Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy XIII
So as any Final Fantasy fan could tell you, the latest RPG epic that is Final Fantasy XIII (13) is looming very close to release. The game has been available in Japan on the PS3 since December 17th 2009 and the wait for the English translation is nearly over, with the release date for North America, Europe and Australia set as the 9th of March. With all things considered and past titles in the series taking anything up to 6 months to get an english release and the game was first shown at the 2006 E3 convention, the wait hasn’t been all that bad.
What some of you may not realise, and being the point of this article, is that Final Fantasy XIII is the flagship title of the Fabula Nova Crystallis collection of Final Fantasy games. Fabula Nova Crystallis (which means “The New Tale Of The Crystal” in Latin) is based on various worlds and different characters, but each game will be “ultimately based on and expand upon a common mythos.” According to Square Enix, they all take place in the same universe, but are not directly related to each other.
Final Fantasy XIII, being the flagship title, will be released first on both the PS3 and XBOX360 (no Xbox release in Japan).
Final Fantasy Versus XIII is an action role-playing game and although there has been no real gameplay footage released, it is said to be very similar to the Kingdom Hearts series of games with a blend of third person shooter action mixed in. Unlike the Kingdom Hearts games or previous Final Fantasy titles, Versus XIII is said to be very dark and bleak, with the designers trying to make a more realistic world and it has a greater display of graphic violence with an instance of blood. Final Fantasy Versus XIII is a single player experience and will be an exclusive to the PS3 with the release date still to be announced.
Final Fantasy Agito XIII (Agito is Latin for “to put in motion”) will be released on the PSP, although so far a release outside of Japan has not been announced. The game is not a side story to Final Fantasy XIII, it is a standalone title which will have shared themes and myths around which all the Final Fantasy XIII games will be centered. The battle system will be similar to that of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, but will make use of the ATB system and allow control of multiple characters. The game has been described as an online RPG but not ‘Massively Multiplayer’.
I really hope this gets a European release!
So there you go, the full picture of the Fabula Nova Crystallis collection of games laid bare and if you don’t have a PS3 or PSP yet and want to enjoy all 3 titles, then now maybe the time to invest.
As a side note, although not part of this collection of games, Final Fantasy XIV (14) is set to be released at the back end of the year and is a MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online RPG) which will only see a PS3 and PC release, so yet another reason to get a PS3 soon!
