Final Fantasy Type-0 First Impressions

I figured I'd post this up here since I just got the game and, well, this is a Final Fantasy Union ^^'. Let me start this by saying that sadly having this game in my collection just makes it all the more painful that I can't understand ANYTHING that's happening in this game. One thing that I feel was looked over with the localization is how bloody and 'gritty' this game actually is, it would definitely warrant an M rating in America, making it the first game in the series (that I know of anyway) that would have such a rating.

The game seems to play off a reworked version of the gameplay engine from the 3rd Birthday, only reworked in a way that makes it much more playable.  I'm not yet sure if that's actually because of the engine being reworked or just the difference in the character's play styles, but either way, I haven't had nearly as many problems with the camera as I did with 3rd Birthday, though since the game is on PSP, it still isn't perfect.

The gameplay... is really good. As I said it plays rpetty similarly to the 3rd Birthday except the motion feels much more authentic, so much so in fact that the lack of a jump button really stands out. So far the levels seemed to be designed purposefully around the fact that you can't jump, but it still feels odd to me, as silly as that may sound. The combat is fast and fluid, allowing you to have a powerful spell, lesser spell, and physical attacks each mapped to a button along with a dodge button. Though this seems limiting, the game lets you switch between any of three party members at any time, giving you a great deal of freedom in putting you in control of your entire party in an action rpg setting, allowing you to string combination attacks in a rather exciting way. 

The presentation on this game... is easily the best in any psp game ever released... even playing the game through an AV cable into my tv reveals pretty much no blemishes, which is something that can't be said for even games like Birth By Sleep, Crisis Core or even Dissidia. 

Basically, ... it's pretty damn good... and I really wish that I could understand what's going on.. but I haven't even found a text fan translation to work with.. even so, considering the emphasis I put on stories in my rpgs, the strength of the gameplay keeping me playing despite the HUGE amount of text that I can't understand should really show how good the game truly is.