WK Plays Final Fantasy Type-0

[Wolf Kanno]

Finished, and holy hell the ending was really gut-wrenching. I know all three FNC entries tried to go with a bittersweet tragic ending, but again, I feel Type-0 succeeded the most in this regard. I'll give more details later as its super late where I am. I will say that Type-0 really should have been FFXIII, maybe with a better budget and being built for console from the start could have hopefully ironed out the few glaring issues I have with this game, but story wise this game really checked off a lot of boxes I've wanted the series to do for awhile. Not sure if I really want to dive right back in with NG+ or wait a little while.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. The tragedy of this game is the number of people who bought it for the Final Fantasy XV Demo and then never really got around to enjoying the game proper. From what I could gather from various trophy and achievement sites, less than half of all players get through chapter 2, but maybe that number's larger when actually viewed on PSN.

When I first beat Type-0 I was absolutely enamored with it, and started the New Game + right away. It's worth it, not only to choose different tasks to do during the day you couldn't before, but for the added story content and different ending. Plus, the gameplay was so fun I wasn't ready to shelve it yet.

I also associate this game's release with a really exciting time during our forum's recent life. It was about that time in 2015 I was trying to make the rounds doing interviews with voice actors, and we were pumping out content in anticipation for this as well as XV ranging from said interviews, to podcasts, to art compilations, and music thoughts. Here are a few stand out related to Type-0:

Here's our interview with Orion Acaba, the voice of Nine.

Psy's thoughts on every NPC somehow being F'ing rude as hell.

RIP to whatever Type-Next was going to be. I suppose it could end up being Final Fantasy XVI, but I suspect it was just an idea relegated to the dust bin.

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[WarZidane]

RIP to whatever Type-Next was going to be. I suppose it could end up being Final Fantasy XVI, but I suspect it was just an idea relegated to the dust bin.

Sadly, that was definitely thrown out the window the moment Tabata left Square-Enix. I had my doubts even before that, but still had hope, but when he left Square-Enix, yeah, that's never happening, Type-0 was Tabata's baby.

[Psychotic]

Re-reading my article about the NPCs still makes me angry.

[Wolf Kanno]

Alright, so let's get on with discussing the final chapters of Type-0

Pros:

• Suck it Machina, you're a loser! We'll let the real heroes save Orience.
• The end of Anri's story is just... wow.
• The ending is pretty good, maybe one of the best endings within the series to be honest. It is a little cheesy, but hits nice emotional punch at the same time as the game brings back to light that you're dealing with kids who've never known anything but war.
• I think Type-0 wins the award for being the darkest entry in the series.
• While it lacks challenge, I appreciate the way the final boss fight was handled. Brought back some memories of P4 and Crisis Core.
• The ending theme is really good, especially now that it has a bit more context for me.

Cons:

• While I'm sure it's because most of it is detailed in the Expert Trials, Chapter 7 might be one of the weakest chapters in the game from a first playthrough perspective, which is a shame cause the game had such great momentum before that.
• The last chapter also feels a bit like it comes out of nowhere, but again, I feel like a NG+ playthrough with the extra story bits will iron this out.
• Some of the Trials in the final dungeon are incredibly vague in description, making them more annoying than they should have been.
• I really disliked the opening to the last Chapter where you're fighting one of the new enemy types, but Rem's also narrating a bunch of important info, but you can't really pay attention to it cause you're getting your ass handed by a new enemy and the game doesn't exactly tell you that the fight is fixed, so don't worry about it.
• I am a little annoyed that Machina kind of gets out of this story relatively unscathed. Considering how much of a whiny selfish jerk he's been for most of the plot, it was annoying that what little retribution he gets for his actions are largely mitigated. Guy deserved a bad ending.
• I do feel like too much info gets hidden behind the NG+ wall for this game. Nier and BoFV handle the whole "gotta play the game twice to understand what's really going on" dynamic much better. The final chapters are lackluster and overly vague about motives and details to be satisfactory.
• I am both looking forward to and dreading NG+. On the one hand, I really want to get all those juicy story details, and I'm looking forward to being able to do all the Expert Trials since they are consistently the best optional missions in the game. On the other hand, leveling is a complete chore in this game and I'm not looking forward to having to grind all of the cast to the mid Lv. 60 range just so I can actually finish some of the game's toughest challenges. I imagine the easiest way to do this is to simply just bump up the difficulty to Agito in NG+ so the enemies will be relatively close to my own levels, and then play the game normally, but part o me is also concerned that the difficulty level just boosts these enemies stats, and not their XP gains.
• Overall, I will agree with Psy's judgment and say that most of the non-story related missions are a complete chore, and I hate whoever thought it was a good idea that you can only hold onto one basic request at a time. Really made some of the downtime sections last way longer than they needed to.
• Likewise, I really loved the way summons were handled mechanically speaking, but I feel it was a mistake to make them story mission only. I probably would have gotten more mileage out of them if I could use them on the field when I'm doing all those pointless fetch quests, rather than always ignoring them in story missions cause I don't need the mark against me for needless party casualties. I know I can just go into Mission Mode and do them, but I feel its silly to create a mechanic you won't use in a normal playthrough. That's just bad design.

[WarZidane]

Yeah, back when I first played it, the whole start of the finale felt so sudden and jarring. Also agreed that Machina is the worst.

The reliance on NG+ is unfortunate really, just earlier this week I was actually tempted to play the game again and popped the disc into my PS4, but somewhere along the way I lost (read: deleted?) my save files so I had to start a fresh NG and I just went "never mind".

[Wolf Kanno]

Character Overview part 1:

Ace - I really enjoy him, partly cause he balances being both the nice guy and the pragmatist of the group. Seriously, talking with him while using Machina shows his Sugar and Ice personality really well. I enjoy using him though I feel he's one of the more technical characters to use. As such, he tends to fight better under player control as the A.I. just doesn't seem to understand how to use him. He has the shortest range of the long range weapons users and he is very much a fragile character. There is also a slight delay in his attack so he can't land Killsights without a little practice. I feel his best trait is the fact his dodge is a damn teleport move which makes getting around enemy fire a cakewalk. Overall, I like his character and wish I could play him better, I need more practice.

Deuce - The Lethal Joke character of the team, she can be incredibly dominating in a fight if you use her well. She reminds me of Riki's playstyle from XC as his move sets are also based on "overtime effects". He healing/buff skills are pretty awesome and thankfully the A.I. is good with them. She can be an offensive powerhouse, but it requires taking direct control as you need to stay aware of enemy movements and keeping her range proper. I love her personality as well. She is actually the type of character I feel Rem was trying to be, sweet and someone you really feel for, but unlike Rem where the game kind of shoves her in your face and tells you to love her, Deuce is more subtle and thus more charming.

Trey - One of my least favorite characters to use, I could just never get his rhythm right to find him satisfying to use. He may have the best range of the party but he has one of the slowest windup for his attacks since it takes in account him drawing the bow. His special moves are funky and weird too. I love his personality though and I love the running gag about his long winded lectures.

Cater - It took me awhile to really get into her. I feel the turning point was the Gilgamesh fight. I love how speedy she is and how her play-style really brings me back to my MMX roots with balancing quick rapid fire shots or using full charged shots to win battles. I do have issues with her skill set though as I often felt her debuff skills rarely worked on anything I wanted them to, whereas the Elementalist skill is a pain to unlock and fully power it up. Had a lot of fun with her though. Her prickly personality was fun too, and I appreciate her calling Machina out a lot.

Cinque - The other character I hated using for most of the same reasons as listed above. Her moves are really slow and landing Killsights with her is more of a chore than I would care for. She's an absolute beast when her attacks land but she's a liability in fights against speedy bosses, of which many of them fall into that category. Her special moves are little more user friendly than Trey's but she requires a bit more finesse to use than I'm willing to invest. especially when characters like Jack can do her same role with half the hassle. Her personality is amusing, but I didn't care for her VA. She always sounded like she was waking up from a nap or was always high on something.

Sice - I love Sice, everything about her actually. One of my favorite weapons, broken specials, and I dig her personality. She's what I would call a Killsight specialist, as I feel she works the best when you're landing those crits and deathblows with her. Her Destruction Wave move is my favorite skill among the party and I never really bothered experimenting much with her after that. Her sarcasm was amusing for me, and I liked how she usually said what I was thinking a lot about the plot. Her animosity for Machina was also appreciated.

Seven - I feel that she, along with Deuce and King, are some of the most low key members of the class. She has her moments, but she tends to be quiet and lays low in major story sequences. It took a while to really notice her among the more rambunctious members but I really love her. She's probably the closest to my personality of the group. Her whip sword style also makes her one of the really techy type characters to learn, and while I lump her along with Ace as someone I wish I was better with, my results with her are always positive. I do need to play around with her skill set though, as I just never really got a good set going.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

Seven is the GOAT. If there's one part of the game I missed out on, it's using all of the characters to their fullest extent. I would typically leave a spot in my party for her, basically the person I chose as my "main character", only giving me 2 other spots to experiment with in rotation.



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[Wolf Kanno]

Character Overview Part 2

Eight - Eight is a bit like Seven for me, a little low key outside of his short man syndrome, and someone I really wish I was better with. He's not a traditional monk from the series, his blows don't hit that hard as much as he's just incredibly combo friendly, and he's also very fragile for a melee class. Not helped by his attacks being short range in nature often meaning that if you don't approach enemies correctly, you'll often trade blows. I love how his skill sets are moves that mostly change his fighting style, making him a really fun character to use when you get a groove going. I just wish I got into that groove more often. I appreciate his maturity among the class, a nice contrast to the fact he looks the youngest on account that he's so short. Don't tell him I said that...

Nine - Might be the worst dragoon in the series. He's hardly as broken as other characters of his class and his skill set outside of Jump leave much to be desired, though that is par the course for the class within the series. This isn't to say he's a bad character gameplay-wise, rather the big issue is that his dragoon abilities just don't translate well in this particular action-rpg. He can still be powerful, and I appreciate that Jump does splash damage if you use it within a group. He's best strength is honestly his durability. He tends to survive better than the rest of the glass, and that's saying something cause most of Class Zero could be described as glass cannons, some are just more glassy than others. His personality is a bit obnoxious, and I feel the direction of his VA could have been better, but I liked Nine overall.

Jack - Of the entire class, my opinion on Jack probably took the biggest 180 degree turn. I was really disappointed with him when I first used him, and was sad my samurai character was likely going to be a bench-warmer for me. By end game, he was my Soulsborne warrior of death. If I was goign up against something big and nasty that neither Deice or King could cheese, Jack was my main man To get past his obnoxious slow battle walking animation, you learn to spam his quick parry move, which allows him to basically skate around the stage. Its silly looking but I've played enough Zelda to know I don't give a trout anymore. It oddly makes him one of the fastest characters to move around stages. He also sports the highest attack power of the group. If he lands a crit from a Killsight, he can shave over two bars of life, sometimes just kill the enemy outright even if the Killsight is yellow. His personality has a few hidden depths revealed towards the end, but this guy is basically Demyx from KHII in personality.

Queen - The closest thing to a red mage this game provides, Queen is really balanced in most areas so she's really good at fighting melee combat but she's geared towards magic a bit more heavy than other characters, learning Twinspell way earlier than most of the cast. She has a few good skills as well, but I feel her BS healing one is one of her better skills, especially against flans. I usually geared her with two magic spells the most. Her fast lunge attack in her combo makes her incredibly Killsight friendly and she's pretty nimble too. While she may be one of the more stereotypical characters being a class president type character, she's still rather fun to watch.

King - Ah yes, Type-0's Easy Mode on Normal Mode. King is an interesting character cause I really feel like he isn't as balanced as he should be. King will likely be the character who introduces you to the power of Killsight. His guns are pretty powerful, but his range, speed of attacks, and Killsight friendliness makes him the best character to main during a lot of the games boss fights. I remember getting my ass handed to me in the first Bashtar fight, and then when I switched to King, I murdered him in less that twenty seconds.The man makes a difference. Also, unlike some of the other long range specialist, I feel he has some worthwhile skills like Iron Will or Point-Blank Shot, and his melee kick is powerful and fast unlike Ace's short range melee attacks. While he's not perfect for every scenario, and his magic ability is awful, I feel he's a good character to have as backup when trout hits the fans cause he usually helped me turn a bad mission into a success. His personality is pretty low key but I really liked his confidence. In a lot of ways, I imagine Nine thinks he's like King, in terms of being a respected badass you don;t cross, but we know why he's Nine and we call this guy King.

Rem - I didn't mind Rem outside of feeling like the game tries a little too hard to make me care for her. Giving her a soap opera cough was probably not the best way to do this. Yet outside of her strange attachment to Machina, I didn't really mind her. She's a fun character to use who has a major flaw that most RPG character wish they had, which is basically the fact she has too many good options. She's probably the most build friendly character of the cast being one of the games best mages and being handed some pretty game breaking skills like Undying Wish. You can do a lot with her, whereas I never got that same feel for the rest of the cast. Her biggest flaw is the fact she's a mage type build but her weapons are close range dual knives that much like Eight, places her in harm's way most of the time. She's also a character I feel the computer just doesn't really know what to do with when its controlling her.

Machina - I can't really tell you how much I hated this guy but thisbe72017428793689cf51efb454de5e2a.jpg was my general reaction whenever he was on the screen wangsting about Class Zero, or how he was powerless, or how he wants to protect Rem. I really hated this guy. He has a similar problem as Yuzu from Devil Survivor in the fact that his reaction to what is going on in the plot is fairly realistic, but the fact he never gets over it and keeps reacting with shock and indignation got old the further along the story went. I went from finding him mildly annoying to loathing him. From a gameplay standpoint, he's not too bad, but a little weird as he feels abit clumsy to use like Cinque, but if you get him going, he brings on the hurt just like her. I did find it annoying that all of his moves are horribly expensive, especially when they aren't as broken as some other moves, so he always felt like one of the least developed party members on my team. Not helped when he starts going MIA for some of the later missions. He's a bit easier for my to play as than Cinque, but my aversion to his personality and role in the story has me let the A.I. deal with him more than me personally. Also, am I the only one who thinks he should roll up the sleeves of his school jacket just to balance out his look? I mean he's trying too hard to look like some regal superhero. Guy needs to pull the rod out of his ass and lighten up.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

Would be interested to know if you obtained any new outfits and if you have a preference for what you like on different characters.

Using this picture, for example, I think Nine looks really good in the red coat but I can't remember if I unlocked those or not.

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[Wolf Kanno]

I unlocked most of the summer outfits except for Deuce and Cinque because it's hard to get the 30 Killsight for them without grinding specific enemies.

I kept flubbing missions, so I never achieved the SPP rank needed for the cool Winter Uniforms, so I will aim for that in my ng+ playthrough. I don't think I have the patience to try and unclok the new Gold Uniforms for the HD version after looking at the requirements.

[Psychotic]

What are your thoughts on the soundtrack?

Answer my question! I DEMAND TO KNOW

[Fynn]

I can share mine, if you’d like!

[Aulayna]

Glad to see this game finally getting some more love on EoFF.

if we weren't so close to VII-R I'd totally bust out the old sig/av sets again.

[Psychotic]

I can share mine, if you’d like!

Do so immediately.