Well I think Square set CrystalBearers to fail.

I remember first hearing about Crystal Bearers and seeing the launch trailer at E3 2006. I almost wet myself the game looked like a true sequal to CrystalChronicals. CrystalChronicals was one of my favorite GameCube games, I loved linking up some GBA's and playing four player with a couple buddies. The core game was also very satisfying and it held its own against my Nintendo dominated library.

But then they showed another trailer, with a new protagonist and totally new gameplay. GamePlay that I say resembles more of an action/adventure title then that of a realtime RPG. It didn't sink in with the first trailer that the game was taking a whole new route, I still thought it was going to be a real time RPG with some new features and a new protagonist.

But then the gameplay trailer was shown and the announcement came that Crystal Bearers was going to be a single player title removing all the co-op gameplay that made Chronicals so addictive. Then they showed the battle system and it doesn't look anything like Chronical's, this dissapointed me beyond belief. The game looks like its goal is to challenge the likes of Zelda, which it cannot possibly do!

Now the announcement that the game will last only 15 hours, and the release date on boxing day just after the Christmas rush and I have to say I can't see this title breaking 250K. It's not true to the CrystalChronical's formula, its only fifteen hours and it launches right after the holiday's. Who is going to buy this title?

The only people who will buy this title are the fanboys, the die hard Final Fantasy fans who buy everything with Final Fantasy in the name. I plan to rent it and see how good it is before buying it and I bet their won't be a large number of sales considering it's launching in the wake of Christmas with a diluted control scheme!

I expect it to sell well over 1m since it does have Final Fantasy in the name. I mean, nobody expected RE4 wii and RE:UC to sell over 1m...

That is the question, though. Certainly people shop, but will they be appropriately aware of a new product? Will it be stocked on the 26th itself, or is that just the ship date? A few factors are at play here.

What are those quality 3rd party titles you are referring to? I am quite confused when I look at the top sellers.

If SE advertises well, the core will buy into it. Casuals and hardcores will buy it impulsively when they see it stocked due to brand name. So, it's more of a case of advertising and retailer support, especially the latter.

I don't see many if any quality third party titles at the top. Sure RedSteel was great but it sold because it was a launch title not due to it being a great title. I mean come on look at titles like CarnivalGames, these games are shovelware they don't deserve the high sales. Infact look at the top selling first party titles for example. Can you honestly call WiiPlay a AAA+ quality title? Or how about WiiMusic from what I've heard it was appauling.

Great solid games don't sell on the Wii. Casual titles sell on the Wii. Even Nintendo's own big wig titles the best of the best that Nintendo has to offer pale in sales comparison to other titles like WiiFit. Its not who can make a quality title anymore its who can make a game that appeals to both Women and children.

A perfect example would be Conduit. I bought it day one, it is hands down the best shooter on the Wii and the best online experiance I have had on any game for the Wii. Yet it gets beaten by Carnival Games.

Their is no justice on the Wii. Yes it remains my favorite platform but no it is not hardcore friendly! Though I love it when developers through us the odd hardcore title!

Two games means you can declare for all of them? Get out until you actually do some research.

Wii fans are more casual than GameCube fans, so more of them will fall for the title and not realize it's a spinoff. Everybody will be getting this game for Christmas.

The guy who said this was probably just being really nice and complimenting the competition. He's saying it will be hard to succeed this Christmas with so many other good games out there.

it'll do fine.

1# it's not a "mature" hardcore game.... which is the reason titles like Madworld, dead space, HoTDO sold little imho (you could add deadly creatures...yuck)

2# it's a highly polished product

3# it's a brandname that is recognized by casuals (many DS titles are FF... and don't say Dead space has a brand name too... that's for hardcore HD players only...)

There is no reason to think it won't do better than it's predecessor.