Final Fantasy 17 (Bushido games)

Final Fantasy 17 is an action JRPG for the Sony Playstation 6 developed by Square Enix and Italian company Bushido Games.
It's set in the continent of Zatneika and it stars male protagonist Ametatsu Kamikaze, an Esperist from the island of Higanshima who has lost his honor, and his young daughter Yuki Kamikaze, as they go on a quest to retake the throne of Wa-Tsai. Ametatsu is also not a human, but rather a Hu-Tsai, a pale skinned half-human half-snake creature. He's also the first protagonist in the series to be primarily a healer and summoner instead of a fighter.
== Plot ==
The game starts in Akuoza, the City of Peace, an independent city-state ruled by the religious order of the Akuosh, as the Shirei Rebellion has just ended.
The Shadowlord Hideki Kamikaze was one of the losers, as he had supported the claim to the throne of general-lord Shirei against king Teushi. The Four Kings are summoned by the Dai-Akuosh Kenzai for a peace treaty, including the Shadowlord. Ametatsu, being the Shadowlord's brother, decides to come with him, and takes Yuki with him. At the castle, Hideki is offered the chance to have his life spared if he chooses to surrender his army, convert to Akuosh and have a council of Akuosh rule alongside him. He accepts the conditions. 
Seeing this as an act of cowardice and betrayal towards his people, Ametatsu summons the Death Esper Yatagarasu to murder his brother, proclaiming that a coward Shadowlord is worse than a dead Shadowlord, and that no Akuosh shall set foot on the city of Wa-Tsai (the Hu-Tsai worship Dark Spirits, not the Celestial Lords worshipped by the Akuosh). He commits a massive bloodshed in the Akuoza Palace, but he can't kill Hideki, as the Dai-Akuosh casts Nihilseal on him, de-leveling him to 1 and preventing him from summoning. The Dai-Akuosh saves Hideki's life and puts him on the throne of Wa-Tsai, assisted by a council of Akuosh. 
Ametatsu, who refers to his brother as "that chicken without honor that soiled the Shadow Crown", escapes from the palace with Yuki. As he runs away, he gets caught in an ambush and blasted with a rain of arrows, but before dying, he manages to summon Toki, the Esper of Time, who gives him the ability to save the game, reload and rewind time in order to undo his death. As he respawns, he remembers there's another way and takes it, saving his life. 
As he escapes from the City of Peace, Ametatsu fights the first boss, an Elite of the Army of Peace surrounded by mooks. 
Ametatsu and Yuki take a ship to the nearby port town of Mitsan, in the Kingdom of Shayata. While traveling, Toki takes Ametatsu to the Memory Void, the interior of his psyche that was affected by the Nihilseal. Through the souls he has gathered, Ametatsu unlocks his first true Esper, a dark-based undead creature named Zepar. 
TBA 
After finding an abandoned castle near the sea to settle into, Ametatsu relinquishes the claim to the title of Shadowlord, which he sees as soiled forever, and proclaims himself the Grandcrow, in reference to his Esper Yatagarasu. He decides that Higanshima needs to start a new era and unify the whole continent under its rule, completely eradicating the Akuosh religion in a Great Purge. 
TBA 
After taking the City of Peace, he renames it Karasuno ("City of the Crow") and decides to make it the new capital of his continent-spanning empire. The Dai Akuosh, however, has escaped to Wa-Tsai and is looking for the Prison of the Unknown God which is hidden under the sea, planning to free the Unknown God and join forces with them to defeat Ametatsu's army once and for all and stop the Great Purge. 
TBA
As the Dai-Akuosh reverses the Soulchaining Ritual used by the Bahrites, the Unknown God's Soul is revived and the Prison rises from the sea and into the sky due to the Unknown God being now free. The Dai-Akuosh looks for the Prison of the Heart so that he can completely reverse the ritual used by the Bahrite Civilization and return the Unknown God to life.
TBA
Just as Ametatsu reaches the point where the Heart is, Kenzai puts the Heart (Kjata) in its place and a sudden quake comes. The Unknown God (revealed to be named Bahamut) breaks off the stone confining them and flies into space, ultimately reducing the Prison to dust; Ametatsu orders a party led by Yuki to run for the brain and destroy the Typhon, now fused with Kenzai. He then summons the Great Espers and uses the last of his energy to break the barrier protecting the Kjata. As he leaves, he tells Yuki that she's the next Grandcrow and he's not going to make it alive. She hugs him and leads the party that destroys the Soul.
The final boss ensues, as Ametatsu sacrifices himself to go for the heart and summons all four Great Espers at the same time to destroy Bahamut: the player directly controls a party made of four Great Espers as they attack Bahamut's body from the outside in a battle of giants. Meanwhile, the rest of the party has reached the head. They fight the Typhon-Kenzai and the Dai-Akuosh ultimately dies along with the soul. Then the Yuki party escapes from Bahamut on the airship after both Body and Soul are dead. 
Ametatsu awakens inside the Kjata, using his last strength to kill it. The final boss is the Kjata fought by Ametatsu alone, which has fewer HP than the Typhon-Kenzai and is ultimately destroyed by a dying Ametatsu as he casts the powerful limit break Deathwish, which completely consumes it.
After returning to Karasuno, Yuki is crowned the new Grandcrow, but she cries thinking of her father.
== Party members and classes ==
=== Party members: ===
-Ametatsu Kamikaze (Esperist): A powerful Esperist from Higanshina. He fights to take back the throne that his brother surrendered. 
-Yuki Kamikaze (Samurai): Ametatsu's 16-year-old daughter and a trainee in the samurai fighting style.
-Sara Shido (Engineer): An engineer girl from the city-state of Achayo, and the daughter of the world-famous engineer Kanbei Shido (this game's Cid). 
- Eiji Hayashi (Mage) 
- Hanzo Nikaido (Ninja) 
- Mazaru "the Monkey Demon" (Savage) 
- Harunori Sadamoto (Dragoon)
==== Classes: ====
Each party member has a class associated with them, which, after a certain point, can be promoted into one of two Master Classes after using the Seal of Tao to choose the Path of Yin or the Path of Yang. Each class specializes into a specific subset of skills and 
Esperist---> Esper Diviner (Yang) / Esper Necromancer (Yin): uses staves which act as long-range weapons, dealing magical damage instead of physical by shooting orbs of energy, and can summon Espers. The Esper Diviner path specializes in White Magic, which consists of healing and buffing skills, while the Esper Necromancer specializes in Blood Magic, consisting of dark-elemental skills, instant death skills and special effects which cost HP instead of MP. 
Samurai---> Samurai Knight (Yang)/ Elite Blade (Yin): uses katana, acting as a short-range fighter. Specializes in Bushido Arts, which power up weapons with elements. The Samurai Knight is a path more focused on tanking damage, learning Bushido Arts to draw aggro, raise defense, and becoming able to equip naginata lances and kanabo clubs, while the Elite Blade doesn't equip any new weapon but specializes in dodging and dealing lightning-fast attacks dealing huge amounts of DPS, at the cost of defensive stats.
Engineer---> Master Mechanist (Yang)/ Sharp Shooter (Yin): uses guns, learning skills called Devices. The Master Mechanist learns to use bows and focuses on summoning assist Devices like robots, machines, drones, etc and debuffing or manipulating mechanical enemies, while the Sharp Shooter is more focused on DPS and specializes in direct-shot Devices such as rifles and bombs.
Mage---> Element Master (Yang)/ Chronos Sage (Yin) : uses staves and bows. Learns offensive or debuffing magic. The Element Master path specializes in Black Magic, which deals damage (mostly elemental, but some high-level skills are non-elemental), while the Chronos Sage specializes in Green Magic, consisting of debuffing and status-inflicting skills and some percent damage attacks such as Gravity. 
Ninja---> Kitsune Shaman (Yang)/ Oni Assassin (Yin): uses knives to attack directly or throw at a distance, and has skills such as Ninjutsu (physical techniques), and a few Blood Magic and Green Magic skills. The Oni Assassin specializes in Ninjutsu, dealing DPS, doing high critical hits and learning some instant kill skills, at the cost of being frail defensively, while the Kitsune Shaman specializes in Green Magic and Blood Magic and is more balanced overall. Both promoted classes can use bows, but the standard Ninja can't. 
Savage---> Spirit Monk (Yang)/ Berserk Spirit (Yang): A strong physical class focused on attack and speed. Can fight barehanded but also equip kanabo clubs, and learns Rages, special skills based on fists and hits with a club, but also raising the attack stat or self-inducing berserk. As a Spirit Monk focuses more on barehanded Rages and learns White Magic to heal, while as a Berserk Spirit focuses more on the kanabo club and powerful attacks.
Dragoon---> Holy Dragon (Yang)/Dread Dragon (Yin): A class focused on naginata lances, which learns Naginata-Do skills. As a Holy Dragon becomes more of a magic tank and can equip kanabo clubs, and learns a few White Magic skills for healing, while as a Dread Dragon equips katana and learns Blood Magic.
== The Continent of Zatneika ==
Zatneika is divided into four kingdoms: Higanshima, Holy Shayata, the Li-Teng Federation and Mizak, and a neutral territory called the City of Peace. 
Higanshima is a kingdom vaguely reminiscent of the Mongol Empire and Sengoku-era Japan that is comprised of several islands in the far east of the continent, the most important of which is Mist Island ("Mist" is "Tsai" in Higan language, so Hu-Tsai means "Mist-Men"), protected by a layer of poisonous mist where only Hu-Tsai can survive, where the capital Wa-Tsai lies, along with the ancient Death Sanctuary. The Higan are ruled by a king called the Shadowlord and have always valued their independence and cultural identity. Any attempt to submit them has been met with fierce resistance in the past, until Hideki's surrender. Unlike the other kingdoms, the Higan don't follow the Akuosh religion, but still worship the Dark Spirits, called Espers by them, and still practice summoning arts that are strictly forbidden by the Akuosh. Its protector is the ice-and-dark elemental Shiva, the Great Esper of Death.
The Holy Kingdom of Shayata is the biggest and most important of the four. It encompasses the Great Taklobi Desert in the north, where the Life Sanctuary lies, and the steppes of Parshi in the south. Its protector is the fire-and-light themed Brahma, the Great Esper of Life.
The Li-Teng Federation is a league of city-states ruled by Dukes, one of which is elected king. It's separated from Shayata by the Meikun mountain range, and it houses the tallest summit in the continent, Qulonga Peak, where the War Sanctuary lies. Its protector is the thunder-and-wind themed Indra, the Great Esper of War.
Mizak is a wooded kingdom covered by the Jungle of Bahr and filled with ancient palaces and ruins dating back to the ancient Bahrite civilization, the creators of the Akuosh religion. The old capital, Ancient Gizask, is now overgrown, and the Growth Sanctuary lies in ruins. Its protector is the earth-and-nature themed Vishnu, the Great Esper of Growth.
Akuoza, the City of Peace, is independent from the Four Kingdoms and does not take part in battles, serving as a meeting point for the four cultures and a neutral territory where the kings can meet for peace treaties. While the Akuosh do have an army (the Army of Peace), they mostly serve to defend the city, except in case of war against people declared "enemies of peace and the Lords", such as Ametatsu.
Beneath the Eastern Sea, in the depths of a vortex, lies the Prison of the Unknown God, an ancient, majestifc city built by the Bahrite Civilization which was turned into a prison after the Unknown God nuked Gizask with their Exaflare. The petrified Body of the Unknown God (Bahamut), containing the Soul (Typhon) in a deactivated state, has become the central tower, while deep underground lies the Prison of the Heart, where the Heart (Kjata) is confined. This location emerges from the sea right before retaking Higanshima and can be accessed only as the final level. 
== Trivia ==
This is the third Final Fantasy game not to have a Cid in it, not even mentioned in dialogue, after Final Fantasy 1 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake. The equivalent of Cid is an engineer called Shido, which is the name of Cid in Japanese, though written in Kanji instead of Katakana and his last name instead of his first.
This is the first Final Fantasy where the characters and places are all named in Kanji instead of Katakana. Even clearly non-Japanese terms such as the kingdoms' names and the Espers. 
This is the first Final Fantasy where the protagonist is evil (from a modern Western standpoint), and the main antagonist, the Dai-Akuosh Kenzai would technically be a hero in stopping him.
Ametatsu Kamikaze was designed to be different from most FF main characters: 
- while most protagonists are human (or humanoid), Ametatsu is a Hu-Tsai, which look like humanoid-reptilian hybrids with pale white skin, snake-like scales, humanlike hair (usually black), purple eyes and a long tail.
- while most protagonists are either teenaged or still under 25, usually aren't married and never have children, Ametatsu is 38 and has a 16-year-old daughter. 
- while most protagonists are frontline fighters, usually using swords, Ametatsu is a healer and a summoner who uses staves from a distance (a role typically reserved for the female protagonist). 
- while most protagonists have Western-style names in katakana as canon names, Ametatsu is a Japanese name written in kanji (it means "Rain Dragon"). Unlike most main characters in the series (aside from Vaan, Noctis and Cloud in the remake), Ametatsu cannot be renamed at all. 
- while most protagonists usually live after the ending, Ametatsu sacrifices himself to save Yuki.
The game's kingdoms are reminiscent of various places in the world: Higanshima is inspired by Mongolia and Japan, Shayata by Persia and Arabia, Li-Teng by China and Tibet and Mizak by Asian Southeast peoples. The City of Peace is based on India. All of these kingdoms, however, are inhabited by people with Japanese (or Japanese-sounding) names. 
Originally, the protagonist Ametatsu was meant to be named "Elise Kamikaze" (pronounced "eh-LEE-say" and written with the Kanji for "god" and "oath"), but was changed, The reasons for this are because it's not Japanese in origin, because it doesn't fit the "sky" theme naming of most Final Fantasy protagonists, and because most Western players would pronounce his name as "eh-LEEZ" and never associate it with a "badass" male character. 
The Hu-Tsai race's name is inspired by Mongolian band The Hu. 
ZOA-Knights of Eisen is a distant sequel to this game. This game is about the foundation of the Hu-Tsai Empire of the Grandcrow, while that game is set after its disbandment.
Category:Final Fantasy (series)
Category:Final Fantasy Games
Category:Role-Playing Games
Category:Action Role-Playing Games
Category:Japanese Role-Playing Games
Category:PlayStation 6 Games
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