Mobius Final Fantasy

Did You Know?

• The game's original trademark was 'Mevius Final Fantasy', filed in October 2014.
• The title and logo artwork took inspiration from the concept of the Möbius strip.
• The global version was released in English, Traditional Chinese, and Korean.

Plot

Wol, the main protagonist, awakes with amnesia in the foreign world of Palamecia. He is one of multiple Blanks, people brought to Palamecia from other worlds and suffering from amnesia. Palamecia is under attack from the armies of Chaos, and Wol must fulfill a prophecy that one of the Blanks is a Warrior of Light who will free the world from darkness. He is aided by Princess Sarah Lotte Cornelia and Mog, a moogle. In Chapter 2, Wol and Mog adventure through the Ishtar desert and Rune Temple, with a side quest set in the ruins of Gold Volost of El Dorado. In Chapter 3, Princess Sarah is attacked and held captive by Chaos armies; Wol must save her and fight Chaos Giants. In the Chapter 4 prologue, Wol and Sarah seek the Rune of Earth to keep it from Chaos. Chapter 5 has Wol searching for the source of light to conquer Chaos. Chapter 6 shifts focus to the heretic sorceress Meia; Wol meets her, and together they journey to free Palamecia from its cycle of hope. Chapter 7 involves the two undergoing final trials to fulfill the prophecy. In Chapter 8, Wol, Meia, Garland, and Sarah head to the Gate of Hope to face Chaos. They discover the world's purpose is to generate and accumulate Light of Hope and transfer it to another world, with Chaos resurrecting each time in an endless cycle that erases memories and reuses the first Warrior of Light's journey as a blueprint. Wol chooses to end the cycle by killing Chaos and preventing its resurrection, freeing the inhabitants. The Gate of Hope opens, Garland flees, and Wol, Sarah, and Meia are seen slumbering inside crystals in an unknown location.

Development

The concept behind Mobius was a mobile experience comparable with console games, offering a rich gaming experience anytime, anywhere. Producer Yoshinori Kitase sought to fill a perceived gap in the market, as a smartphone game equivalent to console games had yet to be made. It was called the first Final Fantasy mobile game of this scale. Most concept work and development was done in-house by Square Enix's Business Division 1, with some artwork and graphics outsourced. The production team largely consisted of veterans from console Final Fantasy titles, including scenario supervisor Kazushige Nojima. The story is thematically connected to the original Final Fantasy through its focus on warriors of light fighting chaos and darkness, but is not a remake or directly related to that plot. The team considered it a full entry in the series rather than a spin-off. Nojima later felt his scenario was too bulky for a mobile experience. Development began in early 2014 and prompted skepticism from Square Enix staff and platform managers used to dominant 2D mobile games. Project leader Naoki Hamaguchi cited creating realistic facial expressions equivalent to those in the 2013 film Frozen as a challenge. The team used the Unity game engine, building a relationship with Unity Technologies early in Unity 5's development to have their opinions included. They customized the game editor portion themselves. The team accounted for differences between phone models for high performance, and created a special development environment to handle the Unity engine. Physically based rendering was used for realistic lighting and environmental effects. The budget was far lower than graphically equivalent console titles, so the team was reluctant to buy helping tools and had restrictions on staff numbers: one person worked on all backgrounds, and three were in charge of character designs.

Reception

Before its launch, Mobius Final Fantasy had 200,000 people sign up. Within a week of its Japanese release, that number hit one million, and it doubled to two million the next month. After launch, Square Enix’s Kitase said the game was a win because it brought console-quality graphics to mobile. The company’s 2015 annual report listed it as a successful mobile title, crediting its high production values. It was a finalist for the 2015 Unity Awards in the Best 3D Visual Experience category and made Apple’s Japan iTunes Best of 2015 list. Dengeki Mobile’s pre-release review liked the strategy in early fights and boss battles, though the reviewer couldn’t judge the full game and noted some boss fights might be tough, calling it “simple, yet engaging.” Famitsu praised the look and play but said high settings drained phone batteries fast, recommending tablets instead. Western critics were split: TouchArcade loved the visuals but called the interface an “overly busy nightmare.” Kotaku found the gameplay “monotonous” and the plot thin, though many chapters were still missing. Victoria McNally of MTV.com questioned why the developers made the male lead less sexy while female characters like Final Fantasy XV’s Cindy Aurum stayed scantily clad. For the Western release, pre-registration passed 125,000 users.