Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Crystal Bearers Update

That Crystal Bearers official site has been seeing a steady flow of updates, but for the real goods, we must turn to Famitsu. Japan's "gaming bible" offers the first real look at the game in its latest issue along with commentary from producer and scenario writer Akitoshi Kawazu and director and character designer Toshiyuki Itahana.

Crystal Bearers takes place in a futuristic Crystal Chronicles world, where swords have changed to guns and knowledge of magic has disappeared. In the past, the Yukes race died off following a war with the Lilties, and the Lilties now make use of crystals to support people.

That self-assured main character who stars in the trailer that's available at the official site is named Layle. A Crystal Bearer of the Clavat race, Layle has the ability to manipulate gravity. His story in Crystal Bearers begins after he's come into contact with a Yukes creature (yes, the same race that is supposed to have been wiped out) named Amidatelion. This creature causes Layle some trouble, and now Layle is seeking him out.

Incidentally, a portion of Layle's cheek has been crystalized (look closely and you can see it!). All Crystal Bearers apparently have had a part of their body turned into crystal form in this way.

Other characters introduced in the magazine include Althea and Jegran. Althea is the blond character shown sitting on the bench in the trailer. She (yes, it's a "she") is the queen of the Lilties Kingdom. Her mother is dead, and her father is sick. Jegran is the head of the Lilties army. He senses danger from both Amidatelion and Layle.

Taking control of Layle, you'll get to use some of the character's neat gravitational abilities via the Wiimote. You use the Wiimote in pointer mode, pointing at objects to target them. The primary use for this appears to be as a means of grabbing demons and then using them for various purposes.

Layle's actions change depending on the type of creature he's grabbed. Sample actions include: tossing demons at other demons, stopping demons in their tracks by flipping them over, and swinging yourself around enemies as an evasion tactic.

If you make Layle grab onto something heavy, like a ceiling lamp for instance, he'll pull himself up like a grappling hook. You can use this to navigate ceilings without touching the ground and also to clear tricky terrain.

In the interview part of the Famitsu feature, Kawazu and Toshiyuki at long last revealed why there was such a wait between Crystal Bearer's announcement and the recent trailer. According to Kawazu, development hadn't actually begun at the time of the original announcement!

Kawazu shared a few details on the game's character building elements. There's no level-up system in the game. Instead, you build your character's abilities by equipping accessories. As an example, he suggested being able to make Layle pick up bigger and more distant objects.

Rather than encountering more powerful beasts as you play, it's better to think that you'll encounter creatures with a greater variety of actions. This is true in town as well, apparently, as people will react to you in various new ways as you advance in the game.

The two hinted at somewhat of a free experience for users. There's no separation between battle and other elements of the game, said Kawazu. It's close to an open world game, he said, although that wasn't really the goal with the project. The actual goal apparently was to produce something that's fun not just to play but to watch as well.

This certainly explains some of those wacky videos that have been appearing at the official site! Crystal Bearers is listed in Famitsu as 60% complete and without a final release date. It looks like those official site videos are the closest we'll come to the game for a while, so enjoy them!

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/972/972988p1.html