We know the question you came here to ask: should you buy Final Fantasy Type-0 HD to play the Final Fantasy XV demo? We’ll address that elephant in the room for you right now: no. Well, not just for the demo, anyway.
Much like when the world purchased Zone Of The Enders to play the first half of Metal Gear Solid 2’s tanker mission and then discovered a good parent game worth sticking with while they were there, Final Fantasy Type-0 HD has enough merits to be considered as more than a ‘bonus’ to buying an early slice of Final Fantasy XV. And as one of the best-received entries since XII, it’s a good marker for current-gen’s mission to revive the Final Fantasy name.
Being a remake of a 2011 PSP game, Type-0 comes with caveats. This isn’t the sprawling JRPG normally associated with the Final Fantasy name but an action-first collection of bite-sized missions originally intended for handheld gaming.
Between this design and the basic visuals (significantly upgraded from its PSP days, but still way short of current-gen capabilities), PS4 is somewhat of a square hole for Type-0’s round peg and a PS Vita version would have been a more natural fit. Playing it on a home console feels odd, but clearly the allure of a bigger PS4 audience was hard for Square Enix to ignore.
Fortunately the game itself is still worth investigating, regardless of format. While mission size constraints make it relatively basic when compared with the bigger FF cousins, it shares core plot points and systems with Fabula Nova Crystallis stablemate FFXV. And with Hajime Tabata directing both titles, it’s yet another opportunity to accelerate up to cruising speed in the fast lane to FFXV.
Much like when the world purchased Zone Of The Enders to play the first half of Metal Gear Solid 2’s tanker mission and then discovered a good parent game worth sticking with while they were there, Final Fantasy Type-0 HD has enough merits to be considered as more than a ‘bonus’ to buying an early slice of Final Fantasy XV. And as one of the best-received entries since XII, it’s a good marker for current-gen’s mission to revive the Final Fantasy name.
Being a remake of a 2011 PSP game, Type-0 comes with caveats. This isn’t the sprawling JRPG normally associated with the Final Fantasy name but an action-first collection of bite-sized missions originally intended for handheld gaming.
Between this design and the basic visuals (significantly upgraded from its PSP days, but still way short of current-gen capabilities), PS4 is somewhat of a square hole for Type-0’s round peg and a PS Vita version would have been a more natural fit. Playing it on a home console feels odd, but clearly the allure of a bigger PS4 audience was hard for Square Enix to ignore.
Fortunately the game itself is still worth investigating, regardless of format. While mission size constraints make it relatively basic when compared with the bigger FF cousins, it shares core plot points and systems with Fabula Nova Crystallis stablemate FFXV. And with Hajime Tabata directing both titles, it’s yet another opportunity to accelerate up to cruising speed in the fast lane to FFXV.
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