quarto titolo della Mistwalker annunciato
It is no enormous surprise that his just-announced game for Xbox 360 is, then, called "Cry On," and that "its theme is tears. And not just tears of sadness -- tears of happiness, tears of renewal. . . . Basically, all kinds of tears."
The main character is a blue-haired little girl named Sally. (Okay, so the Japanese spelling would be best Romanized as "Sari." That's not as much fun, even if it's the name of a type of Indian dress.) Sally has a pet golem named Boguru (which might end up translated as, I don't know, "Boggle"). They set off on a quest to reach a land far away.
Action RPG
The character design and game design is by cavia's Kimihiko Fujisaka, of Drag-on Dragoon fame. Sakaguchi hand-picked him for his art style, and promises that, unlike in many earlier games, where the character design and the on-screen characters differ drastically in appearance, Cry On's presentation will retain the artist's style. This is a popular trend in recent games -- Dragon Quest VIII being the groundbreaking example.
The game will be an action-RPG. Yet, says Sakaguchi: "Rather than have Sally swinging a sword and running around, we figured it would be more interesting to make the game design primarily puzzle- and problem-solving based. We want the feel of it to be, you spend fifteen minutes thinking up a solution as Sally, and then execute the solution in one (satisfying) minute as Boguru."
Fujisaka points out the Boguru starts out rather small -- small enough to barely support Sally on his shoulders. Yet, as he receives more items and blocks, he grows larger and larger. Fujisaka says, of the design: "The concept is to invoke a feeling of accomplishment in the player after he's come a long distance as Sally, and cleared much terrain as Boguru. As the scale changes, so does the viewpoint of the character you're controlling. And thus catharsis is born. By manipulating this catharsis carefully, we can create a refreshing, pleasant action experience." Sakaguchi descrives his scenario is "pleasant and simple": "According to the scenario, you help people: for example, lift a boat as Boguru and carry it to safety. Lots of simple, pleasing action situations."
These are very interesting comments indeed. I will not hesitate to say it's apparent Sakaguchi and Fujisaka have played both Katamari Damacy and Shadow of the Colossus, two games dealing with scale. Fujisaka even mentions that the golem will control with both analog sticks: "Pushing, pulling, lifting, grabbing -- no one's made a game yet based entirely on these kinds of motions."
The most interesting comment, by far, though, is Fujisaka's declaration about "catharsis." Shadow of the Colossus was indeed very catharsis-invoking, though I personally felt a greater catharsis at the end of the first Katamari Damacy. If handled expertly, a game in a persistent world, with a driven scenario and an interesting quest, about gradually growing larger and larger might be mind-blowing. It all depends on the execution. (And probably a heartbreakingly profound conclusion.)
The question, though, is this: will the Japanese even care about these great games Sakaguchi is making? Will it be enough to get them to buy an Xbox 360? In the beginning, there will be a few weirdoes who buy a 360 just because of the promise of Blue Dragon. Games like Cry On are both poppy and artsy -- perhaps the direction the medium is heading in Japan. Will these be strong enough to become more interesting message board topics than the pages-long cast of a new Final Fantasy game? Time will tell. I remain optimistic.