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Final Fantasy Type-0 HD (PlayStation 4) artwork

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD (PlayStation 4) review


"If they start giving out awards for being patient and tolerant, I think I've earned one!"

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD is a spin-off of Square-Enix’s super-famous series. It was originally released in Japan on a hand-held system, but since the gaming world revolves around re-releases and remasters and Final Fantasy is kind of a big deal, it was resurrected for the rest of the world on more modern console systems.

I was intrigued. While I didn’t know much about this game, what little I had gleaned gave me the impression that it was a bit more mature in theme, with a heavy focus on just how hellish war can become. And you know what? That is this game’s biggest strength. At the very beginning, you watch a hapless soldier and his Chocobo steed cut down while attempting to deliver a message, perishing while covered in their own blood.

You’ll then be introduced to a world in which multiple nations are picking sides on the battlefield and sending out hordes of teenagers to do the heavy lifting. Using soldiers so young is a necessity in this world, as magic is strongest in the youthful and fades away as a person gets older. Therefore, one 17-year-old possessing aptitude is worth more in combat than an entire legion of adults.

“But, hey,” you might say. “Wouldn’t this be incredibly damaging to the mental state of a youngster to become a killing machine for a country that looks at them as a tool instead of an actual human being?” Don’t worry, the rules of this world include a little provision where, when people die, they are automatically erased from the memories of everyone who knew them. Sure, some cadets might do things like write down the names of everyone they’re going on a mission with, so if they suddenly realize they have no idea who some of those names are, they know they lost a few comrades, but they’re not going to actually have any of those inconvenient memories eating away at them and potentially affecting their prowess in combat.

Okay, maybe that’s not healthy, either. But it is the hand your protagonists in Type-0 are dealt.You’ll be in control of Class 0 — the most elite class of teenage warriors that one of the land’s military forces possesses. Only known by nicknames created from a deck of cards…with a pair of newcomers serving as exceptions…you’ll be able to control any of this group of 14 whenever you leave your academy and take part in missions or simply walk around to get into fights, do side quests and explore caverns.

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD (PlayStation 4) image

Each of these kids has their own weapon. Some, like Trey and Ace, attack from a distance with various projectiles. Others, like Queen and Nine, handle melee weapons. And you’ll also have oddballs like Deuce, who uses a damn flute. To great success if you take the time to master her combat style, but still kind of nutty. Regardless of whom you’re controlling at any point in time, you’ll be able to use their basic attack with one button, equip any two of a number of skills and spells to two others and reserve the final one for either a defensive action or healing spell.

Combat takes place in an action-oriented manner that, to me, felt like a more primitive version of what Square-Enix used in its Kingdom Hearts games or Final Fantasy XV. You’ll play through eight chapters, each detailing one part of the greater conflict, while also giving the kids plenty of free time in which they can converse with other students or go outside to gain experience and do various quests for people. You’ll also gain access to tougher quests known as Expert Trials. While a skilled player (or one who takes the time to meticulously grind) can probably do most of these the first time through the game, they’re best saved for a second trip through the game.

On the surface, this is a great game with a mature story and an action-oriented battle system where you have a diverse array of characters to experiment with. My actual experience was not great. Or particularly good. Simply put, this game is a mess that works overtime to sabotage itself in multiple ways. To focus on the worst offenders:

So, you have a really serious “war is hell” game where you control a bunch of teenagers who essentially are brainwashed to be killing machines incapable of remembering just who they just massacred. The impact of which is then blunted because Square-Enix just couldn’t help themselves and had to clumsily insert all sorts of misguided attempts at humor to, I guess, lighten the mood.

Maybe you’ll watch the occasional cutscene featuring a “foul-mouthed” youngster whose every line of dialogue has “frickin’” forced into it like the world’s edgiest seven-year-old was placed in charge of writing dialogue. Or perhaps you’ll notice that a lot of the authority figures at the military academy are Moogles. You know, the cute, little mascot critters. This extends to all the missions that play out like real-time strategy battles. A Moogle is your commander and every damn time it delivers orders, you’ll hear multiple variations of “KUPO” being emitted through your speakers like a crew of constipated rodents are having an orgy in your television.

Speaking of those real-time strategy battles, they’re probably better suited for a remedial class, not one composed of elite-level soldiers. The only one I found to be remotely challenging was the final Expert Trial one — for the most part, Mr. KUUUUUUPOOOOOO tells you exactly what to do, turning them into linear conflicts where victory is guaranteed as long as you remember that you’re playing a game and probably should be entering controller inputs.

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD (PlayStation 4) image

Or we could go into the limited bestiary this game has. I mean, there are a number of different monsters and big machines to battle, but a lot of those designs are only brought out rarely, either only in certain locations or as boss-caliber opponents. When traveling across the world or going through missions, though, you’ll regularly find yourself taking on a never-ending horde of palette-swapped bombs, slimes, centipedes, those flying one-eyed things and a handful of other creatures. Oh, and in most of the game’s regions, there also will be a handful of monsters visible on the screen. Stay the hell away from them! Get close to one and it will chase you, it will catch you, you’ll be in a fight against a couple level 99 beasts and, well, it’s a good thing Class 0 has 14 members because the three that just got forced into combat will quickly be down for the count.

The worst thing about Type 0 is simply that you have to play it at least twice in order to do everything and get the best ending. During your first trip through, you’ll likely ignore most, if not all, the Expert Trials, as well as a number of side quests because they’re meant for higher-level characters than what you’d likely possess at that time. Then, you’ll play through the game again and do all that stuff, as well as get a different mission to close out the majority of the game’s chapters.

There’s a lot that’s wrong with all this. The first time through, you’ll miss a lot of story stuff because you won’t be strong enough to do those missions. And this story is amazingly disjointed and only given out in tiny pieces. We’re talking to the degree where you essentially have to rely on the in-game library to get information on characters and events because you’re only getting part of the story from actually playing the game. And those alternate chapter-ending missions tend to be inferior to the original ones. For just one example, a mid-game chapter has you making a dramatic escape from the Imperial Capital while being pursued the entire way. The second time through, you go to a nearby mountain to help some soldiers fight off monsters, culminating in a boss fight against a foe notable only because of its extreme durability.

So much of this just didn’t work for me. I loved Type 0’s theme, but thought its forced attempts at humor and cuteness detracted from that whole “horrors of war” thing. The combat, featuring 14 characters whom all control differently, was a great idea that faltered under the weight of fighting the same sorts of creatures over and over and over again. The story could at times feel like a rushed and jumbled mess and I was expected to play through the game more than once in order to get all of it.

Out of some misguided sense of duty, I tried to do just that and almost succeeded. It was the alternate chapter-ending mission of the penultimate chapter that did me in. You only have one squad member for this one, but he’s super-powered and can one-shot every single foe until you’ve made it to the boss. That dude is also super-powered and can give your guy a run for his money, but I gradually whittled him down to this final bar of health. And then he hit me with, I guess, a special sword attack that killed me. And would have killed me even if my guy was at full health. And that was that; I exited the game, uninstalled it from my hard drive and started up something new. While thinking that if one single incident perfectly sums this game, that was it.



overdrive's avatar
Community review by overdrive (January 17, 2025)

Rob Hamilton is the official drunken master of review writing for Honestgamers.

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