Meet Final Fantasy XIII's Battle System

[Brotherofwill]

It sounds rather odd, but it can't be worse than XII's system.

Well that would be a pretty tough feat to pull off.

Not really seeing how 2 has the best system.

And if you want to debate bring it and i'll prove you wrong.

Wait, what? I said twelve had a bad system, and you want to prove to me that 2 had a better one? I must admit I'm a teeny bit confused.

Stupid 1 key was jammed, I meant 12.

I don't want to challenge you but please explain why you like the system and prefer it to the other FFs. I love hearing these point of views of gameplay elements like this. I liked it myself, but wouldn't call it the best.

 

[SmilingKitsune]

It sounds rather odd, but it can't be worse than XII's system.

Well that would be a pretty tough feat to pull off.

Not really seeing how 2 has the best system.

And if you want to debate bring it and i'll prove you wrong.

Wait, what? I said twelve had a bad system, and you want to prove to me that 2 had a better one? I must admit I'm a teeny bit confused.

Stupid 1 key was jammed, I meant 12.

Aha, thought it sounded a little strange, I'll admit I did like some things about the battle system in 12, the way you could program your companions to do things like heal you when your health dropped to a certain level, but I just found it irritating having to circle around your enemies while you waited for your attack to recharge.

 

[Brotherofwill]

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Okay i'll be quick about this, i'll get more detailed if anything requires more explaining.

First is how liberating the system is, your not forced to be traditional, your not forced to play this click a point n' click, you don't have to play this as one character or 3.

If I wanted to? I could set the options to Wait, turn off gambits, and control each character individually, traditional except people can move freely.

OR I could set gambits to my other two party members and simply control a character the same way you would in say... Neverwinter Nights.

OR I could give everyone gambits and run through areas filled with weak monsters.

OR I could control all 3 in real time, or control 2, program the Gambits to be like me, like my friends.

No other RPG gives you this freedom of play style.

While it isn't as fast as say... oh FFX-2 that's a non-factor it's fast ENOUGH and it plays like a tacticle experiance.

I spent the whole game once holding Vaan back while I tweaked the Gambits on my allies to play commander, I felt like I was leading troops.

Everything was balanced, Charge helped keep magic up and you had so MANY combinations.

Like I said, it isn't the fastest, but it is the best. after all what is better? I think XIII might actually be more fun.


NOTE: Keep in mind It does all this while still not crossing into Action RPG territory.

Thanks for the detailed description, you made quite a good point there. I probably just couldn't get into proper gambit tweaking to be effective, I tend to prefer when I'm in full charge of the action at all times rather than having my team run on autopilot (I guess I could have, but it seemed a bit hard to do).

My main complaint is the spacial aspect of the system, however. I disliked running around enemies and them being able to hit me while actually not being exactly next to me (like when I was running away). This spacial aspect led to my archer being pretty much untouched while my squad was being raped in close combat.

Anyway, it was a good system and I'm not sure why it is being hated so much. The main reason I disliked the game was the stupid 12 year old hero...the game somehow made airship pirates seem like pussies...sigh.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

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Okay i'll be quick about this, i'll get more detailed if anything requires more explaining.

First is how liberating the system is, your not forced to be traditional, your not forced to play this click a point n' click, you don't have to play this as one character or 3.

If I wanted to? I could set the options to Wait, turn off gambits, and control each character individually, traditional except people can move freely.

OR I could set gambits to my other two party members and simply control a character the same way you would in say... Neverwinter Nights.

OR I could give everyone gambits and run through areas filled with weak monsters.

OR I could control all 3 in real time, or control 2, program the Gambits to be like me, like my friends.

No other RPG gives you this freedom of play style.

While it isn't as fast as say... oh FFX-2 that's a non-factor it's fast ENOUGH and it plays like a tacticle experiance.

I spent the whole game once holding Vaan back while I tweaked the Gambits on my allies to play commander, I felt like I was leading troops.

Everything was balanced, Charge helped keep magic up and you had so MANY combinations.

Like I said, it isn't the fastest, but it is the best. after all what is better? I think XIII might actually be more fun.


NOTE: Keep in mind It does all this while still not crossing into Action RPG territory.

Interesting, but to me it just seemed like a glorified autopilot at times.

But it's at least true that it's flexible.

 

[GoldenShadow]

The only reason I dislike the old battle system was because of the loading between the world map to the battle screen. XII had no random encounters, you can see what enemies are on the field and choose to fight them. It looks like XIII will keep this improvement while retaining the more strategic gameplay of a regular ATB battle system. no loading screens no extra waiting.

 

[Brotherofwill]

(And Vaan is 17... just saying)

What, really? Pretty sure the new UK law would find a way to classify him as child pornography

You know...with that large bunny and all

 

[dstryfe]

About the XII system, I personally disliked the gambits because I found that they served to make the game play itself. Granted, that's just because everyone that did it up that way were complete toolboxes (I tried to avoid doing the same), but the gambit system lead them to it by the nose. Also, as noted, the attack ranges were a bit off at times, and that hurt the system a little.

That said, I'll try out the XIII system before passing any sort of judgement on it. I have always done so in the past, but I'm pretty excited for this one in particular. They've had a lot of time to put onto it, and the X-2 chaining thing is back, apparently. It does sound pretty good, but as Yahtzee never fails to point out, *sounding* good doesn't mean it'll *be* good.

I consider X-2 to have the best FF battle system of all time, by the way.

 

[Quaidis]

This battle system sounds near-identical to the battle system of Wild Arms (or at least 3-5, I can't for the life of me remember the system in the first two games.) There is a meter with sections to it. Every time a battle starts, a character is hit, or damage is given, the meter fills up. Certain attacks eats the meter gauge, special 'chain' attacks devours more of it, and if it's full you can perform über special god attacks.

I see nothing different in this sense. It's a repeat or rip of a battle system from another game polished up and made to look new.

 

[Ancientgamer]

I highly enjoyed the FFXII system, and this looks like an improvement. *sigh* yet another reason to get a PS3.

 

[Frank_Sinatra_]

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Okay i'll be quick about this, i'll get more detailed if anything requires more explaining.

First is how liberating the system is, your not forced to be traditional, your not forced to play this click a point n' click, you don't have to play this as one character or 3.

If I wanted to? I could set the options to Wait, turn off gambits, and control each character individually, traditional except people can move freely.

OR I could set gambits to my other two party members and simply control a character the same way you would in say... Neverwinter Nights.

OR I could give everyone gambits and run through areas filled with weak monsters.

OR I could control all 3 in real time, or control 2, program the Gambits to be like me, like my friends.

No other RPG gives you this freedom of play style.

While it isn't as fast as say... oh FFX-2 that's a non-factor it's fast ENOUGH and it plays like a tacticle experiance.

I spent the whole game once holding Vaan back while I tweaked the Gambits on my allies to play commander, I felt like I was leading troops.

Everything was balanced, Charge helped keep magic up and you had so MANY combinations.

Like I said, it isn't the fastest, but it is the best. after all what is better? I think XIII might actually be more fun.


NOTE: Keep in mind It does all this while still not crossing into Action RPG territory.

I agree the FFXII battle system is the best I've come across. I still don't get the hate for it.