Final Fantasy XIII

Game & Battle System

Final Fantasy XIII's battles have been crafted to resemble that of a high budget movie. One movie that the Final Fantasy XIII team are taking ideas from is Square Enix's own movie, Advent Children. When a player controls a character in battle, there's all sorts of cool moves that one can do. Although that is new for a Final Fantasy game, some things from previous Final Fantasy games make an appearance. For instance, the ATB system is back, but is changed up a little. Before, a player had to wait for the ATB gauge to run out before inputting a command, but that has changed in Final Fantasy XIII. Now, a player can place commands in slots even though the ATB gauge hasn't run out.

The battle system has been shown, but in a different fashion than it was before. A lot of things interface wise has changed. A player can only control one character at a time while in battle, but a party of up to three characters can be formed. Three commands can be stacked while controlling one character. A command is known that is new, and that is Launch. Trailers have shown this ability, and it flings enemies into the air which results in damage to the enemy. Old commands from previous Final Fantasy games are also options during battle. MP isn't in the game, but cost points are, and they determine how many times a command can be used. The battle transitions are also said to be seamless.

There is also a victory screen that appears at the end of battles in the game. The victory screen displays the number of combos executed, number of breaks, and quality of battle. Summons also make an appearance in Final Fantasy XIII, and they have different forms than in previous Final Fantasy games. They can transform into different things, but we only know how one summon transforms so far. The Shiva sisters can transform into a motorbike that Snow can ride during battle. Ifrit, Odin, Siren, and Bahamut will be in the game too, but it is not yet known what they can transform into.

The Crystarium System is used to advance character growth within the game. Crystarium Points (CP) are earned with each battle and can be spent on anything from stat increases to magic spells. The Crystarium System is also used to build a characters roles. Once you select a role that you want to advance, CP earned from battles is then used to increase it. Once you progress to the center of each role chart, that role will then 'level up' and the character will advance to a higher chart. Characters also have a Crystarium level based on story progression, so there will be maximum level caps for each role.