FF Father's ASH Pushes DS Envelope

[nmaster64]

Mistwalker's development of the recently announced ASH (Archaic Sealed Heat) for the DS has been kept fairly secretive for quite some time. Now, the pet project of company founder Hironobu Sakaguchi, known as the Father of Final Fantasy, has finally leaked some screenshots. Albeit of low scan quality, what we appear to be seeing is some of the most stunning 3D visuals a portable has ever seen. Take a look:



More news and media on this ground-breaking DS games as it comes in.

Source: Nwizard

[RYGR]

Yeh man.. seriously: Wooaaah

Im not sure i can believe this kind of graphics will be on the DS....Woaaah

[Sepharite]

It's obviously pre-rendered material (FMVs), just like the Metroid Intro. Can't wait to see it in action, but my instincts tell me its another 2D game.

[ShadowMarth]

Erm, if it was prerendered I'd hope they'd do better than that. I think it's real. Besides, all of the metroid prime stuff is generated by the cube, except for that little trailer on Hunters.

[Sepharite]

Considering the quality of the pic, it looks pretty good. Real, as in graphics made by PS3, sure... DS, I wish. =/

[ShadowMarth]

Ok, perhaps it's not real, but if not they need to spend more time on their trailers. I'll concede that those character models look a bit much for the DS, but those textures are atrocious.

[Sepharite]

Really? You must have high standards. Cause the lighting is too detailed for the DS' capabilities. Only a high-quality video can prove anything at this moment.

edit:

First, the visuals. ASH doesn't use 2D and it doesn't use polygons. Instead, the game makes use of pre-rendered CG for its battle visuals. While Mistwalker had the opportunity to use 2D or low-level polygon visuals like many other DS games, Sakaguchi found that pre-rendered visuals created a fresh feeling. He states that, while the visuals would look rather bad on a large screen, they look crisp and clean on the tiny DS screen.

These ash people are actually Aisha's allies. Without quite understanding why, they'll accompany her on her adventures. The game promises over twenty primary, named characters, along with a number of unit characters that grow as you play.

With ASH, you'll have to think half like you're playing a strategy RPG and half like you're playing a true RPG.

One of the more mysterious elements of the game (yes, there's a lot of mystery surrounding ASH -- and all of Mistwalker's games, for that matter) is its weapon system. Character designer Hideo Minaba reveals to the magazine that he created the Aisha character with a gun that can be equipped with swords.

*barf* http://ds.ign.com/articles/657/657918p1.html

[ShadowMarth]

Wow, that's some crazyness right there. Prerendered interactive battle scenes... Well... I'll wait and see.

Perhaps they will really put time into this and make some really cinematic boss sequences?

[Sepharite]

Can all that pre-rendered fit on the 128 MB cart?

[ShadowMarth]

Who says 128? They're talking about upgrading it all the time, and I don't see why not by the time that thing comes out... It must be at least 6-10 months before it will. Perhaps two cards? Who knows, after all, it is the creator of FF...