Favorite FF Attribute System?

[Chezo]

You like randomly losing stats on level up? FFIV's stat 'gain' system is probably the worst of the series.

well its not like you still didn't lvl up, like I said the main reason I like it was because the game made you use certain characters, so your experience is always changing, and you don't get locked into one mode of play. They also all lvled into their spells(except the optional summons I guess) and started out with all of their ability's which probably makes it one of the most primitive stat/spells/ability gain systems in all the FF's but I didn't mind the simpleness of it, or maybe I just really like the game and I'm bias to it's shitty system >:O

[Kaylia]

Squall was great because if he was ever blinded you knew he would deliver the final blow on the bad guy before you were wiped out--or he could also wake up a party member with a hit.

Sure, he wake them up...draining 9999 of their hp.

Squall was a tad too overpowered imo, but meh, wouldnt be the first FF game with overpowered character.


Heaven/Hell island were awesome. Getting to 100 would take a few hours at most, and you would get all the best spell after a few laps. I wish maxing everything could be done that easily in other games. I dont want to grind 10 hours to master a single materia anymore, or even reach the level to be able to fight the strongest ennemy in the game.

[Wintermute]

Heaven/Hell island were awesome. Getting to 100 would take a few hours at most, and you would get all the best spell after a few laps. I wish maxing everything could be done that easily in other games. I dont want to grind 10 hours to master a single materia anymore, or even reach the level to be able to fight the strongest ennemy in the game.

Then a lv99 Malboro would pop, open with Bad Breath, your guys would slaughter each other and you'd remember that you haven't saved in an hour and a half.

[Julian]

In this order:

FF5 > FFT > FF3NES > FF3DS > FFX-2 - Job System. You can "max everything out" and you can customize them however you want. I put FF5 in front because you'll actually use different jobs in that game. By the end of FFT, you're either gonna have a bunch of melees with dual wield and blade grasp, or some mages with draw blade, yawn. And in FF3 Ninja and Sages break the job system ): [don't remember x-2 much but I enjoyed the job system so I threw it in the end >.>]
FF9 > FF4 > FF1 - Job system kinda, I liked FF9's equipment ability system a lot. Other two just.. fall in that order I guess.
FF10 - I liked the sphere grid, and I also liked going around deleting +1/+2/+3 cells and putting +4 in their places >.> Weapon/armor customization were meh
FF6 - I love Espers, and I loved the characters, but I hated it when the end of the game was just a whole bunch of 1mp 9999 ultimas. Well, actually, on my last playthrough I abused the esper stat growth bonuses and I was able to play it a little differently. Gave everyone genji gloves and offerings, and boosted STR as much as I could, ended up being even cheaper than the ultimas, and a hell of a lot faster, and it was fun making my melee relm <3
FF12 - License board was ok, could have been better, and it was a huge step back from the sphere grid. Game was ok until everyone just became copies.
FF7 - Nothing to say here, not too big on materias, they were ok. Easy to abuse, characters once again copies.
FF8 - Junctioning meh, drawing ugh. Too easy to abuse.
FF2 - Never played this past the 1 hour mark, can't really comment much, but the system seemed meh.

[Imitarate]

First spell you draw to 100 is Sleep, in the garden training area. Put Siren on Squall, attatch sleep. Don't worry about much for a while.

I've actually found myself very intruiged by FF4DS's Augment system. It's an interesting compromise between the job-based systems and the character-based systems. It's a bit twinkable, though, for sure. Kick/Counter/Draw Attacks/Long Reach on Cecil in the back row with an adamant armor and defending is pretty absurd, especially with double/omni/piercing/fast Rosa casting blinks along with her curajas. The only flaw is how easy it is to miss some of the good ones; this wouldn't be a big deal, if not for the fact that you only get three playthroughs to get it right. If you're on #3 and discover you made a critical error on your first runthrough's assignment...

I'm very sad to see so many dismissing X-2's battle system. It absolutely is, without a doubt, the best system in an FF game. Combines character, job, and equipment based systems in a unique and compelling way. Even the lack of a support ability set is made up for by the ease of on-the-fly sphere switching. Some of the grids are unnecessarily complex (you'll only ever cast the grid-unlocked spells like Holy and Ultima once, most likely). It's twinkable if you really try, especially once you get a Catnip, which illustrates how the accessories can affect the jobs. Once you get into the mascot spheres (and fully unlock their support spheres), you can really specialize and individualize the characters.

Of course, if you do this, you will inevitably have to hear the phrase "Y! R! P!" (or YU RI PA whatever). And that's terrible.

[Elcura]

Of course, if you do this, you will inevitably have to hear the phrase "Y! R! P!" (or YU RI PA whatever). And that's terrible.

Thank god you could skip the animations and/or turn off the volume. It was cool at first, then it felt like I was watching Sailormoon...

[Charismatic]

Which meant it was that much cooler? (Sailor Moon is awesome, fuck what anyone else says)

[Ragnus]

I really liked 9's system the best. I have a friend who mastered the junction system but I really hated it from the get go. I never actually played FFX-2 although I do own it. Kinda got turned off from starting the game after watching a friend play because it was pretty much "Unlock Trigger Happy on all characters -> beat game"

[Elcura]

Sailormoon would have been better if I didn't have to see the same transformation/magic attack sequences every episode. I GUESS games have a similar thing but it's usually a lot prettier and the death is more enjoyable to watch.

All in all I dunno what my point was, but yeah. Sailormoon was pretty cool and I'll admit I liked it to anyone. And I have nothing else to say to bring this back on topic so fuck it.

[Stiker]

My only beef with FFX-2's battle system was how annoying it could be to activate some of the garment grids. I didn't like being forced to change jobs continually just to get the full effect out of them. Otherwise it was fantastic, especially the timing aspect and the chains - Trigger Happy with a Sparkler finish was one of my favorite things to do, so much damage.

I didn't even bother with activating the grids for the most part. Only time I did was when I was bored on regular mobs that wouldn't kill me.

FFX-2 also allowed for the most broken attack in any FF game. Equip a gunner with the Cat Nip accessory (I believe that was it, the one with the ??? effect). Keep your gunner at critical HP (which was the latent), pop Trigger Happy, watch 9999's fill your screen. Completely owned the Via Infinito this way lol.

[Rysa]

I enjoyed the sphere grid in FFX. I was one of the people who went through and erased everything and replaced the nodes with +4 stat spheres and maxed out my characters. In the end magic and summons were pretty much useless and the best two characters were Wakka and Tidus only because of their multi-hit overdrives, with Wakka being able to pump out crazy damage with a perfect Attack Reel. Having them doing 99,999 damage (or w/e the max damage was with the Break Damage Limit weapon mod) a hit with their ultimate weapons was a little silly. Granted this was only useful/required for the really hard arena mobs and the dark aeons if you had the PAL version.

Overall, I really enjoyed all of the attribute systems besides junction system, only because I got tired of repeatedly drawing magic. I was one of those anal people who had to have 100 of every spell as soon as you could draw it from a mob.

[Antithesis]

It was pretty much the best way to clear Via Infinito. That maze became fucking difficult as hell once you got passed Floor 40.

[Karshe]

Overall, I really enjoyed all of the attribute systems besides junction system, only because I got tired of repeatedly drawing magic. I was one of those anal people who had to have 100 of every spell as soon as you could draw it from a mob.

THIS. I loved FF8 but could not stand the Draw system... it was so tedious.

I was a big fan of FF5's job system... FF3/6 still ranks high for me, still one of my favorite games ever, for nostalgia reasons if nothing else.

[Kwijiboe]

Then a lv99 Malboro would pop, open with Bad Breath, your guys would slaughter each other and you'd remember that you haven't saved in an hour and a half.

Malboro only spawns on heaven isle.

[Lujei]

Malboro only spawns on heaven isle.

Not true. They're also rare encounters around Esthar. Unless you're referring to just the two islands, in which case feel free to ignore me.

[Chezo]

Not true. They're also rare encounters around Esthar. Unless you're referring to just the two islands, in which case feel free to ignore me.

and in that jungle you can only get to on chocobo omg

[Lujei]

and in that jungle you can only get to on chocobo omg

Holy shit, learn to read. I was either correcting a mistake on his part or, if I assumed incorrectly and he knew otherwise and was just referring to the islands, I said he could just ignore my comment.

Either way, I think Malboros and the Level 100 Ruby Dragons in the Deep Sea Research Center were the only thing in the game that actually killed me because I wasn't prepared for them.

[Wintermute]

Holy shit, learn to read. I was either correcting a mistake on his part or, if I assumed incorrectly and he knew otherwise and was just referring to the islands, I said he could just ignore my comment.

Either way, I think Malboros and the Level 100 Ruby Dragons in the Deep Sea Research Center were the only thing in the game that actually killed me because I wasn't prepared for them.

Ruby Dragons are easy. Just use Aura or keep Quistis in yellow and use her 1-Shot kill Degenerator. Makes getting to Bahamut/Ultima a breeze.

[Lujei]

Ruby Dragons are easy. Just use Aura or keep Quistis in yellow and use her 1-Shot kill Degenerator. Makes getting to Bahamut/Ultima a breeze.

I didn't have Quistis at the time, unfortunately. I typically use Irvine and Rinoa once Rinoa learns Wishing Star. 200,000 damage is nice.

[Firedemon]

Three systems really pop in my mind right away. I really enjoyed the simplicity of FFVI and 2 relic slots, you didn't have to bust your balls thinking of endless combinations. That being said, FFVII's materia system was amazing IMO. The endless combinations and possibilities that you could do was really fun. You could build your character to how you wanted them to play out and it lead to a totally unique playing style. The Sphere Grid was another that I really enjoyed, but it did have its flaws as well. I loved the fact that after you finished let's say Tidus' grid, you could hop on over to Auron's, etc. The downfall to that was the fact that every character would have the same abilities at the end of the game, and it really boiled down to which character you liked better and which OverDrive you preferred.