First Details Of Final Fantasy XIII's Character Upgrade System Appear
I can't speak for any of you, but one of my favorite parts of playing a new RPG is learning the ins and outs of a new upgrading system. Whether it involves Skill-Linking, Magic-Drawing, or Materia-Slotting - if it's nuanced enough to make choices fun and rewarding enough that I can't wait to ding that level up, a good stat system can keep me hitting the menus like a lush at a bar that stocks only numbers.
Which is part of why the new details announced for Final Fantasy XIII's system intrigue me so far - apparently, it foregoes specific 'levelling' of characters in favor of a general XP-currency called Crystalium, which is used to choose upgrades (like +1 strength) or powers (like Blizzara). The scans just released by Shonen Jump show the choices being arranged in a ring, which branch off to open up new nodes once unlocked. From the first details, it sounds like a blend between FFX's Sphere Grid with its branching paths and FFXII's License Board, which used exhaustable points to unlock bigger and better upgrades.
One can imagine what this might mean for the gamer staring at a menu - rather than try to grind their LVL number higher, they can adjust the battle difficulty on their own by either focusing on easy-to-unlock skills and HP boosts, or toughing it out without those stats and going for the motherlode skill on the circle which requires rather more points to unlock. It's these sorts of character-specific choices which make the grind of any good RPG worth it, and it seems to reinforce the same unrestrained style which shines out from the dynamic-looking battle system.
For now, we can only wait for more details and hope these new elements come together to make this Final Fantasy worth the wait.
Shonen Jump reveals FFXIII Crystalium -growth- System [The 13th Crystal]
[via: Destructoid]
faePuck
Posted to Video Games on 2 November 2009
· Comments (6)
Other stuff like this: crystalium, ffxiii, final fantasy xiii, ps3, rpgs, xbox 360
I know what you mean. The upgrading systems in the various FFs have been one of my favorite things about them.
I've loved deciding which materia or magic to junction to which character, or what weapon/armor to make a character learn a skill.
It's the micromanagement behind it that proves a huge draw to me.
I hope the one for FFXIII turns out to be another great one.
Honestly, I'm a bit disappointed by this. I've really disliked how characters in FF's become carbon copies of each other in the end-game (even without real grinding), and don't have specific skills or abilities that really distinguish or separate them from each other. One reason why many of the older FF characters, such as those from IV and VI, are so memorable is because they had these skills to help define them. Rydia goes hand-in-hand with summoning, and Tools were Edgar's stock in trade.
I hope that this new leveling system at least imposes limits on what can be upgraded or learned by a character, but I doubt it. It smacks of FFXII's leveling system, which was way too heavy on the micromanagement and character carbon copying.
@MuddBstrd: I don't feel like this "character carbon copying" is such a bad thing. Instead of feeling forced to use certain characters if they want to have specific skillsets available to them, players can now choose who they'd like in their party based on looks, personality, etc., instead.
If the player decides to give every character the same exact abilities and make them virtual carbon copies, then that's his/her choice.
My theory on FFXII's leveling system was that your characters gained stat bonuses when they leveled-up based on the gear they had equipped at the instant of leveling. That was the only reason I could justify Penelo consistently being a worse physical attacker than Ashe even after equipping them with similar equipment. Of course, with each character in XIII using weapons unique to them, that sort of diversification is probably not going to occur.
Hopefully Squenix does something to that effect with armor and accessories, though.
I just creamed my Lucky Brand jeans!
Exciting! I really liked the sphere grid, but not so much the license board for some reason.
Draw system, though... ugh. Worst system out of the 3D FFs 7 through 12. Drawing from monsters meant repetitive draw farming for 100 of a magic for each character. Using magic was generally a no-no because it would lower your stats. Actually, magic itself had little utility in general due to how limit breaks were so easy to activate.