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Final Fantasy XIII's Battle System Detailed

January 08, 2009 in News comments 30

PS3hyper.com have summarized the latest Famitsu scans, revealing a little more info on Final Fantasy XIII's battle-system and the pig-tailed character Oerba Dia Vanille.

Go to the source for the full article.

Discuss in the Final Fantasy XIII forum

Command Stock: Players select the “Action” (the five buttons near the bottom left of the screen) they would like to use, which is then moved to the Command Stock slots (three slots above the Action buttons) to be executed in turn. Some “Action” buttons seem to have several layers behind them, which means you’ll have more than five actions to choose from.

Command Cost: Each of the “Action” has a number attached to them, this is the “Cost” or the number of slots that particular “Action” will take in the Command Stock. For example, you can have three Fire command in the list since it’s “Cost” is only 1 but you can only use Firaga, which costs 3, if you have three empty slots in the Command Stock.

Enhanced ATB (Active Time Battle): The bar underneath Lightning’s name (the one with 444 value) indicates that the game will be using ATB system, where players can perform various actions before it’s empty. However, ATB in FFXIII is a little different and can be controlled by the players as it is affected by the kind of commands being executed in the Command Stock. Commands with larger “Cost” will drain the bar faster compare commands with lower “Cost”.

Symbol Encounter: Enemies are visible on the map and again there will be no battle screen transition.

Chain & Bonus: Located at the top right of the screen, Chain shows the number of consecutive hits you inflicted on the enemies while Bonus’ use is still unclear at this point. Previous reports shows “Overclock” in place of Bonus, Famitsu says this probably has something to do with increasing certain ability of your character. The word “Break” can be seen replacing “Chain” in some screens, still no official words on that but Famitsu says it probably related to Final Fantasy VII’s Limit Break.

Enemy’s HP: Unlike previous games, enemies’ name and HP are displayed.
Miss Razz via ps3hyper.com »
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Most recently commented on by on Jan 12, 2009

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  • 1
    Darknet Jan 9, 09
    Now that is information I'd like to see rather than some magazine scan in Japanese with a bunch of screenshots I've already seen.
  • 0
    The Omega Jan 9, 09
    Hey, this sounds like a pretty cool battle system. The XII system, although good, made things a bit too easy at times, as I'd normally only have to jump in for boss fights. I love active time battles as well instead of turn-based.
  • 0
    Shuyu Jan 9, 09
    Typo alert: It's actually spelt Oerba.

    It's good that they're still trying to innovate the battle system to keep things fresh. If only they could do the same with the other aspects of the game. D:

  • 0
    Subzer0 Jan 9, 09
    Looks slick
  • 0
    Killosity Jan 9, 09
    Thats quite a simplistic and well thought out system. And I applaude them are constantly tweaking and reinvigorating the battle system between their FF titles.
  • 0
    Bale Fire* Jan 9, 09
    Sounds a bit like the X-2 system to me, mixed in with elements from XII.
  • 0
    StarJet Jan 9, 09
    Enemies' health displayed? Finally! This was one thing that FF games really needed, in my opinion. The lack of this feature has become a pain in the butt at times.
    • 0
      FinalFantasyFanaticc* Jan 9, 09
      I liked not knowing how much health the enemy had, the fact that you never knew when the boss would go down, it made killing the bosses that much better caus it added suspense.

      You'd be down on low health and your adrenaline starts pumping, your thinking 'OH CRAP, IM GONNA DIE' however your next attack is a limit break that makes the boss die and your excitement BOOMS =]
  • 0
    Supreme Wolverine Jan 9, 09
    Sound interesting I wanna see it in action though first sounds.
  • 0
    Archangel Jan 9, 09
    Sounds a bit more complicated than it actually will be, in my opinion. I think that 'bonus' feature will be interesting to read about once there's some information about it. If that has anything to do with linking certain commands, then I could definitely get used to it.
  • 0
    DragonMaster Dyne Jan 9, 09
    Whatever happened to good ole' turn-based combat, and having your selection of "Attack" "Magic" "Item" and "Defend"? I miss those days.
  • 0
    pooOBKp Jan 9, 09
    Never have and probably never will play a FF game.
    • 0
      Takeshi Jan 9, 09
        How would you know if you like it or not if you have never tried one, [or plan on trying one]?
      • 0
        pooOBKp Jan 10, 09
        I don't know if I like it or not, it just doesn't appeal to me. They could be these amazing games, but they're RPG's. And I've never really enjoyed any RPG besides Pokemon Red and Yellow.
  • 0
    Darknet Jan 9, 09
    Do I need to play other FF games to play this because I have no clue WTF that battle system is in the game.
    • 0
      StarJet Jan 10, 09
      The battle system of a Final Fantasy game is not as complicated as it sounds at first. I don't think you'd need to play previous Final Fantasy games to get the hang of this.
  • 0
    dwg14390 Jan 10, 09
    I have no Idea what active time battle is, so I'm just going to assume it's something like Kingdom hearts only slower??
    • 0
      Miss Razz Jan 10, 09
      ATB is the system used in FFII-FFIX. So it'll be like that, only much faster.
      • 1
        The Omega Jan 10, 09
        FFIX is my favorite FF game This system seems a bit different than that, but close enough that I'll probably find it a fun system.
        • 0
          Cruxis Mana Jan 10, 09
          quote The Omega
          FFIX is my favorite FF game

          + 1000000000 for you, sir.
  • 1
    DragonMaster Dyne Jan 10, 09
    Final Fantasy games 11 and 12 were horrible, so 13 needs to redeem the series.
  • 0
    Shinobi_razor Jan 10, 09
    so random encounters or no? cause thats one thing i never liked about FF as a whole.
    • 0
      Cruxis Mana Jan 10, 09
      No random battles.

      We think battles will be started similiar to Chrono Trigger.
      • 0
        Shinobi_razor Jan 11, 09
        ok good. i wont pick this game up on launch day but i will probably get it sometime or another.
  • 0
    Titan Jan 12, 09
    I want to wait to see if there's going to be any bugs or not, so I might wait.
  • 0
    pooOBKp Jan 12, 09
    What era are the Final Fantasy games set in? I always thought it was an older era, but now I believe I've seen guns in some pictures, I'm just confused.
    • 0
      The Omega Jan 12, 09
      It's not a series of the same characters, each one has its own characters, its own stories, and its own time. Some my seem to have similar time frames to others, but there is no official setting for all FF games together.
      • 1
        Miss Razz Jan 12, 09
        It depends on what FF game you play. Some are set in a medieval-esque world, some are set in a modern world, some are set in a futuristic world, and some are a mish-mash of all those eras! XD
        • 0
          pooOBKp Jan 12, 09
          Oh ok thank you . I never quite understood why I've seen guns in the screenshots. But not having reoccuring characters in every game would make sense.
        • 0
          Shinobi_razor Jan 12, 09
          the only direct sequel with the same characters is the FF7 line (Dirge of Cerberus, Crisis Core, etc) and FFX and FFX-2.

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