Final fantasy 13's battle Graphics

Ajfunky

Would just like to get peoples views on this..

I believe square have created a significant stepping stone in RPG evolution for a couple reasons.

Area movement and damage:

Characters positions ACTUALLY MATTER now! If an enemy goes to attack you, and he misses you, he ACTUALLY MISSES YOU! I think for one this is quite a feat as even Tekken ( a game based on the principle of hitting each other) hasnt gotten this right yet.

Also, planning your attacks to be area based or singular is also just far more intellligent. It gives battling that extra level of depth which makes certain battles a bit more tactful.

Now not to say the battle system is without its flaws, im not a huge fan of only controlling one character, and possibly being able to change weapons/armour mid battle ( a la ffx) would be helpful. Im also not too happy with the battles being hugely speed based, although it also adds another level of depth to tactics.

I think the battle system is a great stepping stone for the series and would hope others start to follow suit, as i believe the old system is beginning to become outdated.

Thoughts and abuse please

Retr0gamer

It would seem like a big stepping stone except older games like Chrono Trigger and Grandia did it over 10 years ago and did it brilliantly.

Ajfunky

Ha my bad so, havent played grandia, didnt say chrono trigger cos it wasnt 3d, id see that as a much bigger thing for developers.

Retr0gamer

Final Fantasy XIII plays on a 2D plain though when you think about it. There's no reason it couldn't be done in 2D gameplay-wise when you think about it. there's plenty of other games that spring to mind that do things similarly as well.

That's not to say FFXIII didn't make any progress. It seems to be a good refinement of the JRPG template like what FFX tried. It's not exactly a big departure from JRPG norms like Persona 3 is.

Ajfunky

I see, i must admit im not that trained in the art of jrpgs, ove played aloada ff's, some chrono trigger, some earthbound (randomly!) and a few random rentals.. I just thoughtff13 brought a whole new level of realism to a genre that was always very fictiional, whilst still retaining all the fantasy of it!

Retr0gamer

For me I don't care how unrealistic the battle system is, if it works and is fun then that's enough. FFX or Pokemon aren't realistic but the battle systems are excellent.

Mr. K

I like that movement in battles makes the whole experience more dynamic, it's a simple way to add a whole new dimension to battles.

CodeMonkey

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Final Fantasy XIII plays on a 2D plain though when you think about it. There's no reason it couldn't be done in 2D gameplay-wise when you think about it. there's plenty of other games that spring to mind that do things similarly as well.

That's not to say FFXIII didn't make any progress. It seems to be a good refinement of the JRPG template like what FFX tried. It's not exactly a big departure from JRPG norms like Persona 3 is.

I don't think you're giving FF13's battle system enough credit and giving too much credit to Persona 3. Persona 3 battle system doesn't offer quite nearly as much depth as you suggest. Once you understand how it works it gets quite repetitive.

I'll give you an example of depth in FF13's battle system, when an enemy is staggered, the enemy can be launched into the air and can't fight back. When it's in the air it can be juggled indefinitely until the stagger meter goes to zero and it can't fight back.

To juggle indefinitely you need to know that the lightning/thunder spell is instantaneous and if used and timed correctly the enemy won't fall back down.

This is an important mechanism to understand and use to fight tough enemies like king behemoth. That particular enemy can transform into humanoid form and regain all it's health when it's near death.

It's a tough enemy to kill when you first encounter them but it's possible if you have the right strategy.

Unlike past FF games, the spells and skills have different properties. Like "attack" needs your character to run up waste precious seconds running up to the enemy.

Area spells/skills only hits enemies grouped together so if they are fast and are running around to attack you then these spells are no good. If your characters are grouped together they'll be hit by area attacks etc. That's why positioning actually matters. I know games like Chrono Trigger had a similar ideas but FF13 has way more ideas in the battle system.

CodeMonkey

Retr0gamer wrote: »

For me I don't care how unrealistic the battle system is, if it works and is fun then that's enough. FFX or Pokemon aren't realistic but the battle systems are excellent.

I think a lot of people doesn't really fully understand why the FF13 fight system works well, it's just that it's good and fun. And Pokemon is just repetitive rock-paper-scissors. :eek:

Retr0gamer

Well I'm not criticising FFXIII because I haven't played it and I have heard it's excellent but to me it seems a lot of those ideas were in other games already, specifically Grandia.

As for Persona 3 I didn't mean the battle system specifically I meant that it took JRPGs in a different direction. It wasn't a complete revelation but it was a refreshing sidestep.

Also if you think pokemon is repetitive rock paper scissors it's because you haven't really played the games.

CodeMonkey

I've finished pokemon emerald on the gba and pokemon pearl on the ds. They're great when on holidays or on way to work. Second time in 2 days someone in this forum accused me of not playing the games cause I have a different opinion to them...go figure :rolleyes:

Calling it rock paper scissors is probably simplifying it. It's a rock paper scissors rpg where more advanced pokemons gets increasingly bigger rocks which trumps small papers etc. Cause small paper can't cover the big rock...see..see?