It's a question that's brought up a lot, and it's answered in brief in the OP:
But I suppose I'll make a more detailed explanation (with pictures!) in hopes that this post can be linked to rather than typing out variations on the same answer every time.
The Wii Remote/Nunchuk:
With the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, the camera is centered behind your party leader by tapping the c button, and manually controlled by holding down the c button and manipulating the camera with the d-pad. The game has an auto camera, but like nearly all 3D games there are major issues and manual camera control is a much better way to traverse the landscape. Obviously, this setup is functional but less than ideal.
The other major difference between the schemes is the ease of Art usage during battles. Arts are skills that are unique to every character and form the backbone of the battle system, so they are used very frequently. During battle, your Arts palette is displayed at the bottom of the screen (this image is taken from
very early on in the game, so no Arts spoilers):
With the Wii Remote, you move the Arts cursor with the d-pad and select an Art with the A button. This works well, because it's simple to move your thumb between the d-pad and the A button. Your other hand is on the Nunchuk, so there's no control conflict between moving your character around during battle and moving the Arts cursor. Several playable characters have Arts that are location-based, so moving around easily during battle can be important depending on the situation.
With the CC/CCPro, the camera is mapped to the right stick, like a traditional dual-stick setup, and centered by tapping the ZL button. The benefits to this setup are obvious, especially to people who are extremely finicky and love to have easy control over the camera at all times (like me).
Art usage is a bit more complicated, however. Because the d-pad and left stick are on the same side of the controller, selecting Arts while moving your character around is more clumsy and less natural than the Wii Remote/Nunchuk combo. You have a few options:
- You can do things one at a time, moving your character into position and then selecting the Art (or the other way around). It can get a bit frantic during fast-paced battles, but it works.
- Or, you can do what I did and emulate the "claw" position made most famous on Monster Hunter games for the PSP. This involves keeping your thumb on the left stick and using your left index finger to select Arts:
Essentially, the CC/CCPro has much nicer camera control at the expense of easy Art control during battles, and the Wii Remote/Nunchuk combo has easier Art control at the expense of simple camera controls.
Both control schemes work fine, and neither of them break the game or make it unplayable. It's simply a matter of preference.
