I posted about this in the pax thread, but the demo was amazing and feels fantastic to play. It’s such a perfect midpoint between old ATB and modern 3rd person action. Everything feels intuitive and the only time I really fumbled with the controls was when I accidentally brought up the menu while trying to climb a ladder...something I got used to within like 2 minutes. And obviously the game looks amazing and the entire battle with the big scorpion robot I had the biggest, dumbest grin on my face.
I posted about this in the pax thread, but the demo was amazing and feels fantastic to play. It’s such a perfect midpoint between old ATB and modern 3rd person action. Everything feels intuitive and the only time I really fumbled with the controls was when I accidentally brought up the menu while trying to climb a ladder...something I got used to within like 2 minutes. And obviously the game looks amazing and the entire battle with the big scorpion robot I had the biggest, dumbest grin on my face.
What does it control like? Is it more like Kingdom Hearts, with a button press for an individual swing of the sword, or like FF15 where you're just holding down the attack button whenever you're in enemy range? And how does timing work for non-attack actions like spellcasting and items? And what about switching control between characters?
Realizing lately that I don't really trust or respect basically any of the moderators here. So, good luck with life, friends! Hit me up on Twitter @DesertLeviathan
I posted about this in the pax thread, but the demo was amazing and feels fantastic to play. It’s such a perfect midpoint between old ATB and modern 3rd person action. Everything feels intuitive and the only time I really fumbled with the controls was when I accidentally brought up the menu while trying to climb a ladder...something I got used to within like 2 minutes. And obviously the game looks amazing and the entire battle with the big scorpion robot I had the biggest, dumbest grin on my face.
What does it control like? Is it more like Kingdom Hearts, with a button press for an individual swing of the sword, or like FF15 where you're just holding down the attack button whenever you're in enemy range? And how does timing work for non-attack actions like spellcasting and items? And what about switching control between characters?
They showed a demo of the gameplay at their E3 presentation. It's primarily real time, but you can use the ATB system to pause to use skills. From what we saw, it looks fluid.
I posted about this in the pax thread, but the demo was amazing and feels fantastic to play. It’s such a perfect midpoint between old ATB and modern 3rd person action. Everything feels intuitive and the only time I really fumbled with the controls was when I accidentally brought up the menu while trying to climb a ladder...something I got used to within like 2 minutes. And obviously the game looks amazing and the entire battle with the big scorpion robot I had the biggest, dumbest grin on my face.
What does it control like? Is it more like Kingdom Hearts, with a button press for an individual swing of the sword, or like FF15 where you're just holding down the attack button whenever you're in enemy range? And how does timing work for non-attack actions like spellcasting and items? And what about switching control between characters?
You switch characters in combat by pushing up or down on the d pad. You can do this essentially any time you’re not locked into a long animation, and it is basically seamless. There were times when you were forced to switch to Barret to reach enemy turrets mounted on walls (unless cloud had enough ATB for a spell). Cloud’s attacks felt like they required mashing square, Barret’s you would hold square for a lot of rapid low damage shots followed by a bigger blast for more damage at the end.
When not in combat you’re cloud, but who knows if they’ll change that?
During combat you slowly gain ATB normally, but every time you hit with a square button attack you gain ATB faster. You have 2 ATB charges per character. You can use one or two charges to use a special attack, cast a spell, or use an item. When you hit the x button it brings up a menu and time slows to a crawl, giving you plenty of time to make your choices. You can also hit one of the shoulder buttons from the menu to assign an action to one of the other party members without switching perspective, which I found useful more than once.
You also gain limit by taking damage and can unleash a limit break when it’s full.
Felt fine. There was one spot where an enemy was attacking me from just off screen that I didn’t notice but that could just be because I’m bad at video games. I think I remember that it still has the little Target arrow like in the original game had when you’d push select that would indicate where things are.
Sweet, it sounds like they're really nailing the gameplay at least.
Still waiting to see how they fill an entire FF games worth of content in just midgar, though. Saw a few mini-games, but no new areas that weren't in the first game at all, which I imagine has to be a must.
My gripes with the systems aside, I forgot how strong the first few hours of FF8 is. The lore with SeeD and the Gardens and sending you on a big-deal assassination mission out of the gate is a very effective grab
My sanity-protecting rule for my FF8 playthrough is that I'll break the game as thoroughly as possible... without triple triad. Using the card command in battle is still fine though, and I can get some pretty impressive stuff early on just from that. So I'm still running around with characters who are fucking up everything they run into, but I stopped short of playing cards for 70 hours and getting Squall to a point where he could solo every non-optional fight in the game before doing the Ifrit trial.
Realizing lately that I don't really trust or respect basically any of the moderators here. So, good luck with life, friends! Hit me up on Twitter @DesertLeviathan
My gripes with the systems aside, I forgot how strong the first few hours of FF8 is. The lore with SeeD and the Gardens and sending you on a big-deal assassination mission out of the gate is a very effective grab
7 and 8 both had really strong starts. 9 I don't remember being as impactful, 10 was trying for it but it was too confusing to be really effective, 12's start is laaame, I can barely remember 13, and while 15 started slow, it was a nice slow buddy comedy start.
My gripes with the systems aside, I forgot how strong the first few hours of FF8 is. The lore with SeeD and the Gardens and sending you on a big-deal assassination mission out of the gate is a very effective grab
7 and 8 both had really strong starts. 9 I don't remember being as impactful, 10 was trying for it but it was too confusing to be really effective, 12's start is laaame, I can barely remember 13, and while 15 started slow, it was a nice slow buddy comedy start.
13 started right in the action mostly. 9 was good, but definitely more slow-burn (bit of a build-up to the actual princess "kidnapping," which was exciting, and then it really slows down for a while).
My gripes with the systems aside, I forgot how strong the first few hours of FF8 is. The lore with SeeD and the Gardens and sending you on a big-deal assassination mission out of the gate is a very effective grab
7 and 8 both had really strong starts. 9 I don't remember being as impactful, 10 was trying for it but it was too confusing to be really effective, 12's start is laaame, I can barely remember 13, and while 15 started slow, it was a nice slow buddy comedy start.
13 started right in the action mostly. 9 was good, but definitely more slow-burn (bit of a build-up to the actual princess "kidnapping," which was exciting, and then it really slows down for a while).
I found the opening to 13 to be kinda evocative of 7. Get off the (wrecked) train, join the terrorists, and start whacking soldiers with a sword.
12 had a reasonably rad cold open, but all anyone remembers is the bait and switch to Vaan twenty minutes in.
Another honorable mention should go to whatever that intro in XIII-2 was. I barely had any idea what was going on, but I was pumped to see more where that came from.
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I was being optimistic!
They just waited too long for that, though doing so worked well narratively.
then the game ends like ninety minutes later
Yeah, I would say the combat systems were among the higher points of both games.
In fact, it's one of the only things I remember fondly about FF13-1.
that and sazh being a good dad and fang being a boss bitch
3 days too early for that.
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they’re really doing it, the madmen
And Frog Cloud with his little Buster Sword
I saw a screenshot of that in twitter and thought that was a new CT game for a moment.
Rarely have I felt such disappointment.
Trailer was cool at least though!
What does it control like? Is it more like Kingdom Hearts, with a button press for an individual swing of the sword, or like FF15 where you're just holding down the attack button whenever you're in enemy range? And how does timing work for non-attack actions like spellcasting and items? And what about switching control between characters?
They showed a demo of the gameplay at their E3 presentation. It's primarily real time, but you can use the ATB system to pause to use skills. From what we saw, it looks fluid.
You switch characters in combat by pushing up or down on the d pad. You can do this essentially any time you’re not locked into a long animation, and it is basically seamless. There were times when you were forced to switch to Barret to reach enemy turrets mounted on walls (unless cloud had enough ATB for a spell). Cloud’s attacks felt like they required mashing square, Barret’s you would hold square for a lot of rapid low damage shots followed by a bigger blast for more damage at the end.
When not in combat you’re cloud, but who knows if they’ll change that?
During combat you slowly gain ATB normally, but every time you hit with a square button attack you gain ATB faster. You have 2 ATB charges per character. You can use one or two charges to use a special attack, cast a spell, or use an item. When you hit the x button it brings up a menu and time slows to a crawl, giving you plenty of time to make your choices. You can also hit one of the shoulder buttons from the menu to assign an action to one of the other party members without switching perspective, which I found useful more than once.
You also gain limit by taking damage and can unleash a limit break when it’s full.
How is the camera?
Felt fine. There was one spot where an enemy was attacking me from just off screen that I didn’t notice but that could just be because I’m bad at video games. I think I remember that it still has the little Target arrow like in the original game had when you’d push select that would indicate where things are.
hope?
This is the most hyped I’ve been for a game in a very long time. Even moreso after getting my hands on it.
It’s going to be good.
Still waiting to see how they fill an entire FF games worth of content in just midgar, though. Saw a few mini-games, but no new areas that weren't in the first game at all, which I imagine has to be a must.
Especially Reno.
Rawr.
My gripes with the systems aside, I forgot how strong the first few hours of FF8 is. The lore with SeeD and the Gardens and sending you on a big-deal assassination mission out of the gate is a very effective grab
7 and 8 both had really strong starts. 9 I don't remember being as impactful, 10 was trying for it but it was too confusing to be really effective, 12's start is laaame, I can barely remember 13, and while 15 started slow, it was a nice slow buddy comedy start.
13 started right in the action mostly. 9 was good, but definitely more slow-burn (bit of a build-up to the actual princess "kidnapping," which was exciting, and then it really slows down for a while).
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I found the opening to 13 to be kinda evocative of 7. Get off the (wrecked) train, join the terrorists, and start whacking soldiers with a sword.
12 had a reasonably rad cold open, but all anyone remembers is the bait and switch to Vaan twenty minutes in.
Another honorable mention should go to whatever that intro in XIII-2 was. I barely had any idea what was going on, but I was pumped to see more where that came from.
The opening did have a massive FF7 vibe though.