In which KJ does some gushing

[owlmoose]

Before the game was released, when I first heard that Final Fantasy 12 would feature a real-time rather than a turn-based battle system, I was among the dubious, because I have always preferred games that don't require much in the way of hand-eye coordination. The first time I played FFX I made T do all of Auron's overdrives; that's how clumsy I was. I've gotten better with practice but I'm still not terribly quick. I do best when I can take my time. So I was concerned -- would I hate having to deal with real-time battles?

25 hours in (non-spoilery keywords: Welcome to the Jungle), I can say that the answer is an unequivocal NO. I love this battle system. It's the best one ever. Let me tell you why.


1. Hack-and-slash battles run themselves. Once you've set your basic attack and heal gambits, you almost don't need to touch the controller unless you get into trouble. Your leader will run over to the nearest fiend and everyone beats it up until it dies. Simple as pie. Easiest. Leveling. Ever.

2. Party flexibility. I love, love, love being able to open the party menu and make changes on the fly. That weapon not working out for you? Need to upgrade someone's HP or strength? Basch is on the verge of death and a black mage would do you more good? No problem. You don't even have to wait for his turn, as you would in FFX. You can even swap out someone who's been KO'd. It's awesome.

3. Character flexibility. Anyone can be anything, wear anything, wield anything. No more of this "here is the magic user and here is the warrior and here is the thief." You don't have to play weird games to get a bunch of mages or thieves or whatever you like. Create funky specialists or raise a pack of generalists or do a little of each. It so cool, being able to put together a party that fits your gameplay style. (We're mostly going the generalist route, with a touch of specialization thrown in.) And if you need to change gears in the middle of a battle, you can. (Have I mentioned how much I love being able to open the party menu during battle?)

4. Quickenings. I owe everyone who warned me to start using quickenings, and how. They're like the overdrives of this game, but you have so much more choice about exactly when you get to use them. No keeping track of funky gauges! You have all your MP, you can use a quickening. Want one single piece of advice for making this game easier? Get a quickening for each character ASAP. You will save yourself so much trouble with bosses and some of the tougher fiends. Seriously. Just do it.

So. I am a believer. I'm sure I could come up with things I liked better about the FFX system if I tried, but so far this comes out the winner in so many more categories that I am happy to throw it my full support.

Comments

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

Hoo boy. That is music to my ears. I loved the strategy in X -- X-2 nearly killed me with its "flail like mad and aggravated your fibromyalgia with trigger happy!" battle system, so I have a deep mistrust of realtime combat. That sounds workable though.

Thanks for non-spoiler comments on XII for those of us who aren't there yet. My girlfriend said, "Pretty graphics. Oh. And pretty graphics. And the female character wears high heels." So I wasn't sure yet want to think.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I know not everyone is loving this game, but I am. Be warned, there is some slogging at the beginning -- T was bored the first few hours and I had to coax him into playing. Now he's even more eager to play than me! So it's one that takes a bit to grow on you; don't give up if you're having trouble at first.

[animecrush.livejournal.com]

Amen to all the above statements. Another great thing about FFXII over FFX...no spheregrid. Even though you could mix n'match your party in FFX there were still pretty defined roles, and like you said with FFXII everyone can do anything they want to. I also love the switching out of KO'd characters and being able to adjust things mid-boss battle... it's saved my ass on more than one occasion.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Yes. The sphere grid was pretty flexible, but it took awhile to get to that point, and no matter what you do, Lulu isn't wielding a sword. I think that's my favorite thing, the fact that no character is locked into a specific type of weapon. If you're in an area where you really need guns to kill the fiends most efficiently, then you can give all the characters guns. I love it.

And I love your icon almost as much. Larsa!!

[lassarina]

I'm loving it too. So much that I have just gotten to Leviathan, and am already level 16.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Hee, that's awesome. Isn't it great when you can actually *enjoy* running around to beat up monsters and gain levels, rather than feeling like it's something you have to slog through?

[lassarina]

It is indeed.

[start-fires.livejournal.com]

The flexibility of this battle system just drives me mad with sweet, video game ecstacy. Instead of repeating everything you said, I'll just sum this comment up like this:

Word.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

It looks like the battle system, while not universally popular, does have a significant fanbase. Definitely have talked to more people who like it than otherwise, at least once they are used to it. I wonder what the implications of that are for future FFs?