I am not a fan of the Xbox. In no way, shape, or form, am I a fan.
But, when they released the details of their truly beautiful True Fantasy Online MMORPG, I was reconsidering the cosole. Hell, I've bought consoles for one game before. I bought my Gameboy ( the first one) for Pokemon. TFO looked beautiful, and by all accounts played well. Legions of fans were awaiting it.
Before the proposed cancellation, In November of last year, the director behind TFLO, Yashishiro Maruyama, said that it was delayed and would be realeased by June 2004. The Cel-shaded MMORPG was supposed to be Microsoft's answer to Final Fantasy Xi, released on the Playstation 2.
In June, on the 3rd, Developers for TFLO, Level 5 , said that they were putting it on hold indefinantly, due to their concentrated effort on Dragon Quest VIII ( Dragon Warrior in the NA market.)
20 dayts later, Microsoft released a statement saying that TFLO that the game was dead and dropped, with no chance of revival. The game, which recreates a 'liveing, breathing world' was ready for beta testing at this point. The problems that apparently persisted was that they couldn't create a " Stable online experience." and that these issues continually delayed the game.
"Microsoft still holds the game's resources, such as its characters, worlds, and interface. The company refused to comment on whether those specific resources would be used in a future game, but Microsoft admitted that certain well-received elements of True Fantasy Live Online would be utilized in a future game. The statement also hinted that another Japanese-developed RPG is in development for the Xbox." - RPGamer
Personally, I think part of it was that Microsoft tried to put too much into a game that might or might not make a good market impression. With the MMORPG market over-saturated, maybe they felt that they couldn't compete with the other ones out there. Mostly MMORPGs are for PC, while the few that have come to consoles have been mixed. The good: Final Fantasy XI, the bad being Everquest: Online Adventures. While Xbox is not considered a RPG gamer's platform, there is nothing to say they couldn't break into the market with this game.
Fans and industry people alike expect to see a resurgence in the game in the market under another form, but time will only tell. Going by screen shots alone, it is at least a beautiful game.