JRPG Review: Final Fantasy Type-0 HD

[Andromeda]

The long requested Final Fantasy game by fans finally arrived this month. A game with a bit of history to go along with it, though less troubled like its bigger console sibling titles, the XIII series. Originally, Final Fantasy Type-0 began life announced as a game in an anthology that was part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis, titled Final Fantasy Agito XIII. It was originally meant to be a mobile game, but change to a PSP title and even changed names. It still shared things with XIII, but had become something of its own that they felt renaming it made sense. This is very true of the game.

As a Final Fantasy game, it was likely expected to see a release out of Japan, but the PSP market beyond Japan was just not as strong as Square Enix wanted. And it left the game lingering in an unknown state with it constantly being one of the most requested games. It was requested enough that fan translations happened until it was finally announced for the PS4 and XB1 getting a port.

It is quite the history for a game, which is interesting due to the fact of the game’s presentation in a way could feel like it might have been on the History Channel at some point. The game’s director did state in interviews that Type-0 is meant to feel like a war documentary and it very much succeeded in delivering on that feeling.

Final Fantasy Type-0 is a very different Final Fantasy. It is a game for the fans, but also a game not for fans that want standard story telling or even outcomes. Make no questions, this is a dark, bloody and violent game that largely does not hold back from being more realistic and sobering in what would happen in a war in a Final Fantasy game. There is death around every corner and there is a lot of senseless death. Fans of Final Fantasy Tactics will find a lot of familiar feelings to latch onto as they progress through the story.

Jumping straight into the story, Type-0 is a war story. Watching any of the trailers makes that very clear. And as I said before, it presents the war as a documentary with dates and time both being used to nail home that style.

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Following Class Zero, they are twelve special teenagers in a military academy tasked with carrying out missions to free their country of Rubrum from the Milites Empire campaign of conquest. This will lead them across the continent of Oriense in a constantly changing war where the power of gods, magic and technology clash to a devastating degree of destruction and death.

There are actually fourteen members of Class Zero, two transfers Rem and Machina, who came from other classes to join Class Zero, but are not special like them. This becomes clear in the opening mission, which sees the Milites Empire using technology that jams communication with their crystal. Rubrum’s crystal grants magic to everyone through its connection, that connection lost all of the soldiers of Rubrum are no longer able to use magic and end up being slaughtered. Rem and Machina are no different in their powerlessness, but Class Zero still have their full range of combat abilities despite this.

Rem and Machina in a way act as the audience surrogate to introduce in and learn about the students in Class Zero. Depending on how you take the way the game plays out Class Zero or Rem and Machina could be the main characters.

Speaking to the presentation, Type-0 does a great job of really making you feel like you’re in a war where there are people that really just don’t want to be there or at the very least are just as scared about what’s going on as anyone else would be in a war. The invading enemy, Milites, their soldiers will surrender to you when their commander dies in combat, so you don’t have to kill them. When they are knocked down they’ll even crawl away and try to beg you not to kill them. They are human beings just like you. So it really makes you feel more guilty about killing the grunts, something that never has happened in any of the past Final Fantasy games.

Class Zero are very much the standard killing machines you play even in the story. So there is not really a disconnect from the story and gameplay. But you realize through the story that this is part of how they were brought up and the way the world works. Due to special research done on them by their “Mother” as long as not everyone dies, she can revive them. This is actually explained even in the story. So they don’t have a fear of death, not like normal soldiers would in war. And to make things worse, the way the world works is that everyone will forget when someone dies. This comes up many times as they’ll be fighting and kill someone and then be completely lost as to who they were talking to just a moment before. However, it is also used in more creative ways than just allowing them not to be buried under the guilty of killing. They also use it to know if someone they are worried about is alive or died, if they still remember them then they are alive still. All of this really makes them into some very cold killers.

Brought up and in a world designed to make it easy to craft human weapons of war, Class Zero still manage to all have their own uniqueness and personality. Some very easily fall into stereotypes, but it does not make them any less of a character. The game is a little shorter than other Final Fantasy games, but it still manages to give plenty of time to develop and grow all of the characters on you.

Focusing on the gameplay, Type-0 brings out a lot of things that should feel familiar to fans of the series. The overworld map returns along with the sense of exploration and danger. There are literally level 99 monsters roaming on the map. They can be avoided and are not in the random encounters that also happen on the map. So while the game can be difficult it is not cruel. Chocobos and airship both return as well for the map with the airship even having a mini-game included where you can attempt to shot down enemies to keep a combo going for as long as possible.

One new feature fits into the war setting as the player is often given the option to help with the retaking of territory. Every part of the world map is broke up into a grid of squares and on many of these are missions to capture outposts or cities. It plays out like a RTS and DOTA game with the character you’re controlling being the swing factor in winning. You can control the units that a base produces and where to attack and that is sometimes enough to push, but often you will be needed to kill the units the enemy produces and push the lines back to the enemy bases. If you enjoy a DOTA/RTS style mini-game it is a blast to play. It is also where the vast types of chocobos can be used as they have different stats to be used in the mini-game.

Chocobo breeding is available, though more than one chocobo are produced from it. Feeding different greens impact the type that comes out of the litter. As your primary transportation before getting an airship, you’ll want a large supply to work through as they are spent upon use and do not return.

Side quests, expert missions and multiple difficulties all give plenty of other things for the player to do to get distracted in Type-0 and it is very easy to get distracted. There is also a time management system added, where leaving your base takes up time, but once you’re out in the world no more time it spent. Talking to specific people for events takes up time and taking on expert missions takes up time. Most times between story missions will require you to make some choices of what you do and don’t do. The only down side with the quests is that only one can be taken at a time. The most efficient way is often doing a quest during expert trials, though expert trials end up being far beyond your normal level. So they are very difficult to manage on a first playthrough. But the game heavily encourages multiple playthroughs, even offering new alternate story missions unlocked in a second playing and an expanded story. If you want to understand everything going on two playthroughs are pretty much required. The game will leave you with plenty of questions on motives and identities of people, which get explained from going through other playthroughs.

Type-0 is very much like an old Final Fantasy where it asks you to explore and discover things on your own. It is not suited for those that want to have the story clearly presented to them or for speeding through the game. Time must be taken on learning and discovering the mysteries of the world.

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Combat is another change, unlike the turn-based games of the mainline series, Type-0 is an action RPG. Battle starts out simple with each face button being mapped to different actions. There is the weapon attack, two specials and a defensive ability. However, due to the fragility of all of the characters, dodging and countering are very important to learn. Combat can be rather unforgiving as characters will die and often.

Before you go into a mission, you select whom from Class Zero you want in your reserves, the pool to pull from if someone dies. Then you select your starting party of three and go into the mission. The reserves cannot be tapped until someone dies. But you can switch around with the three active members. If someone dies, they are gone from the mission until it is completed. So you have to be careful about how you use them and not completely relying on three characters as one of them can end up dead and force you to use an under geared or leveled character. Phoenix Downs do exist, but they are very rare to find and so you’ll want to use them only when you absolutely must because they can’t be bought.

As a replacement for the PSP’s multiplayer, there is a support system for combat. If you select to take advantage of it during a mission, throughout playing the non-controlled active members can be swapped out for different characters. You can’t control them, but their levels will vary greatly and are copies of Class Zero. They are all given names from the development staff and will often let you know who they are. Taking advantage of this system grants you points to be used for buying weapons that aren’t available at the standard stores that take gil. The more it is used the more things that unlock and using specific characters will unlock weapons for that character. Often the weapons will be better than what you can find through gil until more stores open up later in the game.

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Summons also return, but it requires a human sacrifice to summon in Type-0. Due to the special nature of Class Zero, none of them actually permanently die from summoning, but that’s not true for the rest of the characters in the story. It still does mean that the character will be removed from play for the rest of the mission, as they are dead as if they had been killed in combat. And Type-0 boasts a collection of summons that rival some earlier FFs for sheer number.

Even magic has been expanded for Type-0. It is treated as a special ability so only two magic for offensive purposes can be equipped to any one character. There are defensive magic for the last slot. All magic can be customized and tweaked. Through the harvesting of phantoma from enemies, it is used to improve stats on your magic. Many magic have five slots to upgrade, power, MP cost, speed, cast time and range. However, upgrading one stat will remove points from another, usually MP cost. So the more powerful magic usually forces the magic to cost more MP. But it allows for a lot of control, if your play style is quick weak cheap costing magic, expensive and powerful spells or something in between.

Also in battle, enemies will have time that they are most off balance and open to an attack. These are marked with a yellow or red circular mark. Attacking the enemy with this mark will deal significantly higher amounts of damage. If it is a yellow mark the enemy will take massive damage proportional to the attack used, so more powerful attacks will be multiplied accordingly. However, if the enemy has a red mark, it means that they will be killed instantly if attacked. So more than anything in combat, it is about watching the enemy and avoiding while looking out for these marks. Bosses and tougher enemies are very important as they can be killed much faster taking full advantage.

The last and most important thing is the characters. All fourteen members of Class Zero have different weapons and personal abilities. They all play in very unique and different ways. As a result, playing only as one will not easily transfer to the next as everything from the timing and the way they move changes. Cinque is the most challenge to play due to their long animations and long stagger times. Ace or King are very friendly as they are ranged characters giving you safety from melee types of enemies. It is best to find your three that you can play well and then another three as back up that you can play if your main three dies. So experiment and try out everyone.

Returning back to presentation, the music is very strong for this entry. Not just playing with familiar tunes that any FF fan will know, but also have good catchy music and an epic soundtrack when bosses and story missions happen. There is a lot to love about the soundtrack.

It is important to remember that this is a PSP port. So even though this is on current gen system, it is not going to look like the others out there. Class Zero received the most attention while most of the other characters will look okay, but a little on the muddy side. The environments are varied, with the overworld map given more attention likely due to how often the player being on it. The game still looks good, but it is easy to find examples that it was a PSP title first.

The biggest mark against the game though will have to be the camera. Having both motion blur and sensitive controls, it can be a little disorienting at the start. However, it is not something that makes it unplayable. After a few hours it is likely not even something that gets your notice anymore. Sitting a proper distance from your TV will also help. It’s not a good idea to be sitting on top of your TV playing this game as it will likely make whatever effects it might have on you worse.

And the last thing, what makes this game unique or quirky. It is a Final Fantasy, so being quirky is largely ruled out. The cast of characters have their quirks, but they aren’t too strange. They are a good and entertaining group. But what truly makes this game unique is the presentation and its willingness to present a mature and violent story to fans that are used to the heroes being heroic and things been safe or clean.

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Type-0 does neither, while it is not to say per say that Class Zero do unheroic things, but they are often given missions that will require them to do some distasteful things or they will act in ways that are pretty cold and ruthless. It is war and they are trying to win. It is violent, bloody and the enemy is just as ruthless and willing to kill. So in a way unheroic actions are justified by enemies being very inhuman. But you have to remember that you have to mow through dozens of more innocent grunts that are largely just following orders.

This is also the only game in the series to show how truly awe inspiring and frightening it would be use summons as weapons of war. One summon specifically is given a truly amazing display and completely changes the outcome of a battle, not to mention killing thousands. The game even tells you how many people died at the end of that battle.

This is war and it is not pretty.

Reason to play:

Type-0 is really another game where the uniqueness of the game is reason you must play this game. If you’re a Final Fantasy fan wanting something more grown up, something a little darker or just something different this is the game for you. This bloody and cruel take on the lore and mythology of the series makes for a fantastic experiment and a game that any FF fan should try out.

Story – 9/10 – What’s the count on the number of times I’ve said bloody or violent? It’s the truth though, it’s a dark game with a dark story. It might be using the mythology from XIII, but the setting is even more grim and the hands behind it all are even more of jerks than those in XIII, which is saying something.
Combat System – 9.5/10 – A simple on start, but deep action based system that is very punishing. Characters are fragile and will require you to keep moving or face death. But once you get a handle of it, it is a lot of fun and trying out different characters and play styles is actually really interesting to dig into changing up the flow a lot.
Customization – 9/10 – Fourteen vastly different play styles, magic that can be customized for a first time, there is a lot of control over how you want to play and what you want to do. The FF series gives a modest amount of customization, but never to this degree.
Graphics – 7/10 – It is a PSP port up-rezzed, it still looks good in the right places, but you can see where it did not get as much love.
Characters – 9/10 – Fourteen characters might seem very easy to get repeats, but they are all very different and the way they interact with each other is a lot of fun. They have a lot of personality and will likely come to love that set you’ve worked the most with.
Uniqueness/Quirkiness – 9/10 – Type-0 is so different from any other FF game with only Tactics really as a point of comparison, but even Tactics does not really carry the same grim and dark take on the FF lore as Type-0. It is different and it is a refreshing.

Overall – 9.5/10 (Not an average)