Welcome to the Type-0 Breakdown. Over the next couple of months, I’ll be giving a rough breakdown on the characters and other aspects of Square Enix’s upcoming release, Final Fantasy Type-0. While these won’t be in-depth guides that will tell you how to gear or exploit the game, they will be brief introductions to the characters, as well as character stat rankings. I’ll be telling you what’s going to be good for beginners, a challenge for advanced players, and which character personality might drive you nutty. All of it will be spoiler-free, so fear not. This will just be a quick glance to get you geared up and pumped to play!
Please note that there is the possibility that abilities or other small changes may be made in the translation of the game. The information in the guide is based upon the existing Japanese terms and controls used. Very little is expected to change in the released game.
Last time, we charged up and took a slash at Jack, the Samurai. Today, we’ll be going back to basics with Queen, the Generalist.
Nicknamed ‘Class President’ by her classmates in Class Zero, Queen is a dignified woman with a strong sense of justice, leader-like qualities, and a remarkable intelligence. Studious, she is one of the few to properly pay attention in Kurasame’s lectures and tends to immerse herself in books. Practical, realistic, and logical, Queen can come across as callous with the harsh truths she bluntly tells her classmates and others. While she tends to hurt others with her words, it isn’t her intent. Rather, Queen does this for their benefit, as she cares for them much like an older sister.
In battle, Queen wields a sword, one of a more Western make compared to Jack’s katana. Unlike Jack, Queen has excellent movement speed and favors a style closer to fencing. You may have noticed that I gave Queen a rather odd title: Generalist. This is because Queen overall has fairly average stats, and can adapt to any role better than her classmates, making her a Jack-of-all-trades. (Square Enix missed a great opportunity with Jack. My love of puns is disappointed in them today.)
Queen, along with Ace, is a fantastic choice for new players. She is also an excellent choice for those who don’t know how they want to play the game yet. Queen can favor a hit-and-run strategy with moves like Retreating Strike and Dash. She can fulfill a healing role with moves like Cross Judge. She is able to take a long-range position with her Energy Combo ability. Queen even has a rather promising defensive ability, Reflect Guard.
Probably the coolest thing about Queen, however, is her ability to become a Berserker. By equipping her ultimate Accessory, the Janus Glasses, Queen can enter a special mode if she’s killed during a mission. The Janus Glasses revive Queen and put her in a Berserker state, where she dashes across the battlefield and deals high damage. The downside is that Queen is constantly in a Kill Sight stage in this mode, and can be killed at any moment if she isn’t properly evasive.
Normally I only do one video in one of these posts, but I like her Janus Mode so much that I’m tossing you an extra video:
As stated before, Queen has a wide range of abilities that make her exceptional for a variety of play styles.
Let’s take a swing at what Queen has to offer:
- Retreat Attack – Hitting the Analog Down + Attack causes Queen to attack her enemy, then backflip away. Learning the upgrade Retreat Attack Lv. 2 causes Queen to launch three magic bullets at her enemy by pressing the attack button again after backflipping. (Analog stick must be neutral after landing to use Lv. 2)
- Cross Judge – Queen unleashes a cross-shaped burst of energy that heals all allies and damages all enemies that it touches. Queen is healed for 50% of the damage done to enemies.
- Energy Share – Queen consumes HP to restore MP. This effect is cancelled if Queen takes damage.
- Dash – Queen dashes up to her enemy. If an object is in the way, Queen dashes to that object. It is considered a teleport due to how fast it is.
- Energy Combo – Queen unleashes spheres of energy that can scatter and strike multiple targets.
- Reflect Guard – Queen parries and counters an enemy’s attack, possibly causing a Kill Sight.
- Energy Bomb – Queen causes a huge explosion. Queen is able to sacrifice HP to increase the damage. If her HP is dropped to 1, however, she cannot use the ability again until her HP is at 2 or higher.
Stat-wise, Queen is fairly average across all fields. While she excels at nothing in particular, she is far more balanced than most of the other characters, suiting her Jack-of-all-trades style.
Queen’s stats are ranked as the following among all the characters:
- HP – 8th
- MP – 5th
- Strength – 9th
- Defense – 6th
- Flame Magic – 7th
- Cold Magic – 6th
- Lightning Magic – 2nd
- Defense Magic – 4th
Overall, Queen is an excellent character for new players to pick up. Both her abilities and statistics are fairly well balanced, making her accessible to any play style. She, along with Ace, are recommended for new players. Her ‘Janus Mode’ also introduces a rather interesting take that keeps her from being too boring of a character to play.
Better reload and get ready, because next time we’ll be taking a look at King, the Sharpshooter.
What else would you like to see me cover before the game’s release on March 17th (NA), March 19th (Japan re-release and Australia), and March 20th (Europe)? Comment down below and tell me what you would like to see covered after I tackle the characters!
Checking out the Type-0 Breakdown for the first time? Here’s a list of everything you’ve missed!
- Ace, the Gambler
- Deuce, the Bard
- Trey, the Archer
- Cater, the Gunmage
- Cinque, the Tank
- Sice, the Reaper
- Seven, the Ravager
- Eight, the Monk
- Nine, the Dragoon
Kayla Swenson is an aspiring author and former DJ from Seattle, WA that procrastinates far too much with video games to get a book out. When she’s not gaming until carpal tunnel sets in, she’s working on dreams of being a voice actor as well as a published writer. Fond of RPGs, she will happily disappear into the void to tackle whatever bad voice acting awaits. Contact her at the email above, or on all major systems/networks as Beltravi.
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