Final Fantasy Type-0

Unreleased

Final Fantasy Type-0 is a video game for PlayStation Portable which, alongside Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, makes up the compilation Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy XIII. 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 DKS3713 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.

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 and also appear above the text with their picture and name on it. 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 also 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 Third Birthday saying that while they are two different games in terms of content, the core of what the staff can do on 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; Suzaku, Byakko, Genbu, and Seiryu. 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 Peristylium Suzaku, 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, and the boy with the tarot cards supposedly is going to be a very important character (nicknamed Card-kun). 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 the boy with the tarot cards.

When first introduced in concept art, characters seemed to be named after the weapons they use, and include a deck of tarot cards, a longsword, a katana, handguns, a shotgun, a mace, a bow and arrow, a spear, a scythe, an extending flail, bare fists, and a flute. However, the Type-0 trailer from TGS 2010 reveals character names. Seen in the trailer are Eight, Ace, Trey, Seven, Cinque, Golem, Jack, and Ifrit. Hajime Tabata, the game's director, clarified that Ifrit and Golem are summons, and may be summoned by the player. It is currently unknown if these names are finalized, or just names given for the purpose of the demo, with the player actually being the one to name the characters.

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 Agito 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". In December 2010, Square Enix had trademarked the name in Europe.

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

Etymology
The word "agito" roughly translates from Latin into "I put into action/motion" or "I move/rouse," possibly referencing that the gameplay of Agito will be action-oriented, or perhaps referring to the game's mobile nature as a PSP game.

Reference
Final Fantasy Agito XIII Final Fantasy Agito XIII