Final Fantasy Type-0 HD is Dizzying but Enjoyable - Preview
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 17 October 2014 / 5,808 Views
Final Fantasy XIII was originally planned as a grand creation spanning three different games with varying styles of play. The first came out as planned, but the other two - Final Fantasy Type-0 and what is now Final Fantasy XV - didn't quite come together as expected. After being released three years ago on the PSP in Japan, Type-0 is finally making its way to the West in HD form for the PS4 and Xbox One. Although there are some issues with the transition to HD platforms, I came away from New York Comic Con generally impressed.
Final Fantasy Type-0 focuses on a class of students from a military school who are aptly called "Class 0". The demo focused on the students invading a rival military base, with three out of the 14 playable characters available for use: the card-wielding Ace, the duel-wielding Rem, and the sword-whip using Seven. It definitely has the feel of a Final Fantasy game, with distinctly anime-styled characters, giant enemies, and even magitek armor, but it's also clearly noticeable that Type-0 was originally a PSP game.
The voice acting is pretty horrid at times, especially from the NPCs, as each word poorly matches up with mouth movements. There are sections where the voice acting shines, however, especially during the pre-mission narrations that are reminiscent of old war film reels from the 40s and 50s. While I prefer utilizing the English voice acting, Type-0 to its credit features dual audio, allowing you to listen to the Japanese cast (which is undoubtedly better fitting).
Combat is very similar to the fantastic Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, where most of the action is fast-paced. You take control of one of three different party members that can be switched between on the fly. Basic attacks can be chained together in quick succession, characters can dodge attacks, and magic can be cast with the press of a button. It's lightning fast and very satisfying, especially since you can quickly switch between characters in order to utilize their particular abilities, like Ace's long range cards or Rem's superior magic attacks.
If a character dies in battle they'll be replaced by one of the other class members, but the demo had an infinite re-raise spell cast so I didn't get to see how this worked. However, given the difficulty of the game and from what I was told by the Square Enix employee taking me through the demo (there will be a severe lack of phoenix downs and raise spells), having characters at the ready is vital to completing Type-0.
At times, a yellow or red circle will appear over an enemy right before or after they attack, allowing you to deal massive damage or kill the enemy outright depending on the color. It definitely helps with speeding up random battles and is necessary for taking down the giant bosses. What's more, the more comfortable and adept you become at using the circles, the more entertaining battles become, which makes for a highly enjoyable and rewarding combat experience.
One major problem that plagues Type-0, however, is the incredibly erratic camera. Enemies can and should be locked onto in order for you to make the most out of combat, yet when you try switching between enemies the camera whips around at dizzying speeds. It can prove very disorienting, to the point where I had to constantly target and untarget enemies in order to make sense of all the action. While you quickly get into the groove of frequently utilizing the target button, not being able to properly use the targeting system without watching images blur by is an issue that some will find hard to get used to. The good news is that this is a known issue that the developers are trying to tweak and fix before its final release. Let's just hope there's enough time between now and March for that to happen.
There's much to like in the HD version of Final Fantasy Type-0, with the fact that it's finally coming Westward featuring at the top of the list. Combat is fast and fluid, and most of the demo (besides some of the minor NPCs) dazzles with greatly updated textures and flashy attacks. Although I left the Type-0 demo booth with positive feelings, I couldn't help but think how frustrating the camera could become over a 30 or 40 hour adventure if tweaks aren't made. Let's hope they find a good balance before the March 2014 release date.
