NEWS - Thursday, December 22, 2005
Blue Dragon Update
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 of Lost Odyssey due out in Japan between Spring and Summer, we presume a playable version of Blue Dragon can't be too far behind.Source: http://www.ign.com/
