Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Was Almost Cancelled, Says Game Director
"Final Fantasy Type-0 HD" was successfully released for the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One on March 17, 2015. This is the game's debut for Western audiences. "Final Fantasy Type-0," the original version was released in Japan in October 2011.
In a recent report in IGN, the game's director Hajime Tabata revealed that the game's developers came close to cancelling its development in favor of another game called "The 3rd Birthday." Tabata was heavily involved in both games' development in 2010. "The 3rd Birthday" was released in March 2011, earlier than "Final Fantasy Type-0 HD."
Tabata said that "management gave (him) direct orders to focus on developing The 3rd Birthday, requiring me to step away from developing Final Fantasy Type-0 for about a year."
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After its release in Japan in October 2011, the development team started to work on a high definition version of the game. Development officially started in the middle of 2012 but the team was experimenting on porting the game to HD during an earlier stage in its development.
No new gameplay was developed for the HD version. The team "focused on upgrading the graphics, adjusting existing gameplay for home consoles, and including a lower difficulty level." Apparently the original version of the game released in Japan was too difficult.
The game's story follows Class Zero, a class of 12 students from a magical academy called Vermillion Peristylium, in the Dominion of Rubrum. When their home is attacked by the Militesi Empire, the group of young students is called into action to defeat the enemy forces and defend their home. According to Wikipedia, the developers intentionally wanted the game's setting and presentation to be of "historical documentaries" style and for its story to be "darker than other 'Final Fantasy' titles."
The game was originally designed for mobiles and PSP, but mobile development was eventually cancelled in 2011.
