Final Fantasy Type-0 HD (2015)

(Disclaimer: I am only reviewing one little aspect of the game, if you want a full review, this is not the review for you)

The power of silence (a good use of silence): At the end of a combat sequence, the music is paused until you move on. This was done purposely by the developers to convey a sense of peace after an intense battle. And I enjoy this quiet moment of victory so much. I don't need a happy trumpet to tell me that I have won the battle.

When everything is epic, nothing is epic (a bad use of music): I like the soundtrack in this game. But when you constantly hear this epic music during the game, it very quickly becomes repetitive and annoying. And what's worse, it takes away from the truly epic moments, because that kind of music is always there.

Consequence (I prefer silence over noise): Anyway, I deactivated the music for this game. This constant epic music was much too unbearable in the long run. I was really surprised how much more I enjoy the game since then.

Thank you for reading my review. ❤️

Ricci

Final Fantasy Type-0 is like no other Final Fantasy ever. It thrives in its originality while floating through the franchise's mythos and established lore. It's definitely not perfect, but it's a fantastic Final Fantasy game.

The first thing that I want to get out of the way is how good the combat is.

You'll spend most of your time fighting waves and more waves of enemies in this game. And I'm happy to report that the combat system in this game is astounding! Easy to pick up, hard to master, fluid battle system, fast paced, seamless grinding, good boss fights, unique characters that actually make a difference when building a party and going to battle, challenging and most importantly: fun and addictive!

It's impressive how the combat alone glued me tight. I could recommend this game based on just that.

Then we have the story. And this is where it gets complicated to talk about. But it's not bad at all. You see, I got quite attached to the characters and their motivations. The war and Orience's bleak setting kept me interested. This is the darkest and most serious Final Fantasy I've ever played and it works.

Most of it is due to the cast of remarkable characters. They all get their time to shine (some more than others, unfortunately), spending time in Akademeia helps to form a bond with their daily lives and the endings are very well done. The original/canon ending actually brought tears to my eyes.

The problem is that this beautiful story isn't well told at all!

The writing is convoluted and things happen way too fast. Too much of the lore and backstory of Orience and its past occurences are written in a tome. So instead showing it to you, they make you chase it. And what makes it worse is that those things are essential to grasping everything going on. And A LOT goes on.

Not only that, but too much of the content is locked behind new playthroughs. It'd be fine if they just added optional stuff to NG+, but there are new story cutscenes and important missions that you just don't get the first time around.

In addition to not properly telling the story, the game also fails in a few other aspects. Party AI should be better, sometimes it gets too tough even on standard difficulty, casting powerful magic and using items is huge hassle, RTS missions break too much of the game's pacing, there are too many characters to level up and there's A LOT of content gating.

Also, I just can't stress enough how weak the soundtrack is. This is unacceptable for a FF game!

Having said all that, I'm just very happy that I've finished this game. This is a very good Final Fantasy game, with its own successful original take, an entertaining cast of characters and a brilliant battle system.

For a PSP remaster, this is impressive. Play this one.

Review is also available on my blog The Shameful Narcissist Speaks.

Final Fantasy Type-0 (formerly Final Fantasy Agito XIII) opens on a graphically violent note.  Final Fantasy has always been known for its beautiful, chill-inducing openings, and Type-0 does not disappoint in this regard.  The beginning scenes display the horrors of war in bloody relief, utilizing the full power of the PlayStation 4.  The series has never shied away from such a topic, and in fact, all of the games center around war/rebellion in some way, but Type-0 did not mince words or sight, and it was even more harrowing considering these were children slain with neither mercy nor impunity given for youth.

The "secondary" series is Fabula Nova Crystalis, the same as Final Fantasy XIII (which I'm planning to play this year).  It translates into "new tales of the crystals" and also contains Final Fantasy XV.  The "crystal" is a ubiquitous structure throughout the series, present in all iterations though arguably more hidden in some (e.g. Final Fantasies VI, VII, & VIII).  Analogous in Type-0 with the "four lights of hope," they're represented by a specifically hued animal: White Tiger, Azure Dragon, Black Tortoise, and Red Phoenix.  The White Tiger's attack on another faction nullified their crystal, which is the catalyst for the events of the game.

I was pretty excited to play this when I bought it alongside Horizon: Zero Dawn (which I've yet to pick up), especially since I'd drawn some of the Type-0 units in Brave Exvius.  The characters are Agito Cadets Class Zero (which I'm assuming is where the title of the game comes from), an elite unit named for the playing cards of a standard deck: Ace through King with the absence of a "ten" and the addition of Machina and Rem, two transfers into Class Zero.  Created by Dr. Arecia Al-Rashia with a combination of magic and technology, this instantly piqued my interest since it was a clear reference to my first Final Fantasy, VI.  Then there's the school, Akademeia, which is reminiscent of FFVIII's Gardens, and also like VIII, there's a memory loss motif associated with magical powers.  Finally Arecia herself is like a combination of Lucrecia and Hojo from my beloved Final Fantasy VII in that she was responsible for the "creation" of this elite class.

I didn't play long enough to see if she received any comeuppance for, oh you know, experimenting on her own offspring, nor did the narrative paint her in a negative light for these actions.  She is supposedly only genetically connected to Ace, but all of the Agito Cadets call her "Mother."

I loved that there was the option for Japanese with English subtitles, and I hope they continue this trend with all of their games going forward especially the FFVII: Remake (o course).  There's no reason why they can't have this option available with the technology available.

Unfortunately, there was a major thing I disliked and that was the active battle.  I've been in numerous arguments with people who insist that turn based is no longer viable or stylish, but there a ton of new games that maintain it, so I'm unsure why Squeenix is insistent on going this route.  There are plenty of players who not only like but prefer this method, but I don't want to go into a rant here.  Suffice it to say, I endured the battle system, and was very happy when Cheap Boss Attack gave me a link to a level up cheat.  I leveled all of my characters to 99 in the course of two months...and then decided I was tired of playing it not even a week afterwards.  I realized I wasn't enjoying it, and I lost interest in the story after a few hours, since the threads of it between battles was thinner than a spider web.

There are 14 characters, which is the same number as Final Fantasy VI, but unlike VI you don't really get any story on them.  In the beginning you find out that Ace is the "best?" or something, which is what "Mother" says.  It seems like a shallow attempt at replicating one of VII's paradigms, but without VII's heart.  I finished the Elite Mission in Mi-go in North Togereth during Chapter 3, and I'm just not into it.  I hate how you have to constantly adjust the camera, which is a pain in the ass during battle.  I'm annoyed at myself for spending so much time leveling to give up so soon afterwards, but I was hoping I'd like the non-combat parts enough that it would be worth it.

I'm going to find an LP of it at some point (especially if Cryaotic has one) and either see if that's satisfactory or if it spurs me to want to play once I see an example of how it's done.  It's entirely possible that I missed some integral information about how best to experience the game, so I'm willing to give it that.

I say this as someone who has (happily) spent literally days of my life trying to get Rivendare's mount... the grinding required for this game is absolutely ridiculous.

You have 14 characters. Only the 3 that are active acquire experience during missions... and whether it is to insta-gib mechanics, or just the format of the mission, it is essential to have 5-8 of those characters at the same level. With sidequests that offer virtually no incentive to complete, your time will be spent replaying the same missions over and over with an endless string of weak characters (since the moment you level one up, its time to bench him and level up another) in order to advance the story at all.

And the story is what breaks this game... despite a emotionally wrenching first few minutes, the first half of the game pays roughly equal attention to all 14 characters - and fails to make the player invest in any of them.

This seems like such a missed opportunity for the FF franchise. The combat system is incredibly engaging, the world conflict is a great backdrop, but I gave no fucks about any of the characters throughout the story.