A mystery on Monday, unveiled on Tuesday - but now new information has been revealed regarding Cryon, the latest Xbox 360 project from ex-Final Fantasy producer Hironobu Sakaguchi's Mistwalker studios.
In the latest issue of Famitsu, as translated over at Next-gen.biz, Sakaguchi explains that the Cryon's theme "is tears. And not just tears of sadness - tears of happiness, tears of renewal... Basically, all kinds of tears".
Cryon is being created by Cavia, developer of Drag-on Dragoon, using a scenario created by Sakaguchi himself: "The scenario is mine. This game will be primarily scenario-focused". Cryon follows the story of a girl named Sally and her pet golem Boguru and, although an action RPG, Sakaguchi explains "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".
Featuring elements that seem to echo both Katamari Damacy and Shadow of the Colossus, as your play through Cryon, Boguru grows in size as your achieve goals - seemingly revolving around helping people, with the example given of lifting a boat to carry it to safety. "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," explains Sakaguchi "By manipulating this catharsis carefully, we can create a refreshing, pleasant action experience."
Visually, the game is being designed by Kimihiko Fujisaka of Drago-on Dragoon fame and Sakaguchi is keen to keep the game's graphical style as close to Fujisaka's artwork as possible, using the Xbox 360's processing prowess. If all that talent wasn't enough to whet your appetite, Sakaguchi's even got Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu working on the soundtrack.
We'll have more news on Cryon over the coming months.
