Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: Is Final Fantasy Type-0 a sequel to another game?
Final Fantasy Type-0[Jp. 1] is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable (PSP). Released in Japan on October 27, 2011, Type-0 is part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis subseries, a set of games sharing a common mythos which includes Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XV. The gameplay, similar to Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, has the player taking control of characters in real-time combat during missions across Orience. The player also engages in large-scale strategy-based battles on the world map, and has access to a multiplayer option during story missions and side quests.
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.
Collaboration events with "Final Fantasy Record Keeper", "Final Fantasy X", "Final Fantasy Type-0", "Final Fantasy VII Remake", "Terra Battle", "Final Fantasy XII", "Final Fantasy XIII", "Hoshi No Dragon Quest", "Final Fantasy XV", "Final Fantasy VII" and "Final Fantasy XIV" have also occurred in the game.
"Curtain Call" includes 221 songs not counting downloadable content (DLC) taken from various entries in the series. Along with the songs and DLC content created for the original and fresh songs from titles features in the original, the game features new songs from "", "Final Fantasy X-2", "Final Fantasy XIII"s two sequels "XIII-2" and "", "Final Fantasy Type-0", the movie "" and other spin-off games in the franchise such as "Final Fantasy Adventure", and the "Crystal Chronicles" and "Dissidia" games. There are 60 playable characters available to the player, not including DLC.
Multiple pieces of merchandise were created for the game. An Ultimania, part of a series of dedicated guidebooks, was released in the same month as the original game. It contained story and character breakdowns, concept art, and interviews with developers.[101] A different book, Final Fantasy Type-0 World Preview,[Jp. 5] was also released in October. It featured character biographies, details on the world of Orience, and interviews with the voice actors for Class Zero.[102] The following year, a dedicated art book was released containing artwork of the game's characters and monsters, and an interview with Tabata.[103] Characters from the game, including Ace, Machina and other members of Class Zero, appeared in the fourth series of releases for the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game.[104] In November 2011, a manga adaptation of Type-0, illustrated by Takatoshi Shiozawa, began serialization in Young Gangan magazine.[105] The manga has been collected into a tankōbon volume and was released on April 21, 2012.[106] Another manga titled Final Fantasy Type-0 Side Story: Reaper of the Icy Blade,[Jp. 6] also illustrated by Shiozawa, began publication in Young Gangan in April 2012.[107] It ended in January 2014, with a bonus chapter being published in February of that year,[108][109] and was later released in five compiled volumes. Yen Press began distribution of the manga in the west in July 2015.[110] Square Enix released two novel adaptations, in April and June 2012, depicting an alternate version of Type-0's story: Final Fantasy Type-0: Change the World -The Answer-[Jp. 7] and Final Fantasy Type-0: Change the World Volume 2 -The Penultimate Truth-.[Jp. 8] The novels were written by Sōki Tsukishima.[111][112]
"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.
"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.
After the release of "Final Fantasy XIII", the creators wanted to expand on the game's setting and tell more stories about the characters, so "XIII-2" and "Lightning Returns" were developed. For these games, Japanese developer tri-Ace was brought in to help with the games' design and graphics. The three games and their respective tie-in media were referred to as the "Lightning Saga" by Square Enix staff after the games' central character. While there was speculation that "Fabula Nova Crystallis" would end with "Lightning Returns", Kitase repeatedly stated that there was still room for further titles beyond the "XIII" universe. Alongside that, Tabata created "Agito" around his original ideas for "Type-0" as a mobile title. "Agito" acted as both a prequel to "Type-0" and an alternate story set within its world. The game was co-developed by mobile game developer Tayutau K. K. Later, Chinese developer Perfect World were brought in to develop "Awakening". "Final Fantasy XV" eventually had help from multiple developers, including HexaDrive, XPEC Entertainment and Umbra. In contrast to "Final Fantasy XIII", Tabata decided against creating any sequels to "Final Fantasy XV", instead expanding the base game through downloadable content.
The game was developed around director Hajime Tabata's original concept for "Final Fantasy Type-0" as a mobile game which would give players easy access to a universe within the "Fabula Nova Crystallis" series and would be influenced by player choice. The title stems from "Type-0"s earlier title "Final Fantasy Agito XIII". Many of "Type-0"s staff returned, with Takeharu Ishimoto composing new music for the title, and former level designer Masayasu Nishida and texture artist Sayoko Hoshino returning respectively as producer and art director.
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 "".
"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".
At the beginning of the development, the game was intended to be released on the PlayStation 2. In May 2005, however, after the positive reception of the tech demo of "Final Fantasy VII", the team decided to move the game to the PlayStation 3 and developed it with the new Crystal Tools engine, a seventh generation multiplatform game engine created by Square Enix for its next generation games. Square Enix believed that developing a new engine would speed up development time later in the project, though it would initially cause a delay in the game's development. However, the delay was longer than originally anticipated as the engine had to accommodate the requirements of several other games in addition to "XIII". Another factor in the platform move was the delayed release of "Final Fantasy XII", which came out a very short time before the release of the PlayStation 3. A PC port was considered during development, but was decided against due to how Square Enix saw the video game market situation at the time as well as additional complexities that Square Enix did not have experience with related to the PC platform, such as security issues. "Final Fantasy XIII" was first shown at the 2006 E3 convention. The trailer shown was an artistic concept that did not represent the final concept for the game, since at the time there was no playable form of the game. Announced alongside the game was "Final Fantasy Versus XIII", later retitled as "Final Fantasy XV", and the PlayStation Portable game "Final Fantasy Type-0", originally titled "Final Fantasy Agito XIII", the three of which form the "Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy" series. Square Enix explained that although all three games are thematically linked, they are not directly related in terms of story.
Initially announced in 2006 alongside "XIII" and "Type-0", the game was publicly rebranded at the 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo, with regular updates on the title beginning the following year. A demo titled "Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae" was released in March 2015 as a limited addition to "Final Fantasy Type-0 HD". The game's localization was handled by Dan Inoue, who used different accents for characters to denote their origins on different parts of Eos. In addition to English, Japanese and European languages, the game was localized for Latin America with Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese text: this was the first time a "Final Fantasy" title was localized into these languages.
Type-0 affected several other works in multiple ways. During its development, several staff members and voice actors who had worked on Final Fantasy X reunited. Their meeting triggered the development of Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster.[120] In the September 2013 issue of Famitsu Weekly, Square Enix revealed Final Fantasy Agito, an online companion game to Type-0 for iOS and Android mobile devices.[121] The game was released in May 2014, and a localization was announced alongside that of Type-0.[122][123] Its servers were closed down in November 2015, with its localization being cancelled as a result.[124][125] A new online game set in the Type-0 universe, Final Fantasy Awakening, released in Asian and English-speaking territories between 2016 and 2018.[126]
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.
The game was originally announced as a title for mobile phones and the PSP called Final Fantasy Agito XIII.[Jp. 2] It was directed by Hajime Tabata, who took up the project after completing Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII. Initially designed to provide players with easy access to the Fabula Nova Crystallis universe, the mobile version was eventually cancelled and the game's title was changed to distance it from the subseries' flagship title Final Fantasy XIII. Releasing to strong sales, it received praise for its story and gameplay, but was criticized for its camera control and artificial intelligence. Further games related to Type-0 have also been developed, including a high definition remaster that released internationally in March 2015.
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.
The overarching theme of the games was the effects the deities of the core mythos on the human population, especially the fate that was forced upon the main characters. Yuji Abe, a designer on "Lightning Returns", defined it as "A battle with destiny", with the burden of destiny growing progressively heavier for the main characters over the course of the games. The setting and story was written around and drawn from the official mythology for the "Fabula Nova Crystallis" series, which also includes "Final Fantasy XV" and "Final Fantasy Type-0". For "Final Fantasy XIII" and its sequels, Toriyama created a story focusing on the existing deities within the mythos and their influence on the world. Different deities from the mythos were focused on in each installment, such as the goddess Etro in "XIII-2". One of the defining features of the cast is the game's central protagonist, Lightning. Toriyama wanted Lightning to be an exceptional female protagonist for the "Final Fantasy" series, with her having great strength and combat ability, as opposed to the gentler figures of Aerith from "Final Fantasy VII" or Yuna from "Final Fantasy X". Unlike those characters, Lightning's personality was conceived well before her outfit was designed or her voice actresses were cast. How the character was portrayed and how her story and personality was evolved became one of the driving forces of the series.
"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.
Characters, monsters and items from all the main "Final Fantasy" games appear, as well as "Final Fantasy Tactics", "Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles", "Dissidia Final Fantasy", "Final Fantasy Type-0", and others. Well known events from previous Final Fantasy titles are occasionally encountered. The game receives updates periodically in the form of "Most Wanted" villains for players to share information about to find and defeat to earn rewards. The first update featured Kefka Palazzo from "Final Fantasy VI" and the second being Sephiroth from "Final Fantasy VII".
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.
While working on Final Fantasy XV, Tabata decided to make a high-definition remaster of Type-0 for eighth-generation consoles. Developed by Square Enix and HexaDrive, Final Fantasy Type-0 HD was originally announced at E3 2014, and released worldwide in March 2015.[127][128] After Type-0's release, Tabata stated in an interview that he wished to explore the distant history of Orience after the events of the game.[72] Trademarks for Type-1, Type-2 and Type-3 were registered shortly after the Type-0 trademark, but it was suggested that they were simply a protective measure.[129] During interviews given in 2014, Tabata commented that he wished to work on Type-1 after completing XV, and later explained the conceptual Type series as a means of publishing Final Fantasy games too experimental for the main series. He hoped to continue with the Type series if Type-0 HD was commercially successful.[130][131]
"Agito XIII" and "Versus XIII" both began production in 2006. By 2008, "Agito XIII" had been moved onto the PlayStation Portable, then later renamed "Final Fantasy Type-0". The stated reason for the change of title was that "Final Fantasy XIII" and "Type-0" shared little besides the core mythos. The title change also resulted in the "XIII" numeral being dropped from the series title as it "would have been an issue". Late in its development, "Final Fantasy XIII" also changed from being an exclusive when an Xbox 360 version was announced, significantly delaying its release. A port for Microsoft Windows was considered, but not followed up due to platform-specific concerns and the company's view of the video game market. Later, "Final Fantasy XIII" and its sequels would receive PC ports through Steam. As early as 2007, Square Enix considered re-branding "Versus XIII" as a numbered entry in the main series due to the rapidly growing scale of the project. The game was eventually re-branded in 2011. As part of its later marketing, "Final Fantasy XV" was deliberately distanced from the "Fabula Nova Crystallis" brand to remove the consequent limitation on their target audience, although lore and design elements were retained. The game was also moved fully onto eighth generation consoles and developed using the company's new Luminous Studio engine. The PS3 version was abandoned due to concerns about the console's continued viability. "Type-0"s western release was delayed due to the flagging PSP market in western territories. A high-definition port to the same platforms as "Final Fantasy XV" was co-developed by Square Enix and HexaDrive, and was eventually announced for a western release.
Sephiroth was also the representative villain of "Final Fantasy VII" in "Dissidia Final Fantasy". He is featured in his "Final Fantasy VII" guise, while an alternative outfit features the "Safer Sephiroth" form. His fight against Cloud in the game was based on their fights from "Final Fantasy VII" and "Advent Children". Along with the rest of the "Final Fantasy VII" figures in "Dissidia", Sephiroth appears in the prequel "Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy". This game also includes a sightly altered "Final Fantasy VII" form for Sephiroth, as well as his "Kingdom Hearts" form. Sephiroth returns as a playable character opposite Cloud in the third entry, "Dissidia Final Fantasy NT". He is featured in the rhythm game "Theatrhythm Final Fantasy" and its sequel, "", as an unlockable character, representing "Final Fantasy VII". He also appears in the puzzle platformer video game "LittleBigPlanet", and its sequel "LittleBigPlanet 2" as a character model; Media Molecule's Alex Evans felt "honored" that Sephiroth was allowed to appear in the games. He is referenced in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U during Cloud's reveal trailer.
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.[116][117] As of January 16, 2012, the game had sold 746,203 copies in Japan.[118] 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.[119]