Blue Dragon reklamer

My sloppy translation of Cry On report from http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game...0051220/aqi.htm

[...]
The last to appear was Hironobu Sakaguchi of Mistwalker. Sakaguchi is also an AQ Interactive stockholder. Also, his Microsoft-produced Xbox 360 "Lost Odyssey" is being developed by Feel Plus for example, so his ties to the company are strong. The new game announced here, "Cry On", is being made by Mistwalker and Cavia; the platform is Xbox 360. Release period undecided.

According to Sakaguchi, the theme is "tears", not only tears of sadness but also tears of joy or inspiration; the main character is a young woman named Sally, and in preparing the scenario he's taking care in portraying fluctuations in her feelings. The setting is a world where humans coexist with Earth Giants. A war has revived the Earth Giants, throwing the world of this action RPG into chaos (? this doesn't make sense to me either)

Character illustrations are by Kimihiko Fujisaka, who illustrated Drag-on Dragoon 2. The style of the movie shown at the conference felt closer to natural animation than typical toon-shaded graphics, with impressive soft coloring. Sakaguchi and coproducer Takuya Iwasaki (Drag-on Dragoon/Ace Combat series) referred to this style as "Fujisaka Shading"; a new graphic engine is being written from scratch to present an original worldview.

According to Iwasaki, "as an action RPG, there will be areas that have been raised or lowered due to some disturbance, and the Earth Giant can break things or dash through." He comments that the great difference between the perspectives of normal characters and the perspective of the Earth Giant is an important aspect of the game.

Sakaguchi said, "This is my first action RPG. In action RPGs I think it's really important to have vexing puzzles and a high level of freedom, where you can go wherever you like. But my own usual approach with RPGs is to have the scenario pull you along. We're trying to mix the two styles, and have the scenario pull you along a little bit but still make a game that gives you a lot of freedom and really forces you to think. I'd like it to feel fresh in this regard."

The scenario is currently about halfway done. "I love Mr. Fujisaka's illustrations, how they convey both loneliness and inner strength," Sakaguchi said. He's striving for a scenario that does justice to Fujisaka's characters.

Also, Nobuo Uematsu is in charge of the music. He was unable to appear at the conference, but in a video letter remarked that "Mr. Sakaguchi has recently taken to writing lyrics --- we'll probably record a song."