Fantasy Earth Zero
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''Fantasy Earth Zero'' was a 2006
massively multiplayer online role-playing game A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...
developed for
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. Originally developed by Puraguru (now known as
Vanillaware is a Japanese video game developer based in Osaka. An independent company, it was founded in 2002 under the name Puraguru by George Kamitani, a game developer who had previously worked at Capcom and Atlus, and directed ''Princess Crown'' (1997 ...
) and Multiterm under the title ''Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion'', it was released by
Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing video game, role-playing game franchises, such as ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', and '' ...
as a paid product through its
PlayOnline PlayOnline is an online gaming service owned by Square Enix as the launcher application and Internet service for many of the online PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 games the company publishes. Launched on June 6, 2000, the service hosted games ...
service. It relaunched under Gamepot as a free game, and was later handled by developers SoftGear and Ocean Frontier and was transferred back to Square Enix. Under the premise of a world where rival kingdoms engage in frequent conflicts, players choose an allied kingdom and fight against each other in groups of up to fifty players. The game closed down in September 2022. ''Fantasy Earth'' began in 2001 as a project under
Enix was a Japanese multimedia publisher who handled and oversaw video games, manga, guidebooks, and merchandise. It was founded in 1975 by Yasuhiro Fukushima as Eidansha Boshu Service Center, initially as a tabloid publisher and later attempting t ...
, with Puraguru founder George Kamitani steering the project away from its initial concept of humans fighting vampires to its current kingdom-based aesthetic. Kamitani and Puraguru left the project in 2004 due to differences with Square Enix, with Multiterm taking over production duties. Production met with several challenges including logistic issues, the technology required for large-scape online battles, and the merger of Enix with
Square In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...
in 2003. The original music was composed by Basiscape, a company founded by composer
Hitoshi Sakimoto is a Japanese composer and sound producer. He is best known for scoring the video games '' Final Fantasy Tactics'' and ''Final Fantasy XII'', though he has composed soundtracks for numerous other games. Sakimoto first played music and video games ...
. The original release was unsuccessful, but following its re-release under Gamepot, it became successful and profitable; it gained one million players by 2011. Reviews have praised its aesthetic and gameplay. Over the years, ''Fantasy Earth'' featured collaborations with several other video game series, and spawned two spin-off mobile titles. Kamitani and Basiscape would collaborate on all future Vanillaware titles.


Gameplay

''Fantasy Earth Zero'' was a
massively multiplayer online role-playing game A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...
(MMORPG) in which the player controls a customizable avatar and chooses one of the five nations to ally with and fight for. There was no storyline beyond the setting and premise, with the intended narrative being created by the battles of player factions. In the game's setting of Melpharia, a long era of peace causes ancient petty differences between the nations to erupt into full-scale wars for control over magical crystals that gave birth to all things. During the character creation stage, the player chose a gender,
character class In tabletop games and video games, a character class is an occupation, profession, or role assigned to a game character to highlight and differentiate their capabilities and specializations. In role-playing games (RPGs), character classes ag ...
, weapon type and starting nation. The main emphasis of gameplay was
player-versus-player Player versus player (PvP) is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between human players. This is often compared to player versus environment (PvE), in which the game itself controls its players' opponents and is usually of ...
battles, carried out on the same server; starting with a minimum of seven versus seven, it went up to large-scale battles between two armies of fifty players. Alongside this, there was a
player versus environment Player versus environment (PvE, also known as player versus monster (PvM) and commonly misinterpreted as player versus entity) is a term used for both single player and online games, particularly MMORPGs, CORPGs, MUDs, other online role-playing ...
element, with players able to fight hordes of monsters for lower rewards. Player-versus-player battles were balanced by forcing each side to have a similar number of participants, placing "overflow" players into a queue waiting to enter the battle. Players from the two warring kingdoms received preference in this queue. A maximum of fifty players were allowed on each sides of the battle. Kingdom-versus-kingdom battles were all held on the same server. During battles, players needed to manually aim attacks at their opponent, and were allowed free movement through the map. Victory for either side was determined by territory controlled and individual enemy players defeated.
Experience point An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Experien ...
s were distributed across the victorious player army based on overall performance. Another element of these battles was a building and fortification aspect similar to
tower defense Tower defense (TD) is a Video game genre, subgenre of Strategy video game, strategy games where the goal is to defend a player's territories or possessions by obstructing the enemy attackers or by stopping enemies from reaching the exits, usual ...
games. Players could use resources taken from crystals scattered across the battle map and construct different types of fortification and buildings, ranging from defensive structures to buildings which offered player advantages or could be used to directly attack the enemy. During battles, players could also use special structures to summon allied monsters into the battlefield, granting advantages in battles. Later updates added new building types, weather effects, and additional levels of factions for players to interact with. In-game items could be earned, or bought for real money at a dedicated shop.


Development


''The Ring of Dominion''

''Fantasy Earth Zero'' began production in 2001 as ''Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion'', a small-scale online game project led by
Enix was a Japanese multimedia publisher who handled and oversaw video games, manga, guidebooks, and merchandise. It was founded in 1975 by Yasuhiro Fukushima as Eidansha Boshu Service Center, initially as a tabloid publisher and later attempting t ...
. During this period, it was headed by George Kamitani, a developer whose previous work included fighting games for
Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...
and the
Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...
game ''
Princess Crown ''Princess Crown'' is an action role-playing game developed and published by Atlus in collaboration with Sega that was released only in Japan. Originally released in 1997 for the Sega Saturn, it was ported to the PlayStation Portable in 2005. Us ...
''. The project ballooned in scale, and to facilitate its development Kamitani created a small development studio dubbed Puraguru (later known as
Vanillaware is a Japanese video game developer based in Osaka. An independent company, it was founded in 2002 under the name Puraguru by George Kamitani, a game developer who had previously worked at Capcom and Atlus, and directed ''Princess Crown'' (1997 ...
) in 2002. The project was originally planned as a battle scenario between humans and vampires, but under Kamitani's guidance the scenario changed to a battle between princess-themed kingdoms. It was Kamitani's first time developing a 3D game, and he recycled artwork and assets from ''Dragon's Crown'', a cancelled
Dreamcast The is the final home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999 and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, prec ...
sequel to ''Princess Crown''. Production was originally placed in a small section of the Enix company building nicknamed the "submarine". By 2003, Enix had merged with
Square In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...
to become
Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing video game, role-playing game franchises, such as ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', and '' ...
, and Kamitani stated that the newly merged company took the project away from him. Kamitani and Puraguru left production in 2004, and development was taken over by Multiterm. By this point, Tetsuya Fujimoto acted as the game's director, while Akashi Yamaguchi was lead designer. The overall theme of the gameplay was emulating the entertainment of both player battles and normal player-versus-environment combat. Production of ''Fantasy Earth'' began when
asymmetric digital subscriber line Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is a type of digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide ...
s (a high bandwidth connection technology allowing multiple people to access the same website) were becoming common, but the idea of a hundred players fighting each other was highly ambitious for its time and caused several problems. The game design was intended to be fast and action-based similar to
first-person shooter A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a First person (video games), first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through t ...
s, putting it in contrast with the command-based character control of most MMOs at the time. Several planned elements, such as stamina in battles and item or currency-based loss penalties, were dropped from the final release based on player feedback. Other issues included the lead staff changing multiple times, with Kamitani's departure being one of the more notable; enabling voice chat without crashing the system; and the merger of Square and Enix during the game's production. The music was composed primarily by a team from Basiscape, a company founded by former Square composer
Hitoshi Sakimoto is a Japanese composer and sound producer. He is best known for scoring the video games '' Final Fantasy Tactics'' and ''Final Fantasy XII'', though he has composed soundtracks for numerous other games. Sakimoto first played music and video games ...
, who came on board when Kamitani still led development. The music was co-composed by Sakimoto,
Masaharu Iwata is a Japanese video game composer. In high school his musical projects included composing on a synthesizer and playing in a cover band. After graduating from high school he joined Bothtec as a composer. He composed the soundtrack to several game ...
and
Manabu Namiki is a Japanese video game composer who is primarily known for his work in shoot 'em up games. He has worked at game companies such as Allumer, NMK, Raizing and M2. In October 2002, Namiki, Hitoshi Sakimoto, and Masaharu Iwata founded the m ...
. Iwata composed the title theme, while Sakimoto contributed three tracks, and Namiki contributed one track. Another contributor to the original version was Kenichi Koyano, an independent composer who has worked on a variety of titles, including other projects Basiscape worked on. ''The Ring of Dominion'' was announced in September 2004, scheduled for a release late in 2005. It was a notable game in Square Enix's business plan for its use of
PlayOnline PlayOnline is an online gaming service owned by Square Enix as the launcher application and Internet service for many of the online PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 games the company publishes. Launched on June 6, 2000, the service hosted games ...
, a subscription-based online service platform for its titles at the time. It was the second announced game to use it after ''
Final Fantasy XI also known as ''Final Fantasy XI Online'', is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), originally developed and published by Square (video game company), Square and then published by Square Enix as the eleventh main installme ...
'', and formed part of the company's expanding corporate strategy at the time. It was promoted through ''Chains of Promathia'', an expansion to ''Final Fantasy XI''. Its first beta test began in October the following year. Due to its unusual network design, the team partnered with a local vocational school and installed the game client on their computers, enrolling its students in the beta test. For the different beta tests, they chose different kingdoms to represent, allowing them to adjust the balance so each would be able to have a chance in battles. The full game was released in Japan on February 23, 2006. It was originally released with the release model of an initial purchase fee followed by a monthly subscription. In November of that year, Square Enix transferred ownership and management of ''Fantasy Earth'' to Gamepot; the move came with a shift to item-based billing, with the base game being a free download.


''Zero''

With the transition from Square Enix to Gamepot, the game was renamed ''Fantasy Earth Zero''. The game's title referred to its setting of Earth, the fantasy aesthetic, and the need to work together to win battles. It relaunched under its new title and model on December 7, 2006. Developer Multiterm changed its development structure to release regular updates and the change to item-based purchases positively altered both developer income and the general flow of gameplay compared to ''The Ring of Dominion''. An issue with the item purchases was to make them both tempting for players and not mandatory, along with giving options for customisation. Due to this, several mechanics from ''The Ring of Dominion'' were adjusted and rebalanced for the systems of ''Zero''. The next few years, the title underwent multiple updates to its gameplay systems, adding character classes and balance adjustments. Multiterm was merged with
NHN Japan Corporation NHN Japan Corporation is the Japanese subsidiary of NHN Entertainment Corporation. Not to be confused with the previous NHN Japan Corporation which was later renamed Line Corporation was a Japanese internet company. It was a subsidiary of Z ...
in 2007, and continued development in this capacity until 2008. The game also saw numerous collaborations with other video game series such as ''
Trails A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or a small paved road (though it can also be a route along a navigable waterways) generally not intended for usage by motorized vehicles, usually passing through a natural area. Ho ...
''. As a result of discussions concerning the game's future between NHN Japan and Gamepot, staff members from Multiterm founded FenixSoft, which took over production of ''Fantasy Earth'' from NHN Japan. The game production and development was restructured; Square Enix maintained oversight of the game as supervisor and the original rights holder, Gamepot remained as publisher and server operator, and FenixSoft–later renamed SoftGear–handled actual game development. While some of the original staff remained, several new staff came on board to replace members who remained with NHN Japan. On March 30, 2012, a major update dubbed ''Chronicles'' was released for the game, featuring some gameplay adjustments, added environmental effects, and new characters with associated narratives. For the update, new battle themes were introduced. The themes were composed by Ryo Yamazaki, Hidenori Iwasaki and
Tsuyoshi Sekito is a Japanese video game composer, arranger, and musician who has been employed at Square Enix since 1995. As a composer, he is best known for scoring '' Brave Fencer Musashi'' (1998), '' Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children'' (2005) and '' The ...
. In November 2015, Gamepot transferred all operations back to Square Enix. Between 2018 and 2020, production responsibilities were handed to Ocean Frontier. ''Fantasy Earth Zero'' was released in mainland China during April 2007 by Square Enix's local branch. For its release in Taiwan, Square Enix and Gamepot partnered with
Gamania Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. (Gamania) is a PC online game and digital entertainment corporation with its headquarters located in Taipei, Taiwan. It was the first Taiwanese online game brand to expand globally, with overseas branch offices ...
. It was released on July 25 that year under the title ''Fantasy Wars''. Due to the end of the licensing agreement, the Taiwanese version was shut down on July 1, 2013. A North American release through Gamepot's local branch was announced in January 2010, supported by Square Enix. The title went through several beta tests, refining the game balance and stability before its final release. Square Enix handled the game's localization, which was described as an easy process. It was released in North America on May 18 the same year. Its North American servers were shut down on March 24, 2011, less than a year after the game's debut in the region. Square Enix closed ''Fantasy Earth Zero'' on September 28, 2022.


Reception

The release of ''The Ring of Dominion'' was a commercial failure, with low subscription rates contributing to it being sold to Gamepot. By contrast, ''Fantasy Earth Zero'' rapidly became very popular and one of Japan's most active online games of 2007. Between 2007 and 2009, registered active users increased from 200,000 to 700,000. By July 2011, the game was supporting one million concurrent players. The original release met with a generally positive reception from Japanese critics, who praised its fast pace and addicting gameplay loops. ''Game Watch Impress'', reviewing the version from the final beta test, called it one of the most innovative online experiences available at the time, praising its networking and gameplay loop, and looking forward to both its future game modes and its possible influence on the Japanese MMO market going forward. '' 4Gamer.net'', again reviewing the last beta version, enjoyed the combat loop and movement, but noted that its interface and item management might be confusing for players. Contemporary and retrospective of ''Fantasy Earth Zero'' were also positive, praising similar elements to its original release, but also noting mechanical improvements and positively mentioning the item billing system. ''Game Watch Impress'', reviewing one year after its service started, again praised the gameplay and cited the changes implemented after ''The Ring of Dominion'' as an improvement both new and returning players would appreciate. ''4Gamer.net'', writing a gameplay report on a 2007 update, noted continued mechanical additions and improvements which helped keep the game alive and interesting. ''
Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...
'', writing in 2020, noted its continuity and cited it as a good experience for casual players, praising its weapon variety and variety of battle modes. Writing about a preview build for the press, ''MMORPG.com''s Carolyn Koh had little commentary about the gameplay but noted "the graphics and animation look good and the music is superb". Christophor Rick of ''Gamers Daily News'', also writing a preview based on the pre-release build, felt there was a lack of explanation for elements such as shops and tutorials for quick movement. Michael Sagoe of ''OnRPG'', reviewing the North American release, found himself enjoying the gameplay despite not being a fan of battle-focused titles. ''
PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...
'' noted its "surprising" success in Japan given its convoluted development history.


Legacy

Following their departure from production, Kamitani and Puraguru relocated to Kansai and renamed themselves Vanillaware, going on to develop multiple titles including ''
Odin Sphere ''Odin Sphere'' is an action role-playing game developed by Vanillaware for the PlayStation 2. It was published by Atlus (Japan and North America) in 2007, and by Square Enix (Australia and Europe) in 2008. A remake, titled ''Odin Sphere Leifth ...
'' and a reimagined version of ''
Dragon's Crown ''Dragon's Crown'' is a 2013 action role-playing game developed by Vanillaware for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. The game was published in Japan and North America by Atlus and in PAL regions by NIS America. A high-definition port fo ...
''. Kamitani's parting with Square Enix was on poor terms, and he disliked the idea of working with the company again. Due to their earlier positive relationship, Kamitani has exclusively involved Basiscape and Sakimoto in his projects' music and sound design. The indie title ''Fantasy Versus'', developed and published by Animu Games, was influenced by the gameplay of ''Fantasy Earth Zero''. A spin-off title set in the original game's universe, ''Melpharia March'', was released on September 19, 2013, for
iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
. An Android version was released on August 12 the following year. The gameplay used a field-based tower defense style similar to the ''
Plants vs. Zombies ''Plants vs. Zombies'' is a video game Media franchise, franchise developed by PopCap Games, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts (EA). The series follows the affiliates of David "Crazy Dave" Blazing as they use his plants to defend against a zombi ...
'' series. Developed by Square Enix, the title was first proposed in 2012 by current staff as an expansion to the ''Fantasy Earth'' universe which could be taken by players on the go. Both versions were shut down on December 15, 2015. A mobile sequel, ''Fantasy Earth Genesis'', was developed by Asobimo under supervision from Square Enix for Android and iOS. It was originally scheduled for a Western release in partnership with Quantum Games, and made available for pre-registration. Its gameplay was a
multiplayer online battle arena Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games in which two teams of Gamer, players compete on a structured battlefield, each controlling a single Player character, character with distinctive abilit ...
-style title sharing the parent game's 50-versus-50 player battles and summoned monsters. The title was proposed by Asobimo to Square Enix in 2015 as a mobile MMO using the ''Fantasy Earth''
intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...
. The title was aimed both at newcomers to the game and veteran players of ''Fantasy Earth''. The biggest challenge presented to the developers was adapting a PC-focused gameplay loop into the limited control options of a mobile title, in addition to the technical difficulties of replicating the original's large-scale battles. The team used assets from ''Fantasy Earth Zero'' to create the character models and environments. At release, it saw a mixed popular reception. Despite extensive support, Square Enix felt that it was becoming difficult to provide a satisfactory experience. ''Genesis'' ended service on March 31, 2020.


Notes


References


External links

* {{Vanillaware 2006 video games Free-to-play video games Gamania games Gamepot games Inactive massively multiplayer online games Massively multiplayer online role-playing games Square Enix games Vanillaware games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Hitoshi Sakimoto Video games scored by Manabu Namiki Video games scored by Masaharu Iwata Video games scored by Tsuyoshi Sekito Windows games Windows-only games