Since the initial inception of Final Fantasy on
the NES in 1987, Square-Enix (previously Squaresoft) has developed a pretty
consistent formula in the release of all their titles. And for the most
part, it’s worked – now I’ve got some perspective on this, as I’ve played every
(non-MMO) edition since I was a wee brown lad. Go ahead, I’ll pause
a moment so you can marvel at my advanced age, kids.
Granted the formula will always have some tweaks to the core
to freshen the mechanic from time to time – summons were added, job roles and
classes in V, items like materia in VII, that
annoying draw system from VIII, then grids and maps for
skills and upgrades in X and beyond. And this all
revolved around a two pronged attack of a massive world to explore along with a
tried and true turn-based combat system. And the gaming and RPG gods
did smile, as they saw that it was good.
Then Final Fantasy XIII happened.
Much the like the compendium of Final Fantasy VII,
which included a multimedia immersion into that universe, XIII was
supposed to have gone a similar (read: NOT identical) route. These games
were all to share a mythology in a series calledFabula Nova Crystallis, and
in addition to the core XIII titles, there were two additional
games that were going to be thrown into the mix – Final Fantasy Agito
XIII an Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Agito was
released for mobile platforms but we never really saw much of it in the US, and Versus basically
vanished into vaporware. It was a real shame at the time because they
looked like a different take on the traditional title. Lightning’s adventures
in XIII as the core were pretty polarizing though, leading
most people into a love it or hate it scenario about S-E’s most recent entry to
the franchise. True, XIII was a lot more interactive
story than game, and the exploration piece of a traditional Final Fantasy game
didn’t appear with as much gusto, but I for one still enjoyed it.
Well, after playing halfway through then giving up then
starting over and having far more appreciation for it as well as Lightning
herself.
To distance them from the XIII universe,
these two games were split off into separate entities. What we knew
as Versus XIII became Final Fantasy XV (the demo Episode
Duscae of which was reviewed by Colby here), and from the ashes of Agito XIII rose Final
Fantasy Type-0. And you know what? I can only describe Final
Fantasy Type-0 as the greatest documentary I’ve ever played.
In most RPG’s you’ll find that there’s three types of
movies. One is full motion video. The second is dialogue and
animation using the game engine. This one has a third – History Channel style
explanations of battalion movements and war maps with dates and voiceovers so
the player can understand the meta of the war at hand instead of just what
they’re playing through. It gives it a very strange but satisfying
documentary feel, and these types of clips to me work very well in tying
everything together and keeping me immersed in the lore and world
events. This game becomes, in fact, an interactive retelling of the accounts of
the war between the Crystal States of Orience, and it pulls it off very well.
That aside, the gameplay is a stark departure from what we
know from most of the Final Fantasy games. It’s full-on
action where skills are thrown on the fly – there’s no waiting for a turn,
there’s no running to escape a battle encounter or random encounters like in
previous games of the series (think kind of like Crisis Core). The
four buttons at your disposal on the controller map to 4 commands – generally
one standard attack, a special, a magic, and a defensive skill. These can
all be changed out with different skills and spells as your characters level up
and gain ability points. Much like X and titles beyond
it there are three party members that can be deployed at once – one that you
directly control while the other two work on AI. You can freely switch
which character you control if ever you need a different skillset for a certain
enemy or you’re just running low on health. It’s a fun system that allows
on-the-fly style change in how you attack the game.
To add more customization, there are
twelve characters (there’s two add-ons too but they don’t fit the
theme) from which to pick your team, each one with a different weapon and style
that fits different scenarios. Each character is named after a playing
card rank (Deuce through Ace with no “Ten”) and have their own equipment and
spells, all of which you have control over. Ace himself uses playing
cards as a weapon at range, while the other two characters you begin with, Nine
and Queen, use a spear and a sword for more melee-oriented combat. In
addition to their own offense each character has their own defensive style that
can help you out in a jam. Ace’s “Wall” for example helps when taking
ranged attack without cover. Fast switching between each character to
utilize their skills becomes as much of a skill to learn itself, but when you
do, boy does this game get fun in a hurry.
The story is a fairly simple tale of power and struggle
between kingdoms in a different age – in this case starting in year 842 in the
world of Orience. The Militesi Empire invades the dominion of Rubrum (our
characters) unprovoked, using technology to snuff out the magic Rubrum relies
on for its military using their White Tiger Crystal, destroying much of the
countryside in its assault. Rubrum’s crystal, the Vermillion Bird, grants them
the power of magic and Eidolons to defend themselves. Militesi and Rubrum are
two of the four Crystal States, with Concordia Kingdom and the Lorican Alliance
rounding out the other two. And thus war begins, with you controlling the
Rubrum Akademia’s legendary Zero class, hoping that one of them will become the
fabled Agito to bring balance to the end time, or tempus finis. So yes, there
are four crystals in the game as is always somewhat expected. Where this
ties in with Fabula Nova Crystallis is that the crystals are
sentient, and create l’Cie to do their bidding, serving the same role
the Fal’cie did in XIII.
Square-Enix also went through some effort to add a lot of
familiar elements to the game, softening a bit of the shock of being this
different to previous games in the franchise – not only within the Final
Fantasy universes, but more specifically from within Fabula
Nova Crystallis. Summons are called Eidolons and there are branded
magic users called l’Cie like in XIII. There’s Magitek armor
like in VI. There’s four crystals (for the purists fine, yes,
back then they were “orbs”) like there have been since day 1. And possibly
the greatest homage to a previous game in the series, twelve people
genetically enhanced to serve a greater purpose, all referring to the
scientist that created them as “Mother.” Final Fantasy VII?
Feel a little bit like Sephiroth clones and Jenova anyone? It helps give
you a familiarity with the game even though it’s a brand new environment.
In all, good fun, and a different flavor of the Final
Fantasy universe that’s a a breath of fresh air.
