Nightmare mode: Improve FFXIII thread.

[Jarlix]

There were CC and a DoC iterations of this concept and I really loved the first trailer of FFXIII. It made me incessantly ponder how it'd be to have this game on level with that, or better characterized, or re done entirely. Complaints about how there're cooler things in the Ultimania than the game itself in another thread here just drew me to this. But the combat is just nearly impossible for me to imagine as completely remedied to the extent I'd want it to be.

Full ATB attacks were a start but given you can only use your leader's per each battle and that they're the only cinematic looking actions, I'm a little disappointed. I'd also like it so that the game was seamless like XII was battle wise and the game was just more complex. Maybe let you change members and have them all use interesting TP commands of their own with their own gauges?

There just needs to be more enemy specific ways of intercepting routines. In FFXIII the formula is to just break then launch an enemy, heal when weak and defend when they bring out a big attack. This uniformity is stifling. It makes every encounter very similar.

The story is probably a complete bitch to solve too.

 

[Blade]

I'm gonna say most of your argument flies in the face of traditional ATB battle conventions (ever since FF4).

While it's true you can attack/defend/heal...what else would you DO during a battle?

It wasn't until FFXIII that Magic started getting lumped together with physical strikes as a method of forming a combo.

And if you consider how Dissidia (the fighting game equivalent) developed...it's no surprise where the idea of working in Magic as projectiles in to other special attacks would become a mainstay mechanic.

I think part of it has to do with these factors:
1. Making a clean break from conventional RPGs (i.e. swords and sorcery, dungeons and dragons)

2. Making something original that doesn't feel 'entirely' like an Action Game. (i.e. a game that has micromanagement as the base for development throughout the story as a mechanic).

The line between an action game and an RPG kinda blurred with Dissidia and now with Lightning Returns...

Personally I don't like the 'Town > Outside Town > Battle > Dungeon > Boss Battle' formula. It's stale and archaic.

Of course, making an area where battles take place IN a town is essentially what's being done in Final Fantasy XV...but even that is using more action-based mechanics.

I think to some degree, games like Legend of Zelda are getting re-examined and re-interpreted in new ways. Because in Zelda's case it was neither a full on action game, and neither a full on RPG either...the concept was way ahead of the curve.

I think....what bothers ME the most, personally....is that traditional RPGs consist of going from one battle to the next...advancing the story through THAT sort of mechanic.

I personally hate fighting all the time. I like doing THINGS and GOING PLACES and enjoying STUFF. So in a way I liked the fact that games like Valkyrie Profile had a means of gaining EXP via certain non-battle events (like chopping down a pillar in your way or destroying an evil group of statues).

I definitely liked Final Fantasy XIII-2's Arcadia Future City...with all the people to talk to and wander around and get lost in. That sort of thing, like FFXII's towns that just absorb you and make it so that random encounters feel less of a hindrance (i.e. Beast Pelts for Gil, or Bounty Hunting) and more of just a part of everyday living, really did it for me.

 

[Jarlix]

Oh there definitely needs to be more exploration. I wonder how they could have expanded upon Cocoon and let you mesh in with the citizens to see how life is there. Fighting should not be a central mechanic to practically everything, which is pleasing since XV is expanding upon stealth elements.

I miss puzzle solving like there happened to be in a good deal of dungeons before the PS3 era and in XII particularly.

As for what else you do, in FFX you could steal, use items on them with Rikku's command. Every spell you throw out is part of a game plan and follows a commitment to whatever eccentric side effect it might have. You had to be procreative with strategy. Tidus' weapon couldn't pierce, Wakka's can hit airborne enemies, Tidus had the agility to attack fast enemies.

Let's say a Flan. In every game you use magic because they're weak to them, but in FFX you could arguably summon an Aeon and do a free non elemental command to do away with the cretins, saving you MP. There was always a more efficient way of doing things than what would immediately occur to you normally.

That's where FFXIII botched up the combat imo. It trivializes all of this.

Only two stats and with the truncation of the rest, no other options. Xenoblade lets you tank using agility if you want, so you can rely on not being hit by certain things rather than being a HP spunge. This can be a cheap and efficient way of making an offensive glass cannon without the def gems into a tank, at least against physical attacks... Which does indeed imply you'd need an awareness of when a monster will just throw out Ether. See? In a good RPG, things just layer on top of each other like this.

In FFXIII anyone can attack a distant enemy. Noel can just throw them damn spears he pulls out of god knows where. The character development isn't half as nuanced as the Expert Sphere Grid was, which I loved in FFX.