FFXIII battle system revealed

By Oli Welsh Published 7 April, 2009

Plus: story follows multiple threads.

Hands-on previews of Final Fantasy XIII in Edge and the UK Official PlayStation Magazine have torn the wraps off the game's battle system for the first time.

The magazines visited Square Enix's offices in Japan, where they interviewed the developers and were allowed to play the demo that will be distributed with the Blu-ray release of the Advent Children film in Japan later this month.

Edge - which describes the FFXIII as "the best-looking game on PlayStation 3 yet" - says that the battle system eschews FFXII's real-time programmable parties in favour of an evolution of FFX's more traditional Active Battle System.

Magic and Action points are out, with time being the main resource spent on moves. A character's time gauge is now split into three segments. Weaker spells and abilities will use one of these segments, while more powerful ones will use two or all three. You can therefore queue up multiple moves per character per turn, and there's a suggestion that the number of time segment commands might increase as your characters level up.

Timing can also be used to maintain combos between characters, with their attacks flowing into each other; a good combo will trigger a high-damage "Break Mode". Your performance after each battle is ranked from one to five stars, something the developers told OPM would affect gameplay.

Battles aren't random, although Edge noted that it was difficult to avoid the groups of enemies on the tightly constrained paths in the demo. The demo takes place on a series of futuristic walkways and suspension bridges beneath the hanging city of Cocoon (which sounds like the environment depicted in the recent trailer). The area is called Pulse, an under-city inhabited by rejects and outcasts.

Regarding storyline, the previews contain few details, but producer Yoshinori Kitase suggested to Edge that it would follow multiple characters along multiple threads, rather than merely focusing on poster girl Lightning.

"This is a story that's told from multiple points of view and we have whole chapters of the game that are devoted to a single character and his or her story," Kitase said.

"In that sense, it plays out in a similar way to Dragon Quest IV, taking the perspective of multiple characters, walking with them through their adventures before seeing how these stories come together and intertwine for the climax of the game."

We'll bring you our own impressions of the demo as soon as we can get our hands on it. Final Fantasy XIII is due out for PS3 in Japan before the end of the year, with and American and European release on PS3 and 360 to follow.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (41) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • Scimarad #1 3 years ago

    Sound excellent - I'm particularly intrigued by the multiple threads thing...

    One thing though; I thought Cocoon was the high tech city and Pulse was the more 'normal' looking world underneath.

  • Kazzahdrane #2 3 years ago

    The story approach certainly worked well for DQIV - I'm a bit interested in this despite disliking FFXII rather a lot...

  • Ninja_Tino #3 3 years ago

    Multiple threads? Ohhh, I hope they use it well. I can picture a scene where once all is done 2 groups who helped save the world walk by each other, neither knowing the role the other played. Then again, this being a melodramatic JRPG I assume they will all meet up and take down the behind the scenes final boss.

  • Widge #4 3 years ago

    I'd like to know how long the demo is when you get a hold of it. I'm sure I read reports of it being 1hr30ish.

    RE: Multiple Threads

    I remember reading they were going for less of a party based system, more of a story driven game, with individual stories and characters driving things forward. A new direction so to speak. Whether or not that holds true, I don't know.

    I want more FFXIIIversus details, because from what I last read, that is going to be parties, dungeons, world map, summons... and it would be aces if that is the case.

  • viper_h #5 3 years ago

    Battle system not like FFXII? THANK GOD!!!

    A must buy then. I cannot WAIT for this game.

  • Scimarad #6 3 years ago

    +1 on the Versus thing.

    I'm really hoping this is going to be good. The KH team are great at all the in game cinematic stuff and Yoko Shimomura is doing the music.

  • FabricatedLunatic #7 3 years ago

    Hmm, interesting. If FFXIII can weave a multiple threaded tale as effectively as Suikoden III, it will be awesome.

  • RexRunti #8 3 years ago

    It hasn't got the stupid broken battle system from XII? Sold. Why reviewers love XII so much is beyond me, there doesn't seem to be any site or magazine out there which actually gets JRPGs anymore.

  • Scimarad #9 3 years ago

    Why a lot of people DON'T love FFXII is beyond ME. Revenant Wings has really fired me up to play it again...

  • JohnnyWashnGo #10 3 years ago

    Oh boy, that Advent Children pre-order is not shipping nearly fast enough ;)

    Can't wait to get my hands on it!

  • VicViper #11 3 years ago

    @JohnnyWashnGo

    You getting the version that comes with the demo then?

    So far so good it seems, even more of a must buy than it all ready was

  • Agent_Llama #12 3 years ago

    Glad to hear FFXII's battle system is out. \o/

  • Flabio #13 3 years ago

    I'm in the 'shame it's not using the ff12 battle engine' camp, much preferred that game to ff10.

  • Burkey123 #14 3 years ago

    I frickin love XII!
    On topic, this sounds absolutely smashing! That multiple treads thing sounds intriguing as well.

  • Gecks #15 3 years ago

    i really don't see how anyone could get through to the end of XII without deciding it had the best battle system of all the FFs; it had depth, automation for the obvious things, and - most importantly - got harder as you went through the game, rather than easier

    i guess the problem is that the story had no real drive to it, and the world and its inhabitants were dull, so most people gave up within the first 10 hours, never seeing what the battle system had to offer. which is fair enough!

  • steoc4 #16 3 years ago

    Hmm I was kind of hoping they'd continue on the battle system path that FFXII started.

    While I preferred X, I thought XII has so much more potential. The mixture of realtime fighting and giving orders, and the use of gambits was really interesting, but what failed it was the license system being a bit rubbish, and the overall game balance being way out (forcing you to grind for XP) - if they got the balance right, reintroduced something closer to the sphere grid for character advancement, and stuck with the realtime approach to battles, I think it could be perfect.

    I'm sure we'll see something like that in FF XIV or FF XV though :)

  • Scimarad #17 3 years ago

    "...and the world and its inhabitants were dull..."

    Whaaaaat? Are you insane? It had a fantastic world and, although Vaan was a bit crap, most of the characters were great. It seemed, I don't know, a bit more restrained and 'adult' than your average JRPG. All IMO, of course.

  • Widge #18 3 years ago

    Combat was fine. The story was the most uninvolving of all the Final Fantasies to date, bar FFX-2.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #19 3 years ago

    @VicViper
    Yeah, I am quite interested in seeing how the game is turning out.

  • retr0gamer #20 3 years ago

    I adored FFX's battle system, the perfect turn based FF battle system, and thought moving away from it in FFXII was madness. the battle system in that game was a load of arse and made it a chore to get through. I'm actually looking forward to this but I'm still wary. Square can't make good games anymore only publish them.

  • Burkey123 #21 3 years ago

    Whatever about the whole world, Rabanastre( spelled wrong?), the main city in the game was stunning.
    Vaan was a bit of a turd but Basch and Balthier were awesome!
    Edited by 2 at 07/04/09 @ 10:51

  • Machetazo #22 3 years ago

    After THAT trailer, I definitely want to see more of Versus. It reminds me a bit of VIII. Just like XIII, did actually in the sequence they showed, but not in such a good way, in that second case.
    Edited by 1 at 07/04/09 @ 11:08

  • FabricatedLunatic #23 3 years ago

    FFXII's story was okay. My problem was how remote the player is from it. There's all this potentially intruiging political stuff going on in the background, while the party is tasked with endless tedious fetch quests for swords and shit.

  • breedob #24 3 years ago

    I hope the summons play more of a part in XIII as I felt they didn't give much of an advantage in XII.

  • GlassMoon #25 3 years ago

    "the battle system eschews FFXII's real-time programmable parties in favour of an evolution of FFX's more traditional Active Battle System"

    Exactly what i wanted to hear.

  • CapnCloudchaser #26 3 years ago

    But FFX's battle system was boring! :o

    Okay, it was the random battles that made it feel more last century than anything else.

  • Malek86 #27 3 years ago

    FFX's battle system was awesome, at least it was actually turn-based, like the SMT games. I hate the ATB system of FF4-FF9. Doesn't give you time to think, and at the same time, doesn't allow you to quickly end an easy battle because you still have to wait for the bars to charge. Sure, you can select Wait, but that's not quite the same.

    Now, this FF13... it kinda reminds me of Chrono Cross, at least in some way.

  • Cannibal #28 3 years ago

    Yay for the battle system!!! I can't believe how many reviewers praised that tripe when it was first released.

  • des #29 3 years ago

    Hopefully it won't suck like FFXII did...

    Different combat system gives me hope,but i need to see it in action...

  • Widge #30 3 years ago

    FFX-2's battle system worked the best for me, it was fast and funky. Its a shame the story was such utter guff, and the lack of new locations! The only drawback of the FFX system was having to bring in someone like Yuna for one turn to spank out a physical hit so that she'd get some experience.

    I liked setting up my squad in FFXII to embark on some tactical gameplan but found battling the higher HP Marks a bit of a grind. My larger battles usually ended up attempting to chain up a huge mist combo.

  • EvilBob_leeds #31 3 years ago

    Just so long as don't bring back that stinky "draw magic" bollocks from FFVIII, I'll be happy. While I agree with everyone who's complained that the level grinding aspects of X and XII where a chore as well, I rather doubt FFXIII will do away with them.

  • Chufty #32 3 years ago

    Heh, I had no idea the FFXII battle system was so divisive. Personally I think both had their merits but FFXIIs definitely had more potential - it's just a shame you didn't get a chance to really utilise its full strategic depth. Something akin to the FFX Monster Arena in FFXII would have been an awesome way to explore the system.

    Anyway, I'm confident FFXIII won't disappoint. It cant come quickly enough!

  • retr0gamer #33 3 years ago

    There was no level grinding involved in FFX. Sure the boss battles were tough but with a bit of strategy they were all beatable. Apart from the last boss. Stupid difficulty spike there. FFXII had the same difficulty spike for the last boss but all the other bosses just required a bit of strategy to beat. Pity the boss battles worked so well because the rest of the battles in FFXII were where the chore was.

  • Gecks #34 3 years ago

    surely the marks in FFXII were where the real big dick was? i spent so long doing all of those that the last boss was a complete walkover.

    the strategies required to beat some the marks were just insane, no matter what level you were.

  • Scimarad #35 3 years ago

    "Pity the boss battles worked so well because the rest of the battles in FFXII were where the chore was."

    How was it a chore? If you had your gambits set up right they pretty much did all the work for you.

  • CitizenGeek #36 3 years ago

    I loved (LOVED) FFXII's battle system and pretty much every single other thing about that game, so I'd have been happy if they had kept it. That said, I really enjoyed FFX's battle system too, and FFXIII's sounds just amazing. Can't wait :)

  • Chupakun #37 3 years ago

    Chrono Trigger is awesome! Oh, right... FXIII.

    But yeah, I don't mind turn-based if it leaves a lot of room for strategy, say like in FF Tactics or Disgaea. Shadow Hearts: Covenant had an incredible fighting system. It was turn-based, but you could aim for critical hits using the something-Wheel and you could set up some sweet combos as well. A truly under-appreciated gem, that.

    Either way, bar the suspect character designs, FFXIII sounds more intriguing by the minute.

  • CaoSlayer #38 3 years ago

    "the battle system eschews FFXII's real-time programmable parties in favour of an evolution of FFX's more traditional Active Battle System. "

    FFX has not ATB, it was a pure turn based game.

    FFX-2 was the game with the ATB system and by my opinion is the best battle system on the series (although wasted becase lack of difficult)

  • firefly #39 3 years ago

    @Widge

    Yuna?!? Seriously Yuna was the most useful character in the whole game. White magic, Aeons, plus if you play with the second sphere grid you can take her on a detour to learn the level two elemental black magic and she becomes invincible (she was way stronger in the magic front than Lulu). It was usually Khimarii and Rikku who were the real problems and even Rikku can be a useful character if you learn how to use her effectively (take advantage of her awesome speed to just keep using damage dealing items). That just leaves Khimari, who I mostly ignore.

  • bionutz #40 3 years ago

    I liked the combat style of FFXII. It was very innovative and obviously born from a programmer ;). Anyway I liked it very much as I could let them do what was needed and I could focus on slaughtering with my own spells and things. I wished to have even more flexibility that it was available (not finished yet but clocking around 80 hours now).

  • geeza2020 #41 3 years ago

    There hasnt been a good final fantasy game since IX. Although i played and completed 10 and 12 i thought they both had irritating characters (how many horrible voice actors can they put in one game?), boring stories (i preferred 10s story to 12s, but i just couldnt forgive the main character for being such a wimp),and poor fighting systems (especially 12's). Please stop ruining the memories of final fantasies 6 - 9 for us please square. Just keep publishing other peoples games and we can all remember final fantasy games as being great rather than dragging the name through the mud with this tosh.