PSP: Final Fantasy Type-0

By ninetylives - Friday, October 30, 2015 - No Comments

Welcome back, fellow gamers!

Any Final Fantasy fans here? I adore the FF series, and I'm glad to announce that Final Fantasy Type-0 has finally finally completed the English patch! I'm crying tears of joy right now, after having waited so long for the patch. To the team that did the patch, you have my eternal gratitude.

FF Type-0 is on the PSP, which is pretty outdated, and last I heard they've stopped manufacturing parts and SD cards for the PSP, but if you still have that relic, then please do play it! There is an arsenal of games for the PSP, and with patch teams not giving up on translations for PSP games, there are new gems just awaiting to be discovered. I've kept my PSP in as good of a condition as I can just for these games.

There were a bit of complications when trying to start up my game with the patch, but there were many helpful instructions online and I've finally managed to start playing the game. With the patch, the voices are still Japanese, but with English subtitles and menus. You can still play without the patch by simply googling the controls and explanations, but then you might not fully enjoy the story and plot.

I've only managed to complete up till Chapter 3 of the game so far, but I've already invested quite a bit of time into it, considering that most Final Fantasy games require you to grind levels.

So, the setting of FF Type-0.

"Final Fantasy Type-0 is set within Orience, a land divided between four nations (Crystal States). Each nation's crystal has a power based on the Four Symbols, which in turn are their national emblems.

The Dominion of Rubrum uses the Vermillion Bird Crystal, which controls magic, the Militesi Empire uses the White Tiger Crystal, with the power of science and weapons, the Kingdom of Concordia uses the Azure Dragon Crystal, containing the power of dragons, and the Lorican Alliance uses the Black Tortoise Crystal, which houses the power of shielding.

Each nation has an academy, where they research and protect their respective crystals. These crystals have the ability to mark human as their countries' servants, named I'Cie, and are branded with a symbol and Focus, ie, a task to complete. While blessed with long life and the ability to transform into crystal, I'Cie are cursed to lose their memories over time. The people of Orience also lose their memories of the dead, so that they will not be held back by any past regrets.

The main aim of many is to become Agito, a legendary figure who will appear and save the world from Tempus Finis, an apocalyptic event that will destroy Orience."

you can catch chocobos!!

Whew, that was lengthy. Now that we've cleared the setting of FFT0, the story focuses on Class Zero, a group of 14 students from the Vermillion Academy. One day, the Militesi Empire launches an assault on the other crystals of Orience, seeking control. When Rubrum is attacked, Class Zero is called into action and become entangled in both the efforts to push back and defeat the forces of Militesi, and the secret behind the war and the existence of the crystals.

TLDR: Protag- Class Zero of Rubrum. Antag: Militesi Empire.

Okay, that's that for plot introductions, so let's now move on to the gameplay!

Now, Class Zero consists of 14 members, which means that you'll be controlling 14 members, but not all at one go, of course. Although having 14 members does sound a bit too much, especially if you're like me, and need to have all 14 members at the same level. This would definitely increase the training and grinding time. I take forever grinding my characters to the same level.

YASSSSS

For Type-0, there is no escaping from battles. The only way to escape is to die. Although you have 14 characters, you only need to let your current 3 die to escape from battle.

In battle, your battle party will consist of the first three you have in your party list. You'll be able to swap controlling them. For example, you're currently controlling member A, but you don't like their weapon. You can call upon member B in your battle party to swap positions, so you'll be controlling B instead. The other 2 members will be AIs, and move and attack on their own accord.

Another unique feature of Type-0 is the fact that once one of your characters die, you can swap out with another of your characters. However, you cant swap your alive character with another one. For example, you require a ranged character but your current party only consists of meele. You can only call a ranged member when one of your meele members die. It's a little annoying considering if you really miscalculate, you have to 'sacrifice' one member.

As usual, each character wields a specific power. If you have three certain members in your party, they can do a special attack.

However, I think summoning of the Guardians can only be done in boss battles. Also, summoning a Guardian (eg Ifrit) requires you to sacrifice the current member you are playing, so you should change to one of your current three to make sure you don't accidentally sacrifice the wrong one. There is also a time limit to how long your Guardian will last, so be careful!

After completing the chapter, you'll be ranked. No worries if you got a bad rank because you'll be able to replay chapters any time. It's also much easier to play chapters when you have a stronger party.

I'll leave you photos of all 14 characters but I won't go through them, or this post will never end. (Ace is my favourite though!) Each character has their own story, and their own good points.

Out of the 14 characters, there are more side characters, obviously, and my favourite is definitely Kurasame. He also has a little Tonberry pet clad in Class Zero uniform! So cute! Kurosame's back story + events is heartbreaking though.. Getting attracted was a huge mistake.