Coming out in a little over a week is Square Enix’s much anticipated English release of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, an offshoot of the traditional Final Fantasy series, allowing developers at the famed RPG company to play around with the mechanics of gameplay, much in the same way they did with the PSP release of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII almost a decade ago. Type-0 also started its life as a PSP edition, released back in 2011, but was exclusive to Japan. This HD port to next-gen console will be the first time the game will be seen in English language territories.
Like Crisis Core, the game is mission based, and I was just kicking off my first official mission when my two hours with the game was up in advance of this preview piece. There’s a long introduction to this game, that sets up the mechanics well and introduces you to the world. Get ready for cutscenes, folks! There is a long introduction, and then you get introduced to your school – Vermillion Peristylium – where you spend your time in between missions. As an introductory location, it brought me back to the days of Final Fantasy VIII!
How does the game fit into the Final Fantasy universe?
This game is part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythos, which XIII and the upcoming XV also find themselves a part of – it makes sense then why a FFXV demo is included with the game (unfortunately that was locked out of my demo – but not long now until we get the full package…). In fact, this game was originally titled Final Fantasy Agito XIII – so fans of XIII (I’m sure there were… a few) will probably pick up some points of similarity here. Being someone who skipped XIII following its largely average reviews, I’ll have to take someone else’s word for that…
And about those first impressions…
So what were some of the first impressions in my two hours of gameplay? Well, firstly it’s that I didn’t get very far. Introducing the land of Orience, and its four Crystal States, proved a lengthy endeavour. But it was an intriguing one. To avoid any spoilers, you’re essentially playing as some form of genetically engineers super-kids who all share the same Mother. As you do. The introductory story you play through, which may break the hearts of Chocobo fans (look out!), sets your main characters up as “legends” of sorts, that makes them quite the well known kids back at their school. Good for them!
What about the gameplay?
Gameplay is based on a mix of realism and magic. One of your main character uses cards to dispell is enemies, others use force, others use magic. You can jump between these characters with ease, and each characters has different sorts of skills. When you defeat an enemy you can also extract Phantoma – though the mechanics of this proved a little more difficult than you might like. It all takes some getting used to to be honest, which perhaps explains the need for such a lengthy opening sequence.
You’re forgetting something…
And what’s that other thing… oh yes. BLOOD. There is a tonne of blood in this game, the streets seem paved with it, and when you hurt your characters, you see it. When you light someone on fire, they light on fire and take damage. This is a game that mixes realism of combat with the fantasy of magic in ways I’ve never before seen in a Final Fantasy game. And this makes it quite intriguing indeed.
This is a port… so are there any difference?
The only differences between the PSP version and this port are the graphics (it’s oh-so-pretty!), the loss of the multiplayer mode (as they did with the recent Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep PSP port for PS4) and the addition of an extra difficulty mode. But considering the game was never released in our land, chances are this will be the first time you’ve played the game, and so none of that will matter anyway. Still, fans of the series may be disappointed there isn’t at the very least some extra missions to help take advantage of the increased power of the console.
Final (Early) Thoughts…
I think there’s a really interesting game in here – the characters and the key storyline, though confusing at such an early stage, is compelling. The gameplay mechanics take some getting used to, but they are unique for the series and for that I think they’ll be applauded. There’s a lot that will open up to the gameplay once we get into the missions, which you seem to have quite a lot of time between. Even with the “freedom” to explore Vermillion Peristylium between missions, there is constantly a clock in the corner of the screen telling you when the next mission is. This number decreases rapidly once you start fulfilling required plot points – talking to certain characters and what not. Though you can skip ahead to the next mission whenever you’d like, which keeps things interesting…
Release Details
The game will be released in Australia, just hours after the USA (hurrah!), on March 19th on both Xbox One and Playstation 4. The game is bundled with the much anticipated demo of Final Fantasy XV. The game was previewed on Playstation 4. Stay tuned to the AU for the full review and more!
