OK, let’s quickly catch you all up to speed. When Final Fantasy XIII was first announced, it was said to be coming in three separate installments. The first one, Final Fantasy XIII, is the game we all know and, arguably, love. The next would be Final Fantasy Versus XIII , which has been delayed enough that it is now being released on the next generation of consoles as Final Fantasy XV . The last was to be Final Fantasy Agito XIII , which was eventually renamed Final Fantasy Type-0 and released in Japan as a PSP-only title.
So what are XIII-2 and Lightning Returns? Cash-ins on the franchise name, of course, and not to be out done by its older brother, the game that was to be Agito is also going to be followed by a “sequel” named…. Agito… What in the name of crazy evil clowns is the matter with you, Square?
Anyway, the new Agito is a retelling of the events of Type-0 told from the perspective of new characters. You play as a student in the Orience Magic Academy, which is the original setting of Type-0. “I wanted to write a story that traced the different fates of the FF Type-0 heroes,” producer Hajime Tabata told Famitsu. “A lot of FF Type-0 players have told us that, and there are a lot of people within the studio, too, who wanted to do it. FF Type-0 was originally meant for release on mobile phones, and I liked the Agito name anyway, so that’s how we got started with this project.” What’s really interesting about this Agito is that the game will progress in real time. Each chapter of the game will run across two weeks of real-time play. Each chapter will also be broken up into 10 days, where every player plays the game solo, and four days, when they join up with teams to take on bosses. After a certain amount of chapters pass, the game ends, and a new “cycle” of history begins with Chapter 1; however, this cycle is affected by the choices players made in the last cycle.
Agito is set to debut sometime this winter. Unfortunately, Square Enix has not yet explained its pricing scheme. Tabata did say that you would be able to reach the ending even if you don’t participate in microtransactions, but you can always spend real-life money to get more “active force” (game time), abilities, continues, and items.