First off, I want to say that this game is very addictive. Why? Two factors contribute to that addictiveness, the simple controls and the way the battles play out. For those thinking that it might be just another side track story with no great additions to Final Fantasy’s gameplay formula think again.
In this preview build I only had 3 characters out of the 14 that are available, all of which can be playable from the beginning of the game, removing the need for you having to laboriously unlock everyone. Each of the 14 characters have their own unique abilities and weapons and luckily there are no clone characters, everyone is vastly different! Of the 3 I played with Ace, the card wielder was my favorite, if only because he looked real cool and had a lot of intricate moves when compared to the other 2. Ace attacks at long range with his cards and also has a special move where he can combine different cards that produce different effects in turn.
The other two characters included a tank class and a ninja. They all had something related to what you expected of their roles. You can also swap between them at any time. Which might be especially useful later on since things will get tougher and are going to require you to utilize different move sets in order to damage enemies. You also get the ability to summon Eidolons (what are they?) and you may ask, wasn’t that what summons were called in Final Fantasy 13? Final Fantasy Type-0, while it was directly related to FF13 now only shares some of its lore. We will be seeing many summons though and they can be used to even the odds against bigger and more magically empowered creatures. When you perform a summon you’re playing with just the creature you have summoned and the group disappears giving you a few seconds for max damage output with the summoning of the creatures. Type-0 features many smaller areas linking locations and by its visuals you could easily tell it was originally a handheld game. But that’s alright as the gameplay alone made it difficult for me to put the controller down after I had finished playing through the preview build.
The gameplay just felt so right and everything was consistently fun. Battles weren’t too long and it looks like you can play this in chunks and you still wouldn’t get bored with it, especially with the 14 available characters. Gameplay is very similar to Kingdom Hearts in terms of pacing, but the attacks are performed similarly to that of Lightning Returns, just with more control. One thing that I hope gets tuned is the camera, which went crazy when bigger enemies were on the battlefield.
If the game did come out already what’s different about it you may ask? This will be the first time it’s translated in English besides some unofficial translations which can be played on a homebrewed PSP. The upgraded graphics have been improved to suit the Playstation 4 and Xbox One, but not enough to make you forget that this was originally a PSPÂ game. Type-0 ran smoothly and shouldn’t give these Next Gen consoles any trouble framerate wise. While Final Fantasy Type-0 looks great and runs great, better texturing would have made this a even more lovely treat for those who are still waiting for their main Final Fantasy titles. Final Fantasy Type-0 will be releasing March 17th next year on Playstation 4 and Xbox One.
