Replaying Final Fantasy X: the battle system so far feels like a game of Simon Says
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I understand that, but RPS is still a better analogy, imo.
I admittedly haven't played the game in 15 years but I thought it was the dullest battle system in the series, even moreso than slow ass FFIX. There was certainly a lot of challenge (I had the PAL version) but standard encounters were the most boring thing in the world.
OP
OP
In Simon Says when Simon Says red, you push red. RPS implies a triangle of things effective against one another like Fire Emblem, which isn't what FFX does.
Difficulty spike? You basically one shot him with your ultimate weapons IIRC
Been a long time since I played through but don't ever remember hating the battle system of X. Don't understand people saying no challenge in X, either did youse never try the dark aeons? Combat-wise X-2 was much better tho.
What I usually do with Kimahri is stockpile sphere LVs on him since the game rarely requires you to use him (there is one battle where you can only use him, but it's not that hard) and then after you get stuff like teleport spheres, I make him amazing.
Yuna, you can break the game by pumping her stats up for her summons instead of her normal healing role.
Rikku is super-fast which makes her good with items & support.
The other characters are more straightforward.
Yuna, you can break the game by pumping her stats up for her summons instead of her normal healing role.
Rikku is super-fast which makes her good with items & support.
The other characters are more straightforward.
You could've used a better analogy.
That's Simon, not Simon Says.
OP
OP
lol you're right, Simon is the correct comparison.
Simon Says is close enough tho
However I have to say that you could've pointed out Simon in your first post rather than just making that remark
That's what I thought, up until FFVIIR. It's definitely still the best of their menu-driven battle systems though.
Oh yeah whoopsy.
Don't worry OP, your meaning shone through enough for me to understand what you were saying down to me using an example from the game you meant to say lol
This feels crazy to me. I feel like FFVIIR has one of the worst combat systems I've played in an FF. Strokes folks etc I guess.
Making vague statements leaves me with enough room to backtrack whenever it's necessary.
Persona has more depth than this because capitalizing on a weakness nets rewards and YOU have weaknesses.
FFX is a rock paper scissor system where you have no weakness and the enemy is already showing its hand.
Simon is about memorizing a pattern that gets longer each time. Simon Says is about following simple instructions. Simon Says is closer.
Granted, real Simon Says play tends to involve Simon faking you out with quick commands and the like, but still: it's a good analogy, and quite different from Simon.
Back to topic, OP has a point: it is kinda simplistic. But the random battles are better than a lot of Final Fantasies, which tend to be "mash attack to conserve MP" (until you get Osmose or the equivalent, at which point it's now "spam MP and top up when safe"). The decisions you make in X aren't complicated, but there's a lot more going on in random battles than in most FFs. But ultimately the fun in FFs tends to be in bosses and in loadout preparation, not random encounters.
Most of FF and jrpg are like that. I never really paid any attention to the weakness or even bother to use restorative items in FF games or jrpg in general until I played SMT.
I agree but what's the difference between this and any game that has enemy weakness? Fire emblem (sword vs spear vs arrow or whatever), persona is a bad offender of this to the extend it can cause a game over if you don't do exact what Simon says etc? Hell even enemies in Halo have big orange areas where "Simon says" to shoot..
I mean, most Final Fantasy games will have you mashing attack to get through every random encounter with zero thought put into tactics. Hell, I'd argue FFX requiring constant character switching is probably a step above most battle systems in the series. Even if it's not a particularly large step.
In my experience, the folks who love FFX's battle system often cite the fact that it's truly turn-based rather than ATB or ATB-esque. I'm sure the situation is more involved than this but that's the gist of what I remember seeing people chat about, is how they think it's ultimately a more satisfying, strategic system than the hybridization systems prominent in many FFs (including all six of the most recent mainilne FFs prior to FFX).
Basically, the "CTB" shtick goes over well.
I haven't played FFX in entirely too long to properly articulate my own opinion here but I will say that -- for whatever reason -- I personally rather dig its battle system. Yeah, it's Pokemon in a way (or Simon, or Simon Says, or SimĂłn JosĂ© Antonio de la SantĂsima Trinidad BolĂvar y Palacios Ponte-Andrade y Blanco, or whomever you want to include here) but it's just a nice, smooth ride. And I'm a big fan of the sphere grid as far as character customization systems are concerned, which obviously helps my opinion of battles themselves.
This is genius. I'm doing it next time.
Basically, the "CTB" shtick goes over well.
I haven't played FFX in entirely too long to properly articulate my own opinion here but I will say that -- for whatever reason -- I personally rather dig its battle system. Yeah, it's Pokemon in a way (or Simon, or Simon Says, or SimĂłn JosĂ© Antonio de la SantĂsima Trinidad BolĂvar y Palacios Ponte-Andrade y Blanco, or whomever you want to include here) but it's just a nice, smooth ride. And I'm a big fan of the sphere grid as far as character customization systems are concerned, which obviously helps my opinion of battles themselves.
This is genius. I'm doing it next time.
What I liked most about it is that is has the potential to be more tactical due to its best features, IMO:
A) There's no real-time involved at all, you can sit on your turn and think about things as much as you want
B) You can see the turn order and plan around it
Now, the game's difficulty very rarely makes that necessary, but when it does I think it's a lot of fun. A game that does something similar that's more recent and I loved for the same reasons is Octopath Traveler, even though other than turn order and time that has a lot of other differences going on
EDIT: Pretty much everything that Quinton just said, since they beat me by like 5 minutes while I thinking and typing :P
A) There's no real-time involved at all, you can sit on your turn and think about things as much as you want
B) You can see the turn order and plan around it
Now, the game's difficulty very rarely makes that necessary, but when it does I think it's a lot of fun. A game that does something similar that's more recent and I loved for the same reasons is Octopath Traveler, even though other than turn order and time that has a lot of other differences going on
EDIT: Pretty much everything that Quinton just said, since they beat me by like 5 minutes while I thinking and typing :P
I don't disagree, and I think on paper the battle system is a definite step up from most FF games.
The problem is that a lot of the time the game doesn't make very good use of it and at the worst of times it's effectively the same mashing as the other games only with an extra step involved, which I don't think is much of an improvement in execution.
The battle system shines more during boss fights. However, there are also random encounters in every area specifically designed to break the "Simon Says/Rock Paper Scissors" mold. Two encounters during the battle tutorials on Besaid touch on this. IIRC most fiends in the end-game areas break the mold as well.
Tip for the OP, switching your weapon/armor is a great way to "waste" a turn for AP purposes since the recovery time is very short. You can also just Defend if you don't feel like messing with the menu.
Tip for the OP, switching your weapon/armor is a great way to "waste" a turn for AP purposes since the recovery time is very short. You can also just Defend if you don't feel like messing with the menu.
I don't think this is 100% true at the onset (at least on expert sphere grid. Auron is tanky but his evasion is low. Magic attacks are strong against most except Lulu. Yuna and Lulu are very vulnerable to physical attacks and generally take greater damage than the boys.
Yes you can swap them out but it's not always possible to swap them out without them taking a hit (unless you're willing to forgo their offensive magic for a turn).
I'm really not a fan of FF VIII R. Switching between characters seriously kills the flow of combat and you basically need to do so to even have your allies charge their ATBs. It's a step up from FF XV, but it's very far from perfect.
this is a weird comparison, and seinfeld is unfunny
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"Seinfeld" Is Unfunny - TV Tropes
There are certain shows that you can safely assume most people have seen. These shows were considered fantastic when they first aired. Now, however, these shows have a Hype Backlash curse on them. Whenever we watch them, we'll cry, "That is so …
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I feel like it's deeper than the other systems in the series, and the turn order preview really changed how I would play through boss fights. Being able to see how your haste/summon/overdrive etc would change the order was pretty cool and something I wish more games in the series would have picked up on.
RPGs based heavily around strengths and weaknesses are best when it is clear what will be strong/weak based on character design. Not overcomplicating things with too many factors, requiring you to scan or involving guess work.
FFX is a lot worse than XIII as a case of "It gets better later" combat wise.
Atleast the entire first half of the game is exactly like this Simon says comparison, then it's slowly gets more interesting after that. Like, the combat gets really really good at the last 3 dungeons imo, but yeah, too late, no doubt.
Which is kind of a shame, the basic structure is very good and with proper balance / less handholding, the game had the potential to be 10x better.
Atleast the entire first half of the game is exactly like this Simon says comparison, then it's slowly gets more interesting after that. Like, the combat gets really really good at the last 3 dungeons imo, but yeah, too late, no doubt.
Which is kind of a shame, the basic structure is very good and with proper balance / less handholding, the game had the potential to be 10x better.
That's similar to my feelings with the battle system. I'd say that swapping out characters to deal with specific enemies started out well but I don't recall the game ever evolving much past that. The random encounters you face at the beginning of the game felt no different to those at the end, which quickly made it a chore.
It ended up being one of the most boring combat systems for me because of its enemy variety (in terms of gameplay) and lack of challenge. The bosses were better but it was just too easy.
My favourite aspect of it was that it shows turn order and you can delay enemies, which is my favourite type of turn based combat. But personally I think it's been done way better since.
It ended up being one of the most boring combat systems for me because of its enemy variety (in terms of gameplay) and lack of challenge. The bosses were better but it was just too easy.
My favourite aspect of it was that it shows turn order and you can delay enemies, which is my favourite type of turn based combat. But personally I think it's been done way better since.
Constant character switching kind of sucks for easy random encounters to me. Switching to Rikku to steal from a mech and ohko, or Wakka to ohko to a flying enemy...I come out of those battles feeling like it takes me longer to do a really simple thing.
Tougher enemies it's fine.
You described in your post what makes it fantastic , it gives you a reason to use all your party. In most RPGs it's very easy to ignore most of the characters as you can't switch them out on fly or If you can that character suffers a penalty turn. FFX is clear turn order and let's you switch on the fly with no penalty. Pairing that with the Gambit system which let's you build each character with tons of different jobs it's one of my favorite RPGs just because of the battle system.
Decent mod if you wish to increase difficulty to give yourself more of a challenge on the PC version.
steamcommunity.com
Steam Community :: Guide :: Sin Reborn Difficulty Mod
Experience FFX at the difficulty you want to. Two premade difficulty settings to play through, alongside custom options to forge your own challenge. Adjust enemy health, mana, and st
i always loved how ffx really forces you to get tactical in the second half. Using turn delays and haste to give yourself time to buff up or doing stuff like casting reflect on an enemy so they're unable to heal themselves.
I have no idea what you mean by "Simon Says" and you never explained what does that mean, or why. It is however, the best FF combat. Followed by VII Remake
Much like (almost) every FF, SQEX considers the franchise one with mainstream & casual appeal so they design & balance the games in a way that even inexperienced gamers should be able to play through the critical path/main story of the game & the meat of the challenge and the content that requires deeper knowledge & utilization of the combat system is mostly found in optional late game content and that's generally where people find the most enjoyment and reason to praise any given FF's combat (if anywhere). Some bosses might also offer some level of difficulty spikes even during the main story, but most don't for experienced players.