What do you think of the new(return of the ATB) battle system?

**Mayareira** · 2010-03-10 02:13

Topic says it all.

Its very early to decide for me (only 4 hours into the game) but so far, I'm disappointed with it as all I have to do is to spam "attack". It'll obviously get better in the future, but having to go through the battle arena transition 4 times in a single room just to kill 4 ghouls that are close to each other was...not so fun. But yeah, not gonna vote yet (but I'm leaning towards the second option).

First option is clear enough, its the best.
Second option places it right behind XII but above other ATB, especially emphasised XII here because its system differs significantly.
Third option basically places it to the top quarter.
Fourth option places it somewhere in the middle, means you don't consider battle system a main point of the game...but it doesn't fuck up the game either.
Fifth is crystal clear, you didn't like it.

Anyways, whatcha think? As always, please avoid spoilers.

**Tyrath** · 2010-03-10 02:45

I voted best in the series. I absolutely love the system once the paradigms come into play. Its one of the most strategic battle systems I've seen in an RPG in a long time. I was a little disappointed when I heard you can only control 1 character, but seeing how fast paced it is I don't think its an issue at all.

I've only played about 7 hours of the game, but like I said I love it. I'll have to wait until I finish the game to have a full view of the system, but as of right now its one of the most fun I've ever played.

**Folant** · 2010-03-10 02:46

I quite like it, Paradigms make the battles really fun. Only real grip is that I wish I had a little more control over what my team is doing, a la FFXII.

**miokomioko** · 2010-03-10 02:52

As usual with every Goddamn installation of the series, everything sounds terrible on paper but it ends up playing fucking amazingly when you get down to it, especially in battles that matter.

Square-Enix does not fail to impress me, even amongst all of the boo hooing and wah wahing.

**Exoduso** · 2010-03-10 03:11

I absolutely fell in love with this system.
I also fell in love with the fact that you find enemies on the field, yet there is a battle screen it immediately cuts to. I couldn't have asked for a better way to incorporate battles, really.
The paradigms work phenomenally as well, and the fact you only control one character doesn't affect the gameplay IMO, because it's far more important to know which paradigms to use at which times, and the strategy revolving around that system is so massive that it actually works in your favor that you only control one character. Besides, the AI is extremely smart, and they haven't failed me yet.

**TacoTaru** · 2010-03-10 03:12

I voted for one because I'm still not sure if I like it more than the SNES style turned based combat, which is what I grew up on and is still my favorite. I do prefer it leaps and bounds above FFXII's combat system though.

**Jojimbo** · 2010-03-10 03:15

I like it, except when the game decides that you must view everyone's shift in order; whie the enemies are still attacking you and your guages are charging/charged (btw, does shifting recharge guages or is it that they are just finished charging by the time we get to see them again?)

Combat is nice and fast, just wish magic-a spells had wider range than they do ;;

**miokomioko** · 2010-03-10 05:05

Originally Posted by Jojimbo

I like it, except when the game decides that you must view everyone's shift in order; whie the enemies are still attacking you and your guages are charging/charged (btw, does shifting recharge guages or is it that they are just finished charging by the time we get to see them again?)

Combat is nice and fast, just wish magic-a spells had wider range than they do ;;

I agree about area-effects being kinda' small when mobs/players move around quite a lot.

As for the Paradigm Shift scene forcing you to watch each character, isn't that only for the first time you shift in any given battle? I tried to see a pattern and that's all I saw.

Last, I really appreciate that amount/types of mobs on the fiels =EQUAL= the amount/types of mobs you fight. It's not like running into a Goomba and cutting to 2 Goombas and 2 Koopa Troopas all up in yo' grill.

**Elcura** · 2010-03-10 06:41

I love it so far, at first it was pretty tame, but when you get paradigm shifts, magic and all that good stuff the battles just increase in fun. So far, having a blast with it, but I wanna see how the battles operate later on.

**Uzor** · 2010-03-10 07:28

I think its phenomenal. One of the best battle systems in a FF game so far.

**BerenTebogo** · 2010-03-10 07:33

It's pretty good, but I find myself just mashing X a lot at times and completely ignoring paradigm shifts since I like my setup.

**Julian** · 2010-03-10 07:34

I'm not very far in, haven't gotten these paradigms or w/e yet, but is there any way to like.. pause it? Cause everything keeps moving while I'm trying to decide what moves to use, so I just end up spamming attack <_<

**Mayareira** · 2010-03-10 07:41

Start button pauses the game. Or you could just hold r1 for monster info, that pauses the game as well.

**Kurp** · 2010-03-10 07:50

There's an option to make the ATB gauge fill more slowly if that may help you while learning. I'm not sure how much slower it fills, though.

**Xanthe** · 2010-03-10 08:00

Holding my vote for now since I only made it to the beginning of chapter 3 last night before going to bed, but I like what I've seen so far. The whole bit with only controlling one character will definitely lend less to micromanaging and more to strategic planning via targeting and paradigms. The "overworld" layout is highly reminiscent of Xenosaga with the non-random encounters and aggro radii. The chain system also reminds me of breaks in Xenosaga, albeit a bit simpler in design at my point in the game. I also like the reworking of preemptive strikes to take stealth and directionality into account rather than random chance, though I'm wondering if we'll ever see ourselves being ambushed, etc.

**Xno Kappa** · 2010-03-10 08:14

Now that I've been able to mess around a little more with Paradigm shifts its been a blast to play. My only gripe so far is that I wish they had put the Monsters HP bar in the lower left corner along with the target selection, considering the fast pace nature of the fights I find myself getting rocked sometimes targeting through the mobs to check out what's left of their HP.

**Zeb** · 2010-03-10 08:44

Originally Posted by miokomioko

As usual with every Goddamn installation of the series, everything sounds terrible on paper but it ends up playing fucking amazingly when you get down to it, especially in battles that matter.

Square-Enix does not fail to impress me, even amongst all of the boo hooing and wah wahing.

Pretty much what he said. I also like how quick and smooth it transitions from walking around to fighting. My only gripe with battles is having two post-fight screens. IMO they should have knocked it down to one screen. Even the retry for each battle is nice if you actually die, which I think only really works on this game because of the automatic healing between each fight. And thank god for how quick it is to save a game. WKC was pissing me off with its slow slaves.

**Kaisha** · 2010-03-10 08:45

So far it's alright, just wish there was a way to skip the Paradigm Shift halting the pace of battle while everyone swaps their roles (shame there's no 'quick' option for it under the Options menu).

Otherwise, loving the pacing and the speed of combat. Quick in, quick out with extreme minimal loading. I used to avoid battles like the plague on the PSX FFs due to the long battle transitions, as well as the loading of mobs/players once you're in the battle itself. (FF9 was horrible for it)

I'm glad that they allow you to initiate your current attacks as long as there's one ATB gauge full, rather than always having to wait for it to completely fill.

Not missed a single fight since I got the Paradigm Shifts.
(I MGS'd a fair bit of the start once I realize all I got out of it were mob drops, and I had a shitload already)

Ditto on the post screen. There's no reason why they couldn't have just shifted the info on the speed/bonuses to the left, and have the loot info on the right. Font is HugeLikeXbox so I assume SDTV users wouldn't have had problems reading it.

**Xanthe** · 2010-03-10 08:47

Most FF games have had two post-fight screens; one for exp and one for loot. This game is no different.

**dejet** · 2010-03-10 08:48

When I 1st saw a video I was like "WTF is all that shit"

Playing it now, its very fluid and runs well as you get deeper into the game. They did a very nice job with the battle system. I did like 12s a lot because it was easy to move onto with playing FFXI for 95 years. This system works about as good as any I have ever seen. You have to change you jobs all the time and making combos that work the best are a must.

All I can say is it grows on you I think. I really started to get the hang of it at around that boss that changes its style of attack. From water to ice and so on. Before that I was still learning the basics of the system, I change from job to job much faster and outside a boss fight almost never have a healer out anymore ~_~; all you have to do is opt into healing for a short time and then change back.

One thing that got me was theres no mp... At the start of the game is sorta scared me, I was thinking I had no healer and was going to get fucked up. Then I saw how you can jsut spam heals. its a good system better then 12s? I think so but they are not even close to each other so its hard to say who is better.

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