FF13's battle system

[Unseen]

See I've been thinking lately, after nearing completetion on FF13, what a great and action packed rpg system it is. I dont care what the critics or haters think, this is one of the best turn based systems I've played. Why? Full 3d movement, no hesitation in anything they do, its fluid as all hell, its almost like a river it just flows naturally. You get combos, defensive moves, and the graphics just add to the realism of the battle. As far as turn based rpgs go (which I prefer to action rpgs) 13 is one of my favs, because yes most turn based rpgs could be summed up as just standing there waiting to attack, but in 13 it felt more like they were planning out attacks instead of standing there for ages. Also, I prefer the strategy of a turn based game to an action rpg, and the feeling of controlling more than one character going hack and slash all the time.

But yes, I really like this battle system, but it also got me thinking, wouldn't this rpg system be amazing in other meduims? What if they had a marvel comics rpg with this system, or an alien vs predator one? I could just imagine 3 badass predators you level up, fighting scores of xenos in turn based action. RPG has its own magical charm, but with AVP you'd have lasers, blood, gooey alien guts, visceral finishing moves etc... In a Marvel game for another example, I could just imagine wolverines beserker rages with this battle system, or the hulk picking out incredibly over the top power moves.

The list of meduims you could use this system for would be endless, starwars, dc comics, batman? Why do these systems always have to be limited to their meduims?
This is why I'm very interested in the modding potential for FF13's combat system, and I really hope people do, new skins, new moves, new attacks. My one major gripe about 13, the commando role had limited moves, its always the same combo string over and over.. Why couldn't we get more commando moves? Ruin is a pretty lame move as well, wish they had removed it before making the game, tossing magical shards just isn't that cool imo.

But that's why this system could be amazingly beefed up in the right hands... Take out the stuff that didn't work, add new combos, and amazing gameplay, and I think this system would own most licenses.. The problem is the stuck up fans who will always bash this game because its not cloud.. Really starting to get annoyed with the FF community as a whole and their negativity and campaigns to get 13 ruined in the eyes of squaresoft and other FF fans, it really was a good system, with realistic turn based gameplay.

[Razor<<Clawson>>]

Lol on some angles in the game you can see Cloud's likeness in Lightning haha Yeah I did find the game to be fun as they wanted to emulate battles seen in FFVII Advent Children, well it did show it a bit, but KH2 and FFXV came closer to emulating them. The only thing that irked me in XIIIs battle system was removing the ability to swap characters and when the leader goes down its game over, which they improved in the sequel though.

[Unseen]

Originally posted by RazorClawson:

Lol on some angles in the game you can see Cloud's likeness in Lightning haha Yeah I did find the game to be fun as they wanted to emulate battles seen in FFVII Advent Children, well it did show it a bit, but KH2 and FFXV came closer to emulating them. The only thing that irked me in XIIIs battle system was removing the ability to swap characters and when the leader goes down its game over, which they improved in the sequel though.

That and the limited moves of the commando did irk me... Altho, switching around characters might be hard given the fast paced nature of it.
What they could do instead is shift leaders to the front during battle.

[Razor<<Clawson>>]

Also about the limited commands I think its because they only made the game around 2008 I think which would probably explain the game's linearity, plus some issues between the in-house engine they made, the Crystal Tools which was more of a "making characters look cute and nice". Still, twas a colorful game with a colorful cast of characters. You should check out the development story on the FF13 wiki.