Feels like Crisis Core done right. Either way it still feels bizarre playing a PSP game on PS4. I can understand the polarising reviews.

I think you can call up a chocobo at any point in the World Map to cancel out any random encounters.  Or at the very least get a chocobo to traverse the World Map.  Plus there is an Airship to use as well.

So instead of randomly fighting 2 deformed lions, you are fine with 2 deformed lions just hanging around an area, waiting for you to attack? If it made true sense, you would shoot the lions from 100 meters away with a rifle and they'd be dead in one hit, or be injured enough to run away and die slowly from lead poisoning. No numbers just falling off them or anything.

Random battles allows you to gain XP, gather resources and money over time/progression as opposed to purposely seeking enemies. This allows you level steadily, instead of being underleveled and you have to go back and grind to get to the right level. 

... wait, low level riffraff? You have to do that whether you can see them or not, you level by killing the low level riffraff to make you strong and experienced enough to take on the bosses. I'd much prefer not to have to seek the low level riffraff and for it to come to me.

If you are a true gamer then don't buy bad games regardless of platform, developers or publishers.

awesome, cant wait

How is any of that traditional final fantasy????  Maybe point 1... But everything else...

Well, Type-0 gave me the same feelings I had when I played VIII. Nostalgia is a big factor here. Many elements in the game are traditional indeed. The world map, the music, the voiceless dialogs, the chocobos, the airship, even the graphics remind me of VIII.

As for the random encounters. It is nothing more than a technical limitation. Anything it "offers" can be perfectly implied in a modern design. On the negative side, the absence of creatures in a physical form cause the world to be bald and the environments to be lifeless. In addition to that, talking away the option to avoid some fights is very annoying at times (not in Type-0 though, you can ride a chocobo). It takes away the appreciation for the quite and peaceful moments, as in traversing the world peacefully and observing.

What I've found is not in the story, but there is a mission based difficulty trophy in the game.  Think of it as an end game mission select trophy you have to do to get that platinum trophy.

In any event I plan on getting this once it drops in price to $20-30 range.

Any person who has ever touched an JRPG would know better than to simply ignore all small fights and not grind for a while.  Granted, it gives the player the ability to play however he wants, overleved or underleveled. This is more important if the player is playing on a lower difficulty or just for the story. Take for example Star Ocean: Till the end of time (i'm gonna ssume you are familiar with its battle system) You get to see the type of monster which you will face off, which allows the player to pick the type of monster he/she wants to train on, as oppose to just running around, hoping you will find a battle with monsters that will give decent exp. 

In Star Ocean, you can fill up a bonus battle gauge that can let the player gain bonuses in battles, the most desired for me being triple exp. The rate to fill up the bar goes down as the fight drags on and it is lower as the party gets stronger in level. Thus, a player can seek out the right monster to fight, that give the best experience and that make raising the gauge much easier. This is a battle system which I have always loved because it is so versatile and rewarding. Also, the monsters in the game are generally aggressive and will engage combat if you get within range (which is the case for a lot of games in recent memory)

And by low level riffraff, i mean the monsters you do not want to fight when you are backtracking or have reached a sufficient level. I honestly don't see how having the choice to fight or not is worse than having no choice at all (There are ways to circumvent random fights but you get my point) but do your thing.

I, personally, don't tell to hang on to older concepts in gaming. The transition from turn-based, random battles to action-oriented combat is the natural evolution of any game involving combat (aside from specifically strategy based games like FF tactics), in my honest opinion.

This game is only for PS4 and Xbox One... I'll pass, let me know if it comes to PC