When did Final Fantasy Type-0 come out?
Final Fantasy Type-0
In 2008, it was decided to make "Type-0" a PSP exclusive, cancelling the mobile version of the game as the developers did not want to wait for mobile technology to reach a level which could handle their full vision for the game. Full development began that year by the same team who developed "Crisis Core", but was again slowed as most of them were completing work on "The 3rd Birthday". Because of these conflicting projects, "Type-0" came close to being cancelled outright. Between 2009 and 2011, the title was changed to distance it from "Final Fantasy XIII", since after the platform change the two games had little in common other than their shared mythos. One of the titles considered and rejected was "Final Fantasy Live", referring to the game's multiplayer element. The new title, "Final Fantasy Type-0," was intended to indicate the game's separation from the main series. It was also the beginning of an alternative numbering system parallel to the main series. The game made its first official public appearance under the new title at the Square Enix 1st Production Department Premier in Tokyo, along with a new trailer that was released to the public on January 27, 2011.
Final Fantasy Type-0
The story focuses on Class Zero, a group of fourteen students from the Vermillion Peristylium, a magical academy in the Dominion of Rubrum. When the Militesi Empire launches an assault on the other Crystal States of Orience, seeking to control their respective crystals, Class Zero is mobilized for the defense of Rubrum. Eventually, the group becomes entangled in the secrets behind both the war and the reason for their existence. The setting and presentation were inspired by historical documentaries, and the story itself was written to be darker than other "Final Fantasy" titles.
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster is a high-definition remaster of the role-playing video games "Final Fantasy X" and "Final Fantasy X-2", originally developed by Square (now Square Enix) on the PlayStation 2 in the early 2000s. It also features story content previously only found in the "International" versions, and a new audio drama set a year after the events of "X-2". The collection saw graphical and musical revisions and is based on the international versions of both games, making certain content accessible to players outside of Japan for the first time.
List of video games notable for negative reception
"Final Fantasy XIV" was a massive multiplayer online role-playing game in Square Enix's "Final Fantasy" series, developed as a spiritual successor to "Final Fantasy XI". The game was released for Microsoft Windows on September 30, 2010, with plans for a PlayStation 3 port. However, the initial release of the game was met with poor reviews, with critics describing grind-heavy gameplay, poor controls, and a confusing user interface. The game holds a Metacritic score of 49/100.
Characters of the Final Fantasy Type-0 universe
is the fourteenth member of Class Zero and acts as one of the game's narrators. During the events of "Type-0", as Finis begins, Rem becomes a Vermillion Bird l'Cie and is fatally wounded by Machina before entering crystal stasis and later being revived by Arecia to rebuild Orience once the crystals are removed. In "Agito", she is a member of Class Seventh. Rem is voiced by Peyton McCormick in English and Ryoko Shiraishi in Japanese.
Development of Final Fantasy XV
Due to the growing scale of the project, talks about changing "Versus XIII" into the next numbered entry in the series were appearing as early as 2007. When "Type-0", originally titled "Final Fantasy Agito XIII", was renamed, and the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were presented to Square Enix in 2011, it was decided to shift the game onto those consoles. For a time, a PlayStation 3 version continued development, but after a title change announcement could not be made in 2012, the shortening lifespan of the console caused concern for the company and team. After some trial and error, the PlayStation 3 was abandoned as lead platform in favor of a DirectX 11-based development structure that allowed for easy porting to the next-generation systems. Another presumed reason for the shift was due to the game's protracted development and escalating budget. The game was rebranded as "Final Fantasy XV" and began development in this form in July 2012. A proposal to turn "Final Fantasy XV" into a musical after Nomura watched the 2012 film adaptation of "Les Misérables" were vetoed by the higher-ups at Square Enix.
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD
A commercial Blu-ray release for "Type-0 HD"s soundtrack, "Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Original Soundtrack", was released on March 25, 2015. It includes the entire soundtrack, the newly composed tracks, tracks from "Final Fantasy Agito" and ten bonus MP3 tracks selected by Ishimoto from his previous work as a "Best of Collection". The Blu-ray album reached #189 in the Oricon charts, and remained in the charts for one week. The album, and music in general, have received positive comments from music critics and reviewers of the game.
Hironobu Sakaguchi
When Square became an independent company in 1986, Sakaguchi became a full-time employee as the Director of Planning and Development. After working on several Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) games that failed to become major hits, Sakaguchi began questioning if he had chosen the right career path and if he was qualified to be a game writer. He then pitched the concept for a role-playing video game called "Fighting Fantasy", and assembled a small team to realize this project of his. Among others, Sakaguchi's thoughts about quitting the game industry and going back to university – had the game not sold well – were a reason for the title being changed to "Final Fantasy". The game was released in Japan for the NES on December 18, 1987, and was successful across Japan. Under Sakaguchi's supervision, "Final Fantasy" developed into an expansive franchise, spanning from stand alone stories to spin-offs to direct sequels. In 1991, following the release of "Final Fantasy IV" for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, he was honored with the position of Executive Vice President. The last Final Fantasy game he directed was "Final Fantasy V", becoming the producer for future installments of the franchise. In 1995, he became president of Square's North American division. His final role as game producer was for "Final Fantasy IX". In an interview at the time he described it as his favorite Final Fantasy. He later went on to serve more as an executive producer of the series, as well as many of Square's other games, including "Vagrant Story", "Parasite Eve" and "Kingdom Hearts". The "Kingdom Hearts" series would later go on to feature a character named Master Eraqus, who was designed to physically resemble Sakaguchi and match with Disney's Yen Sid. In May 2000, Sakaguchi received the Hall of Fame Award of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.
Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy
Speaking about the "XIII" games in particular, Parish suggested that their mixed reactions influenced the title changes of other games in the original series, giving the teams a chance to give those games more of their own identity. He also felt that the decision to expand the "XIII" storyline into multiple games "probably worked out just as well". The presentation of the mythos and its terms received mixed reactions in "XIII", resulting in the production team toning down their use for "XIII-2". Siliconera writer Spencer Yip, in his review of "Lightning Returns", commented that the story and pace of the game was "muddled" by the mythos. In 2016, RPGFan writer Mike Salbato wrote a retrospective of the "Final Fantasy XIII" games and their version of "Fabula Nova Crystallis": he felt that the lack of specific references to the mythos in "XIII" had harmed general comprehension, and that a reliance on foreknowledge made its sequels difficult to play as standalone titles. In contrast, the portrayal of the mythos in "Type-0" was praised by RPG Site's Erren Van Duine in an import review of the title, with him saying that "elements such as l'Cie and fal'Cie are handled in much more interesting ways". When commenting on the lore of "Final Fantasy XV", Andrew Reiner of "Game Informer" praised the story for sticking to basics and avoiding "[overwhelming] the player with lore or branching threads, something "Final Fantasy XIII" struggled with".
Final Fantasy VII
"Final Fantasy VII" was announced in February 1996. Square president and chief executive officer Tomoyuki Takechi were fairly confident about Japanese players making the game a commercial success despite it being on a new platform. A playable demo was included on a disc giveaway at the 1996 Tokyo Game Show, dubbed "Square's Preview Extra: Final Fantasy VII & Siggraph '95 Works". The disc also included the early test footage Square created using characters from "Final Fantasy VI". The initial release date was at some point in 1996, but to properly realize their vision, Square postponed the release date almost a full year. "Final Fantasy VII" was released on January 31, 1997. It was published in Japan by Square. A re-release of the game based on its Western version, titled "Final Fantasy VII International", was released on October 2, 1997. This improved "International" version would kickstart the trend for Square to create an updated version for the Japanese release, based on the enhanced Western versions. The "International" version was re-released as a physical disc as part of the "Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Ultimate Box" Japanese package on December 18, 2012.
Final Fantasy XV
Final Fantasy XV is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix as part of the long-running "Final Fantasy" series. It was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016, and for Microsoft Windows in 2018. The game features an open world environment and action-based battle system, incorporating quick-switching weapons, elemental magic, and other features such as vehicle travel and camping. The base campaign was later expanded with downloadable content (DLC), adding further gameplay options such as additional playable characters and multiplayer.
Final Fantasy Tactics
"Final Fantasy Tactics" saw several re-releases. "Final Fantasy Tactics" was re-released as part of the Square's Millennium Collection. This series of games was only released in Japan, and each title is bought with a set of related merchandise. "Final Fantasy Tactics" was sold on June 29, 2000 along with titles such as "Saga Frontier, Saga Frontier 2, Brave Fencer Musashi, Front Mission 3, Ehrgeiz" and "Legend of Mana".
Final Fantasy Type-0
The game's logo artwork was drawn by regular series artist Yoshitaka Amano. The kanji symbol used in the logo was drawn by Naora, who had designed the Shinra logo in "Final Fantasy VII" and its companion media. Naora specifically requested that he draw the logo due to this previous experience. To achieve the grittier atmosphere, Naora took a research trip to a Japanese military camp to learn what being a military cadet was like. The island of the Vermillion Perystilium was based on an offshore Japanese island he had visited prior to his involvement with the game, adding elements in-game such as an offshore ship wreck to symbolize his fear of the sea. He was also influenced by an incident where he saw a dead cat surrounded by other cats to portray the bond between members of Class Zero, and the game's themes, in promotional artwork.
Final Fantasy Type-0
"Final Fantasy Type-0 Original Soundtrack" was released on October 26, 2011. The soundtrack was released in a standard edition, as well as a limited edition that could be purchased both separately and with the collector's edition of the game. A promotional album featuring five tracks was sold by Square Enix at their booth at the Odaiba Expo 2011. The album stayed on the Oricon charts for seven weeks, reaching a high of #25. The soundtrack has received positive reviews in the west from dedicated music outlets "Original Sound Version" and "Game-OST", with the sites giving both individual tracks and the work in general high praise. "Zero" was released on October 19, 2011. It was released as a single instead of being part of the main soundtrack, receiving both a limited and standard edition. The single remained in the Oricon charts for thirty-two weeks, peaking at #2.
Final Fantasy Tactics
A spin-off title, "Final Fantasy Tactics Advance", was released for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance in 2003 and a sequel to that title, "", was released in 2007 for the Nintendo DS. Various other games have also utilized the Ivalice setting, including "Vagrant Story" for the PlayStation and "Final Fantasy XII" for the PlayStation 2. An enhanced port of "Final Fantasy Tactics", "", was released in 2007 as part of Square Enix's "Ivalice Alliance" project. Overall, the game received positive reviews from gaming magazines and websites and has become a cult classic since its release.
Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy II is a fantasy role-playing video game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) in 1988 for the Family Computer as the second installment of the "Final Fantasy" series. The game has received numerous enhanced remakes for the WonderSwan Color, the PlayStation, the Game Boy Advance, the PlayStation Portable, and multiple mobile and smartphone types. As neither this game nor "Final Fantasy III" were initially released outside Japan, "Final Fantasy IV" was originally released in North America as "Final Fantasy II", so as not to confuse players. The most recent releases of the game are enhanced versions for the iOS and Android, which were released worldwide in 2010 and 2012, respectively.
Final Fantasy (video game)
Final Fantasy is a fantasy role-playing video game developed and published by Square in 1987. It is the first game in Square's "Final Fantasy" series, created by Hironobu Sakaguchi. Originally released for the NES, "Final Fantasy" was remade for several video game consoles and is frequently packaged with "Final Fantasy II" in video game collections. The story follows four youths called the Light Warriors, who each carry one of their world's four elemental orbs which have been darkened by the four Elemental Fiends. Together, they quest to defeat these evil forces, restore light to the orbs, and save their world.
Final Fantasy Type-0
An unofficial fan translation patch was announced in mid-2012. Work on the fan translation took place over the following two years, during which time Square Enix was noncommittal concerning an official Western release. The patch was initially announced for an August 2014 release, but was instead was released on June 9, 2014. According to the translation team leader, the patch was downloaded 100,000 times in the first four days. It was taken down in July of the same year after Square Enix allegedly threatened unspecified legal action, originally thought to be a cease-and-desist order. Later statements revealed that the patch was released earlier than originally announced due to the lead translator on the project wanting fans to see their achievements, which ended up causing a rift between him and the rest of the team. Before the release, Square Enix and the translation team had been in friendly communication concerning the translation. The formal requests to take the patch down were made in the weeks following its release, shortly before the announcement of "Type-0 HD". Work on the patch was eventually resumed and a second version, which included unofficial compatibility with the PlayStation 3 system and further translation bugfixes, was eventually released in 2015.
Final Fantasy VI
It was ported by Tose with minor differences to Sony's PlayStation in 1999 and Nintendo's Game Boy Advance in 2006, and it was released for the Wii's Virtual Console in 2011. Nintendo re-released "Final Fantasy VI" in the United States in September 2017 as part of the company's Super NES Classic Edition. The game was known as "Final Fantasy III" when it was first released in North America, as the original "Final Fantasy II", "Final Fantasy III", and "Final Fantasy V" had not been released outside Japan at the time (leaving IV as the second title released outside Japan and VI as the third). However, most later localizations use the original title.
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD
After "Type-0" received a 2011 Japan-only release on PSP, "Type-0 HD" began development in mid-2012 as part of a move to promote the next generation of gaming consoles, and gave the opportunity for multiple changes to refine the experience for players. Outside of updated graphics and an expanded color palette, "Type-0 HD" is largely identical to the original PSP version, although the original's multiplayer functionality was dropped, and additional difficulty levels were implemented. "Type-0 HD" reached high positions in international sales charts, and has sold over one million copies worldwide as of October 2015. It received praise for its story and battle system, while criticisms have focused on its HD upgrade and localization.
Final Fantasy Type-0
A second playthrough reveals that Orience is trapped in a stable timeloop created by Arecia and Gala, the respective servants of the deities Pulse and Lindzei, as part of an experiment to find the gateway to the Unseen Realm. Competing with each other to open the gateway using a different method, both failed and reset the world for another attempt. By the events of "Type-0", the experiment had been performed over six hundred million times. Cid, aware of the cycle, wanted to free Orience from the Crystals' control, and killed himself in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Gala from using him. In a sequence unlocked during the second playthrough, Joker and Tiz speak with Arecia after the Arbiter's defeat and show her the memories of Class Zero and the people of Orience to make her reconsider restarting the experiment. After speaking with Machina and Rem, Arecia decides to abandon the experiment and returns the two to human form. In an alternate ending, Arecia chooses to remove the crystals from Orience's history, creating a new timeline where the war never occurred and the world's population can live happily.
Final Fantasy Type-0
The gameplay was inspired by the multi-character system of "Before Crisis", while the naming of magic styles after weapons of war made reference to first-person shooters. The combat was designed to be filled with tension and portray each playable character's personality on the battlefield. The Eidolons were originally not controlled in realtime, but during the development of Ifrit, Tabata did some testing with real-time commands. The results impressed him enough that he decided to overcome the technical difficulties involved and make the Eidolons controllable. Due to technical restrictions and the presence of the Academy Assist function, the game's artificial intelligence for playable characters needed to be limited to healing, survival and other minor actions. The game's multiplayer was deliberately designed around restricted segments. Its development was still ongoing during the summer of 2011, with a temporary stoppage of PlayStation Network that year negatively affecting its development. Because of the size of the project, debugging the game took far longer than anticipated. Between the release of the demo and the full game, adjustments were made to gameplay mechanics and the in-game camera. In a post-release interview, Tabata commented that he would have liked to expand the multiplayer functions to include an ad-hoc function and expanded cooperative gameplay, and create a more forgiving learning curve for players.
Final Fantasy Type-0
Developers had been planning a release on the next generation of mobile phones, as those available at the time could not offer all the capabilities they would need. While it was originally claimed to be a mobile exclusive, versions for both mobiles and the PlayStation Portable were being developed, with the latter to be revealed when the former was sufficiently advanced. The original staff members were Tabata, Yusuke Naora and Tetsuya Nomura. Nomura acted as a character designer and creative producer. Between 2006 and 2008, development wavered between inactivity and sluggishness since most of the team was devoted to "". In 2008, it was said to be facing serious problems due to the scale of the project. An issue developers had grappled with was whether or not to make the command buttons used in the game visible on the mobile screen. "Agito XIII" was described as an online RPG using fully rendered 3D graphics similar to console games, as well as having gameplay elements from multiple genres such as MMORPGs, smaller-scale multiplayer-focused games, and standard role-playing games. Other unfinished concepts being developed were a day-night cycle, a calendar system linked to real-world time and dates, and a story influenced by player votes.
Final Fantasy Chronicles
The original "Final Fantasy IV" was released in North America as "Final Fantasy II" in 1991, with various "Easytype" modifications. These were removed in the "Final Fantasy Chronicles" version, and the game was re-localized, achieving a script closer Takashi Tokita's original scenario. "Chrono Trigger", released in 1995, was already localized by Ted Woolsey, but the "Final Fantasy Chronicles" version has additional modifications.
Final Fantasy (video game)
Square Enix planned to release this version for North American mobile phones in 2006, but it was delayed to 2010 and released in collaboration with Namco. It retains the game difficulty and MP System from the original Famicom version. Other elements such as updated graphics, spell names, monster names, bosses, items, and areas are borrowed from the Game Boy Advance / Wonderswan Color versions, not including the additional areas and monsters present in the GBA version. Game data is saved as in the original Famicom version (by using Tent, Sleeping Bag, and Cottage or by going into an inn). However, there are now three save game slots and a "Temporary Save" option available in the game.
Characters of the Final Fantasy Type-0 universe
The original scenario and concept of "Final Fantasy Type-0", originally a mobile title named "Final Fantasy Agito XIII", was conceived by Hajime Tabata. He wished for a group-driven story as he felt that a single playable character would not be able to properly convey the scope and themes of the story. Because Tabata wanted to show a history of survival told from the point of view of young people caught in a war, it was decided to set the story during a war between four nations. Much of the original story, which mainly revolved about defying the gods, was drawn from popular anime and manga and did not survive. After the platform change to PlayStation Portable, Tabata adopted a story-telling style similar to a documentary film: a direct inspiration for this was "Centuries of Picture", a documentary series broadcast on NHK. Alongside that, multiple war films were used as inspiration. "Type-0"s script was written by Hiroki Chiba and Sarah Okabe. During the rough draft stage, elements such as extra plot points involving Khalia Chival, a boss fight with Arecia, and a main plot thread involving Joker and Tiz were planned. Most of these elements were cut from the final product, meaning elements such as Joker and Tiz's role needed to be included in written texts found in-game so they were not left hanging. The deaths of Class Zero were planned from an early stage, and to emphasize the state of the world, a large number of the supporting cast were killed off near the end. Tabata wanted to create a story depicting different fates for "Type-0"s characters, and this decision was supported by both staff members and fans of the original. He also implemented the ability for players to decide the course of the story, which was to have been included in the "Type-0" when it was still known as "Agito XIII". "Final Fantasy Agito" was given a more upbeat atmosphere when compared to "Type-0", although dark and more dramatic moments were still present. The story grew out of what Tabata originally envisioned for "Type-0".
Characters of the Final Fantasy Type-0 universe
The player-customized is the playable character of "Final Fantasy Agito". The Cadet's gender, appearance, equipment and other aspects are chosen by the player before the game starts. The Cadet is first encountered when they are saved by Ace from a beast attack, and thereafter become part of Rubrum's general effort to fight against the Milites Empire. Their final appearance is at the end of Orience's second cycle, where Tiz and Joker wish them well and vow to free Orience from its cycle.
Final Fantasy
"Final Fantasy" has spawned numerous spin-offs and metaseries. Several are, in fact, not "Final Fantasy" games, but were rebranded for North American release. Examples include the "SaGa" series, rebranded "The Final Fantasy Legend", and its two sequels, "Final Fantasy Legend II" and "Final Fantasy Legend III". "Final Fantasy Mystic Quest" was specifically developed for a United States audience, and "Final Fantasy Tactics" is a tactical RPG that features many references and themes found in the series. The spin-off "Chocobo" series, "Crystal Chronicles" series, and "Kingdom Hearts" series also include multiple "Final Fantasy" elements. In 2003, the "Final Fantasy" series' first direct sequel, "Final Fantasy X-2", was released. "Final Fantasy XIII" was originally intended to stand on its own, but the team wanted to explore the world, characters and mythos more, resulting in the development and release of two sequels in 2011 and respectively, creating the series' first official trilogy. "Dissidia Final Fantasy" was released in 2009, a fighting game that features heroes and villains from the first ten games of the main series. It was followed by a prequel in 2011. Other spin-offs have taken the form of subseries—"Compilation of Final Fantasy VII", "Ivalice Alliance", and "Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy".
Characters of Final Fantasy XV
"Final Fantasy XV", an action role-playing video game released in November 2016, is the fifteenth main installment in the "Final Fantasy" series, and is thematically connected to "Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy", a subseries of games linked by a common mythos which includes "Final Fantasy XIII" and "Final Fantasy Type-0". The world and main characters were created by Tetsuya Nomura, the game's original director. Nomura also designed the main characters, with later revisions and additional characters being designed by Yusuke Naora: other character designers involved with the game included Roberto Ferrari and Yusaku Nakaaki.
Final Fantasy (video game)
Square Enix released a version of "Final Fantasy" for two Japanese mobile phone networks in 2004; a version for NTT DoCoMo FOMA 900i series was launched in March under the title "Final Fantasy i" and a subsequent release for CDMA 1X WIN-compatible phones was launched in August. Another titular version was released for SoftBank Yahoo! Keitai phones on July 3, 2006. The games have more refined graphics compared to the original 8-bit game, but not as advanced as many of the later console and handheld ports.
Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy
"Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy" currently consists of seven titles across multiple platforms, including sequels and spin-offs of the original entries. The entries in the "Fabula Nova Crystallis" series share the same mythology, interpreted differently and referred to in varying degrees for each of the game worlds."Final Fantasy XIII" and its sequels have a strong connection to the mythos, making extensive use of its terminology and involving many of its deities. The universe of "Final Fantasy Type-0" used the terminology and made minor reference to the mythos while focusing on the human side of events, although these references were added during later story development. While the mythos is still present in "Final Fantasy XV", it was "disconnected" from the core framework, with specific terminology being removed and its emphasis reduced to become a background element for the world and story.
Characters of the Final Fantasy Type-0 universe
is the thirteenth member of Class Zero and acts as one of the game's narrators. During the events of "Type-0", Machina became a Milites l'Cie and was forced to kill Rem before joining her in crystal stasis. He is later revived by Arecia to rebuild Orience once the crystals are removed. In "Agito", he is a member of Class Second. Machina is voiced by Bryce Papenbrook in English and Hiroshi Kamiya in Japanese.
Characters of the Final Fantasy Type-0 universe
are the main protagonists and playable cast of "Type-0", later revealed to have been chosen for their potential to become saviors referred to as Agito, a group of people created to force open the barrier between the mortal world and the Unseen Realm. Each member of Class Zero also appears in "Agito", although the others are in different classes while Ace remains a member of Class Zero. They can also be summoned into battle to assist the Cadet. In "Type-0", Machina and Rem were recently transferred to Class Zero but not fully classed with the rest of the group. During their battle with the Rursan Arbiter, Class Zero are fatally wounded, and during their final moments, they imagine their possible post-war lives. Their deaths are instrumental in convincing Arecia to free Orience from its cycle of war.
Final Fantasy Type-0
"Type-0" was released on October 27, 2011, receiving both physical and digital releases. It was initially announced for release in summer of that year, but unspecified difficulties with development including the stoppage of PlayStation Network caused a delay. It was then announced for released on October 13, but was delayed by two weeks. While Square Enix stated it wanted to improve its quality, no other information was given. It was speculated to be due to complaints surrounding the camera control and other gameplay elements. The releases of the soundtrack and the theme song were also delayed. "Type-0" was one of a few releases for the PSP to be released on two UMDs, as Tabata wanted to cut as little content as possible, which would have been impossible if they had settled for using one UMD. A demo for the original game was released in August 2011, featuring seven playable characters and four missions at locked difficulty levels. Save data could be transferred to the full game, unlocking special costumes and items and keeping experience points. A second demo was released on November 22, a month after the full game's release. It replaced the original demo and gave players access to exclusive items and costumes. A collector's edition was released exclusively through Square Enix's online store, containing artwork, a limited edition version of the soundtrack, postcards and a booklet of character introductions. The title was later added to their Ultimate Hits budget title collection.
Characters of Final Fantasy X and X-2
The tenth game of the "Final Fantasy" series, Square's bestselling role-playing video game "Final Fantasy X" features several fictional characters designed by Tetsuya Nomura who wanted the main characters' designs and names to be connected with their personalities and roles in the plot. The game takes place in the fictional universe of Spira that features multiple tribes. The game's sequel released in , "Final Fantasy X-2", takes place two years after the events in "Final Fantasy X" and uses new and returning characters.
Final Fantasy XIII-2
"Final Fantasy XIII-2" was first hinted at three months after the January 2010 release of "Final Fantasy XIII". Kitase said in an interview "If we could do a "XIII-2", we could direct all our attention to the story and refine what we have already built." Toriyama stated in the October 2010 "Ultimania Omega" companion book that he hoped to continue the story. Two months later, Nomura released a drawing of Lightning along with the words "She must not be forgotten". On January 11, 2011, Square Enix registered the domain name FinalFantasy13-2game.com via a proxy company that it had used to register websites for several other unannounced games. "Final Fantasy XIII-2" was officially announced at the Square Enix 1st Production Department Premier in Tokyo on January 18, 2011. The teaser trailer showed Lightning, outfitted in armor, drawing her weapon and engaging Caius, who was not yet named. To promote the game's release in Japan, Japanese singer Yuko Oshima was appointed the leader of a group of thirteen official test players.
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
"Advent Children" and the "Compilation of Final Fantasy VII" series were first announced at the 2003 Tokyo Game Show in September 2003. The movie was announced as a direct-to-DVD film. The first trailer for the movie was featured in the international version of the video game "Final Fantasy X-2", released in February 2004. The trailer used a motion capture that was altered in the final film. "Advent Children" was initially scheduled for a September 13, 2005 release in North America and a September 14, 2005 release in Japan, but the North American release date was pushed back several times. It was first moved to November 2005, then to January 2006, and finally scheduled for April 25, 2006 for release on DVD and Universal Media Discs for the PlayStation Portable.
Final Fantasy Type-0
"Type-0" has never received an official localization in its original form. During development, while it was still titled "Agito XIII", Tabata said he was trying to make the game appealing to North American players. Despite a localization being confirmed as in development in an official guidebook interview, the original version of "Type-0" was not released in the west. In the wake of the game's release in Japan, 1UP.com and Joystiq speculated that the game could be successfully brought west as a port to the PlayStation Vita. Tabata later commented that the main reasons for the game not being localized were the flagging Western PSP market and uncertainties surrounding the Vita's commercial success.
Final Fantasy Type-0
In the first week on sale, "Final Fantasy Type-0" sold 472,253 units, topping Japanese sales charts and selling through 79.08% of its initial shipments. As of January 16, 2012, the game had sold 746,203 copies in Japan. It was the best-selling game of 2011 for Japanese media retail shop Tsutaya, beating "Monster Hunter Portable 3rd" (PlayStation Portable) and "Final Fantasy XIII-2" (PlayStation 3). It was also the store's best-selling PSP title of the year, followed by "Monster Hunter Portable 3rd" and "Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy".
Final Fantasy
The first installment of the series was released in Japan on December 18, 1987. Subsequent games are numbered and given a story unrelated to previous games, so the numbers refer to volumes rather than to sequels. Many "Final Fantasy" games have been localized for markets in North America, Europe, and Australia on numerous video game consoles, personal computers (PC), and mobile phones. Future installments will appear on seventh and eighth generation consoles. As of November 2016, the series includes the main installments from "Final Fantasy" to "Final Fantasy XV", as well as direct sequels and spin-offs, both released and confirmed as being in development. Most of the older games have been remade or re-released on multiple platforms.
Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VI, also known as Final Fantasy III from its marketing for initial North American release in 1994, is a role-playing video game developed and published by Japanese company Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. "Final Fantasy VI", being the sixth game in the series proper, was the first to be directed by someone other than producer and series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi; the role was filled instead by Yoshinori Kitase and Hiroyuki Ito. Yoshitaka Amano, long-time collaborator to the "Final Fantasy" series, returned as the character designer and contributed widely to visual concept design, while series-regular, composer Nobuo Uematsu, wrote the game's score, which has been released on several soundtrack albums. Set in a fantasy world with a technology level equivalent to that of the Second Industrial Revolution, the game's story follows an expanding cast that includes fourteen permanent playable characters. The drama includes and extends past depicting a rebellion against an evil military dictatorship, pursuit of a magical arms-race, use of chemical weapons in warfare, depiction of violent, apocalyptic confrontations with Divinities, several personal redemption arcs, teenage pregnancy, and the continuous renewal of hope and life itself.
Final Fantasy IV
"Final Fantasy IV" was ported again by Tose for the Game Boy Advance and published as . It was released in North America by Nintendo of America on December 12, 2005; in Japan by Square Enix on December 15, 2005; in Australia on February 23, 2006; and in Europe on June 2, 2006. In Japan, a special version was available which included a limited edition Game Boy Micro with a themed face plate featuring artwork of Cecil and Kain. The enhanced graphics from the WonderSwan Color port were further improved, and minor changes were made to the music. The localization team revised the English translation, improving the flow of the story, and restoring plot details absent from the original. The abilities that were removed from the original North American release were re-added, while spells were renamed to follow the naming conventions of the Japanese version, changing "Bolt2" to "Thundara" for example. A new cave at Mt. Ordeals was added featuring powerful armor and stronger weapons for five additional characters, as was the Lunar Ruins, a dungeon accessible only at the end of the game.
Final Fantasy II
"Final Fantasy II" was again released in a new format in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance as part of "Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls". The primary change for this version was the addition of a bonus storyline entitled "Soul of Rebirth" accessible to the player after completing the game. In 2004 and 2006, Square Enix released a version of "Final Fantasy II" for three Japanese mobile phone networks. To celebrate the "Final Fantasy" series' 20th anniversary, the game was released in Japan for the PlayStation Portable in 2007. The remake features improved graphics, the cutscenes and soundtrack from "Final Fantasy Origins", and the bonus quest and dungeons from "Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls". It additionally includes two new dungeons in which more character-specific equipment can be found, alongside powerful enemies and a new boss. The release for the Japanese Virtual Console for the Wii on June 16, 2009, for the Wii U on December 11, 2013, and for the Nintendo 3DS on February 12, 2014, is identical to the original Famicom release, incorporating none of the updates of the later versions. On February 25, 2010, Square Enix released a port of the PSP version modified with touchscreen controls for the iOS platform. Following this, a touchscreen port was brought to Android in 2012 through the Google Play store.
Development of Final Fantasy XV
A version for personal computers (PC) running the Windows 10 operating system was released on March 6, 2018 through Steam and Origin. Titled "Final Fantasy XV: Windows Edition" and developed in cooperation with Nvidia using an upgraded version of the Luminous Studio engine, the game includes multiple graphical enhancements, and comes packaged with all free and paid DLC released up to that point. A version tailored to mobile devices titled "" was also released in 2017. A remake of the game for iOS, Android and through Windows Store, it carries over the core story and gameplay while using a different artstyle and touch controls catered to a casual gaming audience. The story plays out across ten episodes; the first episode is free, while the rest must be purchased separately. The game was later released as "Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition HD" for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 7, 2018, and for the Nintendo Switch on September 13.
Recurring elements in the Final Fantasy series
Other artists have also contributed to the series. Hideo Minaba contributed character designs to "Final Fantasy IX", worked as an art director for "Final Fantasy XII", and would later design characters for "Final Fantasy XIII-2". Italian-born artist Roberto Ferrari worked as a secondary character designer for "Final Fantasy Type-0", "Final Fantasy XV" and "Final Fantasy VII Remake". Yusaku Nakaaki worked with Naora and Nomura to create characters for "Final Fantasy Type-0", and along with Ferrari created secondary characters for "Final Fantasy XV". Akira Oguro created the character artwork for the mobile titles "" and "Final Fantasy Dimensions". Toshitaka Matsuda's first major work was on "Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings", and he would later serve as a costume and character designer for "Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII". Toshiyuki Itahana first worked on character designs for "Final Fantasy IX", then later served as a main artist for the "Crystal Chronicles" spin-off series, "Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII", and the mobile game "Mobius Final Fantasy". A key designer for much of the series' life was Kazuko Shibuya, who did sprite designs from "Final Fantasy" to "Final Fantasy VI". She also did work on "Final Fantasy Dimensions". A notable outside collaborator was Hiromu Takahara, lead designer for Japanese fashion house Roen, who created the clothing for the main cast of "Final Fantasy XV".
Final Fantasy Type-0
"Famitsu" and "Dengeki PlayStation" both praised the story, with "Famitsu" saying it "vividly portrays the fact that this is a deep, intense "Final Fantasy" experience, something beyond just a side story". Gaming website PlayStation LifeStyle's Heath Hindman was impressed by the darker presentation, calling it "powerful and well done throughout", and was impressed with the characters despite some awkward introductory scenes. Erren Van Duine, writing for RPG Site, said that fans would appreciate the scale of the narrative, and praised the handling of the "Fabula Nova Crystallis" mythos. She did note that some plot points seemed only included for the sake of convenience, and that the ending forced a second playthrough to see the whole story.
Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy
"Type-0" sold over 472,000 units in its first week, and went on to sell over 740,000 units in Japan. The title was also added to the company's list of Ultimate Hits, re-releases of lucrative titles. "Type-0 HD" reached the top of the sales charts in its debut week, selling 93,000 units, though it ultimately performed poorly in Japan. It was among the ten top-selling games in March for the UK and US. By April, "Type-0 HD" had shipped over one million copies worldwide. "Agito" was highly successful in Japan, achieving 500,000 registered users within a week of release. By November of the year of release, the game had received one million downloads. "Awakening" met with commercial success in China, achieving two million downloads within its month of release. Upon its release, "Final Fantasy XV" sold five million copies worldwide through retail shipments and digital sales, breaking sales records for the "Final Fantasy" franchise.
Final Fantasy Agito
The idea for "Final Fantasy Agito" originated with the early origins of "Type-0". Originally, "Type-0" was a game for mobiles titled "Final Fantasy Agito XIII", but eventually changed platforms and title. "Type-0"s director Hajime Tabata still liked the "Agito" title and the original concepts for the game, which included an episodic storyline that hinged on player choice and day-night cycles linked to real-world time. With this in mind, Tabata decided to revisit it and began development of "Agito": eventually, they settled on smartphones as the release platform of choice, partly because the platforms' progress since "Type-0" started development. One of Tabata's wishes for the title was that players unfamiliar with "Type-0" would download and play it. Development on the game began in September 2012. During development, Tabata considered "Type-0" to have become the prototype for "Agito", although it did not share much with its predecessor. The game's story grew out of what he originally conceived for "Agito XIII" before it evolved into "Type-0". In contrast to "Type-0"s dark and serious storyline, the team decided to give "Agito" a lighter atmosphere, although serious dramatic scenes were still present. Along with returning staff, mobile developer Tayutau K. K. helped with development. The previous game's level designer, Masayasu Nishida, returned to direct, and original character texture artist Sayako Hoshino became art director. To create the characters' portrait animations for the smartphone environment, the team used Silicon Studio's Motion Portrait middleware. The game was developed using the Unity engine. The game's designer was Kensuke Shimoda, an industry veteran who had experience with Unity, and was in charge of designing the game's battle system. His involvement with the game ended after its release.
Final Fantasy Awakening
It was first hinted with the announcement that "Agito" was shutting down in November 2015. The company stated that a "reborn" version of "Agito" would be shown off at the 2015 Tokyo Game Show. The game was announced at that event under the provisional title Final Fantasy Type-0 Online, along with its release window and that players of "Agito" would receive an unspecified "favor" if they chose to play "Awakening". A beta test was scheduled for Chinese territories in the winter of 2015. The first beta test ended up starting in mid-April 2016. When it was first announced, a localization for Europe and North America was under consideration. At the 2015 AWS Summit Tokyo, the open beta for Japan was announced for June, with releases following in Japan, North America and Europe. Its first playable appearance was at the 2016 ChinaJoy Expo. It was also stated at the event that Perfect World would act as the game's publishers in Asian territories outside Japan. In October 2016, it was announced that the game would be renamed "Final Fantasy Awakening", releasing under that name in China. The game became available for general download in China on December 14, 2016.
Final Fantasy X
Due to its commercial and critical success, Square Enix released a direct sequel to "Final Fantasy X" in 2003, titled "Final Fantasy X-2". The sequel is set two years after the conclusion of "Final Fantasy X", establishing new conflicts and dilemmas and resolving loose ends left by the original game. Although the sequel did not sell as well as the original, 5.4 million units versus over 8 million units, it can still be considered a commercial success. As a result of the title's popularity, Yoshinori Kitase and Kazushige Nojima decided to establish a plot-related connection between "Final Fantasy X" and "Final Fantasy VII", another well-received" Final Fantasy" game. In 2013, after the release of the HD Remaster, Nojima stated that he would like to see a second sequel to "X", and if there were demand for it, it could happen. The minigame of blitzball has made it into other games, such as "Final Fantasy X-2", and was mentioned as a possibility for "".
Characters of the Final Fantasy Type-0 universe
After "Type-0"s release, Tabata resurrected his initial concept for a mobile game as the prequel "Agito". Hoshino became the title's art director. As with "Type-0", one of the areas she focused on was the female characters' underwear. The characters' facial animations were done using Silicon Studio's Motion Portrait middleware. For "Type-0 HD", the characters' original gameplay models were replaced with updated versions of the original cutscene models due to the latter's higher detail. Due to this higher detail, the cutscene models looked older than the gameplay models, so they needed adjustments to look more like the original models. Their appearances were also adjusted to look more "charming". The game's graphical upgrade was only partially done for the game's characters due to time constraints: while the main cast were given the most attention, secondary characters such as Kurasame received less work.
Final Fantasy Awakening
Planning for "Awakening" began in November 2014, with full development starting at the beginning of 2015. The game was designed as a successor to "Final Fantasy Agito", which had hit insurmountable technical barriers which stopped further development of its online functions. "Type-0 Online", as it was called, was co-developed by Square Enix and Chinese online game developer Perfect World. While Perfect World handled primary development, the original staff of "Agito" supervised the project. Perfect World was chosen as they had extensive experience with domestic and international online games. After "Agito" shut down, the development team transferred over to work on "Awakening". Over 100 staff at Perfect World were attached to the game's development for more than a year. Development went on for longer than anticipated, although it progressed smoothly when it neared its first open beta. It was built upon the Unity game engine.
Final Fantasy XIII
At the Square Enix First Production Department Conference held on January 18, 2011, Square Enix announced that they were developing a direct sequel to "Final Fantasy XIII", entitled "Final Fantasy XIII-2", which they intended to build on the game's story and characters while taking on board the criticism and other feedback about the original. It was released on December 15, 2011, in Japan, January 31, 2012, in North America and February 3, 2012, in Europe, for both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. Motomu Toriyama and Yoshinori Kitase returned to their respective roles as director and producer. The game begins three years after the events of "Final Fantasy XIII", and features Serah and newcomer Noel as the main protagonists. "XIII-2" is the fifth sequel game in the "Final Fantasy" series, after "Final Fantasy X-2", "", "", and "". Most of the team returned again to create a second sequel entitled "", meant to wrap up the story of Lightning and the "Final Fantasy XIII" universe. The game was released in November 2013 in Japan and in February 2014 in North America and Europe. Toriyama stated in the "Ultimania Omega" companion book prior to "XIII-2"s announcement that he hoped to write a story "where Lightning ends up happy", though at the time Square Enix had no plans to make a sequel.
Characters of the Final Fantasy Type-0 universe
and are supporting characters in "Type-0". The two are unofficial members of Class Zero, acting as Arecia's agents. As revealed in "Agito", their respective real names are and : Lean was allied with the Milites Empire as a scientist, while Tohno is an antisocial student at Akademeia. During the events of the final chapter of Orience's second cycle, Arecia chooses them to be her immortal agents, retaining their memories of each cycle. During "Type-0", Tiz decides to use the accumulated memories of Orience's dead to convince Arecia to abandon the experiment. Joker is voiced by Adam McArthur in English and Kōki Uchiyama in Japanese, while Tiz is voiced by Chelsea Ricketts in English and Hitomi Terakado in Japanese.
Final Fantasy
Starting with "Final Fantasy VIII", the series adopted a more photo-realistic look. Like "Final Fantasy VII", full motion video (FMV) sequences would have video playing in the background, with the polygonal characters composited on top. "Final Fantasy IX" returned to the more stylized design of earlier games in the series, although it still maintained, and in many cases slightly upgraded, most of the graphical techniques used in the previous two games. "Final Fantasy X" was released on the PlayStation 2, and used the more powerful hardware to render graphics in real-time instead of using pre-rendered material to obtain a more dynamic look; the game features full 3D environments, rather than have 3D character models move about pre-rendered backgrounds. It is also the first "Final Fantasy" game to introduce voice acting, occurring throughout the majority of the game, even with many minor characters. This aspect added a whole new dimension of depth to the character's reactions, emotions, and development.
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square as the tenth entry in the "Final Fantasy" series. Originally released in 2001 for Sony's PlayStation 2, the game was re-released as "Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster" for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in 2013, for PlayStation 4 in 2015, Microsoft Windows in 2016, and will be released for the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One in 2019. The game marks the "Final Fantasy" series transition from entirely pre-rendered backdrops to fully three-dimensional areas, and is also the first in the series to feature voice acting. "Final Fantasy X" replaces the Active Time Battle (ATB) system with the "Conditional Turn-Based Battle" (CTB) system, and uses a new leveling system called the "Sphere Grid".
Characters of the Final Fantasy Type-0 universe
While portraying the bonds between the members of Class Zero, and between them and their summoned monsters, along with the game's themes of death and war, Naora drew inspiration from when he saw a cat killed by a car surrounded by other cats. Nomura was in charge of choosing the voice cast, which featured several well-known voice actors. When listening to the samples and picking the actors, Nomura focused on whether they could successfully project the characters' personalities. The actors and actresses helped define the characters, adding individual touches during voice recording sessions. Sayoko Hoshino acted as the game's character texture artist. Originally, she was going to put in black voids where a female character's panties would have been due to hardware limitations. However the staff realized that the players would be looking at the backs of characters a lot, so Hoshino designed panties for each female character and worked with the staff to incorporate them into the character models.
Final Fantasy IV
A PlayStation port debuted in Japan on March 21, 1997. Ported by Tose and published by Square, it was designed and directed by Kazuhiko Aoki, supervised by Fumiaki Fukaya, and produced by Akihiro Imai. This version is identical to the original game, although minor tweaks introduced in the "Easy Type" are present. The most notable changes in the PlayStation release are the inclusion of a full motion video opening and ending sequence, the ability to move quickly in dungeons and towns by holding the Cancel button, and the option of performing a "memo" save anywhere on the world map. On March 11, 1999, this version was released a second time in Japan as part of the "Final Fantasy Collection" package, which also included the PlayStation versions of "Final Fantasy V" and "Final Fantasy VI". Fifty-thousand limited edition copies of the collection were also released and included a "Final Fantasy"-themed alarm clock.
Type-Moon
Type-Moon soon transitioned from a doujin soft organization to a commercial organization, and on 30 January 2004, released their first commercial release, a PC-based eroge visual novel game, "Fate/stay night", which broke all records on its opening day and became immensely popular. It was later adapted into an anime series that aired 24 episodes in Japan starting 6 January 2006; a second anime series that premiered in October 2014; and a manga series that ran in publication between 26 December 2005 and 26 October 2012, in Monthly Shounen Ace. A sequel to "Fate/stay night", "Fate/hollow ataraxia", was released on 28 October 2005. "Fate/stay night" was also released on the PS2 platform in May 2007. A prequel, "Fate/Zero", was released as a light novel written by Gen Urobuchi (from nitro+) under Kinoko Nasu's supervision, featuring art by Takashi Takeuchi, in 2006–2007, followed by an animated adaptation by ufotable in 2011–2012.
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is a 2001 American computer-animated science fiction film directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of the "Final Fantasy" series of role-playing video games. It was the first photorealistic computer-animated feature film and was the most expensive video game-inspired film until the release of "" in 2010. It features the voices of Ming-Na Wen, Alec Baldwin, Donald Sutherland, James Woods, Ving Rhames, Peri Gilpin and Steve Buscemi.
List of Final Fantasy video games
"Final Fantasy" is a video game series developed and published by Square Enix (formerly Square). The first title in the series, the eponymous "Final Fantasy", premiered in Japan in 1987, and "Final Fantasy" games have been released almost every single year since. Fifteen games have been released as part of the main (numbered) series. Sequels, prequels, spin-offs, and related video games have been published, as well as numerous titles in other media forms. Each game in the main series takes place in a different fictional universe rather than serve as direct sequels to prior games, although some titles have received sequels, or prequels, set in the same universe.
Final Fantasy Chronicles
Final Fantasy Chronicles is a compilation of Square's role-playing video games "Final Fantasy IV" and "Chrono Trigger", released for the North American Sony PlayStation on June 29, 2001. TOSE ported both titles from the Super Nintendo Entertainment System; each had been previously released as individual Japanese PlayStation ports in 1997 ("Final Fantasy IV") and 1999 ("Chrono Trigger"). Several bonus features were added to each game, such as art galleries, bestiaries, and cutscenes—including computer-generated full motion video used at the beginning of "Final Fantasy IV" and anime scenes used throughout "Chrono Trigger".
Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy
"Final Fantasy Type-0" received a manga adaptation illustrated by Takatoshi Shiozawa. It began publication in the November 2011 of "Young Gangan" and was collected into a single volume and released in April 2012. The manga was translated into English and released as part of the western collector's edition for "Type-0 HD", available exclusively through Square Enix's online store. A second manga following one of the game's secondary characters, , began serialization in May 2012. The latter manga was created by Shiozawa under direct supervision by Tetsuya Nomura. The manga ended in January 2014, with a bonus chapter released in February of the same year. It will be released in the west in July 2015, licensed by Yen Press. Two novels detailing an alternate version of "Type-0", titled , were released in April and June 2012. "Agito" received another "Change the World" novel adaptation focusing on two of the game's supporting characters. Ultimania guides and companion books have been released for the majority of released games.
Final Fantasy IX
On December 18, 2012, the game was re-released as part of the "Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Ultimate Box" Japanese package. On February 10, 2016, a remaster was released for iOS and Android. The remaster features HD movies and character models, an auto-save feature, 7 game boosters and achievements. A port for Microsoft Windows was released on April 14, 2016. In September 2017, the Windows port was released on PlayStation 4. On September 13, 2018, it was announced that the port would also be coming to Nintendo Switch and Xbox One in 2019.
Music of Final Fantasy III
The tunes range in style, including "jazzy" and "new age", and in tempo from slow, somber pieces to more upbeat rhythms. Including the smaller pieces not included in the original soundtrack, "Final Fantasy III" contained twice as many pieces as the soundtrack to "Final Fantasy II". The original release bears the catalog number "N23D-002". It was re-released on November 26, 1994 and again on October 1, 2004 by NTT Publishing under the catalog numbers "PSCN-5013" and "NTCP-5013", respectively.
Development of Final Fantasy XV
After the game's name and platform change in 2012, there were multiple staff reshuffles, though Shimomura, Hashimoto, Hasewaga and Nozue retained their original positions. Nomura became co-director alongside Hajime Tabata, the director of "Final Fantasy Type-0", then was moved to other projects and replaced as full director by Tabata. Saori Itamuro became the new scriptwriter, using Nojima's original scenario as a base for the new work. Kitase left as co-producer, while Yusuke Naora, Isamu Kamikokuryo, and many artists involved in the development of "Type-0" were involved. Non-Japanese staff included character designer Roberto Ferrari, game designer Prasert Prasertvithyakarn, and party interaction designer Wan Hazmer. The staff as formed in 2012, not counting later additions, was made up of the combined "Final Fantasy XV" and "Type-0" development teams. By 2014, between 200 and 300 people were working on the game.
History of Eastern role-playing video games
In 2002, "Final Fantasy XI" for the PlayStation 2 (and later the PC and Xbox 360) introduced the massively multiplayer online role-playing game genre to consoles. In 2003, "Final Fantasy X-2" for the PlayStation 2 followed the "stylish narrative formula" established by "Final Fantasy X", though with a more ""Charlie's Angels"-esque" approach. That same year saw the release of the more experimental "", the third main entry in the "Shin Megami Tensei" series. Much like its predecessors, it was "psychologically challenging" and featured a branching narrative with multiple endings. "Nocturne" "carved out a toehold for the series in America with its post-apocalyptic adventure set in a bombed-out Japan" where instead of "trying to stop the apocalypse," the "demonic main character's end goal is to assert his will on the new world." The same year, Konami's Game Boy Advance handheld video game "Boktai" had a unique stealth-based action gameplay that made use of a solar-power sensor.
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD
Sullivan generally enjoyed the combat, saying she "felt powerful because the combat was always super fast paced." and calling it the game's best feature, while finding the real-time strategy segments an unpleasant hangover from the game's original form. Cunningham found it enjoyable mastering each of Class Zero's fighting styles despite difficulty spikes, but noted some gameplay elements such as stopping to use certain items detracted from her enjoyment of combat. "Famitsu" echoed many of its points of praise for the original, generally saying that both veterans of the original and newcomers would finding it "equally enjoyable", and were pleased with the change from a portable platform to home consoles. Sykes said the game "excels in its combat, which is fast-paced, complex, and tough." Damiani found the battles "a welcomed change" compared to previous "Final Fantasy" titles, he disliked other aspects such as the lock-on mechanic. Miller enjoyed exploring the characters' battle abilities, but found the high-speed detracted from the experience and considered the real-time strategy elements, boss fights and other systems poorly developed. Schilling also found the combat mechanics "sharp and satisfying", generally praising the combat mechanics. He was critical of the lengthy tutorials at the beginning of the game, and disappointed that the gameplay segments between missions did not impact the characters' combat ability as in the "Persona" series. Meyerink generally enjoyed the combat and various side activities, while faulting the game for inadequate introduction of gameplay elements. Corriea called the combat "marvellous", saying it handled it and the customization options better than many other games in its genre. Roberts enjoyed the combat, but found the RPG gameplay outside it to be far weaker. The limited optional gameplay segments between combat segments, offering opportunities for character development and side-quests, were also generally praised. A point of criticism shared by western reviewers with the original version was the camera control. "Famitsu", in contrast, again praised the camera movement.
Development of Final Fantasy XV
The development of "Final Fantasy XV", a Japanese action role-playing video game, began in 2006 shortly before its announcement at that year's Electronic Entertainment Expo. Square Enix handled primary development on "Final Fantasy XV", and the game was released worldwide in November 2016; the total development time covered approximately ten years. The game was originally announced as "Final Fantasy Versus XIII", a PlayStation 3-exclusive spin-off title. It was part of "Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy", a subseries of games linked by a common mythos: while retaining thematic links, specific references were removed to aid with marketing. Additional media was created to portray the world of "XV" without using sequels; dubbed the ""Final Fantasy XV" Universe", it included a , an , a and multiple mobile projects including a .
Final Fantasy X
The Japanese version of "Final Fantasy X" included an additional disc entitled "The Other Side of Final Fantasy", which featured interviews, storyboards, and trailers for "Blue Wing Blitz", "Kingdom Hearts", and "", as well as the first footage of "Final Fantasy XI". An international version of the game was released in Japan as "Final Fantasy X International" in January 2002, and in PAL regions under its original title. It features content not available in the original NTSC releases, including battles with "Dark" versions of the game's aeons and an airship fight with the superboss "Penance". The Japanese release of "Final Fantasy X International" also includes "Eternal Calm", a 14-minute video clip bridging the story of "Final Fantasy X" with that of its sequel, "Final Fantasy X-2". The video clip was included in a bonus DVD for "Unlimited Saga Collector's Edition" under the name "Eternal Calm, Final Fantasy X-2: Prologue". It was first released in Europe on October 31, 2003, and featured English voice-overs.
Final Fantasy IV
The game was remade with 3D graphics for the Nintendo DS as part of the "Final Fantasy" series' 20th anniversary, and was released as "Final Fantasy IV" in Japan on December 20, 2007, in North America on July 22, 2008, and in Europe on September 5, 2008. The remake adds a number of features not present in the original, such as voice acting, minigames, and some changes to the basic gameplay. The game was developed by Matrix Software, the same team responsible for the "Final Fantasy III" DS remake, and was supervised by members of the original development team: Takashi Tokita served as executive producer and director, Tomoya Asano as producer and Hiroyuki Ito as battle designer. Animator Yoshinori Kanada storyboarded the new cutscenes.
Characters of the Final Fantasy Type-0 universe
The characters of "Type-0" have so far received positive reception from video game critics in both local and import reviews. One of the reviewers for "Famitsu" magazine said that the large number of characters made the game "a very different ["Final Fantasy"]." RPG Site's Erren Van Duine was very impressed, saying that certain character interactions were "handled excellently and you really get a sense of specific character motivations because of it." He also praised the sympathetic portrayal of Cid Aulstyne, and stated that the game had "so many great moments, [the player will] have to experience each little detail for [themselves]. Heath Hindman, writing for PlayStation Lifestyle, called the characters "pretty strong overall", although she cited some scenes where various characters' inclusion felt like a necessity rather than a useful element to be a fault.
Final Fantasy IV
After completing "Final Fantasy III" in 1990, Square planned to develop two "Final Fantasy" games—one for the Nintendo Entertainment System and the other for the forthcoming Super NES, to be known as "Final Fantasy IV" and "Final Fantasy V" respectively. Due to financial and scheduling constraints, Square dropped plans for the NES game and continued development of the SNES version, retitled "Final Fantasy IV". A mock-up screenshot of the cancelled title was produced for a Japanese magazine, but little other information exists about it. Series creator and director Hironobu Sakaguchi has stated that the NES version was approximately 80% complete and certain ideas were reused for the SNES version.
Characters of the Final Fantasy XIII series
"Final Fantasy XIII" - a role-playing game released by Square Enix in 2009 - revolves around the struggles of a group of humans over a predestined fate. The game's two sequels, "Final Fantasy XIII-2" and "", build on the first game's story and mythos. In video game publications and among the staff at Square Enix, the three games have come to be referred to as the "Lightning Saga", and the core concepts they contain are drawn from the mythos of the "Fabula Nova Crystallis" subseries. The visuals of the original characters were designed by Tetsuya Nomura and Nao Ikeda, while many later characters were created by other designers, including Hideo Minaba, Yusuke Naora and Toshiyuki Itahana. Their original stories were created by Motomu Toriyama and written up by Daisuke Watanabe.
Final Fantasy II
The "Final Fantasy I•II" collection included the original game with only minor changes. The WonderSwan Color remake of the game was first released on May 3, 2001, and later included as a bundle with a special "Final Fantasy II" edition of the console. It included completely redone graphics in the manner of the 16-bit generation "Final Fantasy" games and includes larger character sprites, remixed music by Tsuyoshi Sekito, and full graphical backgrounds in battle mode. The PlayStation version featured even more graphical updates over the WonderSwan version, and the soundtrack was again remixed by Tsuyoshi Sekito to a higher quality so as to utilise the audio capabilities of the PlayStation. Sekito also composed a few new tracks to be used in the new cutscenes. It was published both individually (in Japan only) and alongside "Final Fantasy I" in a collection entitled "Final Fantasy Origins" (or "Final Fantasy I+II Premium Collection" in Japan); this was the first release of the game outside Japan. On December 18, 2012 the port was re-released as part of the "Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Ultimate Box" package.
Final Fantasy X-2
Development of "Final Fantasy X-2" began in late 2001 in response to the success of "Final Fantasy X", particularly fan reaction to the "Eternal Calm" video included in the Japanese version of "Final Fantasy X International". It was released in Japan shortly before the merger between Square and Enix. The game's eventual name, "X-2", was initially not liked by the production team, but it was eventually accepted since the story was a direct continuation of "X" and thus could not be the next numbered title in the series. Kazushige Nojima, the previous game's writer, was also skeptical about the creation of a sequel. Something he was particularly averse to originally was the happy ending, which he felt was wrong for the story. The production team was one third the size of the previous installment. This was because the team was already familiar with the material and it allowed them to give a hand-crafted feel to the game. In designing the game, a significant number of character models, enemies, and location designs from "Final Fantasy X" were reused. Character designer Tetsuya Nomura has explained that this allowed the game to be developed in one year and at half the normal scope "Final Fantasy" titles are normally produced. Maya and Softimage 3D were the two main programs used to create the graphics.
Final Fantasy X
Development of "Final Fantasy X" began in 1999, with a budget of more than US$32.3 million (US$ million in dollars) and a team of more than 100 people. The game was the first in the main series not entirely scored by Nobuo Uematsu; Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano were signed as Uematsu's fellow composers. "Final Fantasy X" was both a critical and commercial success, selling over 8 million units worldwide on PlayStation 2. It is widely considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time. On March 3, 2003, it was followed by "Final Fantasy X-2", making it the first "Final Fantasy" game to have a direct game sequel.
Characters of Final Fantasy XV
The concept and setting of "Final Fantasy XV", initially a spin-off titled , was created by original director Tetsuya Nomura. Initially in development for PlayStation 3, "Versus XIII" was shifted to the eighth generation consoles PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. During this transition, "Final Fantasy Type-0" director Hajime Tabata became co-director; later in development, he assumed full directorial duties from Nomura. The development period ultimately lasted about ten years, although Tabata now refers to "Versus XIII" and "XV" as different games.
Ogre Battle
"The Knight of Lodis", released in 2001, is the last original release in the franchise. In 2010, "Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together" was remade for the PlayStation Portable, but the characters, story and setting are identical to the 1995 release. The creator of the series, Yasumi Matsuno, directed the remake of the game. Matsuno was also responsible for another highly influential title, "Final Fantasy Tactics", originally released in 1997. Though the title bears no relation to the "Ogre Battle" series, "Final Fantasy Tactics" is considered by some critics to be a spiritual successor to "Tactics Ogre". As of 2016, the franchise mostly remains active through re-releases of the first two games for the Nintendo's Virtual Console service in Japan, North America and Europe.
Characters of the Final Fantasy Type-0 universe
is the one who established Class Zero. Though she appears human, Arecia is a being who serves the deity Pulse and is responsible for the creation of Orience's crystals. Arecia's purpose was to use the powerful souls among Class Zero to locate Etro's Gate in an endless cycle of conflict, but the events of "Type-0" have Arecia end the experiment and depart to points unknown. Before she leaves, she frees Machina and Rem from crystal stasis. Arecia is voiced by Eliza Jane Schneider in English and Atsuko Tanaka in Japanese.
History of Eastern role-playing video games
In 1999, the cinematic trend set by "Final Fantasy VII" continued with "Final Fantasy VIII", which introduced characters with a proportionately sized human appearance. The game also featured a level-scaling system where the enemies scale in level along with the player's party. Similar level-scaling mechanics have been used in a number of later RPGs, including "", "Silverfall", "", "Fable II", "Fallout 3", and "". Square also expanded on the non-linearity of "SaGa Frontier" with their 1999 action RPG "Legend of Mana", the most open-ended in the "Mana" series, allowing the player to build the game world however they choose, complete any quests and subplots they choose in any order of their choice, and choose which storyline paths to follow, departing from most other action RPGs in its time. That same year, Square's survival horror RPG "Parasite Eve II" featured branching storylines and up to three different possible endings, while the sci-fi RPG "" boasted as many as 86 different endings, with each of the possible permutations to these endings numbering in the hundreds, setting a benchmark for the amount of outcomes possible for a video game. Using a relationship system inspired by dating sims, each of the characters in "Star Ocean" had friendship points and relationship points with each of the other characters, allowing the player to pair together, or ship, any couples (both romantic heterosexual relationships as well as friendships) of their choice, allowing a form of fan fiction to exist within the game itself. This type of social system was later extended to allow romantic lesbian relationships in BioWare's 2007 sci-fi RPG "Mass Effect". However, the relationship system in "Star Ocean" not only affected the storyline, but also the gameplay, affecting the way the characters behave towards each other in battle. Another 1999 RPG, "", also featured dating elements, including the option to engage in a homosexual relationship. That same year saw the release of "Chrono Cross", which became the third game to receive a perfect score from GameSpot, after "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" and "Soulcalibur". The game featured two major parallel dimensions, where the player must go back and forth between the worlds to recruit party members, obtain items, and advance the plot, with events in one dimension influencing the other. Like its predecessor "Chrono Trigger", "Chrono Cross" featured a New Game+ option and multiple endings, with at least a dozen possible endings based on the player's actions.
Development of Final Fantasy XV
The game's year of release was officially announced at the 2015 PAX Prime event, with its release date set to be revealed at a special event the following year. Another announcement from that time was that Tabata was aiming for a simultaneous worldwide release, a first for the "Final Fantasy" series. This was later clarified by Tabata at the 2016 Taipei Game Show: Square Enix was aiming to release the game within the same time period across the world, although there might be minor variations depending on regions. The special event, called "Uncovered: "Final Fantasy XV"", took place on March 30 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, hosted by internet celebrities Greg Miller and Tim Gettys. The event was livestreamed worldwide. Free limited tickets for the event were made available on February 5 for North American residents. By the next day, all tickets had been claimed. Its former release date, September 30, 2016, was announced on the first day of the event. According to Tabata, this release date was decided upon in 2013 based on projected development time and costs. In August, rumors began circulating that "Final Fantasy XV" had been delayed by two months. Tabata later confirmed that the game's worldwide release had been delayed to November 29: alongside the announcement was an official apology to fans for the delay. The reason he gave was that, while the game had reached fully playable form, the team was not satisfied with the overall quality they were aiming for, so the extra time would be dedicated to polishing "XV" further. In addition, he wanted to give players without an online connection the full experience without needing a Day One patch. Tabata confirmed in a later interview that he was the one who requested the extension after the master disc had been created for mass distribution. Patches following the initial release allowed support for the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X models, featuring enhanced graphics, resolution and framerate.
Final Fantasy II
Although a prototype cartridge of the English NES "Final Fantasy II" was produced, the project was, by Moriyama's own admission, still far from complete; "We had so very limited memory capacity we could use for each game, and it was never really "translating" but chopping up the information and cramming them back in... [Additionally] our boss had no understanding in putting in extra work for the English version at that time." In 2003, when the game was finally released to English-speaking audiences as part of "Final Fantasy Origins", it was released with new graphics, music, and a brand new translation under the supervision of Akira Kashiwagi. A fan translation of the original game was also created prior to the release of "Origins", and makes use of an original translation as the existence of the prototype cartridge was not common knowledge at the time.
Development of Final Fantasy XV
During production, Tabata and the new development staff used experience from a failed attempt to develop an eighth-generation console sequel to "Type-0" when handling the new hardware. While using Luminous Studio for games other than "XV" was considered during production, the engine's technology manager Julien Merceron advised against it until it has been proven and released in a finished form. While CGI cutscenes created by dedicated Square Enix subsidiary Visual Works were present throughout its lifetime, there were far fewer than originally planned in the final game. The team instead relied on real-time cutscenes as much as possible, except for scenes with a scale too great to use real-time graphics. The transition to next-generation hardware enabled the team to better realize their original vision for the game, as conveyed in the original reveal trailer. Visual Works also worked closely with the team during development of 3D modelling systems, due to their previous experiences with such technology in cutscene development.
Final Fantasy Agito
The first hint of a localization appeared when the "Agito" trademark filed for European territories in September 2013. Later, at TGS 2013, Tabata said that "Agito" would definitely be localized, although he refused to clarify whether this meant it would be released in western territories. An official western release was confirmed by Square Enix at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2014. The plan for the international release was to first release "Final Fantasy Type-0 HD" so players in the west could get accustomed to the world and characters, then release "Agito" as a separate experience rather than a parallel release. With its discontinuance in Japan, "Agito"s western release was consequently cancelled.
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT
The arcade version featured fourteen characters at launch, including thirteen main heroes from the previous "Dissidia" titles and a new hero from "Final Fantasy XIV". However, new characters have continued to be added to the roster as post-launch updates, including characters from spin-off titles such as "Final Fantasy Tactics" and "Final Fantasy Type-0". "NT" includes every character available in the arcade version at the time of its release, for a total of twenty-eight. The developers are targeting a total roster of 50 characters, including all characters from the previous "Dissidia" titles. Future updates will come to the arcade version first before releasing on PlayStation 4 as DLC after a short window of exclusivity.
Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy
The series, originally announced in 2006 as "Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII", currently consists of seven games across multiple platforms. "Final Fantasy XIII", designed as the series' flagship title, was released in 2009. The creative forces behind the series include many developers from previous "Final Fantasy" titles, including Shinji Hashimoto and Motomu Toriyama. The mythos was conceived and written by Kazushige Nojima. The first games announced for the series were "Final Fantasy XIII", "Final Fantasy XV" (as "Versus XIII"), and "Final Fantasy Type-0" (as "Agito XIII"). All three games went through delays. After "Final Fantasy XIII" and "Type-0"s releases, their respective teams used ideas and concepts from development to create additional games. For later games, other studios have been brought in to help with aspects of development. "Final Fantasy XV" was distanced from the series brand for marketing purposes despite retaining thematic connections.
Recurring elements in the Final Fantasy series
The first title to receive a direct sequel was "Final Fantasy X": "Final Fantasy X-2" is set in the same fictional world of Spira, while using a lighter tone than its predecessor. No sequel to "Final Fantasy X" was planned initially. "Final Fantasy XIII" was also intended to be a standalone title, and was later expanded into the series' first official trilogy with the development of "Final Fantasy XIII-2" (2011) and "" (2013). "Final Fantasy VII" was later expanded into a multimedia series titled "Compilation of Final Fantasy VII", which included video games ("", "", "") and film projects ("", ""). A different subseries linked by common elements, and indirectly inspired by the "Compilation", is "Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy": while the subseries' games have unique settings and stories, they all share a common mythos surrounding crystals and their associated deities. "Fabula Nova Crystallis" was originally planned as a platform for the development of multiple games planned out in advance, compared to "Final Fantasy" producer Shinji Hashimoto to the "Star Wars" and "The Lord of the Rings" film franchises. A world later incorporated into the "Final Fantasy" series is Ivalice, the setting for titles within the game collection known as the "Ivalice Alliance". Taking place within a single world across a large time period, Ivalice is the setting for "Final Fantasy Tactics" (1997), "Final Fantasy XII" and "Vagrant Story" (2000). "Vagrant Story" did not originally take place in Ivalice, being incorporated into the subseries by Square Enix long after its release. The game's references to other "Final Fantasy" titles were originally intended as fan service. Ivalice itself was the creation of Yasumi Matsuno, the main creative force behind "Tactics" and "Vagrant Story". It first appeared in "Tactics". Matsuno's work with Ivalice later inspired the scenarios for "A Realm Reborn".
Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII
To promote the game, Madhouse created a promotional animation featuring some of the main characters. The original version's beta test started in August 2004. It was released on September 24. Following an announcement at the Tokyo Game Show in 2006, the game was released for two additional Japanese mobile carriers. It was respectively released for SoftBank Mobile and EZweb on January 30 and April 5, 2007. New logos were created for each release. In 2010, Tabata voiced an interest in fully remaking "Before Crisis" for the Nintendo 3DS, revamping the narrative delivery and incorporating the ability for a substantial number of players to enter missions. This suggestion was positively received by Nomura and Yoshinori Kitase, but at the time Tabata was busy developing "Final Fantasy Type-0" (then "Agito XIII") and "The 3rd Birthday". Deployment for the SoftBank version ended in June 2015. All versions of the game ended with Square Enix's old mobile services were shut down in 2018.
Final Fantasy VII
The game inspired an unofficial version for the NES by Chinese company Shenzhen Nanjing Technology. This port features the "Final Fantasy VII" game scaled back to 2D, with some of the side quests removed. The game's popularity and open-ended nature also led director Kitase and scenario writer Nojima to establish a plot-related connection between "Final Fantasy VII" and "Final Fantasy X-2". The character Shinra from "Final Fantasy X-2" proposes the concept of extracting the life energy from within the planet Spira. Nojima has stated that Shinra and his proposal are a deliberate nod to the Shinra Company and that he envisioned the events of "Final Fantasy X-2" as a prequel to those in "Final Fantasy VII". The advances in technology used to create the FMV sequences and computer graphics for "Final Fantasy VII" allowed Sakaguchi to begin production on the first "Final Fantasy" film, "". The game introduced a particular aesthetic to the series—fantasy suffused with modern-to-advanced technology—that was explored further in "Final Fantasy VIII", "The Spirits Within", and "Final Fantasy XV". Re-releases of Square games in Japan with bonus features would occur frequently after the release of "Final Fantasy VII International". Later titles that would be re-released as international versions include "Final Fantasy X" and other follow-ups from the franchise, as well as the "Kingdom Hearts" series.
Localization of Square Enix video games
The viability of a game's platform can also affect both the localization and the release, as in the case of the PlayStation Portable-exclusive "Final Fantasy Type-0", which would eventually come West as a high definition port for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and "Seiken Densetsu 3", which was not localized due to undefined technical problems. The company has also recently started releasing Japanese voice tracks as downloadable content, as in the case of "Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII" and one of the titles it has published, the Access Games-developed "Drakengard 3". Another aspect of Square Enix's policy concerning the Western release of games was to make games that appealed to both Western and Japanese audiences, but the worldwide success of the Japan-aimed "Bravely Default" caused them to rethink their strategy. Although English was originally the main language of Square Enix's foreign releases, including in non-English speaking countries, it seems some titles may debut without an English release in the future, such as the Chinese version of "Dragon Quest X" before an North American or European release has been confirmed. "Final Fantasy XV", on the other hand, was the first "Final Fantasy" game to feature nine languages in a simultaneous launch.
History of Eastern role-playing video games
In 2001, "Final Fantasy X" made advancements in portraying realistic emotions through voice-overs and detailed facial expressions, which have since become a staple of the series, with "Final Fantasy X-2" and other subsequent titles (such as "" and "Final Fantasy XII") also featuring this development. It also replaced an overworld map with the traversing of real-time 3D environments, which has also become a standard of the series, as demonstrated in "Final Fantasy XI", "Final Fantasy XII" and "Final Fantasy XIII". The game introduced several other gameplay elements to the series, such as its Conditional Turn-Based Battle System and Overdrive Limit Breaks. It became a major worldwide success, largely due to its "dynamic" presentation, "movie-quality CGI" cutscenes, and "well-scripted, well-acted dialogue," that helped it become a major success, helping to establish the PlayStation 2 as "the console of choice for gamers looking for a cinematic experience and narrative polish" that had been lacking in most previous RPGs. Around the same time, the first entry in the "Shadow Hearts" series was released. The series would later be acclaimed for its darker Lovecraftian horror narrative revolving around "an emotional journey through the reluctant anti-hero's quest toward redemption." Much like the "Chrono" series, the "Shadow Hearts" games offer multiple endings.
Final Fantasy Type-0
"Type-0"s scenario was conceived by Tabata and written by Hiroki Chiba and Sarah Okabe. While the game was still titled "Agito XIII", Tabata described it as "a major title [...] formed from a variety of concepts" which included the collision of four fantasies (the game's view of Orience), a battle between magic and weapons, and the two sides of reality. The early story concept drew heavily from popular manga and anime, but little survived after the platform change. Tabata instead chose a new style similar to historical films and documentaries. The new story's concept started with the idea of a war story told by young people caught up in the event, with its story themes revolving around death and its impact on others. A major inspiration was the Japanese documentary series "Centuries of Picture". The final story was darker than many other "Final Fantasy" games. Despite its title change, the game was kept within the "Fabula Nova Crystallis" mythos. The approach taken with the mythos was to portray the roles of its deities from a historical standpoint, while telling a story focused on the human side of events. The cyclic nature of the game's universe was created to help incorporate aspects of the mythos. The roles and backgrounds for each character in the game were conceived and put into place after the setting and main story had been finalized. After the game's release, Tabata commented that when he was writing the story he would have liked to have been more thorough, and to have made the story easier for players to understand.
Final Fantasy III
The game was originally released in Japan on April 27, 1990. The original Famicom version sold 1.4 million copies in Japan. It had not been released outside Japan until a remake was developed by Matrix Software for the Nintendo DS on August 24, 2006. At that time, it was the only "Final Fantasy" game not previously released in North America or Europe. There had been earlier plans to remake the game for Bandai's WonderSwan Color handheld, as had been done with the first, second, and fourth installments of the series, but the game faced several delays and was eventually canceled after the premature cancellation of the platform. The Nintendo DS version of the game was positively received, selling nearly 2 million copies worldwide.
Final Fantasy (video game)
In Japan, "Final Fantasy" and "Final Fantasy II" were re-released both separately and as a combined game for the PlayStation. The collection was released in Japan in 2002 as Final Fantasy I & II Premium Package and in Europe and North America in 2003 as Final Fantasy Origins. This version was similar to the WonderSwan Color remake and featured several changes such as more detailed graphics, a remixed soundtrack, added full motion video sequences, art galleries of Yoshitaka Amano's illustrations, and a memo save function. On December 18, 2012, the port was re-released as part of the "Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Ultimate Box" release.
Final Fantasy Dimensions
The game was initially hinted when Square Enix trademarked "Hikari to Yami no Senshi" which was initially believed to be related to . It was announced in Japan as "Final Fantasy Legends: Hikari to Yami no Senshi" on July 21, 2010. The first chapters of the game were first released for iMode phones on September 6, 2010, and for EZweb phones on December 9, 2010. The rest of the chapters were released approximately once a month since then till August 8, 2011 for iMode and November 10, 2011 for EZweb. On Tokyo Game Show of 2011, the game was announced to be released on iOS and Android with improved graphics and sound, and support for slide-pad controls over the feature phone version. On E3 2012, the iOS/Android version was announced internationally as "Final Fantasy Dimensions" also to be released on August 31, 2012. Due to technical difficulties, only "Prologue" was released first for the iOS version. All other chapters were purchasable at the in-app shop after upgrading from 1.0.0 to 1.0.1 which was available later in the same day. The Android version was released on December 21, 2012 in its complete form.
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD
No new gameplay content was added to "Type-0 HD". The team instead focused on upgrading the graphics, adjusting existing gameplay for home consoles, and including a lower difficulty level. The latter was due to complaints from players that the original game was too difficult. While carrying over the original's multiplayer functions was considered, it would have lengthened the estimated development time by another year. Since Tabata's priority was to bring the game to fans worldwide, the multiplayer and associated elements were either removed or incorporated into the single-player campaign. Tabata also decided against creation of a demo or an international version for this reason. As a substitute for the multiplayer, the team strengthened and improved the original single-player Academy Assistance function. As with the original, the team used the names of developers from both the core team and other Square Enix departments for the NPCs. While the main story remained unchanged, a secret cutscene teasing future "Type" games was commissioned. Created by Square Enix's CGI movie subsidiary Visual Works, it was based on some of Tabata's early ideas for "Type-0". A small piece of the cutscene was shown privately to attendees of Square Enix's 25th anniversary commemoration event for the "Final Fantasy" series. Hiroki Chiba, writer for "Type-0", returned to write the scene. In the cutscene, a fatally-wounded samurai warrior resembling main protagonist Ace is saved from death by a fire spirit.
Final Fantasy Agito
The music for "Agito" was composed by Takeharu Ishimoto, who had composed the score for "Type-0". At first, no original music was to have been created for the title, but Ishimoto convinced the company to allow him to compose new music. The title still lifted several pieces of music from "Type-0". Part of Ishimoto's wish for the title was to incorporate accents from Japanese pop music which would register well with fans. The pop-oriented tunes were also meant to emphasize the lighter atmosphere, although more dramatic music was used for the darker moments. Arrangements were done by Kentaro Sato. The battle music for the weekend multiplayer segments was augmented with vocal work by Japanese rock band Dazzle Vision. Two music tracks from the game were available at the 2014 Tokyo Game Show (TGS) in a giveaway CD along with other tracks from future game releases. Tracks from the game were included with tracks from "Type-0" in a special disc included in the collector's edition of "Type-0 HD". All new tracks from "Agito" were included in the Blu-ray album for "Type-0 HD", "Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Original Soundtrack".
Fate/stay night
On November 22, 2006, Type-Moon announced a new installment in the "Fate/stay night" franchise, titled "Fate/Zero", which is a prequel to "Fate/stay night", stressing the events of the Fourth Holy Grail War and how its consequences affected the Fifth Holy Grail War. In contrast to "Fate/stay night", "Fate/Zero" is a series of light novels instead of a visual novel, and is told in a third-person narrative that follows the actions of multiple characters. The series is a collaboration between Type-Moon and a fellow developer, Nitroplus, and was written by Gen Urobuchi. The first volume was released on December 29, 2006. The second volume was released on March 31, 2007. The third volume was released on July 27, 2007. The fourth and final volume was released on December 29, 2007, along with the "Fate/Zero Original Image Soundtrack "Return to Zero"". A manga adaptation began serializing in February 2011, followed by an anime adaptation by Ufotable, marking their debut with the franchise.
Characters of the Final Fantasy Type-0 universe
is a supporting character from "Final Fantasy Agito". A member of Class Second, she is the representative for the cadets in the Vermillion Peristylium. Her true identity, as revealed with the coming of Tempus Finis, is , a servant of Gala who oversees the Lulusath Army. Her defeat signals the coming of Tempus Finis, as the first cycle is deemed a failure. She later appears at the end of the second cycle, pondering with Arecia whether to continue with the experiment. She is voiced by Haruka Tomatsu in Japanese. Miyu as Myuria appears in concept art for "Type-0", but she was cut from the game.Characters from the game, including Ace, Mog, Machina and other members of Class Zero, appeared in the fourth series of releases for the "Final Fantasy Trading Card Game". On November 2011, a manga adaptation of "Type-0" began serialization. It is illustrated by Takatoshi Shiozawa and published in "Young Gangan" magazine. The manga has been collected into a tankōbon volume and was released on April 21, 2012. An English translation was released with the Collector's Edition of "Type-0 HD" in March 2015, exclusive to Square Enix's website. Another manga titled . The manga is also illustrated by Shiozawa, supervised by Tetsuya Nomura and published in "Young Gangan" magazine from April 2012. The manga ended in January 2014, with a bonus chapter being published in February. It was later released in five compiled volumes. Yen Press will begin distribution of the manga in the west in July 2015. A novel adaptation titled has been released by Square Enix on April 21, 2012. A second novel adaptation titled was released by Square Enix on June 28, 2012. The novels depict an alternate version of "Type-0"s story.
Yusuke Naora
Having worked on the game since its title was changed, Naora was very excited and nervous creating a trailer for the game to appear on copies of "Final Fantasy Type-0 HD".