Final Fantasy: Building The Perfect Sequel (1 Feature From Each Game)

Final Fantasy Type-0 is not a good game. It’s certainly not a terrible game either, but it struggles to hold a candle to even the weakest entry in the main franchise. Nevertheless, it should be commended for trying something different.

A mission-based game with only a finite amount of time between each scenario that can be devoted to side quests and exploration, Type-0 is complicated further by the fact that the narrative can deviate based on decisions made. This means that a minimum of three playthroughs are required to experience everything that it has to offer.

There is a convenient in-game accompaniment to this complication - The Rubicus, located in the Crystarium of the Akademeia area that serves as the game’s main hub. This serves as a comprehensive encyclopaedia that documents everything uncovered or undertaken by the player and offers hints (in the form of gaps) as to what they have missed.

Broken down into six sections, it has a full bestiary (Enemy Compendium), a database of summons (Eidolon Arcana) and characters met (Historical Personae), a full list of quests completed (Record Of Service) and a chronological list of all of the game’s happenings and story developments, linking to video sequences (Annals of Orience).

Filling every gap is a highly rewarding pursuit and replicating this in other titles (XIII and XV have done it partially with Datalogs, but to nowhere near the same extent) would be a simple way to give players another sizable achievement to pursue.