Final Fantasy XIII's Battle System: Early Impressions
The first few hours using Final Fantasy XIII's battle system may seem chaotic. The action queue and Active Time Battle gauge can make your options seem limited at first and the Paradigms, while giving you more skills, will move you even further from direct control over the battle. There were so many times I wished I could just enjoy unlocking a spell or skill and enjoy trying it out in battle but the constant shift in my defensive priorities, and the introduction to the "Stagger" mechanic really made it difficult for me to always select my series favorite spells and skills, especially if I wanted to survive the tougher battles.
Make the jump for more impressions.
I admit it. I am a dinosaur when it comes to Final Fantasy. I want to pour over my spell book and eagerly watch new spell animations that are focused on a more turn-based battle system. In the older systems, specifically Final Fantasy X, I loved having the time to think about my best moves and implement them as I would in a game of chess. Unfortunately, the time between actions, attacks and spells eventually create a rather static feel that can make battles feel more like a grind later in the game. This does not make the game any less enjoyable but this battle sensibility has become less of a cornerstone in today's frenetic game market.
With this in mind, I decided to give Final Fantasy XIII a chance. Admittedly, I spent many of the early battles stubbornly filling out my action queue with manual instructions until I realized that the time spent could be used better elsewhere. When the battles get tougher it becomes really important to watch for several things: Keeping your health up, staggering the enemy and the length of the battle. The Auto option across the classes allows you to watch from a lofty position as your characters (your very own l'cie) do your bidding. The system is telling you to let go of direct control and to focus more on aiming for a balance of healing and attack. It is when I allowed my self to be removed from the minutiae of the individual actions and saw the bigger picture that I began to realize that FF XIII 's battle system hit a home run in a technical fashion. By striking a balance between turn-based and Active Time Battle and the system forges a focus on protecting your l'cie and kicking ass rather than obsessing over the subtle differences of two non-elemental spells.
There were some frustrating moments. Switching to the wrong paradigm can cost you the battle and there was one boss fight where my medic decided to heal a teammate at half health before my party leader who was in red. This kind of instance is annoying but the way the battle system is implemented into the world makes up for this small grievance. This rag-tag group of underdogs have been branded outlaws in a volatile world where little is certain. Early on they are struggling to get by with little information of their fate or true circumstance. The battle system expresses this perfectly. It is saying: You are not in control. Like their transformation, the characters of FF XIII can only suggest a general course of action, making small choices to guide their fate. A good RPG will employ a battle system that accurately expresses and reflects the current conflict and the world around it. Final Fantasy XIII does this well.
Overall, the new battle system takes some getting used to but definitely implements a new kind of strategy into a very old RPG mechanic. I enjoy how it forces you to think about RPG battles in different ways and blends the story and surrounding conflict with a technically seamless battle system. I am looking forward to seeing how this system matures through the later hours of the game.
How does Final Fantasy XIII's battle system find you? Does it strike a technical balance of old and new mechanics bringing fresh ideas to the RPG arena or unnecessary complexity to a tried and true formula?
ROCsteady
Posted to Video Games on 20 March 2010
· Comments (15)
Other stuff like this: atb, final fantasy, final fantasy x, final fantasy xiii, l'cie, paradigm, rpg
I like the paradigm roles that can be switched out. However, I much prefer the system of FFX, where we had the grids that we leveled up in and then could move into a job/class next to it. I also liked how in FFXII we could have a character be just about any class and be roughly as good as the next character at it. With paradigms, you are more restricted to what a character is good at that it loses the illusion of choice (and need).
If we could somehow combine the three a bit better, I think it would be more fun for players like me that wish a little more freedom in choosing roles/stats/jobs.
As for the static feel of battle in yesteryear's FF games? FFXIII suffers from this too. Waiting for the ATB gauges to fill up for your party (especially if you play in Slow battle speed) results in big gaps of action, where your characters are doing nothing but moving their feet a step here or there. I also believe they should have went even further with the John Woo/Matrix acrobatics and abilities. Rather than just flinging hands to casts spells, or jumping up and down to slash a weapon. IMO, Resonance of Fate is a good example for over the top action in battle, with characters seeming to do more on screen than just stand and slash.
It didn't take long for me to understand that the battle system of XIII was a mere streamlining of the things we already did in the earlier games of the series. When you get into a fight in VII, what do you do? Lay down a barrage of physical attacks while your casters discern a weakness through trial and error. Then you hit the enemy with repeated use of [strongest elemental weakness] and attacks while making sure your characters aren't dead.
Square knew that this was the pattern, which is why they introduced cursor memory in the middle of the series. If they hadn't, players would have spent the majority of time in battles scrolling down a huge list of abilities until they found the one they already used the turn before.
@ Limeade
(Only a slight spoiler) The system opens halfway through to permit all roles to all characters, so you're only limited for part of the game. You can customize to your heart's content after a certain turning point.
That said, I actually preferred to have my choices limited the way they were in the first half of the game. I'm coming back to single-player RPGs from a long stint in WOW, and I'm used to controlling only one character on a rotation while the rest of my party does their specific jobs (usually) autonomously.
I liked that the characters' skill sets tied into their personalities, so that they were individuals, and I liked that the game's constant shuffling of the party without my consent forced me to play all the characters and learn a wide variety of combat configurations. For the first half, XIII was really escaping the trap that so many single-player RPGs fall into - given a chance, I eject all the characters I dislike from my party in chapter 1 and level the same 3 for the rest of the game.
I'm playing on a rental, so I have to return it today, right after that turning point I'm referring to, so I'm not sure how the change is going to change my enjoyment of the game. Hopefully I'll keep playing as the game designers hope I will, using the skills I learned at the start to build varied teams that I constantly rearrange depending on the situation, but I don't know for sure. I'm foreseeing a Pokémon situation - sure, I could theoretically have a team for every situation, but it's easier to just learn one balanced one really well and then just muscle through when the going gets tough.
Personally I really like the Battle system but i was also a huge fan of FF12. I like how your role has been shifted more to "battle supervisor". You no longer have to set in the usual boring list of "heal me", "buff me", "attack" manually you can just make a strategy and just watch how things unfold. If it doesn't work, BOOM switch to a different plan. To me 13 is just an EXTREMELY fast paced and streamlined version of 12 with some X-2 dress sphere action thrown in for flavor. (not surprising seeing that the Battle designer for X-2 also worked on XIII)
That said though what I do miss is well.. everything else! there are no towns and the environments are just long tunnels from point A to point B. Going from 12's 'Go anywhere' world to heavy hand holding was not fun for me. there are like NO mini games (though rumors state it may become DLC in the future.)
in the end FF13 is extremity focus on two things. Story and battle everything else was just fat that was trimmed. I just wish they left some of that fat on them bones. X-)
The battle system was abit stiff at first [for lack of a better word], but it's became more fluid [I'm currently at the end of disc 2, I think, on the 360 version].
It doesn't bug me like XII's did [I hated that game in general, selling it halfway through] - but I am bitch for turn-based RPGs.
Finally, Lightning kicks ass as a Ravager [music user], which was a pleasant surprise to me [since not many of the main playable character in the series are that inclined].
Totally not interested in FFXIV, no matter what battle system it has though. And even if it is a return to more fantasy-tiscal times. *shudders at his first and only MMORPG show playtest*
As has been said elsewhere, the entire linear section of the game is just training for when you are suddenly dumped on [obvious but spoiler] and everything opens up. You will have all your chars, can switch them in and out, and they can all assume every role. At this point it is basically super FFXII-2, even as everybody takes great pains to say how different FFXIII is from FFXII.
You seem to be picking it up anyhow, but the keys are Strategy and Pre-planning. You need a good team before you hit a battle, and you need all your paradigms in place. Once that happens all you should be doing is switching out paradigms and occasionally busting out a technique - if you are actually choosing your abilities individually you are probably already dead. Even with that it is still very fast paced.
I like it a lot - it reminds me a lot of Grandia combat. It doesn't wait for you like Grandia did, but if you were doing it right Grandia never had to wait for you. Everyone has a separate timer, positioning matters, and you can knock enemies back in their attack sequence or interrupt their attacks.
Let me give everyone one HUGE HINT even though it may be too late. Do NOT upgrade your weapons till you hit the open area of the game. They are all basically equivalent but balanced in different ways (later weapons you find are not more powerful than earlier weapons, just different). And you do not have enough information to intelligently choose which weapons to upgrade till you hit that section, because you don't really know what roles you want for everyone. So chances are you will waste a lot of mats on the wrong weapons.
I've been playing over a week now. Took me a little to get used to the system, but I am enjoying the game. Enjoying it heaps more than 12.
I do have to say though, I HATE mech based creatures in this game (the one with the insta kill gatling gun, the annoying cycles, the stupid mega weapon mech in Chap 10). I'm generally fine with all the other creatures and eventually work out a nice strategy to nuke them as quickly as possible (like Relentless the crap out of slimes or gremlins).
Oh and thanks for the tip on weapon upgrades. But a bit late now -_-" Oh well, I'll see how I go, as I'm very close to the "open" area of the game.
And I have to say, the game is simply gorgeous and stunning (I have the PS3 version). I love the eidolon cutscenes (Shiva twins blowing a kiss to Snow is very cute)
I just finished it last night. From the start I totally hated the battle system and the incredibly linear gameplay untill i got to about disc 2 or so (xbox). Once there you start to understand the real tactics of the game and the story actually gets interesting. Overall I have to say i prefer the normal turn based approach where I could choose what all my characters do but this system isn't too bad. BY FAR the worst thing about it is that if your main character dies you lose!
@JD While the cystalarium does open up to allow you to use all classes the cp cost for the meagre atribute points in these classes is greater or equal to that of their standard classes but the standard classes recieve 20-30x better stats. For this reason using the characters other classes isn't really feasable untill you reach endgame.
@ Jamie
I figured as much. Then again, the sphere grid in X was similar - you could spend zillions getting Lulu over to melee sections, but there was no real payoff from doing so until endgame, really.
I love 13 so far but I am a traditionalist when it comes to my FF's, 12 & 13 don't fit. I like the minute details you have to take care of in the older ones. 12 & 13 are great but I can't help but miss the older ones.
I'm about 8 hours into the game now and I'm really, really enjoying it.
I played the game for a few hours over at a friend's house, and I have to say I'm glad I didn't buy it. I hate the battle system completely, it's as if the game were designed from the ground up to not appeal to me. It can't decide if it wants to be menu driven turn based combat or full on action RPG, and the hybrid is about as fun as sticking a fork in your eye.
If any further evidence were needed that the series I once loved more than any others is dead to me now, it was this.
At least I'll always have 4, 6, 8, 9 and 10.
I really disagree with you, Shin Gallon. I think XIII is less like an action RPG than XII. You can't even move your character and you almost always must queue up actions and wait for them to take effect. The combat is completely menu-based.
But to each his own.
(FFVI forever!)
I've played about 12 hours, I still don't have a solid opinion on whether I "like" or "dislike" this game. It's interesting, the visuals are nice, sometimes the dialogue is well done, I'll have to play a while longer before I'd make any judgments.
Oh, one tip: launch. Get launch. Do it. It's worth it on any teammate that starts with commando and can learn it. Launch is ridiculous.
What a great resource!