LogFAQs > #980044623

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/b83b021d.jpg
Minigame 9: Battle Arenas (Musclehead Colosseum, Chadley Simulator, Corel Prison etc)

This category basically refers to anytime the game placed you in a series of battles. Some of these were annoying (that damn mindflayer battle, the two Test Zeros, the landworm fights) but for the most part they were a good challenge (plus opportunities to listen to some great tunes).

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/da005920.jpg
Minigame 8: Fiend Intel, Classified Intel, and Summon Battles

This category refers to the on-map fiend intel fights, the classified intel bosses, and the summon battles. The classified intel fights were all a little too easy (but then again, I was probably overpowered from 100% the world intel). There could have been a little more variety in the fiend intel conditions (it's mostly time limit, pressure, and stagger). The summon battles ruled.

Basically, any and all situations where the side quest involved extensive amounts of playing around with the game's excellent battle system, which I'll spend the rest of the post discussing.

I think it's definitely the best Action RPG battle system of all time, and maybe the best battle system ever created.

To begin, the fact that this game has 7 playable characters who are all viable and play different from one another in very clear ways is mind boggling. But then add to this that you can switch between them at will. Add to THIS, that you can do team-up attacks. It was one thing in Remake, where you were basically locked in to your party all the time. But in this game there are so many varieties in how you play based on who's in your party and your actual playstyle. Switching between your party members is so fun because it's testing your ability to play multiple types of characters. So instead of doing the same thing in a battle, you're switching from stagger/dps to tank to caster/healer. The actual pace of each character is completely different, so it creates a high level of variety within the battle itself. It's like switching in Tales games, except every character is actually fun to play (sorry, cheap shot).

Secondly, tactical mode/ATB remains the best hybrid turn-based/action RPG mix I can think of. It feels even better here than in Remake. Everything really has been tuned since Remake, by the way. The game's harder, magic is toned down but still pretty strong. The best change is how they've clarified the relationship between pressure and stagger. Each enemy has a unique condition for pressure, which can be from elemental weaknesses to attacking from behind, etc. Stagger is a necessary evil since you want to actually be able to use attacks and not end fights with the square button. Feeling frustrated over stagger was extremely rare.

Did I mention they actually came up with legitimately cool synergy abilities that were not only fanservice galore but tactically important (granting free mp, raising limits, etc)? It's flashy, but it still requires strategy and paying attention to materia set ups and equipment.

Hint for Main Character 4: A character whose name I mispronounced regularly until the Remake