Poll of the Day > Favorite Battle System

(+) Yeah! (+)

What are you favorite battle systems? Personally, my favorite is probably Legend of Dragoon. Close second is the Xenoblade series & Shadow Hearts Covenant. I also like Resonance of Fate with the gun battles. But which battle systems do you like?

And which battle systems do you despise or hate?

Also, side note, is the battle system in XCX-2 similar to the others games in the Xenoblade series? I haven't done much research on the game yet.
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I do adore timed hits, but there was something about Star Ocean 3's battle system I really liked - I think it was a mix of the combo chains, high speed and Albel's move animation
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Lokarin posted...

I do adore timed hits, but there was something about Star Ocean 3's battle system I really liked - I think it was a mix of the combo chains, high speed and Albel's move animation

I did like that game. And the cool thing about both SO & GS were that when you had a party wipe, it would switch to your second. Not sure if Till the end of Time did that, though. That was probably my favorite SO.
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Legend of Dragoon, Legend of Legaia, Xenogears, Vagrant Story, Valkyrie Profile, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Odin Sphere, Persona 4 and some others.

All of them different but great.

Ones I despise: Valkyria Chronicles, every single oldschool dungeon crawler and final fantasy title (FF I-X and things like Etryan Oddysey).
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HagenEx posted...

every single oldschool dungeon crawler

I can split this - I love dungeon crawlers in general, but the ones based on the Mystery Dungeon engine I simply don't like
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I would like another game with a battle system like Legend of Dragoon. The additions were amazing.
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LinkPizza posted...

I would like another game with a battle system like Legend of Dragoon. The additions were amazing.

Hell, a simple HD remake with an extended story and NG+ would be sufficient. The combat system has aged quite well because no other game has taken a similar approach, afaik (I'm probably wrong though).
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HagenEx posted...

The combat system has aged quite well because no other game has taken a similar approach, afaik (I'm probably wrong though)

Other games do timed hit combos, but none include enemy attacks within their chains - AFAIK that's unique to LoD
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HagenEx posted...

LinkPizza posted...

I would like another game with a battle system like Legend of Dragoon. The additions were amazing.

Hell, a simple HD remake with an extended story and NG+ would be sufficient. The combat system has aged quite well because no other game has taken a similar approach, afaik (I'm probably wrong though).

I believe you're right. I had been wishing for a game like that. We were talking about them making a remake once(me and my friend).
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LinkPizza posted...

favorite

The ones from the Tales and Kingdom Hearts series. Basically, any action RPG that allows the player a more interactive experience while fighting enemies.

LinkPizza posted...

despise or hate

Dragon Quest (I only played VIII) and Final Fantasy X.
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All the Mario RPG systems.
Tales of series.
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Oh, yeah; that reminds me. I also hate Super--

trodi_911 posted...

Mario RPG

for the SNES, but mostly because the battles are always so mundane and don't require a strategy other than attack, heal, and repeat; and the bosses have too much HP.
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I've always been partial to battle systems like the Elder Scrolls. Not too fancy on timing, whip my weapon or spells out on the fly, hit enemies only if you aim right, manual blocking. Nice and basic way to have fun.
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Tales of series, mainly Vesperia, Xillia 2 and Berseria

Ninja Gaiden 2
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EclairReturns posted...

Oh, yeah; that reminds me. I also hate Super--

trodi_911 posted...

Mario RPG

for the SNES, but mostly because the battles are always so mundane and don't require a strategy other than attack, heal, and repeat; and the bosses have too much HP.

True. I was more referring to Paper and the Mario and Luigi series rather than SMRPG.
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MMBN and, to a less extent, MMSF.
Monster Rancher
Custom Robo Arena

A system I kinda liked which had potential was LostMagic's, but it also had a pointless timer and the game didn't always recognize spells.
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Zeus posted...

Monster Rancher

Totally forgot about this game. I like mostly 2 & 4, IIRC.

And I do like most of the Mario RPG games. Not as much Mario RPG, since I don't really remember it too well.
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Final Fantasy XII!!! Being able to set gambits on everyone, prioritizing behaviors for your party members..pausing mid combat, thinking up the best move for every moment.. So good! So satisfying to create party members that aren't trash like most games.

Never played another game that compared. Dragon Age 2 did it but the game wasn't as good overall. Dragon Age Inquisition tried but gave much fewer options for some stupid reason.

Otherwise, I love Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix+ on critical difficulty. Fighting for your life on the super bosses is the best.
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HagenEx posted...

LinkPizza posted...

I would like another game with a battle system like Legend of Dragoon. The additions were amazing.

Hell, a simple HD remake with an extended story and NG+ would be sufficient. The combat system has aged quite well because no other game has taken a similar approach, afaik (I'm probably wrong though).

FF8?
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I love D&D 2E as implemented in the infinity engine games. maybe just nostalgia but something about it is so much more fun and organic feeling than 3E which attempted to balance everything. balance is boring.

Also love Might and Magic games. Might and Magic 10 had some *great* combat. I've been trying to make my own tile-based first-person-party RPG game, but I've been too lazy to get very far.
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The systems that stand out for me are Legend of Legaia 2, SOTtEoT, and FF4 and 7.

I'll come back and edit in the second class and worst ones.
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I also liked TMS#FE's battle system. And Persona Q. But definitely TMS#FE.
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Chrono Trigger and FFX really
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Star Ocean: 2nd Story
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Disgaea.

Zeus posted...

MMBN and, to a less extent, MMSF.
Monster Rancher
Custom Robo Arena

you a real one

also Medabots RPG GBA and a bunch of SMT games
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Ultima 5 and 6 had pretty good battle systems, it was turn based but it also felt like a battle could be waged anywhere. You didn't need a special battle screen like Ultima 4 (which a lot of early JRPGs based their system on) yet it wasn't as confusing as the first 3 games. Fallout 1 and 2 are also pretty good.

I hate FFXII, 90% of the game is basically watching characters perform actions based on however you setup their gambits. I have no idea why everyone complains about the "auto-battle" in XIII yet somehow this game gets a pass. The most difficult boss in the game can literally be beat with proper gambits and leaving your console on for 12 hours, zero actual interaction from the player.
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Dikitain posted...

The most difficult boss in the game can literally be beat with proper gambits and leaving your console on for 12 hours, zero actual interaction from the player.

It's like playing with programmable robots, or a puzzle game - gotta find the right combo. A ton of bosses are a lot easier with manual control and the game set to a low battle speed, but figuring out how to do with with gambits alone is like a self-imposed challenge
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Final Fantasy Tactics.
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LinkPizza posted...

Also, side note, is the battle system in XCX-2 similar to the others games in the Xenoblade series?

It's got the same basic "autoattack while waiting for arts to recharge" thing going on, but they made some significant changes to it. Most notably, you can only have one of your three assigned blades active at a time, and each blade offers three arts and a special, with the ability to switch between blades on a cooldown. Additionally, arts recharge as you autoattack, rather than over time, and you can no longer autoattack while moving. Using arts charges up the special attack, which has four tiers, and using an art just after an autoattack connects boosts the art's damage and also fills more of the special gauge, so it's important to consider art timing. Because there's a huge variety of Blades to choose from, with different weapon types (which dictates available arts), roles, elements, and specials, this offers quite a bit of customization.

The biggest change comes in the emphasis on combos. There are several combo types, as follows:

Driver Combo - The basic Break-->Topple thing that's familiar by now, with the added steps of Launching toppled enemies into the air (which just looks funny), and Smashing them back down for massive damage.

Blade Combo - When you use a special of a given element (any level), a diagram will appear in the upper-right of the screen indicating which other elements can be chained together with that. If you follow that diagram by using level 2 and then level 3 specials of those elements (can come from party members as well) before the timer expires, extra elemental effects will be added to those specials, ending in a huge amount of bonus damage if you complete the combo. Completing a Blade Combo will make an elemental orb start circling the target, preventing them from using a particular status effect.

Fusion Combo - If you progress through a Driver Combo or Blade Combo while the other combo type is active (i.e. Topple the target between the level 1 and level 2 specials), the combination of the two will have extra effects, generally extra damage and extending the durations of the Driver/Blade Combo effects.

Chain Attack - Like other games, filling the party meter will let you start a chain attack, which in this case means selecting specials for each party member to use. If you break one of the elemental orbs mentioned earlier by hitting the target enough times (using the opposing element to that of the orb helps this), you'll extend the chain attack (each round consists of each party member using one special, and the specials' level goes up with subsequent rounds), as well as filling up yet another gauge that deals massive damage when it's full.

It's a lot on paper, but I'm finding that it's fairly intuitive once I've gotten the hang of it and learned to read the Blade Combo diagram that appears, and it offers a very pleasing number of options for customizing the party to maximize damage. It's not exactly the same battle system as prior games, but there are a lot of similarities, and it's no less dynamic.
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adjl posted...

and learned to read the Blade Combo diagram that appears

Yeah... I have no idea what that's about, and triggering them consecutively doesn't seem to actually move the tree anyway. All I ever see it do is change the words displayed on the bottom and sides.

@adjl It diss sound like a lot. But I think once I start playing, it'll make more sense and will (hopefully) just come to me naturally. Haha.
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Paper Mario: TTYD would be my favorite.
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I haven't seen them mentioned and I doubt one will be, so I'll mention two underappreciated ones.

Final Fantasy X-2. The game has a lot of flaws and a lot of divisive design choices (the story, the jpop elements, the chapters), but the battle system is by far my favorite FF battle system, and I've played them all. It seems like a basic turn based system initially, but the game rewards you for really delving into it when you pay attention to things like positioning and using crits to stunlock.

Baten Kaitos. Never played the prequel, so no comment there, but the system in the original is a lot of fun. It might seem slow at first, and it can be, but trying to link together a run of numbers on the fly while your character is attacking is pretty fun. The card drops don't require massive grinding, unlike most card-based battle systems, and the deck building is easy and enjoyable.
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can't say I have a favorite. even if we are talking strictly jrpgs. in final fantasy for example. I found the ATB system to work just fine even if it looks boring by todays standards. 12's system I liked, mostly because I don't care for random battles where a giant monster seemingly pops out of thin air. but it was more visually pleasing in that not everyone stood in a line waiting to attack/be hit. and 13 while having its flaws most definitely I found to be very visually pleasing at least.
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LinkPizza posted...

adjl It diss sound like a lot. But I think once I start playing, it'll make more sense and will (hopefully) just come to me naturally. Haha.

It will. I was going through the tutorials and continually getting bombarded with new info and battle mechanics and I was like bruuuuuuuuhhhhhhhh

It's one of those things that you learn by doing, as opposed to learn by reading.
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Muffinz0rz posted...

LinkPizza posted...

adjl It diss sound like a lot. But I think once I start playing, it'll make more sense and will (hopefully) just come to me naturally. Haha.

It will. I was going through the tutorials and continually getting bombarded with new info and battle mechanics and I was like bruuuuuuuuhhhhhhhh

It's one of those things that you learn by doing, as opposed to learn by reading.

Yeah. I figured. Haha. I am excited to get the game and try it, though.
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Questionmarktarius posted...

Yeah... I have no idea what that's about, and triggering them consecutively doesn't seem to actually move the tree anyway. All I ever see it do is change the words displayed on the bottom and sides.

Here's the diagram:


The icon on the far left represents the element you started the combo with, in this case Fire. The two icons in the next column along indicate which elements can be used to continue the combo, in this case Fire and Water. Once you use one of those, half of the options in the third column will disappear, and the remaining 1-2 will be the elements that can be used to finish the combo (if #2 is Fire, Fire and Light. If #2 is Water, Fire and Ice). The text indicates which effect will be blocked by finishing the combo with that element (and not, as I initially thought, that you'll be sealing by using that element at any point in the combo), so half of the text will disappear after you use a second special.

Basically, in this case, it indicates the four options you have after starting with Fire:
Fire-->Fire-->Fire (Seal Self-Destruct)
Fire-->Fire-->Light (Seal Affinity Down)
Fire-->Water-->Fire (Seal Self-Destruct)
Fire-->Water-->Ice (Seal Shackle Blade)

Finishing those combos will add, respectively, a Fire, Light, Fire, or Ice orb to the target, and it's that orb that blocks the status effect and can be broken in a chain attack for fun bonuses.

Muffinz0rz posted...

LinkPizza posted...

adjl It diss sound like a lot. But I think once I start playing, it'll make more sense and will (hopefully) just come to me naturally. Haha.

It will. I was going through the tutorials and continually getting bombarded with new info and battle mechanics and I was like bruuuuuuuuhhhhhhhh

It's one of those things that you learn by doing, as opposed to learn by reading.

It also doesn't help that they introduce so many different things that are just called "___Combo" in short succession, and there's no in-game manual to act as a reference after those tutorials. The game could definitely do a better job of explaining itself (especially where you aren't necessarily going to have the elements you need to practice right away, depending on what Blades you've got at the time), but once I looked up how it works again I picked it up quite quickly. It's very intuitive once you get over that initial hump.
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adjl posted...

Fire-->Fire-->Fire (Seal Self-Destruct)
Fire-->Fire-->Light (Seal Affinity Down)
Fire-->Water-->Fire (Seal Self-Destruct)
Fire-->Water-->Ice (Seal Shackle Blade)

This is super helpful, I still didn't even pay attention to sealing specific stuff, I just am learning about what can combo with what. Like I have no problem getting myself to a level 3 cinematic blade combo, I can do fusion combos just fine, etc. I just ignored those columns because I figured hey I'm sealing something, nothing wrong with that.
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adjl posted...

Finishing those combos will add, respectively, a Fire, Light, Fire, or Ice orb to the target, and it's that orb that blocks the status effect and can be broken in a chain attack for fun bonuses.

Supposedly, they have to be increasing levels or something. Dogpiling 1s apparently doesn't do it.

Questionmarktarius posted...

adjl posted...

Finishing those combos will add, respectively, a Fire, Light, Fire, or Ice orb to the target, and it's that orb that blocks the status effect and can be broken in a chain attack for fun bonuses.

Supposedly, they have to be increasing levels or something. Dogpiling 1s apparently doesn't do it.

Yeah you have to start the combo with any level special (1-4), but then you have to follow up with a lv 2 special to continue the combo, then finish with a lv 3 special (not sure if you can finish with a lv 4 special).
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Muffinz0rz posted...

This is super helpful, I still didn't even pay attention to sealing specific stuff, I just am learning about what can combo with what. Like I have no problem getting myself to a level 3 cinematic blade combo, I can do fusion combos just fine, etc. I just ignored those columns because I figured hey I'm sealing something, nothing wrong with that.

I feel like sealing stuff is going to be situationally very useful, with some forethought (I've encountered Shackle Blade once so far, and it was extremely annoying and I would have loved to have been set up to seal it), but for the most part, I'm just treating level 3 combos as a buttload of damage and the opportunity for more chain attack damage.

Muffinz0rz posted...

Yeah you have to start the combo with any level special (1-4), but then you have to follow up with a lv 2 special to continue the combo, then finish with a lv 3 special (not sure if you can finish with a lv 4 special).

You can follow up with a level 3 or 4 one as well, I believe. I'm also not sure if you can finish with level 4, since both the combo finisher and level 4 specials are cinematic, but I don't see why you couldn't, other than that. If you can't, it's easy enough to downgrade to level 3 (move far enough away to break the affinity chain, or swap to a different Blade), so it can be worked around.
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adjl posted...

I feel like sealing stuff is going to be situationally very useful, with some forethought (I've encountered Shackle Blade once so far, and it was extremely annoying and I would have loved to have been set up to seal it), but for the most part, I'm just treating level 3 combos as a buttload of damage and the opportunity for more chain attack damage.

Shackle Driver is even worse lmao

But both are awful tbh

adjl posted...

You can follow up with a level 3 or 4 one as well, I believe. I'm also not sure if you can finish with level 4, since both the combo finisher and level 4 specials are cinematic, but I don't see why you couldn't, other than that. If you can't, it's easy enough to downgrade to level 3 (move far enough away to break the affinity chain, or swap to a different Blade), so it can be worked around.

Good to know
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