‘Final Fantasy Type-0 HD’ Gets An In-Depth 18-Minute Video Detailing Gameplay

Visitors Play The 'Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn' video. — IN PHOTO: Visitors play the "Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn" video game at an exhibition stand during the Gamescom 2014 fair in Cologne August 13, 2014. The Gamescom convention, Europe's largest video games trade fair, runs from August 13 to August 17. Reuters

This month’s “Final Fantasy Type-0 HD” tells the tale of 14 warriors known as Class Zero, a group of students at an elite military school defending their nation against the advances of a hostile empire. A brand new trailer from Square Enix goes into great detail explaining the game’s real-time combat system.

The trailer, posted on the Square Enix UK YouTube channel, runs through one of the quests in “Type-0 HD.” The basics of the new combat system, character-specific weapons and phantoma are covered, as is the game’s quick character switching mechanic, which aids strategic combat. Gameplay shown is from the PlayStation 4 version of the game, and as Dualshockers points out, the visuals received an extensive overhaul from the PSP version.

If the events in the trailer strike gamers as darker than usual for a “Final Fantasy” game, they should. Speaking to IGN in a recent interview, director Hajime Tabata stated that the tone of “Final Fantasy Type-0 HD” is deliberately grim.

“I really wanted to do a 'Final Fantasy' game that really depicted life and death – the value of life – in a much more mature, earnest way. I think certainly in trying to depict that and figuring out how to show it in a serious way, the feeling of danger and the fragility of life, it requires you to depict characters in a very human way and make them believable as people,” he said.

Tabata went on to explain that this drive extended even to designing the game’s combat system. He stated that he intentionally emphasised the fragility of players in combat to accentuate their mortality.

Originally released on Sony’s PlayStation Portable in October 2011, the game has been massively reworked for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A new comparison video posted on the AGB Videos YouTube channel shows the detail and care taken by the team at Japan-based HexaDrive when porting the title over. Enhancements include a broader colour palette, higher resolution textures, revamped character models and vastly updated lighting.

“Final Fantasy Type-0 HD” is set for release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on March 17. First-run copies of the game will feature a four-hour demo of the highly anticipated next entry in the mainline “Final Fantasy” series, “Final Fantasy XV.”

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