Earth Seeker

Crafts & Meisters, a studio formed using ex-Capcom talent, have opened an official site for their upcoming adventure game, Earth Seeker.

http://www.earth-seeker.jp/

Concept Art

Famitsu Information

The game's background story starts off as Earth is about to be destroyed. Mankind loads spaceships with refugees and cultural artifacts. These ships crash on a planet somewhere. The ships' computers attempt to recreate the planet in the image of Earth, but due to bugs, they end up creating strange monsters.

The game begins 1,000 years after the crash landing. You'll have to team up with the planet's native residents, known as Guardians, to combat the monsters created by your ship. The Guardians aren't too fond of you because of what your ship did to their planet, but they're willing to work with you in exchange for booze.
Famitsu reveals this week that you don't actually play as a human character. The main character is of a species known as Earthnoid. Earthnoids were created by the spaceships similar to how they created the monsters that now roam the planet. They do look like humans, however. Based off the text in the magazine, it's unclear if there's a difference.

It's still not entirely clear what your overall goal is in Earth Seeker, but Famitsu reveals some components of the gameplay side.

You'll be able to explore a variety of fields across the planet's surface. You need to be careful, though, as the planet's air is loaded with poisonous viruses. If you touch the air, your power will drop.

As you explore, you'll encounter your ship's creations. Famitsu introduces two beasts: Protopros and Mamuma. Protopros looks like a combination rail gun and grasshopper. Mamuma is described as a combination of dragon and light bulb. Both creatures have specific environments where they reside, and specific specialties in their attacks.

There's definitely a Monster Hunter feel to the creature descriptions. That's not too surprising, though, as Crafts & Meisters founder Noritaka Funamizu worked on the original Monster Hunter back when he was at Capcom.

The battle system for facing off against these beasts is known as the "Time Stop Battle" system. It combines real time and command based elements. As you move about the battle field, you'll be able to lock on to enemies. The camera will then set itself to keep the enemy in your sites. You can press A to pause the action and select commands from a command menu. Commands shown in the screenshots include such things as "Blade Rush," "Air Strike," and elemental attacks like "Flame," "Ice," and "Thunder."

To perform actions, you need "Action Cartridges," shown as a meter at the bottom of the screen. These are added to your stock with time and via items. You can execute commands as long as you have remaining cartridges. When selecting an action, you can also choose to perform four power levels for the action. Higher power levels require additional cartridges.

The Guardians play a major part in the battle system as, from what I can see, they seem to be the ones doing the fighting. Screenshots show the main character surrounded by five Guardians. When you select a command, you're making the Guardians use their Energy Balls to attack the enemy. It's not clear if your character does any actual attacking for himself. The few battle screens in Famitsu don't show the character getting near the enemy.

source: Andriasang

The official site has opened properly to reveal more information and new screens:

Story

The background story in the site's story section is just a bit different from what was shared in Famitsu.
It looks like mankind was forced to flee the Earth because of an approaching Black Hole. Thousands of ships were created throughout the world. These were large ships, capable of holding full cities. People placed the various treasures of the world in these ships and set off for various star systems.

One group of ships met with an unfortunate accident upon arriving at a star system. A gamma ray burst killed everyone aboard the ship. However, the ships' computers continued to operate and found a planet suitable for habitation.

The ships began to land on this "second Earth." However, upon coming into contact with the alien atmosphere, their Earth materials didn't react too well, and so they were forced into emergency landings.

Famitsu's summary is pretty accurate from here. The computers executed their "Earth Regeneration Program" in order to create a suitable environment. However, because of damage from the emergency landing, instead of creating the Earth creatures they'd originally intended, they ended up creating monsters.

A thousand years pass before Earth Seeker begins.

Character

Famitsu shared a look at a playable character that's shown in the site's character section. As all humans were killed during the gamma ray burst, your character is a new type of human created by the ship's computer.
Also introduced in the character section are the Guardians, the native residents of the planet. They make use of "Energy Balls" to support you on your adventure, and are big on liquor.

Monster

This section of the site has a look at two creatures, Protopros and Mamuma.

Creatures in Earth Seeker combine traits of various objects. Protopros, for instance, looks like an insect combined with a rail gun. Mamuma combines a dragon and a light bulb.

The monster section seems to give hints for how to track down and combat the beasts. Protopros likes dark locations, moves around underground, has a strong shell, and has a powerful thrust attack. Mamuma also likes dark locations. It has a soft body which is capable of absorbing bullets.

Field

This section currently has a glimpse at the field that you encounter at the start of your adventure. It's an odd field that mixes nature and artificial objects. There are also ruins, and you'll apparently find out why the ruins are there as you work through the game.

Game System

This section currently has a look at the game's Time Stop Battle system. Earth Seeker's combat system mixes real time and command-based elements. You move your character around in real time, but you can press A to freeze the action and input commands.

The site says that when you spot an enemy, or are spotted by an enemy, you and your Guardians will enter into battle.

Earth Seeker is due for winter release through Kadokawa Games.

source: Andriasang

been keeping my eye on this from the first art work good to see the game looking game

Beautiful artwork.

That's quite detailed work from the designers

Those screens look awesome, very nice art direction they're running with!

There's a ton of new stuff on the official site well worth checking out.

We've got ourselves a new "Phantasy Star + Monster Hunter + Final Fantasy" . The artwork is awesome, and with the propper cartoony like graphics it'll be a great hit on the Wii .

Recent Famitsu Article Scans

Looks nice, hope it isn't one of those games that end up taking 2 years to make it over here

New Famitsu Scans