is a series of games within the Final Fantasy video game franchise. It was primarily developed by series creator and developer Square Enix, which also acted as publisher for all titles. While featuring various worlds and different characters, each Fabula Nova Crystallis game is ultimately based on and expands upon a common mythos focusing on important crystals tied to deities. The level of connection to the mythos varies between each title, with each development team given the freedom to adapt the mythos to fit the context of a game's story.
The series, originally announced in 2006 as Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII, 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-0s 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, though it retains thematic connections.
Seven titles, the original three projects and four additional titles, have been released as of 2016. The series is complemented by works in related media, including companion books, novelizations, and manga. Final Fantasy XV notably expanded into a multimedia project, spawning a feature film and an original animated webseries. Individual games have generally received a positive reception, although opinions have been more mixed over various aspects of the three Final Fantasy XIII games. Reception of the mythos' use in the released games has also been mixed: while some critics called it confusing or too similar to the lore of the main series, others were impressed by its scope and use. Retrospective opinions on the series have also been mixed.
Titles
Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy currently consists of seven titles across multiple platforms, including sequels and spin-offs of the original three 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, the thirteenth core Final Fantasy game and the first title in the series. First released in Japan as a PlayStation 3 exclusive in December 2009, it was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in North America and Europe in March 2010. A version of the game for the Xbox 360, Final Fantasy XIII Ultimate Hits International, was released in Japan in December 2010. XIII was released as a digital download for Windows in October 2014. The game was designed as a story-driven single-player role-playing game (RPG), with a battle system designed to emulate the cinematic battles seen in the film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Final Fantasy XIII-2, a direct sequel to XIII, was released in December 2011 in Japan, and in January and February, 2012 in North America and Europe respectively for PS3 and 360. It received downloadable content (DLC) expansions during 2012, and a Windows port in 2014. In response to criticism the company received from critics and fans about XIIIs linear structure, XIII-2 was designed to be a more traditional role-playing game, with explorable towns, a nonlinear story structure, mini-games, and other traditional features. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, a sequel to XIII and XIII-2, was released in November 2013 in Japan, and February 2014 in North America and Europe for PS3 and 360. A Windows port was released in 2015. It concludes both the narrative of the main character Lightning and the Final Fantasy XIII story arc. Lightning Returns blends several traditional role-playing features, such as shops, quests and an explorable open world, with an action-oriented combat system. Final Fantasy Type-0 (originally titled Final Fantasy Agito XIII) was released in October 2011 in Japan for the PlayStation Portable. A high-definition remaster for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, was released worldwide in March 2015. The original game is a real-time action RPG, featuring combat similar to Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, and a multiplayer option where online players can take control of characters during the majority of the game. Type-0 HD features updated graphics and changes to the gameplay, such as lower difficulty and the removal of multiplayer. Final Fantasy Agito, a companion title set in Type-0s world, was released in May 2014 in Japan on Android and iOS devices. Service ended in November 2015. Ports for the PlayStation Vita and Microsoft Windows were also in development, but have since been canceled. Agito was an episodic game featuring single-player and multi-player modes, and a social system where the player's standing with non-playable characters advances their rank in-game. Final Fantasy Awakening, a replacement for Agito, was released in December 2016 in China, and in February 2018 in North America for Android and iOS. The gameplay features cooperative multiplayer similar to the original multiplayer elements of Type-0, along with hack-and-slash gameplay. All versions have closed down as of 2020. Final Fantasy XV (originally known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII), the fifteenth core Final Fantasy title, was released worldwide on November 29, 2016, for PS4 and Xbox One. It was later ported to Windows and the Google Stadia platform. The game is an action role-playing game with a battle system similar to those from the Kingdom Hearts series and Type-0. The game uses open world exploration using both a vehicle and chocobos, along with a camping mechanic linked to gaining experience levels. Its development cycle, beginning in 2006, lasted ten years. The game was supported by DLC between 2016 and 2019.
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.
Themes The universes of Final Fantasy XIII, Type-0 and Final Fantasy XV are unrelated to each other, though common elements and themes are present. The first is a common narrative theme of harmful interference by the mythos' deities in the affairs of humans, and those humans' choice of whether to accept or challenge the predetermined fates given to them. Tetsuya Nomura defined this theme as "a battle of the gods that lies behind each tale and gives it inspiration in a different way". Hajime Tabata later defined the theme as a tale of humans placing their lives at risk after being chosen by the crystal. The second common element is the structure of the Fabula Nova Crystallis universe, which is divided in two: the mortal world, where humans live, and the afterlife or . A recurring theme is subverting the series' traditional view of crystals, making them objects that brought both prosperity and tragedy by their influence.
A common element not related to the mythos, themes or plots of the series is the use of Latin in the games' titles or worlds, often as key words to describing themes and story points. The series' title Fabula Nova Crystallis is translated by Square Enix as "The New Tale of the Crystal", roughly translates as "to put into motion", while translates as both "to turn around" and "against". All these Latin terms were described as representing key narrative concepts. The term was kept in Final Fantasy Type-0 as both an in-universe concept and the title of its prequel. was used in early trailers for Final Fantasy XV after its re-reveal in 2013, carrying the tagline A World of the Versus Epic. Commenting on the extensive use of Latin in Final Fantasy XV prior to its public name change, Nomura said he wanted a language that was no longer used on a daily basis and that people "won't be able to understand and yet appreciate", desiring a sense of general equality.
Mythology In the mythology, the god seizes control of the mortal world by killing his mother, the creator goddess , who vanishes into the Unseen Realm. Believing that the mortality of the world is Mwynn's curse, Bhunivelze creates three new deities to search for the gate to the Unseen Realm so he can control both worlds. The first deity, , is tasked with terraforming the world; the second deity, , is discarded because of her resemblance to Mwynn; the third deity, , acts as Bhunivelze's protector. Bhunivelze then enters a deep sleep, while Lindzei and Pulse carry out their missions. Distraught at being abandoned, Etro kills herself, and humans are born from her blood. Once in the Unseen Realm, Etro finds Mwynn being consumed by a force called chaos, which threatens to destroy reality. As Mwynn fades, she tasks Etro with protecting the balance between the worlds. Etro gives humans pieces of chaos that become their "hearts". Because humans held chaos within them, they maintained the balance through their death and reincarnation. Since then, humans have either worshiped or feared Pulse and Lindzei, and refer to Etro as the goddess of death. The mythos' deities hold similar roles in each game's setting, but are not the same characters in a narrative sense.
A recurring race in the games are god-like beings created by Pulse and Lindzei to act as their servants in the mortal world. In the original mythos and the XIII games, the demigods are called fal'Cie . They take the form of crystal-powered mechanical beings in the XIII games. In the universe of Type-0, they are both semi-sentient crystals and humanoid beings living among the people. The fal'Cie have the ability to imbue chosen humans with magical powers and assign them a task to complete either willingly or unwillingly. Final Fantasy XIII and Type-0 refer to these people as l'Cie and the task given to them as a Focus. In XIII, there are two possible outcomes for l'Cie: once their Focus is fulfilled, they can go into 'crystal stasis', transforming into a crystal statue, and gain eternal life, but if they fail they become mindless crystalline monsters called . In Type-0, l'Cie are chosen by the crystal of their country, and given great power to fulfill their assigned Focus, but lose their memories if emotionally unstable. While not referred to as such using the original terminology, humans imbued with magic and burdened with a task exist in Final Fantasy XV, one of them being the main protagonist Noctis.
Production Creation