Okay, I have downloaded the game and it actually works! The problem is, I have no idea what the hell I am doing here. On the very first screen, I am given the option to choose between two things, and I don't see what I am supposed to pick since it is all in Japanese. I'll just go with the failsafe choice of always selecting the top choice.
Okay, I assume that choice led me to a trailer, because that's what I just saw. Showed off many things, but not much of it was really new to me. I am sure that there is a video of it on Youtube somewhere. I remember seeing many of the scenes in the video with English subtitles, but I don't remember what the hell anyone was talking about. Oh well, let's get on with the game already!
You know what, I am just going to post the videos so that I won't have to describe them. Let's start with the demo's opening scenes.
So as you can see, a ton of crazy stuff is happening. I was hoping that the guy you see all bloody and dying next to a chocobo would be No. 10, but it seems he is Izana, Machina's older brother. Since he is not of much interest to this demo, I am going to move on from him. As he dies and people are being obliterated left and right, the game's supposed protagonist Ace comes to his side and tries to help him, and another one of Square's newest hotties by the name of Queen walks by and tells Ace that there's nothing that can be done (I especially like the glasses, that's a new touch). I presume this is because their magic crystal I mentioned in another post had been taken by now. In any case, they abandon the guy for no reason I can particularly fathom. The scene moves on to Machina and Rem, another cutie, who discuss that the powers of their crystal seem to be returning. Cool, let's go kill things already!
It appears that I start off in the Hogwarts School of Final Fantasy, playing as the cute Rem girl I just mentioned. I tried using some of the attack controls and all to see her moves, but I guess I can't do so inside a non hostile environment. Oh well, let's move on. Pretty interesting red screens they have here. They're like doors; I guess they're there to keep outsiders out. I tried going out through the door behind me, but some moogle is whining and not letting me go that way. I guess the only way forward is literally forward. After heading out the door ahead of me, I found myself where I was trying to go in the first place: the school's courtyard. It is a lively place with many kiddos running around and funny looking moogles floating all over the place. There is a fountain statue in the center of some bird that isn't all that much of interest. Looking up, I can see the top of the main buildings of the school, but there is a tower that extends out of view. I tried moving the camera up some more to get a better view of Rem's skirt, if you know what I'm saying, but the camera doesn't let me do that. However, when i do a dodge roll, I can get a very brief glimpse at her white panties. AWWWW YEEEAAAHHHH.
Alright, enough with the tomfoolery, let's head into Hogwarts now. I have to talk to a blue moogle to get inside, so let's talk to him. Once inside... DAMN this place is sweet! I can see myself spending hours here! It's just a living room area, but it has this Eighteenth Century Elizabethan feel to it. I love it! There are several characters here with blue and red icons over their heads. The blue icons indicate area changes, like the blue moogle I spoke to, to friends and item shops and etc. The Red icons indicate quest characters and whatnot. The guide on Siliconera says to speak to some black moogle in the center of the room, which I swear to god looks like a pimp. He has three options, the first is to practice battle, the second is to start the first mission, and the third is to stop talking to him. I decided to go with Practice Battle so that way I can get a feel for the game already.
Alright, so here's the lowdown. The battle practice took me to some forest to practice my moves (I think this also happens in Harry Potter where Harry and his classmates are sent to practice magic in the Forbidden Forest. Square is definitely pulling a Harry Potter ripoff here). Triangle does normal melee attacks, which are supposedly weak but I found myself able to make short work of my opponents with melee attacks. Then I tried using her other abilities. Square does magic, which was a shotgun blast of lighting. The more you charge it up, the more powerful it is, but I think it costs more MP as well. Circle does a special ability, but I haven't quite figured out the proponents of the Circle attack yet. I am going to go into The Forbidden Forest again to try it out some more, but from what I've seen, it is the most powerful attack. X supposedly blocks, but I have yet to see that happen. I just dodged rolled and charged up a cure spell. I also nearly got whooped by a bunch of weird dog things. I am going to try that again because I was really unsatisfied with how that went.
Okay, so the Circle attack does cost MP. It can be charged up as well to do more damage than it already does. The melee attack, as far as I can see, can't be charged, but when I held down triangle Rem just kept attacking, but I prefer to button mash. I was able to keep doing more rounds at the end of the whole thing, but unfortunately I had to stop and go back to the Elizabethan salon or else I would eventually die. I leveled up a couple of times by doing this, by the way. It turns out that the Crystarium in this game is what you use to power up spells. I don't want to mess with it just yet, though. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention, after you kill an enemy, you can lock onto its corpse and absorb something called Phantoma, which I presume to be the creature's ghost. It gives back some MP, and I think it also gives you points to spend for the Crystarium. Also, when you lock on to an enemy, you'll sometimes see the target thing change to a red circle. As far as I see, it means Instant Death as Square calls it. When you hit the enemy with that red circle around them, it kills them automatically. I think it works with just about any normal enemy in the game, but I am not too sure. I am going to train just a little more, and then I'll continue with this game.
Well, I think I am done practicing for now. I have gotten the hang of the controls and stuff. I was able to summon Shiva, but using her was a nightmare. She was impossible to control as she was sliding all over the place with her ice rollerskates. Plus, I killed myself to summon her and the practice battle ended. Thankfully I didn't get a game over on the demo of the freaking game. That would've been so embarrassing. Let's move on plotwise now, because this damn moogle is constantly kupo-whining at me about something.
Before I move on, I am going to read this guy's information on the game. He is lists the different qualities of each character and states that he didn't like Rem too much. I beg to differ, I think she is a wonderful character. He said that her magic was weak, but her fire magic was doing two hundred hit points for me, so I have no idea what he's talking about. Since I can go through each character, it looks like I am going to be spending a little more time in The Forbidden Forest. I am going to check out this Nine guy, since he has a lance and the Jump ability and is therefore the Dragoon of the game.
Nine seemed pretty cool to me, but what sucks about him is that he is useless against flying enemies. His standard move is a thrust of his lance, and he doesn't aim at the target, so flying enemies are definitely not an adversary I would want to face. Let's see, who's next here... Ah, it's Queen! Remember, the hot chick with the glasses? Let's check her out. The guy says that she's cool, so let's see if there is more to her than just her looks.
She's pretty good. I still like Rem better, I don't know why. I guess it's a first character first serve loyalty thing. However, Queen is definitely better than Nine. Like Nine, she also attacks in a straight line, but she seems to do a jump whenever I am fighting a flying adversary. She has this blizzard attack that you sort of use a first person aiming thing, and that shoots a "missile" of ice that hits pretty hard and freezes enemies, it seems. Her ability is this cross of energy that heals allies and hurts enemies. Damage done to them is transferred as health. However, it only seems useful with other party members present. Let's check out Ace now. (Ugh, it's the boy with cards. How the hell do you use cards in a fight?)
Ace can be a potentially good character, but he is really weak. Two hits and I am already close to death. Also, he has no reliable method of healing himself. I doubt Nine does, neither, but he at least has better health. Queen and Rem so far are the only characters I've seen that can heal themselves. Ace's fighting style is pretty neat, I admit. Seeing his cards fly around and kill enemies is reminiscent of Luxford from Organization XIII (this whole Class Zero is actually reminiscent of Organization XIII). Also, when he dodge rolls, he teleports through his cards somehow. His special ability, Deck Open, allows you to draw four random cards which can do a variety of things. This includes restoring health and MP, but it is not very reliable as it is random. Besides, you will find yourself down to low health pretty soon after healing anyway.
Next we have Sice, the emo girl of Class Zero that runs around with a giant scythe as her name implies. The author of the article said she was a great character, let's see if I can agree... Well, damn, she actually is really good. In my opinion, she is the heaviest hitter, and she moves pretty damn fast for someone holding an oversized scythe. Her thunder magic is pretty cool to watch, and her Dark Nebula attack is pretty strong although I don't find it really all that spectacular. Again, I like Rem better. Queen might be in competition with Sice, though.
Okay, next we have King, the guy with the two guns. I have always been interested in King, he kind of reminds me of Balthier for some reason. The author says he is really strong with his abilities and all... Well, I agree. I like him a lot better than Ace and Nine. He is really strong, health wise. He tends to lose accuracy with his guns as targets get a little out of range, but that's okay. His blizzard bomb is powerful, and his Powered Bullet attack is even more so. Last we have Machina, who I have always been interested in playing as well. The guy complains he is slow, but I have handled slow characters before, so maybe this guy won't be so bad.
Machina is actually pretty good, but I am not so sure if he is really as good as I think he is. I am going to have to check him out later on during the actual missions. So far, I have my party system set up. Rem, Sice, and King are my primary three. Queen will have to play Rem's role in my reserve party as the two are pretty much interchangeable, in both battle skills and appearance! Following Queen will be Ace and Machina, to test him out for a bit. I might end up switching him out with Nine. I know I had originally taken a large interest in him due to his Dragoon role, but he's just not that spectacular.
Well, I am going to hit the hay for now. Tomorrow I am going to level up my characters a bit before I move on with the game. Then I'll cover Mission 1 here. Stay tuned!
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