was intended to be about the same as the Gamecube original.

But soon enough they understood that the Wii caught of like fire, and like all important publishers, they knew that they were betting on the wrong horse. Now instead of announcing completely new games, they took the most promising title they were currently developing for the platform and made a so-called AAA-project out of it. I think this is the reason for the long development time and why the game was unheard of for such a long time.

But let's talk about the game now.
Judging from the E3 trailer, the game is much more story driven than its precessedors were. Since the original game was basically a dungeon crawler with little to no story, this is a very good thing in my opinion. Also, the main character seems to be fully fleshed out, and not a customizable character like we were used to. So from a story telling perspective, this game seems to be a lot closer to the original Final Fantasies than the other FF:CC games were.

The gameplay on the other hand seems to be quite diverse. We have seen that fight with the aircraft and we have also seen classic dungeon action and monster brawling, so the ingredients for a true action-adventure/action-rpg in the vein of Zelda, Secret of Mana, Beyond Good & Evil or Starfox seem all to be there.

Because of all this, I expect this game to be a fine replacement for Zelda Wii, which means we are actually looking at a holiday season with a new Mario game and a great Zelda replacement, which is about every nintendo fanboy's dream.

Now what do you think? Am I setting my hopes too high? Will the game be just more of the same dungeon-crawling boreness we know from other FF:CC's? Or are you looking forward to this title as much as I am?

I'm loving the direction SE has taken with the game. At this time, I'm just dying to play an epic and long RPG on my Wii because I almost have none for it. the characters look superb and the gameplay seems very cool. This should tie us over until Zelda.

I don't think your expectations are higher than mine :p No need to worry, I'm positive SE will do a fantastic job with this game and future ones in the series.

I got my eye on this one, but I'm waiting until we are a lot closer to release to get excited. I was very disappointed with Crystal Chronicles on the GC. I made it through a couple of "years" in the game and felt like it wasn't going anywhere, so I quit playing it. Hopefully, this one will be much better.

I want see some more from it. It looks to be shaping up nicely, but I still have my questions about it.

That's exactly the way I felt about the original. I was very much looking forward to this game since it was the first FF game I ever got to play and it received great reviews. But when I played the game I really didn't understand how you can get a step further, you were just beating down three dungeons to start everything again, and at some point, you even had to repeat the same dungeons. That was about were I stopped playing it.

I guess you have a point there Rol...

I think I stopped around the same time you did.  From what I remember, everything just moved too slowly.  New areas seemed like they took forever to open up, getting better equipment seemed to rarely happen, you had to recollect those orbs to do magic every time you went into an area.  The pacing was just bad.

I think the biggest problem was that it was built around local multiplayer more than anything else.  If I had known what I was getting into, I would have never bought it.  I was expecting a single player experience, like every other FF I had ever played.

When i seen that it uses the pointer and motion controls, that was a done deal for me. A Must Buy! If it didn't i wouldn't get it.

It's a must buy for me..."nuff said."

i'm surprised, i had no expectations whatsoever for this game, but it's lookin to be a good game