Dengeki PlayStation has a blowout on Final Fantasy Type-0 including tips from the staff on which characters to start playing as. The development team recommends Ace, Queen, and Nine because they are easy to use.
Ace, the team explains, was designed for beginners. The card throwing character has close range and long distance attacks plus good evasion. Don’t let her dignified look fool you, Queen is a killing machine with magic and weapons. She has a fencing style where she stabs enemies, which is actually faster than the demo. Nine focuses on power over speed and can deal lots of critical hits.
Once you get a hang of the game switch to Machina, Cinque, and Deuce, the team suggests. The switch may be difficult at first, but this party is interesting to play. Machina has powerful magic attacks and using his dual rapiers one combo can deal more than ten hits. His moves have been fine tuned since the demo to make connecting combos easier. Cinque is tough to use because her attack rate is slow, but she can force her way through enemy lines as long as another character is around to cure her. Deuce can help out here because she starts out as a support character. Later in the game, Deuce is a power attacker. The team says her flute is the arguably the strongest attack from Class Zero since sound ignores magic armor and directly damages enemies. Jack is also recommended because he can counterattack.
In the interview, Final Fantasy producer Yoshinori Kitase notes they announced Final Fantasy Type-0 five years ago (originally as a mobile phone game), but Hajime Tabata, director, says development was only three and a half years since he was working on another game, presumably The 3rd Birthday. The game was further changed after they released the demo. Tabata notes the big differences are the camera and Phantoma absorption. You can absorb multiple Phantom at once in the final game.
Death is a major theme in Final Fantasy Type-0. Crystals make people forget those that died so the concept of grieving after losing someone is not understood in this world. Tabata believes the game will make players detest death. Tabata also explained the world concept where young people were caught in the middle of countries at war came first. They added the mythology form the Fabula Nova Crystallis part afterwards with the importance of life message to create the story for Final Fantasy Type-0.
To see the full picture, you’ll have to play Final Fantasy Type-0 twice. Tabata says the first play through sets up the world and main plot. In the second run, you’ll get to know Class Zero better by playing through different missions. Players retain their levels when restarting the game plus get an item that rewinds time. Tabata also mentions the game has a secret ending, but wouldn’t reveal how players could unlock it.
Another tidbit Dengeki PlayStation reveals is Final Fantasy Type-0 has an odd disc swapping system. Disc one has the first chapter, a prologue, and the last dungeon. All of the other content is on disc two. Tabata explains to players don’t feel as if the first disc is light on content and the second disc is used for multiplayer. Usually, players will carry this around.
Just a few more days until Final Fantasy Type-0 comes out. Japan gets the game on Thursday.
