Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers

Unreleased

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers is a game currently in development for the Nintendo Wii, and is part of the Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles series exclusively on Nintendo consoles. The game will be directed by Toshiyuki Itahana who previously had done the artwork for all the Crystal Chronicles games currently released. The game's atmosphere is far more realistic and darker than previous Crystal Chronicles games, and focuses on a man named Layle.

Story
The story will take place long after the earlier Crystal Chronicles games and features advanced technology such as firearms and Airships. Crystals are used as the power supply for all sorts of common technologies.

The story will focus on a protagonist named Layle who, unlike previous characters in the Crystal Chronicles series who set off on a journey to become a hero, starts off already as a complete hero. He is a Crystal Bearer a person who has a piece of the Crystal embedding inside them and thus has magical powers. Director Toshiyuki Itahana explained this by saying that instead of being a story about growth, the story will show what the hero does in certain situations. The game opens with an airship getting into an accident of some form. The main character comes in to save the day and then tries to figure out what and who caused this accident. Other specifics given were mentions of basic Final Fantasy elements showing up, such as airships, chocobos, magic, and monsters. It is set during a time in the Crystal Chronicles world when magic no longer exist, Yukes have been gone for thousands of years, the world runs on technology created by the Lilties, and crystals are now used for industrial purposes.

Itahana has said that the game will have a more mature look then the previous Crystal Chronicles games and take place in the skies.

Characters

 * Layle - The main protagonist is a Clavat man, who is said to be a hero. He is seen holding a crystal which gives him the abilities to lift objects, people, and enemies into the air.
 * An unnamed female Clavat or possibly Selkie is seen being saved by Layle from some large men, possibly Lilties. Layle seems to become romantically involved with her.
 * Althea - A Lilty Princess with blond hair and glasses who, unlike Lilties in the previous series, is of normal height. She is accompanied by a ferret.
 * Amidatelion - a Yuke with ornate headgear is one of the eponymous Crystal Bearers, and also appears to be an antagonist. Her abilities seem to be able to counter Layle's powers, as seen in one scene where Layle tosses a log at her that she makes vanish and fires back at the red haired Selkie man.
 * Jegran - Lilty man with a single black wing who is Emperor of the Lilties.
 * An unnamed male Selkie with red hair has also appeared in trailers.
 * Another unnamed man of unknown race has glasses and a white mustache.

Gameplay
Unlike previous Crystal Chronicles games, which focused on multiplayer, The Crystal Bearers will be a more single-player experience with open-world gameplay. Trailers have shown Layle battling both on the ground and in the air. He is shown able to pick up objects and even enemies with his abilities, tossing them around. He also shown uses magic when is some cases cause a certain effect to an enemy such as a Cactuar growing after having used a water attack on it. Executive producer Akitoshi Kawazu mentioned that characters will make use of their abilities in battle while also using standard weapons. It is also possible to control an airship, as seen in the trailer. There is no separation between battle elements, making it an open-world real-time game.

The Wiimote is used to grab objects and move them. If large objects are grabbed, Lalye's powers work as a grappling hook to launch him up. Nearly every object in the game can be interacted with, including people in towns who will react to Layle differently depending upon the player's actions. As the game progresses, enemies do not become more difficult per se, but the amount of things that they can do increases. There will be no leveling-up system in the game, but instead new equipment that increases Layle's abilities, such as being to grab objects farther away.

Development
The original video trailer released showed an art direction style similar to the original Crystal Chronicles game. Steampunk style airships were shown flying across the sky, three crystal caravans racing on a desert-like plain, and a blonde-haired Clavat boy holding a crystal in his hand. During the Square Enix Party 2007 a new trailer was unveiled showing the new direction the game was taken in. Plans were to have a running demo at Square Enix Party 2007 but due to lack of time, only a trailer was shown. They were hoping to have one ready by the Tokyo Game Show 2007, but the event came and passed with no demo or even a trailer. Three Crystal Chronicles games (namely Ring of Fates, My Life as a King and Echoes of Time) have been released since the initial announcement of The Crystal Bearers in May 2006. The developers of My Life as a King refused to comment when asked about the status of The Crystal Bearers at the Game Developers Conference of February 2008, stating only that the public should "wait for a press release". Two and a half years after the game's initial announcement, the game still doesn't have a release date. The first new trailer since 2007 was released with the Wii version of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time in January 2009. In March 2009, the Official Global website opened for The Crystal Bearers that updates with short videos on the game and revealed a new logo. The European page revealed that Europe has already received a rating for the game before both North America and Japan. A newsletter was also E-mailed to people who signed up to receive info on the game from the European website. In a issue of Famitsu released in April, the Game Producer and Scriptwriter of The Crystal Bearers Akitoshi Kawazu, revealed that the long delay was due to the game being in early development when it had originally been announced and not having a full development team when they began work.