Final Fantasy Type-0 HD is My Type of Game - Preview
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 24 September 2014 / 8,362 Views
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD has experienced a strange transformation in the period from its initial announcement to its impending release on Western shores. Originally a cell phone game called Final Fantasy Agito XIII, Type-0 was renamed and released on the PSP in Japan in 2011. Despite its critical and commercial success in Japan, Square Enix decided not to localize the game in the West, presumably due to waning interest in the PSP at the time.
This, however, did not stop fans from clamoring for a localization, although by this stage for the PSP's successor, the PlayStation Vita. Square Enix surprised everyone during this year’s E3 by announcing that Final Fantasy Type-0 HD will finally be releasing in the US and Europe next year... on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. I finally got my hands on the PlayStation 4 version of the game during this year’s Tokyo Game Show.
I was one of the few still desperately hoping for a portable release on either the PSP or PlayStation Vita. Still, I have to admit it felt nice to experience the fast-paced combat on a big, beautiful HD screen. The graphics are bright, colorful and fill out the screen nicely. The character designs and combat animations are also eye-catching, though perhaps not as fluid as they would be if built from the ground up for the more powerful hardware. There are other telltale signs of the game’s age and handheld roots in the fairly flat textures, badly pixelated trees, and some downright ugly backgrounds. That said, overall, the game is a colorful wonder, with enhanced lighting work doing a lot to mask the game’s age.
I took control of three characters dressed in school uniforms: Ace, Seven, and Rem. Ace uses magical cards to attack; Seven has a long, chain-linked weapon with impressive range; and Rem uses short daggers which are better suited for attacks up close. The demo began in a forest-like area with a large castle looming in the background. I ran towards the castle.
Combat began almost immediately, with enemy soldiers and mechanized creatures alike attacking in real time. Each face button corresponds to a different command or attack for your character. The X button is for dashing, the Square a primary melee attack, Triangle a heavier secondary attack, and Circle is reserved for a powerful magic-based attack that eats up MP if used too often. Ace’s magical attack could freeze enemies in place leaving them vulnerable to attack for an extended period of time, for example, which comes in particularly handy against the larger enemies.
You can swap between the three characters by pressing R1 and L1 toggles the camera’s lock-on feature for combat. You can also control the camera with the right analog stick. The camera is a tad unwieldy at times, especially when snapping the lock-on between different enemy targets. More than once I found my character running in the wrong direction towards the camera while being hit by some unseen enemy off-screen. I died a lot during my time with the demo, which in large part can be explained by the camera system's learning curve. I do not know whether this was a special set-up for the demo at TGS, but whenever I died one of my AI-controlled allies would almost immediately revive me, so despite numerous deaths with each character I never experienced a game over screen. That is a lot of Phoenix Downs.
I soon came to an area where I was attacked by soldiers barricaded on the roof of the castle. They hurled down bombs and other projectile attacks on my trio of heroes. Using Ace I could inflict small amounts of damage at a time using his cards but I suspect there was a more expedient way of dispatching these foes - one that involved hurling these projectiles back at them - but I could never quite nail the correct timing during the demo.
Breaking away from that scuffle I soon found myself sealed in an enclosed space where I faced a giant mechanized foe. After many wasted minutes spent hacking away at it I finally figured out that I could just break the seal holding me back from the castle and press onwards, ignoring my enemy entirely. I had already exhausted too many minutes by this time, though, so the timed demo session came to a sudden end soon after.
Though my time with the game was scant, I came away from Type-0 reminded of one of my favorite action RPGs of all time - Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. Needless to say I am anxious to see how the full translation turns out once it releases next year. As an added incentive, Square Enix will include a demo code for the other oft-delayed former Fabula Nova Crystalisis title, Final Fantasy XV, with first print editions of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD. Gamers in the West will finally be able to get their hands on Final Fantasy Type-0 HD in March 2015 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
