Square Enix unveils Blood of Bahamut

Square Enix's countdown from last week reached 0 earlier today. As suggested by leaks late last week, the game in question is Blood of Bahamut, an all new RPG for the DS.

The newly refreshed official site describes the game as a "new multplayer RPG." Players team up to face off against giant beasts.

The game is set in the world of Altail. People of this world reside in countries that they've built on the back of long sleeping giants who are considered both their homes and their gods.

All peace is lost when the giants awaken and grow violent. Thinking that they've been forsaken by their gods, people begin to flee their towns. At this time, seven warriors rise to restore the peace.

Two of those warriors are introduced at the site: Ibuki and Yui. Ibuki is an eighteen-year-old male sword wielder of the Gigant race. Yui is a seventeen year old female Gigant who wields a staff. You can also see silhouettes of the other characters at the site right now.

The race of these two is named after the beast on whose back they reside. Gigant is the beast shown in the video trailer that greets you when you first visit the site.

That trailer offers a look at four characters facing off against Gigant, who spans both screens. Standing off in the distance, the giant attacks with direct fist attacks, and also with lasers. In one sequence, a character is shown walking onto the giant's, arm, apparently starting a climb. Other sequences show the players facing off against smaller enemies as the giant moves around in the background.

The Gigant beast, pictured in this official Blood of Bahamut artwork.

Outside of what can be discerned from the video, the site provides only a few details on the gameplay systems going into Blood of Bahamut (the "Game System" section of the site is listed as "coming soon."). Gigant is just one of a variety of giants against whom players will face off. The giants have different forms, some not looking quite as human as Gigant. The only common point between all the beasts is that they're huge and have vast power. Normal attacks don't work against them. However, they do have weak points which can be attacked for massive damage.

The site also notes that players will be able to break off parts of the giants. By attacking certain parts repeatedly, those parts will fall off, making the giant weaker. You'll apparently have to at times use this technique to make a giant show its weak spot.

The site describes the play experience as "defeating a giant beast of overwhelming size while searching for weak spots and destroying a variety of sections." It describes the feeling of achievement when you do destroy a beast as akin to having scaled a mountain.

Players face off against the giants in two main types of missions: main story missions and free play missions. The free missions feature giants of different shape and form from those of the main story missions.

All missions, both free and story, are playable in multiplayer by up to four players. The site hints that some beasts will require multiple players. One suggestion made by the site is that one player can draw the beast's attention while others attack it from the back.

The game will offer over 130 missions of a variety of difficulty levels, reaching beginners and experts.

There's still plenty to come on Blood of Bahamut. In addition to the missing "Game System" section, the official site has an empty "Blog" section. The site also promises a video showing for the game at December's Jump Festa event.

Currently, Blood of Bahamut is without a final release date. However, those wanting to show off their early anticipation for the game can access the "download" section of the site for a wallpaper (or "desktop picture" as the site refers to it).