8 more days...

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Originally Posted by James

There is actually an auto-pilot mode so you don't have to do anything during the combat from what I understand.

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You can either queue up abilities manually or click “auto battle” to allow the AI to fill them up for you. The problem is that to fill them up manually you need to navigate a menu system to select the ability even though the action is taking place in real time. The process is kind of clunky and you can lose time that could go towards using abilities.

Auto-battle on the other hand is quite efficient. It will use your current intel to play into mob strength or weaknesses and even auto calculate when it’s more efficient to use AE vs single attacks. The end result is you simply click the auto-battle button over and over. Occasionally it pays off to tell accelerate or cancel a queued command (it waits until you have enough action points to execute everything in your queue) but more often then not the only decision you need to make is when to swap in a healer or an extra ravager to push the chain gauge neither of which is rocket science.

So, even though the combat is relatively fast paced (or more likely because they have attempted to make it fast paced) there is no real substance. There is no need for meaningful input so tactical combat is out, there is little overall strategy, no decisions to make for where you will go, the whole impression is that you are simply clicking the auto-battle button over and over to advance to the next cut scene. From a game play perspective this game is a failure IMO.

I agree, I don't much care for the combat. I don't know what was wrong with earlier systems like FF7. If they would just keep adding to that instead of trying to reinvent themselves every time it would be much better.

You can slow down the combat in the options menu to give you more time to customize your lineup, but I do not know if the combat target time gets changed due to this option. If not, you may never have tactical points.

Is the gameplay like FF12

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Originally Posted by lonewolfroger

Is the gameplay like FF12

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More like FF12 then any other FF game. Think of it as FF12 being part way between FFX and FFXIII

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Originally Posted by Soul Assassin

I think my favorite of this gen so far is Star Ocean. I've still got Last Remnant, Enchanted Arms, Infinite Undiscovery and the ones we've already talked about on my shelf though.

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Agree. The first one I played was Second Story on the PSP. Outstanding and just my style as well.

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Originally Posted by Moridin

More like FF12 then any other FF game. Think of it as FF12 being part way between FFX and FFXIII

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Ya, you walk around and see monsters walking and can run away from monsters, but once you are in a fight you warp to a fight screen, like ffx or ffvii

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Originally Posted by PriMaTe

Ya, you walk around and see monsters walking and can run away from monsters, but once you are in a fight you warp to a fight screen, like ffx or ffvii

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And then in combat you only have direct control over the leader. And then you mash Auto Attack repeatedly.

I am not a fan of the combat system from the brief time I spent with the game. :)

Thanks, i think i will pass on this one.

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Originally Posted by Kamakazie

And then in combat you only have direct control over the leader. And then you mash Auto Attack repeatedly.

I am not a fan of the combat system from the brief time I spent with the game. :)

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Ya, I liked matching the spell to a given enemy myself and being able to control everyone in the party better. This game is all about bumping up the chain gauge with your attacks and switching to the correct role for everyone to leave on autopilot, which is still fun but I'd prefer something more like ffx

My roommate has it - it seems to hold your hand FOREVER, but he says it's picking up and he likes the combat system much more now.

The people who are criticising the combat system of the game most likely haven’t reached chapter 10. The game doesn’t fully open up until you’re about 25 hours in. I liked the way the system worked straight from the beginning and it just got better and better as it went on. The layers of complexity just built up and now you can’t get away with just mashing the auto queue. The paradigm shifting gets a bit mental sometimes but that’s the fun of it all. For me anyway.

Just my opinion on the game. I am loving it and happy that there is at last a FF game that exploits the PS3 to its fullest. The combat system seems to be very hit and miss for some people. I love it and find it very satisfying. I agree with EonX though, you shouldn't dismiss the combat mechanics until you reached the point in the game when it all opens up.

Isn't 25 hours in like 90% of the way through the game?

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Originally Posted by Soul Assassin

Isn't 25 hours in like 90% of the way through the game?

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Far from it. The chapters aren't evenly spaced out. It is actually really whack when you see it. There are 13 chapters in total, but getting to chapter 10 is only like 30% of the game. The last 3 chapters is like 70% of the game.

I am taking my time over this game and doing all the side quests, so people who race through it will get to finish it quicker than me obviously.

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Originally Posted by EonX

The people who are criticising the combat system of the game most likely haven’t reached chapter 10. The game doesn’t fully open up until you’re about 25 hours in. I liked the way the system worked straight from the beginning and it just got better and better as it went on. The layers of complexity just built up and now you can’t get away with just mashing the auto queue. The paradigm shifting gets a bit mental sometimes but that’s the fun of it all. For me anyway.

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25 hours til it gets good? What the hell?