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 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. In some case the victory can be decided in other ways like defeating the enemy leader, which will trigger the surrender of its minions.

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. Based on the trailer, it may be possible for players to determine the weak point of the enemies, allowing them to deal a deathblow which would result in an instant death. As shown in the trailer, Queen and Rem were able to inflict a deathblow to their enemies when the crosshair is red ( possibly the sign that reveals an enemy's weak point ).

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 divided into four nations known as the Suzaku Fiefdom of Rubrum, the Milites Empire, the Lorica Alliance, and the Kingdom of Concordia. Each of the nations is blessed with a crystal that grants them unique powers: Rubrum controls the Suzaku Crystal which contains the power of Magic, Milites controls the Byakko Crystal which contains the power of Weapons, Lorica controls the Genbu Crystal which contains the power of the Shield, and Concordia controls the Sōryū Crystal which contains the power of the Dragon.

The four nations coexisted peacefully under the Pax Codex until Cid Oldstein, High Commander of the Milites Empire, broke the peace treaty and staged an invasion using advanced military technology developed with the power of the Byakko Crystal. With his armada of airships and magitek armor, Cid easily conquered Lorica and Concordia, then moved on to Rubrum where he faced a strong resistance due the nation's magical defenses. Hoping to force the nation's leaders to surrender, Cid staged an attack on Rubrum's Magic Academy, Peristylium Suzaku. However, a small group of extremely skilled students belonging to the Peristylium's Class Zero have managed to retaine the powers from their pact with the Suzaku Crystal. Now, while Cid attempts to negotiate with Rubrum's president, the students of Class Zero are busy organizing Operation Apostle, a covert mission to recapture the crystal and defeat the Milites forces.

Like previous titles in the Final Fantasy series, Type-0 draws heavily from Eastern Asian mythology, particularily from the Four Symbols: Suzaku the Vermillion Bird, Byakko the White Tiger, Genbu the Black Tortoise, and Sōryū (or Seiryū) the Azure Dragon. 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)".

Playable Characters
Final Fantasy Type-0 features fourteen playable characters, all of which are students at Peristylium Suzaku, Rubrum's Magic Academy. Each character wields a uniquely identifiable weapon and abilities, giving them a variety of playstyles. Players may also temporarily control a variety of summoned Eidolons, including Odin, Ifrit, and Shiva.

Class Zero
Twelve of the playable characters are members of Class Zero, a team of students leading the counterattack against the invading army of Milites Byakko. As members of Operation Apostle, each hopes to become the Agito, a savior prophecied in ancient mythology to appear at the time of Finis, an apocalyptic calamity. Each member of Class Zero is named after the Japanese pronunciations of "trumps" (playing cards), and is assigned a corresponding number.


 * No.01 Ace (エース Ēsu): A blond boy who wields a deck of cards and is said to be the primary protagonist within Class Zero. Despite his youthful appearance, his speech and actions are exceptionally impressive. Though usually calm, he has a reckless side and will sometimes rush off and act out of anger.


 * No.03 Trey (トレイ Torei): A handsome, blond-haired youth armed with a bow and arrow. His basic attack is Magic Arrow (マジックアロー Majikku Arō) and his special attack is Arrow Shower (アローシャワー Arō Shawā).


 * No.05 Cinque (シンク Shinku): A young lady with brown, braided hair who fights using a mace. Her basic attack is called Crash Mace (クラッシュメイス Kurasshu Meisu) and her special attack is Earthquake (アースクエイク Āsukueiku).


 * No.07 Seven (セブン Sebun): A gray-haired girl that carries an extending chain whip. She was named "Muchi" (ムチ, "Whip") in early footage, after her weapon of choice.


 * No.08 Eight (エイト Eito): A young martial artist with short red hair who wears a pair of knuckles. His basic attack is Power Knuckle (パワーナックル Pawā Nakkuru) and his special attack is called Icefloe Kata (流氷の型 Ryūhō no Kata).


 * No.09 Nine (ナイン Nain): A young man with a scarred face and disheveled uniform who wields a spear. Impulsive and straightforward, he sees the world in black and white and only feels satisfied when things aren't complicated. Even though he has a foul mouth and isn't exactly wise, his courage boosts Class Zero's morale on the battlefield.


 * No.11 Jack (ジャック Jakku): A young man with coiffed blond hair that fights using a katana. His basic attack is Kikuichimonji (菊一文字). He was known only as "Katana" in early footage.


 * No.12 Queen (クイーン Kuīn): A young woman with long black hair and trademark glasses who wields a saber. She's referred to as the team's class president, and her dignified appearance and intelligence suit her name.

The remaining four members of Class Zero, a male character wielding dual handguns and three female characters wielding a flute, a scythe, and a shotgun, have yet to be named or detailed. A moogle appearing alongside the other characters in promotional art is also believed to be magically controlled by the girl using the flute.

There are two other playable characters in addition to the members of Class Zero, which are said to act as outside observers of the game's events. It is also said that they are both the main protagonists.


 * Machina Kunagiri (マキナ・クナギリ Makina Kunagiri): A man with dark hair and an elegant red cloak who fights using a pair of rapiers. His basic attack is Bolt Rapier (ボルトレイピア Boruto Reipia). He will be voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya.


 * Rem Tokimiya (レム・トキミヤ Remu Tokimiya): A woman with short brown hair that dual wields daggers. Her basic attack is Dancing Dagger (ダンシングダガー Danshingu Dagā). She will be voiced by Ryoko Shiraishi.

Non-Playable Characters

 * Kurasame (クラサメ): Class Zero's masked instructor. He was previously a student at the academy, once feared on the battlefield as the "Icy Blade of Death." He's frequently shown accompanied by a Tonberry that carries a large knife and wears the Class Zero uniform. Voiced by Takahiro Sakurai.


 * Cid Oldstein (シド・オールドスタイン Shido Ōrudosutain): High Commander of the technologically advanced army of Milites Byakko. Cid's goal is obtain the crystals of the four nations of Oriens, and for that purpose he breaks the Pax Codex and invades his neighboring countries with airship fleets and magitek armor. Voiced by Shuichiro Moriyama.

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 did not 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 does not 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 main characters, except Machina and Rem, are a play on a deck of playing cards.
 * The term "reishiki" was previously used in Final Fantasy VII (Bahamut Reishiki, translated as Bahamut ZERO), Final Fantasy XIII (Behemoth Reishiki, translated as Proto-behemoth), Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy (Reishiki Hadōhō, translated as [0-form] Particle Beam).
 * In Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy Player Icons of Ace are still referred to as being from Final Fantasy Agito XIII even though it was released after the name change to Final Fantasy Type-0.

Reference
Final Fantasy Type-0 Final Fantasy Type-0