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. It is part of the Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles series exclusively on Nintendo consoles which include the original GameCube game, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates for the Nintendo DS, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King which is downloadable via WiiWare for the Nintendo Wii. The game will be directed by Toshiyuki Itahana who previously had done the artwork for all the Crystal Chronicles games currently released.

Story
The story will focus on a protagonist 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. 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.

Itahana has said that the game will have a more mature look then the previous Crystal Chronicles games, take place in the skies, and be set further into the future of the Crystal Chronicles world.

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 monsters. Layle seems to become romantically involved with her.
 * An unnamed male Selkie with red hair has also appeared in trailers.
 * An unnamed female Clavat, possibly part Lilty, with blond hair and glasses appears in a trailer. She is accompanied by a ferret.
 * An unnamed female 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.
 * An unnamed dark-skinned man of unknown race and with a single black wing seems to be the captain of an airship.
 * 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. Trailers has shown the Layle battling both on the ground and in the air. He is shown able to pick up object and even enemies with his abilites, 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. No info has been released about the controls other than that players will use both the Wii Remote and the Nunchuck attachment while playing and that the developers are trying to keep the controls simple.

Development
The original video trailer released showed graphics similar to the GameCube's Crystal Chronicles game. Steampunk style airships were shown flying across the sky, three crystal caravans racing on a desert-like plain, and a blond figure (supposedly a Clavat) 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.

Two Crystal Chronicles games (namely Ring of Fates and My Life as a King) have been released since the initial announcement of The Crystal Bearers in May 2006, and another game, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time, is set to be released in January 2009, yet there has been no major update about The Crystal Bearers. 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. In addition to this, the trailer shown at the Square Enix Party 2007 has since been pulled from the FFCCNews blog, although it was stated the trailer would be up for a limited time.

While there have not been any updates on the game since then, Square-Enix has confirmed that it is indeed still in development, and that more information will be announced once a release window has been decided upon. It was announced that the Wii Edition of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time would contain a new trailer for The Crystal Bearers.