Tri-Crescendo has released seven high definition screenshots of it's upcoming Polka fantasy, Trusty Bell starring the famous composer Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin (well, it takes place before he turned into a pile of rotting bones and maggots). At a glance, this game is already poised to be a magnificant example of the ultimate game that non-gamer girls have been wishing would exist... and I BET MY DRY ELBOWS that they will all ignore it anyway when it hits the shelves in a year. And it will be in favor of some bullcrap
Orlando "Whelps" Bloom' movie. (Sigh) They won't even (Sniff) enjoy this beautifully massive screenshot gallery I made.
Here is a game that will have a gentle romatic and touching story, a modestly chested female protagonist in conservative clothing, deep gameplay, and a graphical quality we have rarely seen since Square killed
that indie Chrono Trigger remake. I would like everyone's eyes on this game because it will prove a point - non gamer girls are non gamer girls, period. When asked what kind of games they would like, they will describe this game, and when you tell them about it, they still wont buy an xbox. Video games play no part in their low carb diet or skin tightening regimen, forget about it. To hell with them. But for the rest of us, here's a first look at the intriguing battle system. It appears that you will have three players in a party and the battles will be staged in a final fantasy type subsystem coupled with a musical controller options. If anyone can make sense of that handful of kanji, please enlighten us.
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Original Coverage:
Trusty Bell brings cell shaded Chopin to the Xbox 360. The quest to save Polka? Um, ok.
Yes, as in the composer! Trusty Bell first appeared on
this site as an unnamed Tri-Crescendo project that now appears to be in full swing. The members of the
NeoGAF forum dug up these new famitsu scans revealing a beautiful cell shaded world akin to that of Blue Dragon and the other handful of gorgeous looking new japanase role playing games we must across the ocean drooling over. Before you pop a vein, read the premise of this game because it sounds a little...
what's the word I'm looking for... "retarded" ? I just can't get that excited about anything involving Polka. We'll see. For the moment, click to zoom into these purty scans:
Sourced from IGN: On October 17, 1948, Frederic Chopin, one of the most influential composers for the piano, succumbed to sickness and died at the young age of 39. Three hours prior to that, in the world according to Bandai Namco, Chopin, crouched on the floor of his hospital, saw a dream. The dream had anime characters that looked like they were out of a Tales game and a world that looked like it was pulled from a fairy tale. In the dream, people carried about their lives like in the real world. But in the dream world, people with incurable sicknesses had magical powers. Bandai Namco's new Xbox 360 RPG, Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream ("Chopin no Yume" for the Japanese version) takes place in this dream world. Chopin (yes, the composer) comes into contact with Polka, a young girl who resides with her mother in the village of Tenuto (the names, you'll find, are all musical terms).
Polka is near her death, meaning she's got some crazy powers. Unfortunately, people believe that by touching her, they'll be infected with her koodies, so Polka's not particularly popular. Trusty Bell is the story of Chopin (yes, the composer), Polka, and a Allegretto, a 16-year-old who steals to eat and lives for only one thing: to help Polka. If Trusty Bell were called Tales of Something-or-other, no one would complain. The game has the absurd premise, peculiar names and colorful artwork of Namco's biggest RPG series. Plus, musical composition is being handled by Motoi Sakuraba, of Tales of fame.
Trusty Bell will also feature a battle system that's heavy on the action. Details are scarce, but based on the screenshots currently circling exclusively in Japan's Famitsu magazine, the battle system supports three characters (including an unknown male character called Beat) and features some sort of combo system. Allegretto makes use of a sword as his primary weapon while Polka, being a cheery girl character and all, resorts to an umbrella. Music and story look like they will play a big part in Trusty Bell. Bandai Namco has drafted famous Japanese actor Leo Morimoto to perform narration for the game's Japanese version. Performing the piano numbers that Chopin left to the world (before having his RPG dream) will be Russian pianist Stanislav Bunin.
Trusty Bell is in development at tri-Crescendo, a studio that worked on the sound components of tri-Ace titles like Radiata Stories, Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile and also worked on programming, sound and the battle system for Baten Kaitos, along side Monolith Soft . The game is currently without a final release date in Japan.
Translations from the captions in the scans:
1st Page, from top left to right and then down.
"Maybe this is all just a dream inside your head, then it would make more sense"
"So you're just like me, you can't live much longer either"
"Chopin, you can also use magic?"
"Chopin, there's something I want to show you deep in the forest, do you want to go now?"
"That's right, do you understand what I'm saying now?"
"Yes, well then that's all good" (this is the lady in red with her hair up)
2nd page:
"Go to the forest? Right now?"
"Look at this, it's such a beautiful landscape"
"I want to live by my own will. Even if this is happening inside your head"
"I want to help everyone" (sub-caption from Famitsu - an innocent young girl Polka)
Contest:
4:41 PM on 07.15.2006 | 
