Wishes for future materia and combat mechanics.

[The Twilight Mexican]

But that's not all their merit is, regarding gameplay. The summons in FFVII-R don't just function as mere once per battle aga spells, that cost more than said respective magic spell, do they?

They kind of do, though? For my money (i.e. ATB) anyway.

Even if you only bring them out to stomp around until they use their exit attack, that's still two ATB you spent getting their ass on the field to perform a glorified Firaga when you could have been spamming Arcane Ward->Firaga, filling the Stagger gauge, etc.

 

[Makoeyes987]

The potency of a summon's attack is still far greater than the investment it takes to try and equalize that same level of power with reflectable magic. Crimson Dive is stronger than Firaga, at just 1 ATB charge. Radiant Plume is definitely stronger than Firaga and it costs only 1 more ATB charge, and hits an entire group. Given the cost of calling a 4th party member, who auto-attacks, has stronger attacks than most level 3 spells, and their AoE attack, they more than pay for themselves. They stagger far better than magic spells too. Limit Breaks are the only other attack type that is superior.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Maybe I just summoned them in the wrong battles, because they never showed me much to be impressed by. At a certain point, I only called them if I found myself in a desperate pinch thinking "Oh, thanks, I could use something to slow them down while I heal up."

 

[Stiggie]

Maybe I just summoned them in the wrong battles, because they never showed me much to be impressed by. At a certain point, I only called them if I found myself in a desperate pinch thinking "Oh, thanks, I could use something to slow them down while I heal up."

That's when I used them as well which is why I like them XD That's the best time imo.

 

[Saven]

Phase transitions need to be a lot longer for sure. It screwed you more towards the end of the game.

I hope Manipulate shows up sometime in the future. That could open up a potential shitload of fun for the combat system

 

[kathy202]

I somehow see Manipulate working similar to the summons. Basically an extra character in the party that you can issue commands to if you're willing to spare the ATB. Would be interesting to see how its cancel-on-hit mechanics work in a more action-based system.