Chardish Games

Final Fantasy XIII is getting an outstandingly bad rap in the gaming press. Metacritic rates it as the worst Final Fantasy ever, though I don’t know how worthwhile that metric is (I’ll never understand the logic of the critics that lauded the deplorable Final Fantasy VIII, which was a bad game at its release and is a bad game now.)

Say what you will about the pacing, the plot, or the characters (only the formermost of which I feel is weak): the battle system is, to wield the slang, off the hook.

First, a bit of background:

My favorite moment in the original Final Fantasy is the very first task in the game. No, not stopping Garland from knocking you all down: before that, before you even take your first steps in Corneria. It’s the moment when you create your party. This is a momentous decision that impacts the way you will play the game, the way you will fight battles, and even the difficulty of the quest. Care must be taken in weighing the benefits and liabilities of each member of the team. Fighters are strong in attack and defense, but costly to equip. White mages are expert healers, but mainly take up space if your party is at full health. Thieves are ineffective and weak early on, but after the mid-game class change become powerful ninjas.

The worst consequence of this system, and the one I hadn’t even considered before the release of FFXIII, is that it’s a decision you make once. You pick your party, and then you spend 30-40 hours determining if you made a fun and challenging selection or not. This allows the player to have multiple interesting play experiences on subsequent playthroughs, of course. But for the person who will only play the game once, it’s unsatisfying (the player will only experience one party configuration and miss out on utilizing a minimum of two party members) and not terribly strategic (the novice player has no way of knowing whether the choice he made is a good one or not.)

The brilliance of Final Fantasy XIII is that it lets you remake your party as often as you like, as you see fit. Even in the middle of battle. Even dozens of times per battle. In fact, “remake your entire party” is the principal verb of the game’s battle system.

Final Fantasy XIII’s response to the dated micromanagement of past series installments is to remove the player from the role of taskmaster and place him in the role of coach. Rather than Final Fantasy I’s overlapping character classes, Final Fantasy XIII’s roles each serve a very specific and narrowly defined function in battle. Ravagers deal elemental damage that quickly builds a “chain gauge” that allows the player to significantly increase damage output. Commandos deal non-elemental damage and prevent these chain bonuses from disappearing. Sentinels and Medics take the traditional tank and healer roles, respectively. Finally, Synergists support the party with beneficial enchantments while Saboteurs cripple enemies with hindering curses.

When the player triggers a “paradigm shift” during battle, every member of the party switches his or her role simultaneously. Want to keep the pressure on the enemy? Switch to the Relentless Assault (Commando/Ravager/Ravager) paradigm. Getting beaten up badly? Try something more defensive, like Protection (Medic/Sentinel/Synergist.) Getting really damaged? Switch to Combat Clinic (Medic/Sentinel/Medic.) Rather than requiring the player to give specific party members specific orders, Final Fantasy XIII puts the player in the position of constantly calling new plays. This system allows the battle itself to proceed at a breakneck speed that feels more real-time than any previous game in the series, and provides a level of strategic interactivity that hasn’t been present since the turn-based Final Fantasy X.

Of course, defensive paradigms (for example, Solidarity, otherwise known as Commando/Sentinel/Medic) tend to be almost unbeatable, which is why developer Square Enix instituted a timer on individual battles - the faster the player takes down the enemy, the more likely he is to receive a better or rarer reward at the end of battle. In addition, once the chain gauge on an enemy (boosted by Ravagers and maintained by Commandos) reaches a certain point, the enemy becomes “staggered,” causing it to take massively increased damage for a finite period of time. This temporary bonus encourages players to stay on the offense as long as it remains active, creating yet another incentive to win battles quickly. In short, the battle system of FFXIII encourages players to constantly teeter on the edge of defeat in fast-paced deathmatches rather than employ (substantially less interesting) defensive and conservative strategies.

I’m not finished with this game (I’m only about thirty hours in), but the combat system has become my favorite in the series. The game’s producers weren’t lying when they said the pacing was more on par with an FPS than an RPG. Oh, and MMORPG developers have a lot to learn from this game. Here the game proffers a seed of a revolutionary idea: You do not have a tank in your party during those circumstances where a tank is not required. Think about it, and run with it.