It felt like eons ago when Square Enix released Final Fantasy Type-0 in Japan on the PlayStation Portable. Since its late 2011 release, the prospective of an English localization was mired in uncertainty, with director Hajime Tabata feeling unsure of the PSP and PlayStation Vita’s performance in North America.
After a long period of growing fan support for the title overseas and a controversial shutdown of a fan translation, Square Enix officially announced a HexaDrive-developed HD remaster of the game at E3 2014 slated for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
I sat down with a PS4 demo at a recent Square Enix press event on the advent of New York Comic Con to see how this high-def spin-off fares among the endless plethora of Final Fantasy titles out there. Here’s a list of eight things everyone should know about my experience with this early build prior to the full game’s long-awaited release on March, 17 2015.
1. This is a PlayStation Portable game redone in HD.
Final Fantasy Type-0 was originally a Japan-only Final Fantasy game released on PSP in 2011; hence it still plays like a game made for portable systems.
At its heart and soul, it still plays like a PSP game with a HD makeover. That means the amount of enemies onscreen are still limited, and the missions are a tad shorter than what one would expect out of a console JRPG. The updated textures put in place are far smoother and crisper than the PSP original. Just don’t expect anything groundbreaking.
