WK Plays Final Fantasy Type-0

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm a bit ashamed of myself for being one of the few people on this forum really pushing for info and talking about letting this game get a release, that despite picking it up once I got my PS4, I never bothered to play it outside of the Japanese demo back when it was a PSP exclusive. So, wanting a little FF goodness, I finally started playing this game recently. It's been interesting so far, I'm currently in the middle of Chapter 3.

Pros:

• I'm really digging the historical narrative so far, in fact the world building in this game in general has been really interesting.
• As I do remember from the demo, I do like the variety the full cast has in playstyles, which really helps with monotony since the gameplay is rather limited. I'm digging the fact the party has multiple special moves or support abilities that both expand their normal repertoire of moves or allow them some good variation for their playstyles.
• Going with the above, I appreciate how enemy challenges really come down to the team you're using. I got flattened easily by the Flying Mech boss Bashtor was piloting in Chapter 2 with my initial team of Queen, Jack, and Sice, but coming in with King with his dual guns and timing the crit bonus Killsight attacks made that fight way more manageable and rewarding.
• So far, I'm digging most of the cast except for two people. I appreciate the contrasting personalities of Class Zero.
• The darker storyline is pretty good so far, this game is not really holding back on the horrors of war.
• The crystal stealing the memories of the dead from the living is an intriguing idea which allows the game to keep some of its levity and not wallowing too much in "war is hell" which I feel is a nice balance.
• Enemy variety has been better than I expected. While I'm already seeing some re-skins, considering this is a handheld action-rpg originally, the enemy variety has been better than some I've played.
• I love the Class Moogles. They are a hoot to talk to.
• I certainly give the game credit for being more challenging than usual for these types of games. Missions have a tendency to throw enemies at you you shouldn't be fighting yet, the overworld especially has some areas with beef gates waiting to trounce you if you stray too far from your objective. Mission objectives are also brutal and I appreciate that speed isn't the end all be all ranking element.
• Oh hey, an explorable world map, what a quaint concept.
• Exploring the school has been less tedious than I thought it would be, course it probably help I can finally understand everybody.b The time mechanic between missions reminds me a lot of Persona's calendar system.
• I liked the FFVI shout out in Cid's room, he has to Magitek Armors that are prefect recreations of the ones from FFVI as statues.
• I like the weight l'Cie have in this game. I really feel like Tabata's team captured how fantastic and frightening these beings should be.
• Though I have yet to properly meet them, I like the idea of Concordia's faction being monster tamers.

Cons:

• While the historical aspect lends the game an interesting narrative, it leaves much to be desired with the human to human interactions. I sort of feel like the game is trying too hard to use a mature narrative element, but also throw in the usual high school anime tropes and its a bit jarring in places.
• I am not a fan of Rem or Machina, in addition to being the two blandest characters among the cast, they also feel the most conventional. I can already see these two usurping the more interesting Class Zero in the story department, and I'm already dreading it.
• I wish there were more ways to get money in this game. I'm annoyed I haven't had much chance to really outfit the party with new gear outside of what I find in missions because while things are not terrible expensive, having to outfit fifteen characters at once still adds up quickly, especially when the game already foreshadows that you should not be playing favorites and should spend time with everyone.
• One QoL element the HD Remaster should have implemented was the ability to switch out your party leader from the normal menu and not from save points. This would make the school events that require certain party members way less tedious than they are.
• If I'm going to be frank, the UI for the menu system is pretty awful all around. I get they were trying to go for a tactical "mission" minded format to add weight to how you outfit your team, but its honestly more grating than anything and just makes things more tedious than they should be. I may have forgiven this when it was a PSP game since its obvious it was really tapping that system to the fullest, but being on better hardware should have made them clean this up better, especially with so many characters to keep track of.
• I'm also annoyed that Phoenix Downs seem to only apply to characters in your active party. Its bad enough they are rare, but to also have them be conditional in their usage just seems a little counter-intuitive.
• While I appreciate the fact the game is more challenging than other FFs, I also feel that much like XIII itself, its difficult for the wrong reasons, due to a lot of limitations placed on the player.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

This game is a gem.

I really enjoyed playing as Seven. The whipblade was addicting.

Don't sleep on Deuce. People see that a character plays the flute and they're like "meh", but if I remember correctly her agility alone can get you through places you're under prepared for. By the end of the game she was probably my most used character, particularly in a pinch.

Fun fact: One of the things I learned from interviewing Orion Acaba (Nine) was that the english voice acting for Agito had been done at the same time as Type-0, even though Agito never did end up getting a release. That being said, I imagine it was just a bunch of "oohs" and "aahs".

[Psychotic]

My favourites to play as were Eight and King, but as LWL says Deuce is absolutely broken if used correctly.

What are your thoughts on the soundtrack?

[Fynn]

This has been sitting in my steam library for a while. Will definitely have to get to this eventually.

[Aulayna]

An opportunity to drop my Deuce (lel) video you say?

[Aulayna]

Definitely don't click this if you haven't finished the gameTIL that if you translate the lyrics of the opening cinematic song from Latin to English it pretty much gives you the footnotes of the plot of the entire game.



This blew my mind. How rad!

[Wolf Kanno]

Sorry I haven't been posting as much, had a frantic weekend, but I have been playing a lot. I'm currently in Chapter 5 I think. We just escaped from the empire and have been accused of assassinating the matriarch of Concordia. Of which I have a strong suspicion that a certain dumbass in my party may have actually done.

Pros:

• The plot has been very good so far. Kind of a nice balance of taking the interesting mythology of the FNC project but giving it more of a FFTactics/FFVIII vibe which really works for things here. Its been really surprising how so many elements I've wanted the series to explore are all neatly here. This game is dark, political, morally grey in a lot of places, yet has enough wacky elements to never get too serious for its own good. The setting is just so better thought out than XIII and XV. This game honestly should have been FFXIII.
• My favorite characters to play as are Jack, Queen, Duece, Ace, and King. Though if I'm going to be fair, I like using everyone for different reasons except maybe Trey and Cinque since their play styles are little too off for my taste.
• Finally got to play around with the summons, and they are pretty impressive. I actually like them a little more than I did in the demo oddly enough.
• Milities was pretty awesome in Chapter 3 and 4. I loved the shout out to FFVI with exploring the region on a MA unit, and I love the FFVII shout out with the awesome Scorpion Tank boss fight in Chapter 4. I remember this mission in the demo, but it was even more awesome with some actual context.
• Money is no longer an issue cause my dumbass self finally figured out I should just resort to RPG 101 tactics and actually sell some of these vendor trash items I'm hoarding for no good reason. While I wish we had some better defensive options, I'm not really hurting for cash outside of the SPP stuff for their private armory.
• You know, the mission and dungeon variety has been really good so far in this game. I'm digging the fact that all the main story missions have interesting objectives or gimmicks to keep them from growing stale. I still love how the Scorpion Tank fight borrows elements from the X-AT0M0S fight from VIII that gives a really cool cinematic feel to the party's escape from the capital and hide the fact that the dungeon layout for this stage is actually incredibly linear, but you don't notice because "holy trout! I'm being chased by a robot spider scorpion tank that's barraging my party with missiles every time it shows up!" so the overall game design has been fairly good.

Cons:

• I think it's really silly that you can only have one side mission registered at a time, especially annoying with the ones that involve leaving Akademia and eat up a huge chunk of your time. I get this won't be as much of an issue in NG+, but its a little annoying right now since I prefer to be efficient in these types of matters.
• The way the Phoenix Down item works in this game is stupid. Like I don't understand how I'm allowed to use potions and ethers from the menu whenever I feel like it, but phoenix downs can only be used in battle and has to be specially equipped to my party for it too work. It just seems like they went out of their way to make this item as inconvenient to use as possible.
• While I like the summons in this game so far, I'm not sure if I'm just mistaken on how to do this or if I'm right, and they are limited to story missions only; but I really wish I could spend more time leveling these creatures more/
• The one gripe I have with the plot is that it suffers from the same problem The Last Story has. Its a really intriguing world with an overall great cast that gets pulled down by having the two most generic and boring characters have too much story focus. While I enjoy their playstyles, I pretty much hate Machina, who is an idiot, and Rem is just bland and boring with goddamn soap opera cough no less. During one of their many "Rem are you okay?" "Oh Machina, I'm fine, its just my asthma" scenes, of which there is already too many for my taste, I actually screamed at the screen that the two of them just need to get a room and smurf already, cause their awful sexual tension was ruining an otherwise perfect game for me. I actually was jumping to joy when Machina tried to call Class Zero out on their actions and they pretty much just clapped back to his frustration. The guy is a tool.

[Wolf Kanno]

Been chipping away at this. Still in Chapter 5 though.

Pros:

• I haven't really talked about the War Battles. I've only done the second of what I imagine will be three or four total battles, but I really appreciate the gameplay change. Despite how simple and straight forward it technically is, I appreciate that it really does reward strategic thinking where sending the right troops, and taking out bases in the proper order make the battles go more smoothly. We recently liberated Elbion, and I imagine the team is going to be dealing with the Concordians and their Azure Crystal soon.
• I'm really digging the unique setup with l'Cie in this game. XIII, and to a much lesser extent since it dropped a lot of the terminology, XV both really played up the angst of being chosen by the Crystal. In Type-0, I like the fact we see the l'Cie from an outsiders perspective, your party is mostly human and so the l'Cie are treated as these revered demi-gods in the game. They show it to, the "fight" with the Primus l'Cie of Militesi pretty much showcased how far these beings outclass normal humans. I also like the fact that since their obligated to the Crystal only, they tend to ignore what humans are doing. They've actually been a very intriguing part of the story because the humans are fighting to protect their homelands and crystals, and it seems like the Crystals really don't give a trout.
• I think its interesting that the game gives you different models of the same summons. From the looks of things, I imagine there are only five different summons, but then you get thing like Rubicante, who is a different model of Ifrit that sacrifices his HP for higher attack power and a permanent Regen effect. Its an interesting idea that is only hampered by how limited summons usage is in this game.
• I'm happy I'm finally unlocking more spell types and variations. The ROK class of spells have been a interesting.

Cons:

• Despite being remastered, I'm surprised by how many bugs pop up in this game. The most annoying and most common is the one where the game stops registering items or treasure chest commands. I first encountered this in Chapter 3 when I was exploring the sewers and found a treasure chest that I couldn't open because the command prompt would never register. I ran into it again during one of the Expert Trials with an item on the floor I couldn't pick up because again, the character could never register it was there. Another bug I've seen is one that prevents you from moving into new areas. This one does correct itself, but I'm not sure why it pops up. My only guess is that the game prioritizes loading in enemies over transitioning to areas.
• I'm a little annoyed with how Expert Trials exist for NG+. I guess I could grind to high heaven to do them, but it really does feel like the game is purposely telling you to ignore them until then. I've come so close to beating one of them recently, but I get slaughtered in the final part of the mission thanks to the souped up Supersoldier enemy units and their overpowered machine gun fire. Even summoning tanky Golem in the fight just had me witness him get torn to shreds by them.
• Secret Missions are a little game breaking and a little too easy to abuse. Perhaps I should just exploit this so I can beat that Expert Trial...

[Wolf Kanno]

Didn't get as far as I would like. Killing time between missions is more work than you would think.

Pros:

• I didn't care for her at first, but once the "reveal" happens, I ended up really liking Aria. Her fun misadventures after the incident have been pretty amusing so far.
• After several failed attempts, I finally beat an Expert Trial that helped liberate part of the region. I kept getting my ass handed to me in the final section where you had to capture an escape ship and needed to fight a crap ton of enemies in a small plaza with snipers. I was only able to do it by taking a serious gamble and using Jack to OHK all the enemies while ice skating around the ship to avoid sniper fire. I completely lucked out and was able to score a Killsight with the leader super soldier, which both knocked him on his ass and took out most of his health, leaving him as an easy kill for Jack. I unlocked a new magic for my trouble and got an upgrade for the Fire Rifle spell. The story twist at the end of the mission was amusing as well.
• Nice to see the Ice Reaper finally get some characterization, shame that it's heavily foreshadowing his eventual demise. With that said, I'm already expecting this game to have a bit of a downer ending.
• While I don't converse with NPCs as much as I should outside of the Class Moogles, I do really like the atmosphere they create, especially with all the resentment with Class Zero. As well as really pointing out how messed up the whole "Crystal removes your memory of the dead" plot angle. The setting is really smurfed up actually.
• I may need to find a guide, cause I feel I've reached a dead end with Chocobo breeding. I do enjoy it even if it is not as useful as it was in VII. I can't seem to make anything past Swiftfoot Chocobos.
• While King is basically "easy mode" I must say that I have really warmed up to some of the other characters such as Seven and Sice. I may do a breakdown of my thoughts on the team later.

Cons:

• Another QoL issue I wish they had done for the remaster is allowing you to teleport within the school to any other section. Seems weird I have to teleport back to the main hall to teleport to a different part of the school.
• The Emina quest is a little sketchy if you ask me. I know Japan seems to love voyeurism but this questline is really creepy. This is almost as bad as the massage minigame in X-2 but at least that quest was also funny. This one just makes me feel dirty.
• I am really starting to hate guns in this game. They are fairly realistic, and its been annoying watching a mission go south because you didn't see a stray sniper bullet and watched as it killed your party member.
• In hindsight, I'm starting to really dislike the summon system in this game. While I am fine with them killing a party member to be used, and they are limited in time due to their power, it is annoying that they are relegated to missions only, severely limiting their usefulness. They just feel like a mechanic I'm more likely to use in NG+ when I stop giving a damn about mission scores cause my team is overpowered enough to compensate for it.

[Wolf Kanno]

After finally giving up on trying to do the expert mission to reclaim the Merori Area with its BS aerial units, I finally jumped into the story section of Chapter 5 which segued nicely into the intense Chapter 6. I am now currently in Chapter 7.

Pros:

• Holy hell I'm really digging the plot of this game, this is how you raise stakes people. I can now safely say that Rubrum is at best the designated heroes of the story, but in truth, I'm kind of hoping we lose the war cause the Suzaku Crystal is smurfed up. Though I tip my hat to the Type-0 team, this is how you build a solid world setting.
• I should have known by the name of the place (SPOILER)The Big Bridge that I was going to fight him...
• Yes, I finally get Odin!
• Holy hell Bahamut Zero and Alexander are frightening.
• I have a pretty good idea of who the new l'Cie is and I am looking forward to kicking their ass.
• I am now even more curious about what is really going on in Concordia. I also now really wish we could have known more about Lorica.
• I am going to reiterate the fact that I really like how the l'Cie were handled in this game. I am still in disbelief that the mortals don't panic whenever one of them shows up and tells them they're going to get involved. It has yet to end well for anyone.

Cons:

• I am really close to the end now. I only have two more chapter.
• smurf the war battle to claim my last territory. I knew I was screwed because my level was too low for it, but that last part where the Dreadnought airship shows up to basically win back all of the territory you reclaimed in one fell swoop is bulltrout.
• While I am sure this game is going to force me to do NG+ to get the full experience, it is a bit surprising how I am close to the end. Yet despite being relatively low level for it, the game brimming with high level extra content. You can tell this was done by the Crisis Core team.

[Aulayna]

While I am sure this game is going to force me to do NG+ to get the full experience, it is a bit surprising how I am close to the end. Yet despite being relatively low level for it, the game brimming with high level extra content. You can tell this was done by the Crisis Core team.

You're right. NG+ is pretty much essential to get the full story.

[Wolf Kanno]

It's interesting how in the beginning of the game when you're first introduced to the downtime parts, you freak out cause you feel like you don't have enough time to see all of the events going on around Akademia, but now I'm reaching the point where I feel I have too much time. While I'm still trying to finish the Emina quest, I'm taking a break from it as its both creepy and getting way too expensive. I was happy I finally found that scientist guy again, didn't think I could access his hidden lab, so I'm wondering if I missed a few sequences because I haven't checked until now.

I did go out to see the damage done from Alexander. I really appreciate the World Map showing off how devastating this war is getting. We've watched the map get reworked three times already, and I can only imagine it's going to get a lot worst in the coming chapters. I was able to pick up another l'Cie stone and a certain Name Tag, so that was pretty interesting. Maybe I missed out on it from not checking back with the scientist guy earlier, or perhaps its all being held back for NG+ but I really wished the game would explore Kurasame a bit more outside of the manga side story. He definitely feels like the "Hero of another story" type of guy. The recent experiment by the scientist guy is a bit touching, but also incredibly creepy when you think about where he got that eye...

One thing I haven't touched on that I really appreciate about Type-0 is how the cities you liberate have their own little stories or side events going on. Like helping to gather the citizens for the mayor's first speech in the first town, or trying to clue in the country bumpkins on what the hip people find cool so they can woo the traveling performers in town, or recently helping the one mayor track down the Jewel of Isach for the town festival. They're short, not terribly involving most of the time, but they do add a lot of character to the world. I also love the Lorican Knight who lets you hear the final thoughts of the l'Cie you find their shards. His relationship with Chocobos is hilarious.

Anyway, I think I have about three days worth of time to kill now in-game, and sadly all of the available quests seem to be either be way out of my level range, or involve completing one of those high level quests first. So yeah, I'm just trying to burn time while making sure I don't miss out on any extra story moments. I know I can just talk to the one NPC to jump me to mission day, but I don't want to miss out on any extra story content.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

While i'm still trying to finish the Emina quest, I'm taking a break from it as its both creepy and getting way too expensive.

Sounds about right.

[Wolf Kanno]

Alright, I'm heading off to conquer Militesi.

Pro:

• Guess who got themselves an airship?
• I finally figured out what the different type of Chocobos are good for. Didn't realize I could bring them into war battles.
• I honestly only need three more trophies to Platinum this thing. The only tough one for me is the "Collect 25 Knowing Tags" one. The other two I believe are story related trophies.
• Finally got a decent weapon for both Ace and Deuce that make them into less glass cannons Hallelujah!
• Finally started doing more with the creepy scientist guy.
• I don't think I'm far from breeding every type of Chocobo.
• Concordia makes me think of the Oompah Loompahs when I actually visit their towns.
• Deuce is an absolute beast against the Lv.99 Giant Flan enemies in Innsmouth Keep. Everyone else has to work it a bit to keep themselves from getting accidentally killed, but she just walks around and that slightly faster than walking speed pace and just murders those poor things.
• Speaking of, I love the H.P. Lovecraft reference. Though I feel it needs more fish people. Maybe the Dracobolites will move in?
• Speaking of murdering things I shouldn't, with a little practice, I was able to use Jack to take down a Malboro.
• I have recruited to new people into Class Zero, though it doesn't look like it means anything.
• I am very amused by the way Rubrum and this war in general is reminiscent of the Yugoslav Wars.(SPOILER) Rubrum's plight feels a bit like the Bosnians where they were initially forced into the war thanks to outside forces, so they garnered a lot of sympathy due to the fact they were victims in the beginning of their part of the conflict, but come a few years later and some powerful allies, they suddenly didn't want to end the war for more nefarious reasons. Likewise, Rubrum comes across as a nation simply trying to defend themselves from aggressors but, now they've become the conquering force in Orience. While Concordia has gotten off easy, visiting towns in the empire that have been "liberated" by the Dominion shows a more ugly side to this war. Hell just the first time you visit the empire, and the soldiers are horrified to learn that the Dominion is sending children to war is the first indication that something is wrong within the Dominion.

Cons:

• I think I may have screwed up on the con artist chick questline. I gave her the money all three times, but she ended up only giving me a tenth of my last payment and she's disappeared. I rarely ran into her so I'm wondering if I missed a step cause I read somewhere she gives you 200,000 gil if you do her questline properly.
• While I appreciate the airship, I wish it controlled better.
• The Concordia campaign was rather anti-climatic. I imagine something is either going to happen in the final chapter with them, or this is something that I won't learn until NG+. There are just too many loose ends.
• Oiy, I can finally travel around the full map, and the main lesson I'm learning is that I'm either not high enough in levels, or I haven't completed enough Expert Trials to actually unlock everything.
• The Tower of Agito is horrifying. I figured it was an endgame area, but I wasn't expecting the first room to have four Lv. 127 Tonberries...
• Speaking of stupidely high levels. How the hell do you get higher levels in this game? I'm around Lv.35 for most of my team, and it just seems like it takes an act of god to gain a level anymore. Am I seriously going to have to use the Secret Training cheat just so I can actually visit these post game areas? I had a hell of a time fighting the Lv.44 Iron Giants guarding the Setzer.
• The scientist guy is incredibly creepy as well, and I probably should have known when I learned he's associated with Emina. It's amusing in a dark humor kind of ay, especially since a lot of his dialogue gives me the impression that him and Kurasame were and item. Or at least its enough yaoi fan bait the way he talks about him.
• I am annoyed that Emina and the Science dude seem to both be available at the same time. I may have gotten farther with the science guy if I had known this since Emina is a giant creepy money pit of a quest.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

I'm sure it's a coincidence, but it's nice timing that you're playing the game this month because it celebrated it's 5th anniversary on the 17th. HD, anyway.