It's good. No second coming of Christ, but why would you buy into that level of hype for anything?
I never found grinding an issue. You just have to kill-sight everything. I took out one of the map-roaming behemoth guys as soon as I saw one, just for giggles, because the awesome combat system makes it possible no matter your level as long as you can dodge and time your hits. Some characters are dumb and slow though - I imagine you do have a much nicer time if you stick to the mobile and ranged ones. I think I used the dragoon guy and the katana guy no more than once each. The gun people are great though.
It's not terrible, but it's not super great. The game has it's flaws but you can also tell the game was rushed out the door. Gameplay is exceptional, but the RTS battles are complete garbage. This FF would work SO much better as a Musou game.
I have a sad feeling that with all the huge hype this game got while we were wanting it for come to PSP/Vita, that many are gonna be crapping all over it big time just because it didn't meet the unbelievable amount of hype for some people. I know to keep myself in check about hype so I'm hopefully really gonna enjoy the heck outta the game once it comes out. I haven't let myself get overhyped yet for FFXV either, which might be a very good thing since the game looks really cool.
These impressions seem to be vastly different from the ones that I read before the fantranslation was released. The general consensus seemed to be that Type-0 was a return to form for the franchise, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe there was too much hype.
Fans all over the internet were clamoring for an english version of this game for years, maybe it was a perception thing on my end, I kind of assumed the demand was so high because the game was actually...kind of good...or at least very well received in the motherland. I definitely read positive impressions from importers, especially in comparison to the Lightning saga and other recent not so great titles from SE. And now that to game is available to english speakers I'm just surprised that most of the impressions are not so great. Maybe it was not worth the hassle to begin with.
But also that most of what you read was hype rather than actual impressions/reviews. Because Square didn't release this game in the west and kept releasing Lightning games, Type-0 became a symbol of Square's incompetence. As a result its symbolic value inflated the actual quality of the game despite most people not having played it through.
I played it through once and never went back to it. I don't even remember how many hours I put into it, but it wasn't more than 30. Comparatively, I dumped over 100 hours into Valkyria 2 and still haven't completed the game, simply because that game is good to play.
Good god this game is garbage.
I don't even want to know what demographic they're aiming at, i don't think they even know themselves - it's a complete cluster fuck.
Every scene must have 5000 explosions and/or intense melodrama, characters and story points that have not been introduced properly or explained anywhere, combined with hideous character design and no substance "push butan to awesome" mechanics. Do Square employ 9 year olds as writers and then feed them a bunch of sugar and caffeine? They seem to just create a bunch of videos and characters that they think look "bad ass" and then try to patch a game on top of it with adhesive tape.
It's really obvious that all the talent left the studio long ago, they're really a hollow caricature of their former selves. It's quite sad. RIP Square/FF series
Yes, yes, and a thousand times yes, that's the exact same impression I get with every new product they ship.
In regards of Type-0, I played until I completely lost interest, which wasn't very far in the game because it was a grindfest with bad combat and stupid design decisions. Story wasn't going nowhere and I had that feeling you get when you know the game is going to end and they will not have explained any of the "misteries" and unexplained cool things S-E writers love so much to throw here and there. Buuuut then again, I didn't finish it, so I don't know if they explain things in the end or not, it's just a hunch.
Knowing these guys I'm positive I'm totally right.
If it's in a similar vein to Crisis Core, I'll be happy. That was not the FF game I wanted either, but it was fun to play, and kept my interest to the end, and I can't really ask more than that from a game can I? Everything else is just a bonus.
Yeah if it's as much fun as Crisis Core than that's all I really need. I played that hell out of that game and loved almost every minute of the gameplay.
It's not mediocre, but it's not as good as people(me included) expected, imo it's boring and has lots of bad choices, too bad because the setting is awesome and graphic-wise is spectacular, but i vastly prefer Crisis Core to it, i stopped playing Type 0 after few hours.
I found the game to be pretty incredible overall. I don't really understand why some are saying it doesn't work as anything but a portable experience. Peace Walker was amazing on console for me. And the game does have an expansive world to explore with world map, towns, chocobo riding etc. It's not just a series of bite sized missions selectable from some cold menu. In fact, some of those missions are damn long and epic the farther you get into the game.
I quite liked the presentation of the story. I love the "broad strokes" narrative approach here. The final act (which some do not like) is probably my favorite part, so take that as you will. The in-game datalog is stupendously detailed. At times the story might feel complicated, but sifting through the lore makes you feel like an amateur historian for the games' world.
The variety of combat playstyles and character customization is really nice. In fact, there are so many characters to play as (as well as many controllable summons) that you probably won't be able to use them all the their fullest the first time. Class Zero isn't a bunch of clone characters either, and there is a lot of variety in their weapons and overall control. Variety! Yeah, the RTS bits were a bit dodgy. But there aren't that many that need to be cleared to beat the game.
Visuals and music are fantastic. I could tell even playing it on my TV via component cables that the world design and overall aesthetic had a lot of effort put into it. It feels like a FInal Fantasy world should. In a way, that aspect reminds me of Final Fantasy XII. Everything from architecture to clothing design is top notch.
As someone who has played and enjoyed every FF but XIII-2 and LT I would easily give this game a 9.5. Can't wait to play it on my PS4!
I had a feeling this would be the case. People here, especially those who dislike FFXIII, see reviews from certain posters ( i.e http://www.novacrystallis.com/2012/08/final-fantasy-type-0-import-review/) and latch onto the hype without even trying the game. I am still looking greatly forward to the title but I have always tried to keep expectations in check, especially since it was a portable title.
I had a feeling this would be the case. People here, especially those who dislike FFXIII, see reviews from certain posters ( i.e http://www.novacrystallis.com/2012/08/final-fantasy-type-0-import-review/) and latch onto the hype without even trying the game. I am still looking greatly forward to the title but I have always tried to keep expectations in check, especially since it was a portable title.
It's the usual war between FF fans and FF haters that force themselves in playing the series just for the sole purpose of bashing on it after it. It's a cycle. Type-0 HD is the new target, the next coming, the cycle continues. FFXV will follow. Every faction also got their leaders trying to win over the other one. It's so lol. As for me, I just tried the Type-0 DEMO back in 2011 and – at that time and for a portable game – I was amazed by how much dynamic the action and scenes moved. It was very cinematic and impressive.
I wasn't expecting to see myself quoted in the OP.
Reading back over my ending impression, I still feel the same about it. It's a 5/10 game due to some huge flaws that really take away from what is good.
The combat is fun at first. About 1/3 through the game it started to show it's flaws, though. Then you realize that the "Break" mechanic is really the only way to defeat the majority of enemies. For those not aware, Break is a mechanic that deals high damage for attacking an enemy at certain points in the enemy's animations.
Due to the MMO-esque combat balance, where your character level directly dictates how effective your attacks are, drastically dropping if you're facing enemies higher level than you, regardless of your equipment, this all but forces you to rely on using the Break mechanic - which, for the most part, ignores the level discrepancy. This turns the combat into a waiting game for the moment you can do a Break attack. Or you can grind to reduce the level gap.
At least you don't have to use Break on the 732nd generic soldier-with-rifle you'll come across.
The way gaf was hyping this thing I thought it was the best FF of all time but some of these fan complaints are terrifying. I'll wait for it to be cheap I guess.
It's the usual war between FF fans and FF haters that force themselves in playing the series just for the sole purpose of bashing on it after it. It's a cycle. Type-0 HD is the new target, the next coming, the cycle continues. FFXV will follow. Every faction also got their leaders trying to win over the other one. It's so lol.
It's the usual war between FF fans and FF haters that force themselves in playing the series just for the sole purpose of bashing on it after it. It's a cycle. Type-0 HD is the new target, the next coming, the cycle continues. FFXV will follow. Every faction also got their leaders trying to win over the other one. It's so lol. As for me, I just tried the Type-0 DEMO back in 2011 and – at that time and for a portable game – I was amazed by how much dynamic the action and scenes moved. It was very cinematic and impressive.
I also tried the demo and i was so impressed that i tried everything to promote its localization, but once i played the full game with the amateur localization i changed my mind, i found the game so boring that i stopped after few hours, it has many little to big annoying and stupid decisions that kill the fun.
One thing is criticism one thing is trying to demolish a game, like the XIII trilogy, that still got plenty of merits and reasons to play. Reading like for the Lightning Saga that the game is no more than a "5 out of 10 game" makes me laugh already. I really wonder what games people are used to play when they dismiss quality so easily. Must be a dream world.
I know now, after being a Warrior of Lightning, I'll have to equip myself in the incoming months with a 0-class uniform! Bring it on
I also tried the demo and i was so impressed that i tried everything to promote its localization, but once i played the full game with the amateur localization i changed my mind, i found the game so boring that i stopped after few hours, it has many little to big annoying and stupid decisions that kill the fun.
There are things that certanly puts me off, for example the no-auto levelling for the whole party. I hope they find a solution for that because it sounds already annoying as shit. Production values though and premise of story/characters/lore makes me already very invested in looking forward to this. Especially being the only worth jRPG releasing next year on home consoles.
One thing is criticism one thing is trying to demolish a game, like the XIII trilogy, that still got plenty of merits and reasons to play. Reading like for the Lightning Saga that the game is no more than a "5 out of 10 game" makes me laugh already. I really wonder what games people are used to play when they dismiss quality so easily. Must be a dream world.
I know now, after being a Warrior of Lightning, I'll have to equip myself in the incoming month with a 0-class uniform! Bring it on
There are things that certanly puts me off, for example the no-auto levelling for the whole party. I hope they find a solution for that because it sounds already annoying as shit. Production values though and premise of story/characters/lore makes me already very invested in looking forward to this. Especially being the only worth jRPG releasing next year on home consoles.
Interesting read. I think it's important to consider the kind of game Type-0 is. I've played some of it, and I enjoyed what I played. I think it does something different for the FF formula in a good way, especially in a limited mobile space. I'm excited to see how it will be improved with its western release.
Of course, the game is a portable title, you should look at it like that. It was designed to be grindy, but in exchange you get to play as an enormous variety of characters and, unlike some people say, there is no "bad character", only those who are easier to play, and those who are not...still..I want to believe that some issues such as "can't change party members in mission" are addressed, cause it has a lot of points where you get to fight aerial monsters and there are no ranged members on your team, and this really, REALLY sucks D: This game kinda hates you, that's why it's so hard, you get, like, 5 phoenix downs...in the WHOLE game and your characters will die...a lot in missions =/, i always used academy back ups because of that(it's a system where you get "guest" party members in your party, i guess it was to simulate multiplayer help through the missions =/)
That being said, I still think this game is amazing.
Storywise, i think the political part was well executed, and so it the presentation... it's pretty hard to get lost in the plot, even though you have to grind a lot,and you can always rewatch cutscenes it you forgot something important.The bad part is that you HAVE to watch some scenes seperatedly it you want to play see the whole thing.
I understand that the characters look pretty one dimensional, but that's because we are supposed to think of them as soldiers...they just follow orders from their superiors, and have no real sense of what THEY want to do, or if what they do is right or wrong...this feeling really shows up, and you get to feel their frustration when the realise it... because of this I don't really think they're bad characters: they're not the focus of the plot, their team is. Since it's not the usual FF approach, we're not used to it, and it looks bad, but I really think it worked here =/ When they tried to bring more character plot we got Machina =P
I really like the final dungeon of this game, and the final chapter as a whole
after all, NOTHING good can come out from a nation dominating the others, i think Finis was a nice metaphor to that...it would happen anyway, no matter who won that war
The real problem is when they try to put the FNC points in some places that are not necessary
like, i really think if Arecia was just a mad scientist craving for power through their foster children and not, you know GOD, and if Cid's motivation was just conquering the world because the other nations' leaders are heartless bastards who won't help a nation that lives in ETERNAL WINTER, the plot would be much simpler and even better than it was =/
. The story DOES feel a bit rushed: it is a PSP title, it has a pretty awkward switch of pace after some point, because the story starts pretty slow and then BOOM lots of thing happening at the same time, but I think the darker tone compensated for that...it's not and "edgy" persona 3 dark, it's more like a sadder tone...
I really like how this game deals with the theme of death... in final fantasy you always go around mindlessly killing a bunch of soldiers, but this game really made me feel BAD about it, and trying to kill as few as I could...In a world where games reward you the more you kill, this was a nice change of pace, you know? But it really doesn't work with everyone =T
Overall, this game is just epic, the final dungeon it's pretty challenging
until you realise you can't die, but, I think plotwise that's nice, because it means you have to endure all that madness and suffering this horrible world has brought, and all the bad things your characters did, and you cannot just quit: taking all world's sins and trowing it in a group of children... for me that was really though and the way they endured that was just beautiful...
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Aside the frustration, this game is really fun to play, and the kill-sight mechanic made me think for the first time about boss battle patterns and the right time to attack(kingdom hearts doesn't really encourages you to learn those things =( )but it's still a portable title, so I don't really think it's going to translate pretty well to the PS4 =/ it's got pretty rushed because of that, made the cities smaller too, and lot of issues ppl have ith this game come from that.
I liked the idea of the RTS sections, but the execution was pretty meh...
I'll still buy it, if they will rebalance this game, I don't really see a reason why not, it's fun, it's good, the mechanics are deep, the world map has a lot to explore, and they put enough things in the second gameplay in order to make it worth replaying it...If you want to have an idea of how FFXV will play, i'd really check this out, since I believe both game mechanics will be similar(if FFXV ever comes out), just don't make HUGE expectations about it and remember it was made for the small screen... =)
People really make the mechanics sound like a complete mess. I don't mind a game that hard, or even "too hard", but it sounds like nothing fits together (unless you grind). That's a hard issue to overlook.
It's not bad but it most certainly keeps portable gaming in mind, so playing on home console will attract a different mindset.
There are some glaring issues with the game on PSP:
Kill-sight - didn't like it and becomes incredibly repetitive
Enemies - limited variation of them, mostly palette swaps
Towns - bland and look the same.
Quests - overwriting quests is annoying
Balance - There are one or two difficulty spikes or the quests are weirdly high level for the place it shows in game.
Everyone will take to it differently. It's not a bad FF. Definitely has some cool moments, but I seriously dislike the Kill-Sight mechanic; just a peeve I have with games that rely on these mechanics.
There are things that certanly puts me off, for example the no-auto levelling for the whole party. I hope they find a solution for that because it sounds already annoying as shit. Production values though and premise of story/characters/lore makes me already very invested in looking forward to this.Especially being the only worth jRPG releasing next year on home consoles.
I had a feeling this would be the case. People here, especially those who dislike FFXIII, see reviews from certain posters ( i.e http://www.novacrystallis.com/2012/08/final-fantasy-type-0-import-review/) and latch onto the hype without even trying the game. I am still looking greatly forward to the title but I have always tried to keep expectations in check, especially since it was a portable title.
I don't think you should be so eager to take potshots as if you didn't hype a game before you played it. You didn't keep your expectations in check for Lightning Returns or the like.
The game isn't mediocre by PSP game standards and if your familiar with FFXIII lore the plot will make alot of sense because it's the same shared multiverse.
The game does have it's share of problems like the RTS segments are kinda wonky, kill slights are there to help speed up combat, and it takes grinding to get a real diverse skill/magic set for most of Class Zero. The game doesn't really want you to go out picking favorites before you start the game because there will be times when you can't use your desired team.
As far as the presentation goes, it's one of the best looking PSP games out there, the voice acting in the JP dub was also pretty spot on as well. As others said before, the OST is also something to listen to. Like the 3rd birthday, the game does however have a few glitches...both gamebreaking and of the helping verities, but most players wont run into them without trying to exploit them or are just 100% completest.
At the end of the day though I think Type-0 is a good FF game and shouldn't be compared to other FF titles...which is something people tend to do too frequently...It's a game that stands out on it's own merits. With that said, if your on the fence just wait for a demo or research the game....but don't let other peoples opinions form your own....even mines...just take it with a grain of salt.
I don't think you should be so eager to take potshots as if you didn't hype a game before you played it. You didn't keep your expectations in check for Lightning Returns or the like.
Huh? I certainly did. I even said numerous times that the quality of the game would determine its success. I expected LR to be a fun ending to the FFXIII saga and I was happy with the end result. My concerns with the doomsday timer thankfully did not affect the game.
Honestly i expect Type 0 HD to be initially overrated by both gaming journalists(lol) and gamers just because of the hype and because it's a Final Fantasy on current gen.
The game was designed according to the bad definition of "handheld" game(imo the existence itself of a definition of "handheld" game is bad but that's another problem) and i don't think it's possible to make changes without the redesign of many gameplay aspects.
Maybe Square will be able to make it perfect, but if i were you i would wait the hype to pass before buying it, so you can read more reliable opinions.
If it's in a similar vein to Crisis Core, I'll be happy. That was not the FF game I wanted either, but it was fun to play, and kept my interest to the end, and I can't really ask more than that from a game can I? Everything else is just a bonus.
Definitely overhyped. Most likely by people who didn't play it.
Is it mediocre? I guess. I'll give it a 6,5. I had my fun with it, but that's it. Story is a mess, easily "on par" with FFXIII, the whole FNC was a mess of rushed and half-backed ideas and development problems.
It's also first and foremost a PSP game, and I felt like a lot of people forgot that.
Think a lot of the hype has to do with it not being localized in a timely manner, which makes it a legend in the eyes of some and makes the others feel like they're missing out on something.
So basically the same effect we had with Bravely Default - And dear I hope Type-0 isn't as bad as Bravely Default was.
Gonna have to defend the battle system here. This isn't a game where you can just mash attack at any time like Dynasty Warriors. The Kill Sight/Break Sight mechanic and the difficulty of certain enemies means that you need to watch out for their openings after they've attacked, at which point you attack them and deal a huge chunk of damage. Type-0 is a wait-and-see game, and Kill Sight is how you win against certain enemies. It's like how in XIII you would be extremely reliant on staggering enemies to deal significant damage. I'm not sure why people are approaching Type-0 like a hack-and-slash. Learning enemy patterns was immensely fun, and Kill Sight was integral to the battle system. Trying to hack your way at a boss is stupid.
The plot is fine up until the final chapter, where clearly they didn't have enough time/resources to develop the rest of the plot. But the writing up until then was fine, so you can enjoy most of the game's story.
