Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers takes a couple of steps away from the CC series and a couple steps toward super hero games.
In an interview with RPGamer, Producer Akitoshi Kawazu explains that the game is less about level grinding and stat min-maxing and more about action and Wii-friendly mini games. The game's main character, Layle, has gravity-controlling superpowers to weild during physics-based combat sequences. To keep the game feeling fresh, Kawazu says they've added a lot of mini-games to the mix that make use of Layle's gravity-manipulation powers — and typical RPG chores (like talking to/harrassing townspeople) will cash in on them as well. That sounds like it might be a drag to hardcore RPG fans looking for a strategy fix (and not for a Wii-mote flailing session). However, it looks like synthesis will still be big part of gameplay.
During the interview, Kawazu seemed especially pleased with the enemy AI his team developed for this title. Since this isn't a traditional level-based RPG they decided to use more advanced AI types to ramp up the challenge later in the game. Not to worry though, there is a deep item and equpiment crafting system in the game to level the playing field. In fact, item synthesis is probably one of the main RPG elements in the game, aside from Square Enix's trademarke story telling.
Crystal Bearers doesn't have a definite release date yet, so we'll have to wait for more details. The interview does close with some hardcore tidbits, such as the fact that Crystal Bearers will not have any connectivity to the DS games. Be sure to check it out if you're sick of skimming short clips for plot points.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers Interview [RPGamer] [Image Credit]