Characters of the Final Fantasy Type-0 universe
Final Fantasy Type-0, an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix in 2011, revolves around a war between four nations in the world of Orience.
The main characters are the twelve members of Class Zero: Ace, Deuce, Trey, Cater, Cinque, Sice, Seven, Eight, Nine, Jack, Queen and King.
Alongside them are Machina Kunagiri and Rem Tokimiya, old friends who are assigned to Class Zero shortly after the events of the game begin.
Other major characters include Arecia Al-Rashia, head of the Rubrum Academy's magical department and a key figure in Orience's lore; Cid Aulstyne, the leader of Milites Empire and the game's main antagonist; and Joker and Tiz, two characters who observe the events of the games.
The concept, which was set within the mythos of the Fabula Nova Crystallis subseries, was for a much darker scenario than other Final Fantasy games.
Much of the original story, which mainly revolved about defying the gods, was drawn from popular anime and manga and did not survive.
The deaths of Class Zero were planned from an early stage, and to emphasize the state of the world, a large number of the supporting cast were killed off near the end.
[2] Tabata wanted to create a story depicting different fates for Type-0's characters, and this decision was supported by both staff members and fans of the original.
[8][12] A key element carried directly from the mythos is the l'Cie, humans chosen by servants of the world's deities to fulfill a pre-determined task called a "Focus".
[8][13] Tabata neglected including elements from the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythos until approximately halfway through the process.
Part of this was giving each character a unique weapon: Deuce's flute and Ace's cards were the most difficult to realize from a technical standpoint.
[20] The actors and actresses helped define the characters, adding individual touches during voice recording sessions.
[28] Class Zero (0組, Kurasu Zero) are the main protagonists and playable cast of Type-0, later revealed to have been chosen for their potential to become saviors referred to as Agito, a group of people created to force open the barrier between the mortal world and the Unseen Realm.
During their battle with the Rursan Arbiter, Class Zero are fatally wounded, and during their final moments, they imagine their possible post-war lives.
[30] Ace (エース, Ēsu) is a cool-headed youth who is one of the first members of Class Zero, able to use cards and with knowledge of magic and warfare.
[36] The Cadet is first encountered when they are saved by Ace from a beast attack, and thereafter become part of Rubrum's general effort to fight against the Milites Empire.
[39] In earlier years, he was friends with Kazusa and Emina, and his performance on the battlefield earned him the moniker "Reaper of the Icy Blade" (氷剣の死神, Hitsurugi no Shinigami).
[33] Cid Aulstyne (シド・オールドスタイン, Shido Ōrudosutain) is Imperial Marshal of the Milites army, having become the empire's acting leader and the main antagonist of Type-0 and Agito.
[43] Enacting a coup d'état against the Militesi Emperor, Cid appointed himself as the ruler of the Empire and took control of the White Tiger Crystal.
[33] Gala (ガーラ, Gāra) and Diva (ディーヴァ, Dīva) are minor characters related to the lore of Orience.
Gala is a servant of the deity Lindzei and the leader of the Rursus: whenever the balance between Orience's nations is disrupted, he summons his army to slaughter the population.
[31] Her true identity, as revealed with the coming of Tempus Finis, is Myuria (ミューリア, Myūria), a servant of Gala who oversees the Rursan Army.
[61] An English translation was released with the Collector's Edition of Type-0 HD in March 2015, exclusive to Square Enix's website.
[62] Another manga titled Final Fantasy Type-0 Side Story: Reaper of the Icy Blade (ファイナルファンタジー零式外伝 氷剣の死神, Fainaru Fantajī Reishiki Gaiden Hyouken no Shinigami) was also illustrated by Shiozawa, supervised by Tetsuya Nomura and published in Young Gangan magazine from April 2012.
He also praised the sympathetic portrayal of Cid Aulstyne, and stated that the game had "so many great moments, [the player will] have to experience each little detail for [themselves]".
[73] Alexa Ray Corriae of GameSpot was pleased with the main cast, enjoyed the romance between Rem and Machina, and praised the reactions of non-playable characters around the Peristylium to Class Zero's achievements during the story.
Her main criticism was that she found the supporting cast fell short as the player often needed to remember faces only briefly seen before.
[76] Mollie L. Patterson of Electronic Gaming Monthly enjoyed the game's fresh take on the high school setting so common in Japanese media, while PC Gamer's Samuel Roberts found the size of the cast hindered the story and compared the experience to a low-quality anime series.
[79] Destructoid's Chris Carter said that, as with other Final Fantasy games, players would find favorites among the characters, and was entertained by the conflict between classes and classmates, which worked in the school setting.
[80] Most of the reviewers made mixed comments on the quality of the localization; Sullivan drew attention to Nine's incongruous addition of "yo" and "hey" to his sentences, Cunningham found the experience better when she switched to the Japanese voice track, while Cunningham appreciated the effort put into the translation while finding the final product inconsistent with the new platforms.
