anyone esle feels that materia from FFVII was best Magic system?

I feel like the way materia could be leveled up, put on weapons and used was one of the best magic systems in an RPG of all time. It was intuitive, and easily one of the best systems in the final fantasy franchise.

Yeah I absolutely LOVED the materia system and felt that it gave you great control over your characters, granted it contributed to one of the only faults of FF7 which was how there ended up being a specific line-up of 3 characters that was easily better than the rest as the only thing really different between them in the end was their limit breaks.

yeah, it was a great magic system, as you werent confined to certaiin characters for magic

Absolutely!

A very good balance of user friendliness, depth and customization!

It was a great system but one of my bigger pet peeves with the FF series has been their habit of making everybody able to do everything. I hated how you could take a character like Barret who was obviously a tough guy fighter kind of character and if you equipped his materia right you could make him a healer support character. FF 8 was worse with that and 12 was just lame letting everybody equip every piece of armor, every weapon, and learn every ability/spell.

For those reasons my favorite FF system is probably the FF Tactics job class system. You have stats that indicate talent and while you can change it with enough effort a character with low brave is going to make a lousy fighter no matter what. In that game once you take a character down either the magic or the physical road it's very hard or impossible to switch to the other. I was also rather fond of the FF X sphere grid system which allowed you to break out of a characters role but only late in the game.

But that's just me, I never believed in hippy teachers and parents that told their kids that "you can do anything you want with your life". In life and my video games I like finding out what a character is good for/at and planning strategy, not making my favorite characters do whatever it is that I want/need them to. But I'm talking too much now so I'll stop.

The flexibility was nice, but not at the cost of having a party of blank slates. I like it when characters are unique and not merely numbers.

I didn't realize how great the system was until later. VII is probably one of the most balanced well thought out Final Fantasy games in terms of gameplay.

No. It took away from the uniqueness and individualism of each character. RPG's are heavily reliant on characters. Nobody is truly unique in FFVII as far as battles go. They are all interchangeable and offer little incentive to change up your rotation. The summons are even worse because they are overly long and become next to useless later on in the game. I still like this game though.

Yes,Materia as well asEspers from FFVI are my favorite magic systems in the whole franchise.

I'm kinda in the middle. I like it because it was arguably the most user-friendly gameplay feature in any Final Fantasy, but on the other hand, it was just that. Overly friendly. It sortof took away the strategy of using the right characters for a fight because essentially all the characters were the same except for Limit Breaks. That's why I like the Sphere Grid system in FFX.

I'm kinda in the middle. I like it because it was arguably the most user-friendly gameplay feature in any Final Fantasy, but on the other hand, it was just that. Overly friendly. It sortof took away the strategy of using the right characters for a fight because essentially all the characters were the same except for Limit Breaks. That's why I like the Sphere Grid system in FFX.

Lionheart08

Eventually the sphere's could intertwine and giving everyone the ability to learn it. Sure lulu wasn't gonna be tidus in battle nor was Wakka a Kamari but everyone could become the same. The tag system was awesome tho.

it is the best system.

Yes, I think the Materia system was by far the best way to handle character development and magic. I really enjoyed the sphere grid as well in FFX. I like the ideas of jobs and things like that, but I like being able to mix everything up!

Not anywhere close actually, because it made things such that the individual characters were only differentiated by a few base stats, their weapons, and limit breaks. V's system is still my favorite if you're going to take the "everyone has a chance to be equal" approach, but otherwise I still find VI's Esper system the best, because everyone has a chance to use and learn magic, but everyone has a unique skill that no one else can use. Not to mention it had a proto-limit break system. I hope they don't bring materia back, ever.

Not to mention that there was no way for a skill to be permanent. No materia, no skill.

No. It took away from the uniqueness and individualism of each character. RPG's are heavily reliant on characters. Nobody is truly unique in FFVII as far as battles go. They are all interchangeable and offer little incentive to change up your rotation. The summons are even worse because they are overly long and become next to useless later on in the game. I still like this game though.

FFCYAN

[QUOTE="Lionheart08"]

I'm kinda in the middle. I like it because it was arguably the most user-friendly gameplay feature in any Final Fantasy, but on the other hand, it was just that. Overly friendly. It sortof took away the strategy of using the right characters for a fight because essentially all the characters were the same except for Limit Breaks. That's why I like the Sphere Grid system in FFX.

The_Endfamous_B

Eventually the sphere's could intertwine and giving everyone the ability to learn it. Sure lulu wasn't gonna be tidus in battle nor was Wakka a Kamari but everyone could become the same. The tag system was awesome tho.

True, but FFX also did a better job balancing out the stats so giving Tidus a black magic would essentially be a waste of spheres since his magic attacks were so weak.

Yes, I think the Materia system was by far the best way to handle character development and magic. I really enjoyed the sphere grid as well in FFX. I like the ideas of jobs and things like that, but I like being able to mix everything up!

Samslayer

Yeah the Sphere Grid system was amazing! Right up there with materia in my mind.

I managed to make amazing use of it by giving Yuna black magic. She is absolutely AMAZING with the black magic and makes Lulu worthless.

I thought FFV, FFVI and FFIX had better magic systems then FFVII.

Yes, the Materia system was good, but not the best out of the whole franchise.

That title easily goes to FFXII. You buy a magick, you spend your licence points on them, there you go. Simple. Anyone can learn any or all of the magicks, and anyone could have strong magick potency as well, meaning that you could have a party of 6 uber mages. It also removes the pain of having to share certain items so that everyone gets a turn being the healer.

Mix a simple system like that with Gambits, and that right there is by far the best Magic system in Final Fantasy.

I prefer it when the characters each get their own set of magics and skills

I loved the way Final Fantasy VI did their skill system. It felt like a cross between the systems of IV and V since you could outfit characters with any magic spell, but they still retained character specific skills.

Although, the job system from V is my favorite skill system in the series. The possibilities when it came to custom characters was almost endless in that game.

Yep loved it.

I like it alot. It made it that when you learned a skill or magic, it didn't just stay on the character that learned the spell or skill for the materia, but you couls switch around materia and have any character have any skill, magic you desired. It makes it so you can have a different gameplay experience each time you play VII, and also no character is never useless, because any materia can go to any character, so if any character is useless, it is because you made it that way (except for Aeris, though, since she was a very weak attacker, but, well, we know what happens with her :P).

I like it alot. It made it that when you learned a skill or magic, it didn't just stay on the character that learned the spell or skill for the materia, but you couls switch around materia and have any character have any skill, magic you desired. It makes it so you can have a different gameplay experience each time you play VII, and also no character is never useless, because any materia can go to any character, so if any character is useless, it is because you made it that way (except for Aeris, though, since she was a very weak attacker, but, well, we know what happens with her :P).

DJ-Lafleur

She goes over to Sephiroth's house and plays a wholesome game of Candy Land. :|

I like it a lot. It was really easy to understand and use.

Love the customization, but the loss in character personality is a shame. Wouldn't call this the best magic system, but I really don't know what game deserves this title.

No. It took away from the uniqueness and individualism of each character. RPG's are heavily reliant on characters. Nobody is truly unique in FFVII as far as battles go. They are all interchangeable and offer little incentive to change up your rotation. The summons are even worse because they are overly long and become next to useless later on in the game. I still like this game though.

FFCYAN

[QUOTE="FFCYAN"]

No. It took away from the uniqueness and individualism of each character. RPG's are heavily reliant on characters. Nobody is truly unique in FFVII as far as battles go. They are all interchangeable and offer little incentive to change up your rotation. The summons are even worse because they are overly long and become next to useless later on in the game. I still like this game though.

Greyfeld

[QUOTE="Greyfeld"][QUOTE="FFCYAN"]

No. It took away from the uniqueness and individualism of each character. RPG's are heavily reliant on characters. Nobody is truly unique in FFVII as far as battles go. They are all interchangeable and offer little incentive to change up your rotation. The summons are even worse because they are overly long and become next to useless later on in the game. I still like this game though.

FFCYAN