Final Fantasy Type-0 is still a mess, but it’s an enjoyable one now that I’ve gotten the hang of the battle system. I’d even be done by now, but the final mission needs me to be level 36 IIRC, and everyone apart from King is 30-31. A word of advice to anyone thinking of playing this game: don’t try to level everyone equally. Spend the first few hours trying them all out, then focus on two or three, but no more than five, that you’re confident you can control in a pinch. Stick with those guys and use them all the time. If things are bad enough that all five of your controllables can’t survive, abort the mission and start again.

If you follow my advice, with any luck you won’t end up like me, having to spend hours running around slooowly grinding up levels just so I can finish the game without trouble. It is utterly ridiculous how slowly the levels rise in this game, even when you’re fighting enemies out of your league. In most games, you take down eight lv. 39 mobs with three lv. 30 characters and you expect a level up, right? Or at least half of one, if the game is really stingy. In this game it barely makes a blip on your EXP meter. Ridiculous! So start the process early by cutting your party down to size.

Back to what I said at first: I really have figured out the battle system. Shoot, shoot, roll, roll, shoot, shoot, roll, roll. If an enemy gets too close, smash it with a Blizzaga Bomb. If a Kill site shows up, hit it. Map a good healing item to the Select button and use it if your usually-trusty party members aren’t fast enough with the Curaga. That’s the strategy I’ve been using with King and Cater, my two mains, and that’s what I’m planning to finish with. For support I’ll be taking Rem along with her high MP pool and her reraise spell. I hope that works well as a final party, because I absolutely do not have the energy to level anyone else up.

(Btw, I figured out the button presses too. You don’t hold triangle then add circle. You press down on both of them at exactly the same time. It’s easier than it sounds and works pretty well. But I haven’t used eidolons since I was forced to summon Ifrit early on, because things are working out too well.)

I can’t comment too much on the story, because knowing Square-Enix they’re saving all the twists for the endgame. In any case, it all seems linked to the Fabula Nova Crystalis world they created with FFXIII and its sequels, and since I haven’t played those, I’ve been foundering in the darkness the whole time. Despite the copious notes and glossary in the library, the game doesn’t explain a whole lot about how the world works. It took me a while to figure out l’Cie and what was so special about them (I actually had to look it up on the net), and that’s just for starters.

I have plenty more to say about Type-0, both good and bad, but since I’m so close to the end I’m going to just finish it. Then we’ll talk.