Famitsu.com has posted a Final Fantasy Type-0 article containing most of the screens and details from this week's seven page spread in Weekly Famitsu. Access the site for the latest look at the game.
Here are a few additional details that were in Weekly Famitsu report (including some info that's not in the online report).
STORY
Some of the previous details about Type-0's story were a bit vague. Famitsu clears up a few areas.
Type-0 takes place in the world of Orience. In this world are four countries which hold crystals. As previously detailed, these countries are Rubrum, Milites, Anaze and Kogai.
Each country has an organization called a "Peristylium" which manages the crystals. For Rebrum and Milites, these Peristyliums are respectively known as Suzaku and Byakko. The other two Peristyliums are known as Souryuu and Genbu.
We previously wrote that the Peristyliums are magic schools. This appears to be true only of Suzaku, Rebrum's Peristylium. All the Peristyliums have different forms, and in Rebrum the Peristylium happens to serve as a magic school. A committee of eight in the Rebrum Peristylium, headed up by the school principal, also governs Rebrum.
Rebrum and Milites are the central players in the beginning of the story, as Milites invades Rebrum. The game's main characters are students in Class Zero at the Rebrum Peristylium.
As for the other two countries, Anaze and Kogai and the two other Peristyliums Souryuu and Genbu, I'm not sure which belongs to which. It seems that these areas are actually supposed to be mysterious parts of the world.
Those emblems are actually the flags of the four countries. The flags show the Four Symbols from Chinese mythology. The names of the Peristyliums come from these symbols:
- Suzaku: Vermillion Bird of the South
- Byakko: White Tiger of the West
- Souryuu: Azure Dragon of the East
- Genbu: Black Tortoise of the North
There's a distant mythology behind Type-0 involving four lights that appeared in the world long ago. People gathered at these lights and formed four Peristyliums. The mythology tells of a savior called "Agito" appearing in the world after the coming of a great calamity called "Finis." In modern times, as the four countries descend into war, people hope for the appearance of the Agito as mentioned in the ancient mythology. The students at the Suzaku Peristylium, including the heroes who are part of Class Zero, all hope to become the Agito.
The four countries of Orience all have unique items and colors that represent them. For Suzaku, one is likely to see the color red and gears. Gears in particular can be seen all over the place, from the flag design to the building architecture. They can even be seen in the clothing warn by the characters.
BATTLE
The game's battle system has you form parties of three from the Class Zero students. You control one character at a time and can switch off to the other two. If one character dies, one of the students in reserve comes into battle. You can keep on fighting until all the students have been killed.
As previously detailed, during ad-hoc play, the students who come in to support you when your allies fall are controlled by other players, although these cooperative play sessions only last for a brief period. Famitsu doesn't provide any further details on the game's multiplayer component, so we're going to have to wait for a further update.
The battle screen shows the following elements. The gauges to the lower left are the HP and MP of the character you're controlling. To the right are the gauges for the the two other characters in your party. The little person icon to the right of that are the number of students in reserve.
The command palette to the lower right shows moves that you can perform. In one of Famitsu's screenshots, Queen is the currently controlled character, and the move set shows Cross (circle), Mythril Saber (triangle), Thunder MW (square) and Raise (x). In another screen, Ace is the controlled character, and his command palette shows Illusion (circle), Card (triangle), Fire ST (square) and Wall (x).
Above the command gauge is an "ability gauge" and a summon command. To the upper right is a map of the surroundings.
One battle screenshot (shown below) shows the enemies holding their weapons over their head as if they've surrendered. It seems that you can make the enemy surrender by defeating the enemy commander. Some will flee while others will surrender. If you want to avoid unnecessary battle, going after the commander is one approach. However, this may be difficult, as the commanders are powerful, so you may have a tough time if you try to fight them simultaneously with a number of their troops. You'll need to decide an appropriate order to killing off your foes.
Other points mentioned in Famitsu's summary of the game's battle system concern special arts and magic. Each character has a specialty weapon, and they gain unique abilities when using these weapons. All characters can use magic. Magic can be customized to change its properties.
CHARACTERS
The Class Zero students all have numbers. I'm not sure what the significance of the numbers are. Here are the numbers along with some additional details from Famitsu's lengthier descriptions.
No.01: Ace
Famitsu speculates based off past trailers that Ace may be the main character amongst the members of Class Zero. I'm only passing this along because their speculation is often Square Enix giving hints.
No.09: Nine
He's straightforward and wants things to be clearly black and white. Queen considers him to be stupid. However, his unrefined words bring courage to the students of Class Zero as they head out to battle.
No.12: Queen
Her glasses are her trademark. She's the leader type, and her clean and good looks and high intelligence make her fitting of the Queen name. She's calm and quiet. However, she will not allow dishonest acts and will say harsh things to her allies. At the same time, she's not cold blooded. She feels pain when her allies are hurt.
Kura Same
Kura Same is the teacher of Class Zero. He was once a student, though, and during his active years he was called "The Death God of the Ice Blade" (Square Enix's translators will probably come up with a better translation for that).
Kura Same's Tonberry
I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a separate character or not, but Kura Same has a small Tonberry (a classic Final Fantasy series monster) by his side. The Tonberry wears robes akin to the Class Zero students and carries a lantern and a sword that stands twice its height. One event scene screenshot (below) shows Kura Same lecturing the students in a classroom setting, and we see the Tonberry standing on Kura Same's table. It's unclear what the Tonberry's role is, but Famitsu speculates that he may be under Kura Same's instruction.
OTHER OBSERVATIONS
In the Dengeki summary from earlier in the week, I said that Queen's "Cross" special arts move, which damages enemies and heals allies, was shaped like a cross. This doesn't mean it's a cross flying at the enemy. Queen sticks her sword up and a giant cross-shaped light spell appears on the ground around her.
One interesting bit that you can see in the battle screenshots if you look closely is that the characters appear to be saying things as they fight. There are little text bytes in the upper left of the screen. In the screenshot showing Queen releasing her Cross move, the text says "Why are you using magic?!".
Famitsu's screenshots also show what appears to be a Chocobo farm. This is part of an event scene. Ace is looking at a couple of cute Chocobos in a stable and says to someone (or maybe is told by someone), "You really like Chocobos, don't you."
Source: Andriasang
I am liking Queen's description here.. and she is not taking the approach of Jihl Nabaat that is for sure. Her cross move looks pretty brilliant in that one image. I am not liking Ace or Nine at all.. the just give me a bad impression for some reason. I like the symbols though as it does make me look into the game more. That being said I can not wait to see more.
