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RPG Frog
Blade Runner
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 748
Location: the Matrix |
| Blue Dragon! (Mistwalker Studios, X360 RPG) |
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These are alleged Mistwalker Studios(Japanese Studio developing RPGs for Microsoft) concept art. First game is called Blue Dragon. Second is the art from Mistwalker's web-site that has been floating around for a few years. As you can see Microsoft is on track for luring in Japanese Gamers. It appears that they are going for 2 new RPG series to take on both Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. Nobuo Uematsu(Final Fantasy) is doing music for this developer.
This is Akira Toriyama's(Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest, Dragon Ball Z) Concept Art. Very Cool! This must be the traditional RPG. Looks just like the art of any Dragon Quest manual.
This is Takehiko Inoue(Vagabond) Concept Art. This would be the serious RPG.
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/609/609260p1.html
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Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities…there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars…Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand…to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet. - Robert E. Howard
Last edited by RPG Frog on Fri Jul 22, 2005 5:08 pm; edited 2 times in total |
Mon May 02, 2005 5:47 pm |
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RPG Frog
Blade Runner
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 748
Location: the Matrix |
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/609/609260p1.html
Blue Dragon Revealed
Mistwalker's Xbox 360 RPG to feature Akira Toriyama characters.
by Anoop Gantayat
May 2, 2005 - And just like that, the E3 rush of official Xbox 360 news begins, surprisingly from across the Pacific. The latest issue of Shonen Jump features the first word on Blue Dragon, a Japanese-developed Xbox 360 RPG. This title is one of the two being developed by Mistwalker, a game studio founded by Final Fantasy father Hironobu Sakaguchi.
While the magazine does not show any screenshots of Blue Dragon, it does share a few bits of artwork and character details. Three characters are introduced in the magazine: Jiro, a smart boy who like to plan things in advance, Kurukku, a young lady who has a bit of adult in her, and Shu, a young boy who loves to adventure. The game's storyline is a secret, but it seems to center on Shu, the main character, and his relationship with a blue, fire-breathing dragon, who seems to form his shadow!
The characters featured in Blue Dragon will remind some of Dragon Quest, and with good reason. Confirming recent rumors on the matter, it turns out that the game's character designer is none other than Akira Toriyama. Best known for his work on Dragon Ball and Dragon Quest, Toriyama comments that he's lucky to be working on such a good game as Blue Dragon.
Exciting words from Toriyama, and certainly a good sign for the Xbox 360 in Japan. With Sakaguchi and Toriyama working on the system, the Xbox 360 now has a game being developed by key staff members of Japan's two biggest series, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Also worth noting is that Blue Dragon has been announced in Jump, Japan's most popular comic magazine and the usual launching point for Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Naruto games. We don't recall having ever seen the word "Xbox" in the magazine before.
Incidentally, Jump refers to Xbox 360 as "next generation Xbox," and it lists Blue Dragon with a "TBA" release date, so there's still no confirmation of the system's name or release date. But with E3 just around the corner, we expect to learn more shortly. Stay tuned!
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Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities…there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars…Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand…to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet. - Robert E. Howard |
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Mon May 02, 2005 5:58 pm |
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RPG Frog
Blade Runner
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 748
Location: the Matrix |
http://xbox360.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3140484&did=1
quote:
Blue Dragon Video impressions of Mistwalker's 360 RPG.
by Ryan Payton 05/13/2005
President of Tokyo-based game studio Mistwalker and creator of the Final Fantasy series, Hironobu Sakaguchi opened his presentation at the Japan Xbox 360 unveiling with a role-playing game that Microsoft hopes will carry its Xbox 360 console to the top of sales charts in Japan. Blue Dragon is a contemporary role-playing game with Sakaguchi as creative lead, former Final Fantasy composer Nobou Uematsu as lead music director, and manga superstar Akira Toriyama as character artist. Toriyama is best known for designing characters that grace the long-running Dragon Ball Z anime and manga series and Square-Enix RPG series Dragon Quest.
The video presentation held at Virgin Toho Cinemas in Roppongi Hills was devoid of much detail. Played over a white background were character sketches by Toriyama and 3D models of the game's hero and his blue dragon companion. The 3D animation was impressive, particularly its claymation like aethestics. However, the 3D model too was displayed over the white background and not accompanied by a 3D landscape, suggesting the game is still very early in development.
The video was mostly comprised of colored character sketches by Toriyama including a gang of protagonists and the enemies they will be battling. While nothing looked out of the ordinary, several environment sketches looked highly detailed and imaginative. Unless Mistwalker decides to omit or water down Toriyama's vision, the heroes of Blue Dragon will adventure in an eclectic world of warm cobblestone villages, dark blue seas, and massive boss automa. Blue Dragon is said to have an adventure sci-fi theme.
Following the video presentation, Sakaguchi explained a few key gameplay mechanics of Blue Dragon, the most important being the shadow of the hero. As demonstrated in the video clip, the lead character is shadowed by the blue dragon, which mimics the movements of his young master. In the clip we saw, fireballs emitted from the dragon as the hero did a fireball motion. It is an interesting gameplay mechanic that looked impressive visually. The hero is not the only character with shadowing creatures, as each party member has a unique (yet blue) monster shadowing their movements.
Sakaguchi also mentioned that like most role-playing games, techniques and abilities play a major part in Blue Dragon. However, abilities can be mixed-and-matched, leading him to believe that players will have personalized approaches to the game as there will a degree of customization.
The music that accompanied the short video featured the musical talents of Uematsu. His audio contributions to the video had a young, charming feel that one would expect from a Dragon Quest-like adventure. However the soundtrack had a retro twist to it, as Famicom-like tunes were intertwined with the commanding anthem. Uematsu noted that Blue Dragon has a "pop" theme, while Mistwalker's other title, Lost Odyssey, is based on a dramatic theme.
One of the biggest surprises of the Blue Dragon unveiling was the announcement that Blinx developer Artoon will be doing most of the programming work on the game. Artoon's Takuya Matsumoto and Manabu Kusunoki joined Sakaguchi on stage to discuss their role in the project. Matsumoto commented that it will be Artoon's job to piece together all the game's assets into a nice package for Microsoft Game Studios to publish. Although news that Artoon was developing a role-playing game hit the web early this year, no one speculated that the studio would be partnering with Mistwalker. However, collaborations between studios has become a growing trend in Japan -- RPG powerhouse Square-Enix handed off programming duties of Dragon Quest VIII to Fukuoka-based studio Level 5, and Namco has programmed a number of titles for competing developers including F-Zero GX, Star Fox: Assault, and the upcoming Namco X Capcom.
Microsoft Game Studios is handling the publishing duties of Blue Dragon. No release date has been announced.
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Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities…there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars…Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand…to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet. - Robert E. Howard |
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Tue May 24, 2005 9:47 pm |
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RPG Frog
Blade Runner
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 748
Location: the Matrix |
Blue Dragon Concept Arts @ Jeux France
http://www.jeux-france.com/news11400_pas-de-blue-dragon-avec-la-xbox-360.html
_________________
Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities…there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars…Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand…to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet. - Robert E. Howard |
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Fri Jul 22, 2005 4:31 pm |
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RPG Frog
Blade Runner
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 748
Location: the Matrix |
Blue Dragon Character concept-arts @ IGN
_________________
Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities…there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars…Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand…to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet. - Robert E. Howard |
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Thu Aug 04, 2005 8:51 pm |
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RPG Frog
Blade Runner
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 748
Location: the Matrix |
TGS 2005: Sakaguchi Shows Blue Dragon
IGN gets a sneak peak at the first Xbox 360 game from the father of Final Fantasy.
by Anoop Gantayat
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/650/650831p1.html
September 14, 2005 - One of Microsoft's earliest Xbox 360 coups involved signing Hironobu Sakaguchi and his new development studio, Mistwalker, for two next generation RPG projects. But, while both games, Blue Dragon and Last Odyssey, were unveiled in May just prior to E3, we still haven't seen so much as a screenshot for either.
The wait will continue, it seems. Mistwalker will not be showing either game at the Tokyo Game Show, as development is still pretty early. However, progress is being made, and IGN was given a chance visit Mistwalker's quaint Tokyo studio to get an early look at both titles.
"Today, I'd like to show you mainly Blue Dragon -- the game in motion, running on the development kit," Sakaguchi pointed out as a small group of journalists entered Mistwalker's game demonstration room. The first thing we noticed about this room, aside from the designer furniture, was the final production Xbox 360 standing on the glass table in the center. Sakaguchi confirmed that we were looking at a final unit, in contrast to the black development kit that stood beneath the godly Pioneer plasma television that would be showing the Blue Dragon demonstration.
Before entering the room, we weren't sure what Sakaguchi would be showing us, but it turned out to be mostly real time game sequences controlled by a staff member using a combination of a PC keyboard and a real Xbox 360 controller. Sakaguchi's focus was mostly on the technology behind the game, with the staff member either moving a character around or manipulating a camera.
As it turned out, there was quite a bit to show.
The first demonstration was set in a brightly lit, grassy area that was home to a large, leaf-filled tree against a rock wall. This area looked like a field you'd encounter in a light-hearted, anime-inspired RPG such as Dragon Quest. We could easily picture ourselves leading a party in exploration of the surroundings and getting into battles along the way.
Sakaguchi's assistant made the tree cast a shadow for demonstrative purposes. Shadows for trees in most games nowadays approximate the shape of the tree, resulting in a solid geometric shape cast on the ground. Not so in Blue Dragon. The demo scene featured a real time shadow so precise that you could see bits of light filtering through gaps between the leaves to leave light marks in the shadow. "We're using shadow maps," explained Sakaguchi. "A feature of the shadow maps is that you can see some 'lines' in the middle of the shadows -- it produces a space between the leaves in the tree. In a natural environment, you can see lines even when you are under the tree."
Sakaguchi then switched to a different section of the same grassy area, explaining "I'm going to show you some water effects." The camera centered on a stream flowing beneath a footbridge in the distance. Sakaguchi was able to turn the water on and off and toggle reflections. He added, "We can change the flow of water," and proceeded to show how the game engine allows for the water's speed and density to change. As the water flowed down stream, it seemed to do so naturally against the terrain making up the riverbed.
Even without the full set of reflections on (or any of the environmental effects, as we were to learn later), the water in Blue Dragon looks so good that seeing it could make you thirsty. With the reflections on, the entire world is reflected on the water's surface and the sunlight causes the surface to glimmer. The water approaches reality, while managing to stick with Blue Dragon's comical art style.
Continuing with his demonstration, Sakaguchi showed a few additional areas -- a valley with lots of shadow-casting objects, a cave with murky water and patches of grass. In one area, Sakaguchi had the camera zoom in on a rock in order to show off some of the game's shader effects. As a demonstration, Sakaguchi made the rock follow the timeline of realtime shader technology, switching from a low-detailed flat shaded model to a smooth gourad shaded model to a textured model and finally to a normal mapped model showing tiny rock-like details.
The attention then turned to characters, with Sakaguchi warning "This is from a June 30th build," indicating that what we were looking at was already dated by over two months. "After this, I will show still pictures of the latest version, but first let's see the movement."
The main character, Shu, appeared in the grassy field that had started out the day's demonstration, with the Mistwalker staff member controlling him using the Xbox 360 controller. The character looked as clean and defined as the pre-rendered target clips that was shown at E3. His animation was smooth.
It didn't take us long to realize that there was something strange going on with the character, though -- it was blurring with the movement, only the blur was disappearing from certain camera angles. The Mistwalker rep made Shu run, then froze the frame and rotated the camera around. Viewed from the side, the motion blur was most apparent, but from the front, the character looked perfectly sharp.
"We're using 3D motion blur," Sakaguchi explained. "You can see the blur effect only in the direction that Shu is running. If you change the direction, you cannot see the blur."
This description should make sense if you consider what causes character motion blur -- that is, the character's motion. When a character is moving from one side of the screen to another, there is a clear difference between the position of the character in one frame compared to the position in the next. Motion blur should be at its most dramatic in this situation. Turn the camera so that the character is moving in to or out of the camera, and the apparent motion is lessened, with the motion blur all-but disappearing accordingly.
Sakaguchi continued with his description of the character visuals. "In order to produce smooth transitions from the walking state to the running state, we are writing a new program. When Shu bends his body, his eyes move first. After that, he turns his waist in the direction he'd like to move, and then the body moves. This is not done by motion capture data. We are using a program to produce smooth body movement."
The demonstration switched to Zora, a female character (Shu and Zora are two members of the cast of five playable characters that will make it into the final). Zora has long, silver hair and a long purple ribbon trailing from her belt. As with Team Ninja's work on Dead or Alive 4, the hair and clothes flow with the movement. "We are using a simulation program for those movements," Sakaguchi stated in reference to the clothes and hair. This physical simulation is also used for another part of Zora's body, but we'll let you imagine what that looks like.
The movement for all the characters appeared natural in the demo, but to be honest, the motion blur in its current form looks like it could get a little annoying once the new factor has worn out. However, as the demo version was early, we're sure such effects were equally in their early stages, so we'll give Mistwalker and Artoon some time to adjust the effects before passing judgment.
More than the technical aspects of the characters, we found ourselves intrigued by the character designs. The main character Shu is a typical Akira Toriyama design, but some of the other characters managed to stand out more. Maru Maro, one of the five playable heroes, had everyone in the room laughing. A yellow cat character sporting a red cape, Maru Maro doesn't walk -- he scuttles around quickly, his whole body swaying left and right as if he's moving without bending his knees (his legs are pretty tiny, so maybe he doesn't even have knees). Let Maru Maro stand still, and he closes his fists, as if angry at the world. Seeing Maru Maro in motion, you can't help but hope for a toy version (and that wish has apparently been granted).
"I'm a big fan of Mr. Toriyama," commented Sakaguchi in a question and answer session following the demonstration. "If I could work with Mr. Toriyama, I would want to publish a game every year. But, as you know, he is also very busy, so that is why we had all this time between coming together." Sakaguchi actually worked with Toriyama on Chrono Cross.
Toriyama's work extended beyond just the main characters, of course, and into monster design. Sakaguchi showed us two monsters that we can look forward to pounding in battle. Both featured some of the nifty technology that Feel Plus is pouring into the title. The first was a blue, man-sized rat/gopher hybrid creature with a big belly whose jiggling, Sakaguchi joked, was also created through real physics. The movement of the belly was funny, but more impressive was the fur shading routines used for the blue coat of fur on this creature. Nezmix has been topped.
The next creature was even more impressive. A robot with a spherical torso, this creature can pull its arms and legs into its torso section and float in place. The creature's animation is particularly cool, with Sakaguchi stating "I like his motion the best," but the big technology was in its body. Composed of highly reflective metal, the entire creature looked like it was reflecting its surroundings in real time. Sakaguchi revealed that we were looking at a form of simulated, rather than real time, reflection. Whatever the case, it looked impressive.
Despite the unique characters, monsters and the emphasis on technology, Blue Dragon is an RPG true and true. Speaking about the development of the game, Sakaguchi commented, "As you know, this game is an RPG, so the five main characters get together, and they will sometimes be separated as part of the storyline."
Also playing a major role in the storyline are the dragons of the game's title. These beasts are actually the shadows of the main characters, and as Sakaguchi revealed, "The main theme of the game's story involves players learning the secret of why they have monster and dragon shadows."
The early E3 showing of Blue Dragon included a pre-rendered target animation clip for Shu and his blue dragon shadow. At today's showing, we got to see a real time movie clip generated by the Xbox 360. Set against a coordinate grid, the clip showed the dragon extending from Shu and punching away at an object closer to the camera. The clip showed the dragon stretch out multiple times, each time going farther and farther away from Shu. Seeing the dragon travel so far from Shu made for a cool bit of animation, and we can say with confidence that the Xbox 360 has no trouble generating the visual quality or smoothness of the animation shown in the target clip.
The in-game models look very close to this target.
As impressive as the demonstrations were, they were, Sakaguchi insisted, no where near representative of the final game (which is probably why Mistwalker is reluctant to show its titles at the present, and won't even be showing them in video form at TGS). Sakaguchi shared some still shots of the game with us, which he described as having "full effects and volume lights." These shots, which were grabbed off actual development kits running a week old build of the game, showed a full scene with a character and environment. Sakaguchi pointed out that the effects help to tie the entire scene together, making the characters and environment seem as one.
The week-old version of Blue Dragon shown in the still grabs is far more impressive than the two-month old version that was demonstrated in real time. Whereas the moving demo, with its geometric complexity, visual clarity, and high definition support was an impressive show of power -- we'd be more than happy playing a game that looked like that -- one could call it an extension of the visuals we're getting in current generation titles. With all the effects kicked in, Blue Dragon starts to truly give us a glimpse of the kind of visuals we can expect of true next generation games.
Sakaguchi asked us to merge, in our minds, the movement that we'd seen earlier with the unmatched lighting and effect quality that we were seeing in the still shots from the more recent build. "This is what it will look like in real time on the Xbox 360?" we asked while viewing a grab of a seamlessly rendered closeup shot of Zora standing in a mist-filled cave. "Yes," Sakaguchi responded.
The attractive design work for Blue Dragon extends beyond the creatures and technical aspects. The game seems to have an attractive world with an interesting background focusing on mixed up technology. One scene that was demonstrated for us featured a number of different airships, some of which had a creature-like design (this style won't be true of all the airships, we were told).
Sakaguchi didn't go into too many specifics on the Blue Dragon storyline, but he did point out that the machines were created by an extinct group of people from an ancient age. "The people living in the current age don't know how to use [the machines], Sakaguchi explains. In this world there are many ruins and people can find many machines that they don't know how to use." Playing as Shu and friends, you'll take on an antiquated, magic-wielding human race called Nene.
Mr. Sakaguchi on the Mistwalker veranda.
We're going to have to wait a while before learning more, it seems. Blue Dragon looked to be further along in development than Lost Odyssey, suggesting that it will be the first of the studio's two games to arrive for the Xbox 360 (Sakaguchi confirmed that one of his studio's games will arrive within a year of the Xbox 360's Japanese launch -- we'd wager on Blue Dragon being the one). However, at the soonest, that release won't happen until next year. Judging by the early look we were given today, Sakaguchi's first game in years will be worth the wait.
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Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities…there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars…Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand…to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet. - Robert E. Howard |
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Wed Sep 14, 2005 2:36 pm |
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RPG Frog
Blade Runner
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 748
Location: the Matrix |
TGS 2005: Mistwalker and Bandai Team Up
Blue Dragon to get toy line from Japanese toy maker.
by Anoop Gantayat
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/650/650826p1.html
September 14, 2005 - In visiting Hironobu Sakaguchi's Mistwalker studio today, IGN learned one bit that we thought would be of interest to fans of Akira Toriyama's character designs. Sakaguchi announced a joint venture with Bandai to produce toy versions of the characters featured in Blue Dragon, all of which are designed by Toriyama. Given Blue Dragon's attractive cast, we've got no complaints.
Although Blue Dragon won't be available in Japan until some time next year, Sakaguchi surprised us by showing off a sample of the toys in what appeared to be final production form. The toy we got to see was of Shu and his shadow, the blue dragon that can be seen extending from the character in animation stills. In the toy version, the dragon extends from Shu in the same fashion as it does in the game's artwork.
With the toy line so far along, we get the impression that there may be more in store for Blue Dragon than just a single Xbox 360 game, especially given that the game debuted in Jump Magazine earlier this year.
But the game is what's on the minds of most IGN readers, and we're pleased to report that we were given a chance to see it running today at Mistwalker's Tokyo studio. Stay tuned for a full report.
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Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities…there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars…Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand…to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet. - Robert E. Howard |
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Wed Sep 14, 2005 2:38 pm |
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RPG Frog
Blade Runner
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 748
Location: the Matrix |
1up Sakaguchi Interview
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3143686
In a rare visit to the Mistwalker studios in an opulent sector of Tokyo's Shibuya district, Mistwalker president and former Squaresoft founder, Hironobu Sakaguchi gave us a personal demonstration of one his new company's highly-anticipated new Xbox 360 projects, Blue Dragon, while also giving us a sneak peek at his studio's other work in progress, Lost Odyssey.
Blue Dragon is an RPG created by the titans of the game industry, bringing together Final Fantasy creator Sakaguchi with Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama on board providing character designs, and Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu firing up the virtual orchestras on the game's soundtrack. Handling actual coding duties are the Blinx-masterminds at Artoon, the development team comprised of ex-Sonic Team members, among others. The tag line for Blue Dragon is "Inner light manifested in shadow." Five characters with phantom powers (Shu, Jiro, Kluke, Marumaro, and Zora) form the crux of the gameplay. If main character Shu, for example, throws a punch, then so too will his enormous shadow dragon throw a punch. In their path is an antiquated human race, the "Nene," which command an ancient magic power thought to have perished long ago. That's the game in a nutshell, albeit a game that takes place in gorgeous, luxuriant environment only the Xbox 360 could provide.
Since Mistwalker handles the production and direction side of things, putting the actual game development in the hands of external studios like Artoon, it's no surprise that the Mistwalker offices are rather compact. In essentially a small apartment duplex on the top floor of a building, myself along with a handful of other journalists huddled in what appeared to be Mistwalker's living room, with Sakaguchi-san manning a small VAIO laptop (to show us various still images) and a remote-control for their enormous high-definition widescreen television. While he sifted through a variety of hi-res character models, before-and-after environmental demonstrations (with lighting effects and without), and other Blue Dragon-related images, one of Mistwalker's employees put multiple characters through their paces, showing off a wealth of new, Xbox 360-enabled special effects. Here's a recap of our inaugural meeting with Mistwalker.
Sakaguchi: I'd like to show you mainly Blue Dragon -- not only these pictures, but also the motion and movies, operating on the development kit and production 360 -- and also later show you some pictures of Lost Odyssey.
[Motions to the Xbox 360 sitting on the table, and the one closer to the widescreen TV.]
This is the final version of the 360, and this is the Beta kit, for development. First I'd like to show you some shadows. This time we're using shadow-maps, and the main feature of the shadow-maps is that you can see lights in the middle of the shadows, and we produce a space between the multiplying leaves in the tree. And as you know, in a natural environment you can see some lights even when you're underneath a tree that can be reproduced by using this shadow-map.
Now I want to show you some water effects. Please take a look at the water, for example below the bridge, and also the flow of the water changes.
[At this point Sakaguchi demonstrates running water under a bridge, which ripples realistically, particularly around solid objects like rocks in the river. Next he loads up some environments and zooms in to reveal the quality of the surface-textures.]
Now we are using normal-maps, and it shows more detailed information on the surface, and the condition of the surface. This next area is still under development [Sakaguchi loads up another area, an indoor cave-like zone with phosphorescent blue boulders], but we'll synchronize the atmosphere and taste to the character, and add volume-lighting. First of all, we know set goals from a technical perspective, so in order to set a creative bar and to be able to set our goals we first create still images and after that we add new volume lighting and more. And now we're going to show you some characters.
This model of Shu is from the previous build, which was created on June 30th, so this is not the latest version. This is still in an intermission stage, so after I'll show you still pictures of the latest version. This is motion-blur.
[Sakaguchi shows the main character Shu running. After Shu gains a certain speed, he begins to blur from the side, but as the Mistwalker demo rep freezes the character in place and turns the camera to the front, the blur effect disappears.]
So here we're using 3D motion blur, which only appears in the direction Shu is running. And we're producing smooth transitions from walking condition to running condition. We're writing new programs. You'll also notice when Shu bends his body, his eyes move first, then after that he turns his waist into the direction he'd like to move, and then his body bends. So this is not done by motion-capture. We're using a program that produces very smooth moves.
1UP: It's very natural.
Sakaguchi: Yeah, yeah. Now, this next character is Zora. Please look at the movement of her hair and clothes. This is done using 'physical simulation' to produce those movements.
[At this point Sakaguchi points out Zora's "natural" breast bounce, which elicits laughs from the attended media.]
1UP: Is that physical simulation?
Sakaguchi: [Laughs] Yes! Not too much.
1UP: Mo-cap?
Sakaguchi: [Laughs] No no! This next character is Marumaro. [Editor's note: A small, rotund character with a cape and funny hat, Marumaro is a personal favorite.]
1UP: Each of these characters is playable?
Sakaguchi: Yes, five in total. As you know this game is an RPG, so the main characters get together and are sometimes separated through the main storyline. And now I'll show you two monsters.
[Here, Sakaguchi's demo rep fires up a rather furry, half gopher/half rat creature, to demonstrate the graphics engine's fur-shading abilities.]
Here's the next one. You can see the environments around this character on the surface of his body.
[This time the monster that is loaded up is a robot, designed in the classic Toriyama style, with round body, and spindly, stick-like legs and arms. The feature of note is that it is exceptionally reflective, which leads to a few more inquiries.]
1UP: Is this real-time environment-mapping?
Sakaguchi: Not perfectly.
1UP: Simulated?
Sakaguchi: Yes.
[Sakaguchi now loads up a wireframe environment with the main character Shu and his dragon-shadow controlled by the Mistwalker demonstrator in real-time.]
And this is a movie that shows the motion of the dragon who is the main character's shadow. The player characters are supposed to reveal and supposed to know these secrets about these shadows and why they have these shadows. It's the main theme of the story. In some places, the shadow can become this very long, stretched creature.
[Here, Sakaguchi shows us some still images of various airships, some of which resemble fish.]
So in this world these machines exits, and were created by older people who died in an ancient age. So the people living in this age don't know how to create them. In this world there are many ruins. They can find many machines, but they don't know how to use them.
1UP: I notice that the airships, or some of them, are designed based on fish. Is this consistent throughout the game?
Sakaguchi: Not only from fish, although certainly we have some essence in the creatures, robots and machines, but not all of them.
[Sakaguchi pulls out a small toy of Shu and his dragon shadow looming above him and places it on the table in front of us.]
1UP: Was this made by Bandai?
Sakaguchi: Yes! Bandai. They will be making the toys.
1UP: This is the first time you've been involved with Akira Toriyama since the days of Chrono Trigger. What made you decide to work with him again on this project?
Sakaguchi: I'm a big fan of Toriyama-san! [Laughs] If I can work with Toriyama-san, of course I'd like to approach him every year, but as you know Toriyama-san is very busy. That is why we had so many long years apart after Chrono Trigger.
1UP: In July, I spent an afternoon with Yoshitaka Amano and he mentioned that you, Nobuo Uematsu and he still hang out together, and go drinking together. I asked him if he would like to create something new with you, as you had in those beginning years together on Final Fantasy. What do you think about this?
Sakaguchi: I'm really glad to hear that. There's a plan in which I collaborate with Amano-san, and I'm not starting any project [based on] it, but in that plan Amano-san will create the world itself, and I will direct it and convert it into a game. So I hope that I can accomplish that project in the future.
1UP: Mistwalker is like starting fresh for you. How is it to create a new company in this era, when videogames are so much bigger than when you first founded Square all those years ago?
Sakaguchi: As you know, in a big company sometimes you must place a situation in which you have to create a game just to run the company. So as an individual creator I'm very much enjoying Mistwalker because I can spend most of my time and most of my ability to create a new game. So I'm enjoying Mistwalker very much. But sometimes you cannot enjoy the creation of a game in a big company, and personally and I have no intention of neglecting the kind of management style I'm enjoying at Mistwalker right now.
[Now Sakaguchi loads up some Lost Odyssey images for us to see.]
Sakaguchi: So we're using the Unreal 3 engine for Lost Odyssey.
1UP: But not for Blue Dragon?
Sakaguchi: For Blue Dragon we're using an original engine. And we will add more visual effects to Lost Odyssey than you see here.
1UP: Who is the character designer for Lost Odyssey?
Sakaguchi: Takehiko Inoue. He is a cartoonist who created the manga Slam Dunk, as well as Vagabond, which is the story of the most famous samurai in Japan.
1UP: What is the development studio on Lost Odyssey?
Sakaguchi: A new development studio called FeelPLUS+.
[And with that, our demo session ended and we stepped out onto Mistwalker's patio to grab a couple pictures of Sakaguchi-san, who looked fit and trim in the glow of his current projects, clearly enjoying his newfound status as a developer reborn. Considering his legacy, we have every reason to be excited about Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, although you can be certain we won't see either of them in 2005.]
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Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities…there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars…Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand…to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet. - Robert E. Howard |
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Wed Sep 14, 2005 8:51 pm |
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RPG Frog
Blade Runner
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 748
Location: the Matrix |
I love this game. It's definitely gonna rank up there with Dragon Quest. In fact, this looks alot better than DQ8.
December is when they plan to unveil this game in Japan!!!
[URL=http://imageshack.us] [/URL
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Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities…there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars…Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand…to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet. - Robert E. Howard |
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Fri Nov 18, 2005 5:37 pm |
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RPG Frog
Blade Runner
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 748
Location: the Matrix |
Blue Dragon - Shakey Cam Footage
http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=2302
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Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities…there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars…Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand…to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet. - Robert E. Howard |
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Mon Dec 19, 2005 3:37 pm |
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RPG Frog
Blade Runner
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 748
Location: the Matrix |
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/678/678016p1.html
Blue Dragon Update
Airships and shadows and more.
by Anoop Gantayat
December 22, 2005 - Another week, another tiny update on Blue Dragon in the latest Famitsu. This week, we've got a few new details on shadows and airships.
We now know the identity of one of the airships that was shown in the recent Jump Festival trailer: the Mechat. Both the Jump trailer and Famitsu shows the same small Mechat, perfect for a crew consisting of Shu, Zora and the rest of the main cast. The Mechats are remnants of an ancient culture that were found here and there throughout the world and put to use by modern people.
Airships will have a big part in the game. As you play, you'll encounter many types of Mechats, These can be used not just for movement, but also as part of air battles. There's also been some talk of other vehicles besides the Mechat featuring in the game. Character designer Akira Toriyama himself designed the ships, with his work then converted to a 3D model for use in the game.
In addition to the airship, Famitsu provides first details on a second shadow. The main character Shu has a dragon shadow. Zora, a twenty-year-old adventurer who accompanies Shu on his quest, has a shadow named Killer Bat. Artwork shown in the magazine reveal a large, fierce bat-like creature. Producer Hironobu Sakaguchi chose a bat because of Zora's loneliness and dark past.
As we've previously touched upon, shadows are a central element in Blue Dragon. Each of the five heroes has a particular shadow (Shu is the only one with an actual blue-colored dragon) who emerges from the character during battle. The emergence of the shadow in beast form from the character's standard human-like shadow is called the Shadow Change System.
Mistwalker seems happy releasing details on Blue Dragon in tiny bits, but judging by the Jump Festival trailer, it's all building up to something big. Blue Dragon is expected to release before Lost Odyssey, and with a demo.
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Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities…there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars…Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand…to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet. - Robert E. Howard |
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Thu Dec 22, 2005 4:55 pm |
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RPG Frog
Blade Runner
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 748
Location: the Matrix |
More Blue Dragon Famitsu Scans from xboxyde...
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Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities…there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars…Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand…to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet. - Robert E. Howard |
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Sun Dec 25, 2005 1:22 am |
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