STACK December 2016 Issue No. 146

62 / 121

Fabula Nova Crystallis:
Final Fantasy
An age ago, in the time only known as 2006,
Square Enix announced that there would be a
series of games within the title of FFXIII. The
titles included FFXIII, FFXIII Agito and FFXIII
Versus, which would go on to be FFXIII (and
its sequels under the umbrella of ‘Lightning
Saga’), Final Fantasy Type-0, and FFXV.
Meaning ‘New tale of the crystal’,
Fabula Nova Crystallis could have been
considered a soft reboot of the series.
For gamers who haven’t gracefully slid
into the mature bracket just yet, it might
seem like there was no need to reboot a
series where the games were arguably
very similar. All of them featured turn-
based combat, epic adventures and
overwhelming themes. However, the
wizened and experienced gamer would
have noticed drastic changes since the
release of the first Final Fantasy, noting
the transition of nameless avatars to
fully-fleshed out characters, plot points
becoming more and more complex, and the
shift away from the original core theme of
Final Fantasy – crystals.
In an interview with , Hajime
Tabita, director of FFXV, described the theory
behind Crystallis:
“The original idea was to create a series of
games around the 'Crystal Legend' mythology,
but not restrict developers to a single direction.
We wanted it to be quite a broad idea. It was
like the mythology of ancient Greece and how
visit
62 DECEMBER 2016
GAMES
FEATURE
Whether they’re diving down the rabbit hole of an elevator
conversation to create Kingdom Hearts, or letting Tetsuya
Nomura know he’s the director of the FFVII remake after the
project was already underway, Square Enix has a tendency
to chase the dreams it’s barely woken up from. It’s a
peculiar kind of brashness that has accompanied Square
and Final Fantasy since its inception, the tale almost mythos
now in the gaming world. A developer on its last legs puts
all of its efforts into one last title, and dubs it their ‘Final
Fantasy’. They then go on to keep producing Final Fantasies
for the next 29 years.
The stakes have changed and the brashness has evolved
alongside it. On the one hand, their success is undeniable
– they’ve had a hit on nearly every major platform, they’ve
created some of gaming’s most iconic characters, and
they’ve pushed every boundary within the medium.
However, the other hand is often trying to juggle more balls
that it can handle.
Enter Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy
Words Mark Ankucic