TGS 06: Final Fantasy XIII Agito Impressions

TOKYO--Square Enix showed off a remarkably dense CGI trailer for its upcoming mobile game, Final Fantasy XIII Agito. That's right, a CGI trailer for a mobile game. Although the game may never see the light of day in the US, Square Enix is certainly throwing a good amount of resources behind it in Japan, as evidenced by its showing today in the Closed Mega Theater at Squeenix's booth at TGS, where it was sandwiched between trailers for Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII: Versus.

The three Final Fantasy XIII games all apparently tell tales set in different worlds, so it's difficult to tell how the story told in this trailer will tie in with the other Nova Crystallis games. At first, we see a large amount of wreckage floating in shallow water, underneath a blackened sky. After a few moments, the camera zooms in on the word "Agito" emblazoned on the side of a metal scrap. It's unclear whether the wreckage is that of a ship or of a city, and whether or not Agito refers to a construction or a place.

Off in the distance, beyond the wreckage, a white city is seen, shining atop a large green mountain. After a series of zooms, the camera resolves on a large cathedral at the top of a hill, which is surrounded by red-robed acolytes. After the camera focuses in on one of them, a blonde-haired boy, he turns around to view the courtyard. Although it was fully populated moments before, his view reveals it to be void of anyone but him.

After he heads inside, he stumbles across a large, floating crystal, suspended above a structure that appears to make it levitate. After activating the device with his thumbprint, the structure starts to glow bright red, and the crystal follows suit. The thumbprint machine then spits out five cards, which the boy spreads out and examines; apparently it's some sort of fortune-telling device. Unfortunately, before he can do anything more but frown at what's revealed, the clock atop the cathedral strikes noon, which in turn triggers the explosion of the crystal.

The crystal apparently contained power beyond its small size would indicate, as the entire island is quickly shattered by the explosion, resulting in a towering inferno. Despite the destruction, the last moments of the cutscene return to the cathedral's innards, where the boy is lying unconscious but apparently unharmed. A few screenshots of the game float by the camera's view, imprinted on the cards the boy was holding earlier. The last image of the trailer shows a close-up of the boy, who's lying on the floor as his cell phone rings.

Although precious little of the actual gameplay of FFXIII: Agito was shown in the trailer, we're still intrigued by the dramatic events of the cinema. As more details are revealed about the game, including news of a possible US release, we'll be sure to cover them here on GameSpot.