LogFAQs > #979517625

I think in general the move away from area/space-based combat towards reaction-based combat doesn't stress this battle system's strengths (if anything, it stresses its weaknesses and forces the player to look to exploit them). I find myself cursing the camera angle and the frequent cuts away from my character to in-battle cutscenes a lot more than I did when I could afford to be a bit slower. Fights like Air Buster, (Hard) Eligor, Ghoul and Arsenal in Remake were better on a conceptual level than anything in this game. My advice to the devs would be "don't try to make Bloodborne or Devil May Cry, cause you ain't gonna"!

Two other general tips which people might not have picked up but I think really matter on Hard/in the post-game:

1. A lot of synergy abilities stun-lock enemies, even bosses (the "Refocus" abilities don't, but most of the rest do, some for quite long periods). So don't sit there watching the animation - swap to the third character and get in some free ATB charging or spells.
2. Whenever a character you are controlling gets hit/knocked-up, swap to another character instead of waiting for them to recover. The AI will fairly quickly switch aggro to the character you've swapped to, but in the interim you get free time to charge ATB or act as the other character (you are far more efficient than the AI at attacking/building ATB).