Final Fantasy Type-0 HD is the most un-Final Fantasy game I’ve played since Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. It’s action-based with random encounters AND not-so random battles, it has similar side quest system where the quests have to be sought out, there’s a limited hub world, and you make abilities more powerful by synthesizing materials. It’s absolutely insane, not much makes sense, and the difficulty is brutal to say the least. On top of that, the game is meant to be played multiple times, as that is the only way to uncover everything or even complete every last side quest. Like Lightning Returns, I am not sure how it is possible to find everything on your own, so a strategy guide seems to be a very high requirement when it comes to uncovering every little secret and completing every task and side quest. I still think this is the case, but unfortunately, Prima Games’ Final Fantasy Type-0 HD strategy guide fell a bit short of the goal due to poor organization, inefficient information placement, missing information, and a lack of an index.

Since I didn’t receive the strategy guide until I was nearly done with the game, I knew I missed out on several key pieces, and the strategy guide walkthrough was very kind to tell me just how much I did miss in the six chapters I played without it. So many side quests, so many tasks, so many Rubicus entries, and I wasn’t able to complete the Kazusa and Emina sub-events since I didn’t know the trick to completing them. The strategy guide also taught me that I really went about the real-time strategy sorties the wrong way by choosing characters that made the excursions far more difficult than they should have been. I can also say that the strategy guide taught me how to embrace Jack, the one character I loathed using, and how to use his stances and abilities to easily achieve breaksight and killsight with enemies.

And that’s really all the nice things I have to say about the strategy guide (well, that and the chocobo breeding tips).

Obviously, I was able to get through the game and survive it, and a lot of that was due to the strategy guide’s tips and tricks, especially in the last never-ending dungeon of doom. However, while I would have been able to find and complete many of the side quests with the guide’s assistance, there are plenty I would not have due to its vague information.

For example, one task requests that you bring back three mauve phantoma. Okay, so how do I get mauve phantoma? According to the strategy guide under the “Phantom” section, mauve phantoma can be gathered from defeated enemies. Gee, that’s a huge help. Mind telling me which enemies? Oh wait, there’s a Drop Rate Chart that will point out which enemies drop mauve phantoma and the likelihood rate, right? Nope. Mauve phantoma can be harvested from “Generic Enemy 2” with magic-based kills. Time to turn to the Bestiary section and find out what in the world Generic Enemy 2 is. Turns out that Generic Enemy 2 is a mid-level run-of-the-mill enemy, which appears to be anything but a boss. I can’t believe this method is the most efficient one they found. For the record, the reward received for bringing back those three mauve phantoma is not worth this headache.

The strategy guide’s biggest disappointment is in explaining how to acquire the Setzer airship. This is an Achievement/Trophy, and it’s the only way to reach the Agito Tower in the middle of the Rubrum map. Learning how to get it should not take heavy reading to even find where it is mentioned. The first place I saw it mentioned was in the Side Quests section, where it lists the trials of the Agito Tower and comments that the only way to reach the Tower is with the airship. There is no reference where to turn in the guide to acquire said airship. I pored over the walkthrough, looking for any mention of the airship in the main walkthrough, the side quests, or the trials. I finally resorted to looking it up online, where it directed me to a trial only available in Chapter 7. Opened the strategy guide to Chapter 7, and no, there is no mention of this particular trial. Other trials are listed as for the second playthrough, so where in the world is this one? I looked through the Second Playthrough portion, just in case, and lo and behold, there is the wayward trial. This trial should have been listed in the original walkthrough with the “second playthrough” label slapped on it like it has others, AND it should be referenced in the Agito Tower walkthrough in the side quests.

As for more information about the trials, they aren’t even in the Side Quests section at all, despite the main walkthrough saying that they are! There is also no appendix for the Achievements and Trophies, and no index. An index that included every Side Quest title, Task title, Trial title, collectible, etc. would have made me overlook this issue with the Setzer airship, because then the airship would be in the index.

I am honestly not sure if this strategy guide was rushed, hastily put together at the last minute, or just flat out disorganized, because this Final Fantasy Type-0 HD strategy guide is not a typical Prima Games product when it comes to Final Fantasy games. It will get anyone through the game once, that is for certain, but as for helping users find everything and find it all easily? Well, you’ll find the collectibles with no problems and breed chocobos like a pro, but be prepared for a lot of page flipping and perhaps some online assistance. That said, it may be best to just use online help only.

SGR Rating: 2.5/5

Authors: Garritt Rocha and Nick von Esmarch
Publisher: Prima Games
Editions Available: Collector’s Edition
Acquired via Publisher