Franchise / Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy

"One myth, countless stories. The New Tale of the Crystal. Like the light that shines through the Crystal, the universe shines with multicolored content."

Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy (roughly translates to "New Tale of the Crystal") is a collective series of games and stories made under the label and mythology established in Final Fantasy XIII, and thus part of the eardrum-rupturingly popular Final Fantasy series. Similar to the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and Ivalice Alliance of games, the games in Fabula Nova Crystallis each feature their own unique characters and settings, but nevertheless share a common theme and mythology, much in the same vein of a shared mythology found in the "Nintendo era" of Final Fantasy games: the original Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy V.

List of Fabula Nova Crystallis games:

The Lightning Saga

• Final Fantasy XIII (2009 - PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC^note Released in 2014)
  • Final Fantasy XIII-2 (2011 - PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC^note Released in 2014)
  • Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (2013 - PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC^note Released in 2015)

The World of Orience

• Final Fantasy Type-0 (2011 - PlayStation Portable) ^note Previously titled Final Fantasy Agito XIII and exclusive to mobile platforms
  • Final Fantasy Agito (2014 - 2015 - iOS, Android) ^note As of November 2015, the game is no longer in service or available for download
    • Final Fantasy Agito+ (Cancelled - PlayStation Vita) ^note Originally announced as an enhanced, updated port of Final Fantasy Agito, the project suffered numerous delays and was finally, quietly cancelled in 2016.
  • Final Fantasy Type-0 HD (2015 - PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC)
  • Final Fantasy Awakening (2016 - 2020 - iOS, Android, PC) ^note Is known as Final Fantasy Type-0 Online in some Asian territories.
  • Final Fantasy Type-NEXT (Cancelled) ^note Tentative title. Originally announced in 2015, both Hajime Tabata's departure from Square-Enix and Luminous Studio's reshuffling have resulted in the project being put on ice indefinitely.

The Final Fantasy XV Universe ^note Thematically part of the series, though mythos-wise it has disconnected from the core structure

• Final Fantasy XV (2016 - PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC^note Released in 2018) ^note Previously titled Final Fantasy Versus XIII and formerly exclusive to PlayStation 3

  • Episode Gladiolus (2017)
  • Episode Prompto (2017)
  • Multiplayer Expansion: COMRADES (2017)
  • Episode Ignis (2017)
  • Royal Pack (2018)
  • Episode Ardyn (2019)
  • Episode Aranea (Cancelled)
  • Episode Lunafreya (Cancelled)
  • Episode Noctis (Cancelled)

  • Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV (2016 - Theaters, Blu-ray/DVD)
  • Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV (2016 - Digital anime series)
  • Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ardyn - Prologue (2019 - Digital anime short)
  • Final Fantasy XV: The Dawn of the Future (2019 - Novel) ^note Previously announced as a second season pass of DLC Episodes, consisting of individual stories for Ardyn, Aranea, Lunafreya and Noctis. The latter three were cancelled with their stories now being compiled as a closing novel.
  • Justice Monsters Five (2016 - 2017/2019 - iOS, Android, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as a Minigame)
  • A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV (2016 - PlayStation 4, Xbox One) ^note Gamestop exclusive pre-order bonus
  • King's Knight: Wrath of the Dark Dragon (2016 - 2019 - iOS, Android) ^note A reboot of the original Famicom King's Knight
  • Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire (2017 - iOS, Android, FireOS)
  • Monster of the Deep: Final Fantasy XV (2017 - PlayStation VR)
  • Final Fantasy XV - Pocket Edition (2018 - iOS, Android, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch)^note "Remake" of the main campaign for mobile devices.
  • Final Fantasy XV: War for Eos (2022 - iOS, Android)

Mythology and themes of Fabula Nova Crystallis:

The Myth

In the beginning, the god Bhunivelze had killed his mother, Mwynn, to take full control of the Mortal World for himself. As a result, Mwynn was sent into the Unseen World. Despite achieving his goal of total control of the Mortal World, Bhunivelze became troubled. He believed that Mwynn had placed a curse on the realm of the living so that it would one day be destroyed. To put a stop to the curse Bhunivelze sought to destroy his mother once and for all, but was unable to reach the Unseen World without giving up control of the Mortal World. To find the entrance to the realm of the dead, Bhunivelze created the fal'Cie Pulse, tasked with searching the world for the door to the Unseen World.

To assist Pulse, Bhunivelze soon after created the fal'Cie Etro, but became distraught to discover that he unknowingly created her in the likeness of Mwynn. Bhunivelze gave Etro no powers and to replace Etro, Bhunivelze created the fal'Cie Lindzei, tasked with protecting the world and Bhunivelze himself. With the fal'Cie at work, Bhunivelze put himself into a deep crystal sleep, to be awoken only when the door to the Unseen World was found.

When Pulse and Lindzei were given a task to fulfill by their creator, Etro became distressed over her lack of power and purpose in the world. Etro killed herself and disappeared from the Mortal World and from Etro's spilled blood, Lindzei created humanity who took root and grew in the Mortal World.^note According to Fragments After, one of the first humans was Yeul. Etro felt a bond with these creatures she unknowingly helped create, as they, like her, were destined to die.

In the Unseen World, Etro discovered Mwynn being consumed by a strange energy known as chaos. With her last breath, Mwynn tasked Etro with protecting the balance of the universe, for if the balance between the Visible and Unseen Worlds was to be disrupted, the universe itself would collapse. The death of the Mortal World was not a curse, but in fact, fate.

Despite this, Etro did not understand what Mwynn had asked of her as she was consumed by the chaos. Etro became lonely, though she felt affection toward humans, who lived only to die. Etro placed a piece of chaos within each human being, which came to be known as the "heart". So long as humans continue to be born and die, then the universe will remain in balance.

One day, Pulse and Lindzei absconded from the world, never to be seen again. Many of the humans, in turn, worshiped – and some abhorred – these fal'Cie as gods. Etro, meanwhile, became known as the Goddess of Death, who waited to greet each human as they passed through the door to the Unseen World.

And Bhunivelze continues to sleep until the end of time.

Common themes

• Crystal: As in any Final Fantasy, crystals are a central motif. They are sources of power of an almost insurmountable magnitude created by the fal'Cie. Crystals are capable of powering much of humanity's technology, as well as granting certain humans the ability to use magic; though the circumstances of this change between each separate title in the series. In addition to this, a human imbued with a small shard of a Crystal is marked as a l'Cie, a fal'Cie's avatar in the world destined to carry out a Focus.
• fal'Cie: Machine-like demi-gods who create the worlds humans inhabit, and govern them, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly so. Each fal'Cie has its own personality and motives, most of which are incomprehensible to lesser beings. A good way of looking at it though, is the most benevolent of fal'Cie see humans as pets needed to be cared for. Certain fal'Cie will impose a Focus on a human, turning them into a l'Cie. l'Cie are charged with carrying out this Focus for the beings, or be condemned to a Fate Worse than Death.
• l'Cie: Humans who have been given a Focus by the fal'Cie, and more often than not, special powers accompanying them. It's not all it's cracked up to be though; l'Cie are generally doomed whether they succeed or fail. Failure to complete their Focus will turn them into hulking, zombie-like Cie'th husks while succeeding in their Focus will transform them into statue-like Crystals.
• Focus: Missions given to the l'Cie by the fal'Cie. l'Cie must accomplish these in a certain amount of time or be doomed into eternal damnation as Cie'th husks. Winning isn't any better - completing a focus turns a l'Cie into a statue.
• Crystal Stasis: If a l'Cie successfully completes its Focus (or dies in battle, sometimes) they are turned into Crystal statues, granted eternal life. Basically, they become a Human Popsicle.
• Etro & Etro's Gate: The Goddess of Death. When Etro's Gate is opened, the souls of the dead form a streak of light that begin their ascent to Heaven. Only certain l'Cie are gifted with the sight of the Kingdom of the Dead and are capable of witnessing these "expiring souls." It is assumed that a near-death experience is a driving factor for activating this ability.

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