Maybe this will just end up being a Square Enix blog.
It’s quite a sordid little tale, so before we add more to its burgeoning history, let’s first recap the delightful little path that the development of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: the Crystal Bearers has taken to date, shall we?
- May 18, 2005 – Game announced
- May 9, 2006 – First trailer shown at E3 2006
- Months and months of absolute silence
- Dec 2007 – EGM’s rumor section declares Crystal Bearers development is “in trouble”
- Oct 1, 2008 – Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time is announced for the Wii and DS – gamers looking forward to Crystal Bearers begin to wonder if they’re only going to get this game instead of the one they actually wanted
- Nov 19th, 2008 – Square Enix finally says “everything’s fine!”
- Dec 22, 2008 – Square Enix reveals that the Wii version of Echoes of Time will contain a trailer for Crystal Bearers
- Jan 29, 2009 – New Crystal Bearers “trailer” released
- Due date????
In any case, here’s the new “trailer.” It’s actually been referred to as “leaked footage” on some sites, and I’m inclined to agree with that label. It begins showing actual gameplay footage of the main character engaging in some battles, and there’s this strange, jarring accompanying noise that must be some sort of Japanese Bizarro-world version of country/western music. After that, there’s some footage of cut scenes and more gameplay.
All in all, the game is looking fairly good. I can’t really complain so far, unless, of course, this footage features the actual soundtrack from the game. From the battle footage we can see that the Wii remote is apparently used to grab and throw objects using a sort of telekinesis power. We can only hope this works more with the pointer functionality than it does with motion controls, but since Square Enix isn’t really feeling like talking about the game all that much just yet, we have to just speculate and leave it at that for now.
So, does this footage keep your excitement for Crystal Bearers fueled? Or have you finally let that dying ember of hope snuff out?
