Final Fantasy Type-0

Unreleased

Final Fantasy Type-0 is a video game for PlayStation Portable which, alongside Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII-2, and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, makes up the compilation Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy. Unveiled at E3 '06, the game "[offers] players easy on-the-go access to the Final Fantasy XIII universe". The game was originally announced for mobile phones, but was re-announced for the PSP at DKΣ3713 2008.

Gameplay
The battle system in the game is a new evolution of the "ATB Kai" system that was created by Takatsugu Nakazawa for Final Fantasy X-2, and later refined in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. Unlike Crisis Core, Type-0 ' s combat is party-based. Instead of navigating through menus, actions are mapped directly to the face buttons for quick access. Nakazawa says he wants it to be the fastest version of ATB ever created. It also supports both Ad-hoc and Infrastructure multiplayer for up to three players. This is manifested not in full-scale multiplayer, but as an emergency backup when the player's party is about to be wiped out. The player will play in single-player with a party of three, and when a party member dies, they will be switched out for another. In the emergency of loss of nearly all characters, the player will be able to call in aid from another player for a duration of three minutes, with bonus time granted through good play.

Like Final Fantasy XII, the character has the option to choose the leader of their party, but it has differed by allowing them to change party members during actual gameplay. The characters who lead the party are the ones playable. Summons also appear in the game and play a role in the characters' growth, and they are said to be controllable as well, in the vein of Final Fantasy X's Aeons.

The structure of the game is mission-based. There are also supposed to be sub-objectives in battle to strive for. It is shown on the TGS 2010 trailer that the game will have a world map, and the player can ride a chocobo or fly an airship and there will be no random encounters and the monsters will roam around the world map. This new trailer has also shown another change of the interface during gameplay. The trailer also shows that blood is drawn from an enemy whenever it is attacked.

Tabata also says that Type-0 is similar to The 3rd Birthday, saying that while they are two different games in terms of content, the core of what the staff can do on the PSP in terms of gameplay is similar between the two games.

Setting


The world of Final Fantasy Type-0 is called Oriens, and is composed of four regions, each powered by a crystal. The names of the four regions are; Rubrum, Milites, Anaze and Kogai. Around each of the crystals is a magic school called a Peristylium, where students are trained to become powerful soldiers and magicians. The game focuses on Rubrum Peristylium Suzaku Magic Academy, located on an island detached from the rest of the continent.

A peace treaty called the "Pax Codex" was signed between the nations in which these crystals reside. Under the command of High Commander Cid, Byakko breaks the treaty and begins to invade the other nations with his airship armada and l'Cie clad in magical armor. He manages to conquer all of the nations except Suzaku, where he is met with strong resistance due to Suzaku's strong defensive capabilities. They manage to disable the crystal's power, however, which renders the majority of the nation powerless, except for twelve students who have retained the powers from their crystal pact. At this point, Cid attempts to persuade the president of Rubrum to sign a new treaty to lay down their arms, but the students are busy forming a plan called "Operation Apostle" that aims to take down the Milites forces.

Tabata described Type-0 as "a major title that's formed from a variety of concepts" These include "Collision of four fantasies (the world view)", "Killing match between magic and weapons (battle)", "The Ordinary and Unordinary (the two sides of reality)".

Characters
Twelve characters have been shown in official artwork, characters seemed to be named after the Japanese pronunciations of "trumps" (playing cards). When first introduced in concept art prior to being named, they were referred to as their weapons.
 * Ace: A boy with tarot cards who is supposedly a key character. He was named "Card" in early footage, after his weapon of choice. Said to have a lovable childish nature. He is voiced by Yūki Kaji.
 * Trey: Armed with a bow and arrow.
 * Cinque: Armed with a mace.
 * Seven: Armed with an extending chain whip. She was named "Muchi" ("Whip") in early footage, after her weapon of choice.
 * Eight: A martial artist who fights using knuckles.
 * Nine: Armed with a spear. His uniform and general appearance is somewhat disheveled compared to the other playable character. He is voiced by Daisuke Ono.
 * Jack: Armed with a katana. He was named "Katana" in early footage, after his primary weapon.
 * Queen: The glasses-wearing member of the group with a saber, she appears to have a modicum of importance. As shown in the trailer, she wields her sword in a fencing style, striking with one hand while incorporating lots of acrobatic moves in her repertoire of attacks. She, along with the rest of the crew, can cast magic in succession. According to a recent Weekly Jump articles, Queen greatly opposes injustice. She is voiced by Ami Koshimizu.
 * Kura Same: The instructor of the group. He is known as the "Icy Blade of Death" and makes use of a Tonberry in battle. He is voiced by Takahiro Sakurai.

The others yet to be named are armed with dual handguns, a shotgun, a scythe, and a flute. Although many fans speculated that the moogle in the artwork display was a thirteenth member, Square Enix denied this claim, and now it looks to be a weapon, similar to Lulu's dolls in Final Fantasy X. It is speculated that the moogle is controlled by the girl with the flute, who possibly controls things through music.

Odin has also been revealed in official screenshots, possibly summoned by Ace. In the Type-0 trailer from TGS 2010, Golem and Ifrit make an appearance with Hajime Tabata, the game's director, clarifying them to be summons that may be called in by the player. In the Square Enix 1st Production Department Premiere trailer, one more name was revealed, Shiva.

A recent Weekly Shōnen Jump scan reveals two new characters, a black-haired young man named Machina, and a brown-haired young woman named Rem. The scan confirms that the characters do have default names. In the Square Enix 1st Department Premiere trailer, Machina and Rem's names were incorrectly spelled "Machine" and "Remm." There will be a total of fourteen playable characters, with Rem and Machina as the game's "other main characters." Machina uses a pair of rapiers, while Rem is shown dual wielding daggers. Her battle moves mainly includes dodging her enemies while finding her enemies' weak-spots to deliver a death blow as shown in the recent trailer. Like the others, she is capable of casting magic.

Development
Originally titled Final Fantasy Agito XIII, the game was initially announced for mobile phones but was re-announced for the PSP at DKS3713 2008. Developers stated the reason for the move was that they did not want to wait for cell phones to be advanced enough to handle the game. According to the developers, the PSP version of the game was planned from the start and was meant to be revealed sometime after progress on the mobile version.

It seems to be drawing more attention now that it has been announced for the PSP, since mobile phone games usually do not make it to North America. The mobile phone version has been discontinued. Along with Versus, Nomura states that Type-0 is undergoing voice acting in Japan.

Tabata said in a Famitsu interview that "it's becoming an intense experience where you do gun shooting with fire." On the subject of multiplayer, he added "Agito XIII will not have the standard multiplayer style of everyone gathering together to play. It will be a multiplayer system unique to this game."

At the "Square Enix 1st Production Department Premiere" event on January 18, 2011, the game was retitled Final Fantasy Type-0 (pronounced in Japan as "Final Fantasy Rei Shiki") because Hajime Tabata didn't think it was similar enough to Final Fantasy XIII to warrant the old title. In December 2010, Square Enix had trademarked the name in Europe along with Type-1, Type-2 and Type-3, as they hope the game will be successful enough to eventually be spun off into its own subseries.

Tabata explained in a Famitsu interview that the game will ship in two UMDs because he doesn't want to cut any content. He wanted to keep the game's cutscenes visual quality on par with PlayStation 3 titles, so they had to take the game's realtime cutscenes and convert them into movie files so they can be further polished and edited. The files take up much of the UMD's space, and in order to provide the best quality for consumers without cutting content, two UMDs were needed.

Staff

 * Director & Scenario Writer: Hajime Tabata
 * Co-Director & Battle Planner: Takutsugu Nakazawa
 * Art Director: Yusuke Naora
 * Character Designer: Tetsuya Nomura
 * Composer: Takeharu Ishimoto
 * Producer: Yoshinori Kitase
 * Movie Director: Kazuyuki Ikumori

Trivia

 * The game was originally called Final Fantasy Agito XIII. The Latin word "agito" roughly translates into "I put into action/motion" or "I move/rouse," possibly referencing that the gameplay of Type-0 will be action-oriented, or perhaps referring to the game's mobile nature as a PSP game.
 * Even though the title has changed, the term "Agito" still appears within the story. In the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology, the term "Finis" refers to destruction, while "Agito" refers to salvation. The line in the Square Enix 1st Production Dept. trailer narration that states "The world awaits Agito" can be understood to mean "the world awaits to be saved".
 * Square hopes to spin Type-0 off into its own series, which could explain why the titles Type-1, Type-2, and Type-3 have been trademarked.
 * Final Fantasy Type-0 will be the first dual-UMD PSP video game to release outside of Japan, and the second dual-UMD game in history.
 * The names of the four regions are the same as those of the four fiends in Final Fantasy Legend.
 * The names of the main characters, except Machina and Rem, are a play on a deck of playing cards.

Reference
Final Fantasy Type-0 Final Fantasy Type-0