Final Fantasy 13 had the best combat and gfx, but the worst everything else.

[QUOTE="subrosian"][QUOTE="gamebreakerz__"]Haters gona hate.DJ-Lafleur

Not Square's fault people were expecting FFXIII to be like FFVII-X. And funnily enough IF FFXIII ended up being alot like FFVII-FFX, there would be a massive amount of people complaining "FFXIII SUCKS, IT'S JUST MORE OF THE SAME!!!". Either way Square-Enix was screwed.

I certainly had no expectations of it being like FFVII-FFX, I just went in hoping for a fun experience, that's it, and that's what I got.

And the only place where the FF brand mostly seems to be hurt is with internet forums and PS3 fanboys butthurt over FFXIII going multiplat. Otherwise FFXIII got pretty good reviews and sold quite well on both the PS3 and 360.

This individual speaks wisdom.

I don't know a single person who would have complained if FF13 had the combat like FFX

People were complaining about FF11 FF12 becomes of the combat change

FF12 was the first time they changed up the combat and NOBODY wanted it like PERIOD

FF7 came on ps1 combat was SAME as FF1-6 but with new graphics NOT ONE SINGLE COMPLAINT

FFX came out ps2 combat was the same turn based control all characters greaters graphics great story NOT ANY MORE COMPLAINTS

FF12 COmes out an everyone complains cuz the combat is not only different it doesn't belong in a FF game they've done upgrade to graphics an kept the combat the same 2 generation in a row why the hell did they have to switch an piss everyone off nobody knows since they have done this for 2 graphical generations

FF13 comes out and THEY DO AGAIN they don't even care about fan's they had solid gampelay through the NES/SNES/PS1/PS2 an started changing everything once FF12 came out an ruined all the gameplay so dont say that they couldn't have kept it the same THEY kept it the same 10 games an only recenly have thy done thise big of changes to combat and have never gotten any complaints till they did so their was no reason to switch

nobody would have said a word if u could play 13 like ff7 or ffx so dont say ppl would have **** if it was the same when nobody would have ur entirely wrong especially the number of complaints would have been much lower if at all any

[QUOTE="TheBigBadGRIM"][QUOTE="Juken7"]

The story is much better than the early FFs

KinectISLife

I disagree with him, FF13 as like a bad soap opera in cut scenes, i nearly wanted to kill myself watching them

[QUOTE="subrosian"][QUOTE="Juken7"]

The story is much better than the early FFs

ActicEdge

You seem slightly angry :P Also, you changed your Avatar :o

The combat encouraged me to do sod all. Auto was my most used command, often with that command that scans enemies, so my auto would use the right elements. Every now and then i'd change to a healer but aside from that - sod all.

The graphics were nice, even if the game world was completely empty ...

All in all poor effort all around Square.

[QUOTE="ActicEdge"]

[QUOTE="subrosian"] No it's not, the story is a vague mess that's not enough to drive the dull gameplay forward. FF XIII would have been better off as a movie or a short anime series, given the gameplay and type of story being attempted. subrosian

You seem slightly angry :P Also, you changed your Avatar :o

I wold give youa legit answer, I really would but . . . I haven't played it, I just find these threads amusing, I'll get to it eventually though. That said what games have you bought and enjoyed this year outtta curiousity?

...worse anything else? maybe worse haters. The game got 8,5score= good game, suck it up and move on.

Subrosian, I understand where you're coming from, but at the same time I can't help but feel that in some ways the FF series was already "dull" and in need of some sort of an upgrade. I find FFVI~FFIX to be far more guilty of the mindless "button mashing" gameplay that this game is accused of. While these games offered a great amount of content, and compelling stories for their time, the largest feature of the gameplay was fairly lacking in comparison with other JRPGs like Grandia or Xenogears released in the same era. Playing FFXIII, I found it to be more involving and more challenging than FF had been in a while, a drastic change from the previous title which had been designed so the player could modify the AI to be even less involved in the system. If there hadn't been an "auto battle" feature added late into development for those who might find the new system too fast paced and too challenging for their tastes, I doubt we'd see complaints about a "game that plays itself."

While I agree that the lack of content, poor pacing, and poor plot are pretty unforgivable, at the same time I think Square is at least heading int he right direction in terms of making their games more challenging, and more involving for the player, despite including features that allow the player to bypass this to some degree. Every FF has been full of battles, and while the next FF should be full of content, I think a more challenging battle system reminiscent of FFXIII could probably pave the way for some of the best games we've seen from Square yet, provided they can hire proper writing and translating staff.

...worse anything else? maybe worse haters. The game got 8,5score= good game, suck it up and move on.

aroxx_ab

Playing FFXIII, I found it to be more involving and more challenging than FF had been in a while, a drastic change from the previous title which had been designed so the player could modify the AI to be even less involved in the system. If there hadn't been an "auto battle" feature added late into development for those who might find the new system too fast paced and too challenging for their tastes, I doubt we'd see complaints about a "game that plays itself."hakanakumono

it was no fun, and the graphics werent all that great. They had much better art, and the games always felt like a real actual world instead of a straight narrow line to boring battle to boring battle.

I wold give youa legit answer, I really would but . . . I haven't played it, I just find these threads amusing, I'll get to it eventually though. That said what games have you bought and enjoyed this year outtta curiousity?

ActicEdge

Mass Effect 2, 3D Dot Heroes, Halo Reach, MGS Peace Walker and Starcraft 2. Of all the games I have played this year, those four stand out as being the most enjoyable / interesting.

I'm sure there are other games I'm forgetting though. Final Fantasy XIII is actually the worst game I've played all year.

[QUOTE="ActicEdge"]

I wold give youa legit answer, I really would but . . . I haven't played it, I just find these threads amusing, I'll get to it eventually though. That said what games have you bought and enjoyed this year outtta curiousity?

subrosian

Mass Effect 2, 3D Dot Heroes, Halo Reach, MGS Peace Walker and Starcraft 2. Of all the games I have played this year, those four stand out as being the most enjoyable / interesting.

I'm sure there are other games I'm forgetting though. Final Fantasy XIII is actually the worst game I've played all year.

No Bayonetta or SMG2??? For shame :P Also, 5 games (just teasing haha)

The generl concensus is I should get starcraft 2. I have never touched a PC rts in my life however, decisions. . .

No Bayonetta or SMG2??? For shame :P Also, 5 games (just teasing haha)

The generl concensus is I should get starcraft 2. I have never touched a PC rts in my life however, decisions. . .

ActicEdge

[QUOTE="ActicEdge"]

No Bayonetta or SMG2??? For shame :P Also, 5 games (just teasing haha)

The generl concensus is I should get starcraft 2. I have never touched a PC rts in my life however, decisions. . .

subrosian

I'm still going to play FF13, it will just be a lot later . . :P

Guess I'm getting SC2

The fact that you actually have to swtich between healing, buffing, debuffing, defending, etc, the fact that you have to pay more attention to balancing offense and defense, the fact that you have to think regarding how you setup your paradigms is what made it an improvement for me. I felt more "involved" in battles because I actually had to think about them. When I played FFXIII I was constantly changing the way I approached enemies, even with the simple set of "classes" available. It was refreshing to go into a battle, get a game over screen, and actually have to rethink about how I approached battles. Imo, the battles are the most prominent gameplay feature in FF so I want to see Square try to make them more involved.

As for there only being one directly controllable character, I think it was balanced by the fact that the system made timing all the more important (timing my moves in sync with my party, the break meter, and launching becaem a priority).

As for customization, you're right. The crystarium system was pretty linear. Moreover it discouraged having characters learn from other paradigms with huge exp requirements, But at the same time, I do think there was a fair amount of customization to the accessory and weaponry system. I spent the entire game upgrading my weapons, and the combination of very specialized accessories and the ability to transform them gave me the ability to customize my characters differently. Moreover, where I put the various refining items I received throughout my quest added to that. "Defense" literally became an element of customization, removed from the leveling aspect, and highly specialized. Physical or magic, what kind of magic, how much percent, etc.

Ocarina of Time is an RPG? You know, I've never seen Final Fantasy as some "open adventure." It's always been forced. I guess if you go into Final Fantasy hoping for the feeling that the world is there for you to explore and you can go from there, then I can understand why you would be disappointed with FFXIII. But I've never had that impression of Final Fantasy, nor have I ever expected it from Final Fantasy. My experience with Final Fantasy has always been more like being "taken for a ride." I think the ride (story) in FFXIII is very problematic though.

The fact that you actually have to swtich between healing, buffing, debuffing, defending, etc, the fact that you have to pay more attention to balancing offense and defense, the fact that you have to think regarding how you setup your paradigms is what made it an improvement for me. I felt more "involved" in battles because I actually had to think about them. When I played FFXIII I was constantly changing the way I approached enemies, even with the simple set of "classes" available. It was refreshing to go into a battle, get a game over screen, and actually have to rethink about how I approached battles. Imo, the battles are the most prominent gameplay feature in FF so I want to see Square try to make them more involved.

hakanakumono

But the paradigm system didn't really change anything nor it made the game more challenging because it's the same as controlling your party members, only this time, you can't control them directly for you could only assign roles for them through customizing the paradigm list. And, since controlling characters through the paradigm is an indirect way of controlling them, it's less involving.

Another flaw was the timing. Games as Persona 3, where there's dependency on the A.I., have you think of what to do next while other characters are taking their turns but in FFXIII, characters wouldn't move until you choose an action which defeats the purpose of auto-battle system because it's there to make battles go quicker and unpredictable. Unfortunately battles were both slow and predictable despite the auto-system. That's my opinion of course.

The combat was the best to me too, even though you had to get quite a long way into the game before it became challenging and had to seriously think about strategies during fights and setting up the right paradigms. It was a nice change and it was fun. It also had a sense of urgency, adding to the excitement. Even though FF games have never been the most open kinds of games, the past ones did still offer more freedom like talking with NPCs, buying things from them, exploring different towns, etc. This, along with a good story and characters would have made the game a lot better and feel more like a convincing world.

FF VIII combat with the junction system was the best and most strategic and indepth out of the FF series.

Although because of that some people were turned off by the complexity and so SE dumbs down the battle system in later games.

FF VIII combat with the junction system was the best and most strategic and indepth out of the FF series.

Although because of that some people were turned off by the complexity and so SE dumbs down the battle system in later games.

Hakkai007

I never played VIII, but anyway, out of VII, X, XII, and XIII, XIII was my favourite combat system.

From best game overall to worst, it's:

VII

X

XIII

XII for me.

I definitely found FFXIII to be a challenging game, more challenging than FFVI, VII, VIII, X, and also harder than updated ported version of FFI, II and IV (not their original versions, though, nor the DS version of FFIV)

FFXIII's battle system actually had me think alot. in any of the above mentioned FF's, you could get by just using the attack command, or maybe sometimes the magic command to win battles most of the time. This is the ame with FFXIII, but XIII also had you concentrating on switching paradigms, and also focusing on your leader's HP since XIII is the only FF where if the leader dies you lose. FFXIII also doesn't have any "ultima" like spells that, once you learn, you can easily obliterate enemy groups. Or atleast I don't recall there being any super spells like that.

I definitely found FFXIII to be a challenging game, more challenging than FFVI, VII, VIII, X, and also harder than updated ported version of FFI, II and IV (not their original versions, though, nor the DS version of FFIV)

FFXIII's battle system actually had me think alot. in any of the above mentioned FF's, you could get by just using the attack command, or maybe sometimes the magic command to win battles most of the time. This is the ame with FFXIII, but XIII also had you concentrating on switching paradigms, and also focusing on your leader's HP since XIII is the only FF where if the leader dies you lose. FFXIII also doesn't have any "ultima" like spells that, once you learn, you can easily obliterate enemy groups. Or atleast I don't recall there being any super spells like that.

DJ-Lafleur

Moreover the system was designed so things were balanced in that Firaga isn't the spell you automatically use instead of Fire, because it took 3 slots instead of one, etc.

Of course, instead of auto battle I actually select my commands because auto battle defeats the whole purpose of what the game was originally thought up to be - a game where you line up different combinations of moves.

[QUOTE="DJ-Lafleur"]

I definitely found FFXIII to be a challenging game, more challenging than FFVI, VII, VIII, X, and also harder than updated ported version of FFI, II and IV (not their original versions, though, nor the DS version of FFIV)

FFXIII's battle system actually had me think alot. in any of the above mentioned FF's, you could get by just using the attack command, or maybe sometimes the magic command to win battles most of the time. This is the ame with FFXIII, but XIII also had you concentrating on switching paradigms, and also focusing on your leader's HP since XIII is the only FF where if the leader dies you lose. FFXIII also doesn't have any "ultima" like spells that, once you learn, you can easily obliterate enemy groups. Or atleast I don't recall there being any super spells like that.

hakanakumono

Moreover the system was designed so things were balanced in that Firaga isn't the spell you automatically use instead of Fire, because it took 3 slots instead of one, etc.

Of course, instead of auto battle I actually select my commands because auto battle defeats the whole purpose of what the game was originally thought up to be - a game where you line up different combinations of moves.

I don't know, auto battle wasn't even perfect all the time. Medics wouldn'y always heal the way I wanted, sometimes I would want to use physical attacks instead of ruin, etc

I only used auto battle when I needed to have commands issued quickly for tougher battles. Otherwsie I''d just choose commands myself.

[QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

The fact that you actually have to swtich between healing, buffing, debuffing, defending, etc, the fact that you have to pay more attention to balancing offense and defense, the fact that you have to think regarding how you setup your paradigms is what made it an improvement for me. I felt more "involved" in battles because I actually had to think about them. When I played FFXIII I was constantly changing the way I approached enemies, even with the simple set of "classes" available. It was refreshing to go into a battle, get a game over screen, and actually have to rethink about how I approached battles. Imo, the battles are the most prominent gameplay feature in FF so I want to see Square try to make them more involved.

gamingqueen

But the paradigm system didn't really change anything nor it made the game more challenging because it's the same as controlling your party members, only this time, you can't control them directly for you could only assign roles for them through customizing the paradigm list. And, since controlling characters through the paradigm is an indirect way of controlling them, it's less involving.

Another flaw was the timing. Games as Persona 3, where there's dependency on the A.I., have you think of what to do next while other characters are taking their turns but in FFXIII, characters wouldn't move until you choose an action which defeats the purpose of auto-battle system because it's there to make battles go quicker and unpredictable. Unfortunately battles were both slow and predictable despite the auto-system. That's my opinion of course.

?

I mean more involving than selecting attack for 4 characters for a couple turns, winning the battle, and then moving on to the next one. Yes, you're indirectly involved in other character's commands (which needed some sort of real time priority system imo), but it's still more involving to actually have to think, deal with, and carefully select commands.

I don't understand. The timing is flawed because in other games you have to think of what to do next while characters are taking turns, but characters wont move until you select an action in FFXIII? What? I just don't understand what you're trying to say. I wouldn't call FFXIII an "auto battle system." The auto battle feature didn't arrive until just months before release.

[QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

[QUOTE="DJ-Lafleur"]

I definitely found FFXIII to be a challenging game, more challenging than FFVI, VII, VIII, X, and also harder than updated ported version of FFI, II and IV (not their original versions, though, nor the DS version of FFIV)

FFXIII's battle system actually had me think alot. in any of the above mentioned FF's, you could get by just using the attack command, or maybe sometimes the magic command to win battles most of the time. This is the ame with FFXIII, but XIII also had you concentrating on switching paradigms, and also focusing on your leader's HP since XIII is the only FF where if the leader dies you lose. FFXIII also doesn't have any "ultima" like spells that, once you learn, you can easily obliterate enemy groups. Or atleast I don't recall there being any super spells like that.

DJ-Lafleur

Moreover the system was designed so things were balanced in that Firaga isn't the spell you automatically use instead of Fire, because it took 3 slots instead of one, etc.

Of course, instead of auto battle I actually select my commands because auto battle defeats the whole purpose of what the game was originally thought up to be - a game where you line up different combinations of moves.

I don't know, auto battle wasn't even perfect all the time. Medics wouldn'y always heal the way I wanted, sometimes I would want to use physical attacks instead of ruin, etc

I only used auto battle when I needed to have commands issued quickly for tougher battles. Otherwsie I''d just choose commands myself.

I found it much more satisfying to select my own moves. If the game was too fast I would just press right to repeat the action I took with my last turn.

I definitely found FFXIII to be a challenging game, more challenging than FFVI, VII, VIII, X, and also harder than updated ported version of FFI, II and IV (not their original versions, though, nor the DS version of FFIV)

FFXIII's battle system actually had me think alot. in any of the above mentioned FF's, you could get by just using the attack command, or maybe sometimes the magic command to win battles most of the time. This is the ame with FFXIII, but XIII also had you concentrating on switching paradigms, and also focusing on your leader's HP since XIII is the only FF where if the leader dies you lose. FFXIII also doesn't have any "ultima" like spells that, once you learn, you can easily obliterate enemy groups. Or atleast I don't recall there being any super spells like that.

DJ-Lafleur

FFXIII was a cake walk until much later into the game.

FFVIII was harder.

There were many ways in that game to set up your team.

When you get inside the spaceship Ragnarok in space you find it infected with alien species that you must defeat in pairs by color or they come back.

The Aliens had some pretty strong spells and some annoying ones that stopped you from using any magic which they would usually cast at the beginning.

In Ultimecia's castle there were elemental bosses that could be really hard without the help of junctioning the right magic to your defense or attack.

Ultimecia herself had a spell that could lower all your party's hp to 1. She had certain curse attacks too.

[QUOTE="DJ-Lafleur"]

I definitely found FFXIII to be a challenging game, more challenging than FFVI, VII, VIII, X, and also harder than updated ported version of FFI, II and IV (not their original versions, though, nor the DS version of FFIV)

FFXIII's battle system actually had me think alot. in any of the above mentioned FF's, you could get by just using the attack command, or maybe sometimes the magic command to win battles most of the time. This is the ame with FFXIII, but XIII also had you concentrating on switching paradigms, and also focusing on your leader's HP since XIII is the only FF where if the leader dies you lose. FFXIII also doesn't have any "ultima" like spells that, once you learn, you can easily obliterate enemy groups. Or atleast I don't recall there being any super spells like that.

hakanakumono

Moreover the system was designed so things were balanced in that Firaga isn't the spell you automatically use instead of Fire, because it took 3 slots instead of one, etc.

Of course, instead of auto battle I actually select my commands because auto battle defeats the whole purpose of what the game was originally thought up to be - a game where you line up different combinations of moves.

[QUOTE="DJ-Lafleur"]

[QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

Moreover the system was designed so things were balanced in that Firaga isn't the spell you automatically use instead of Fire, because it took 3 slots instead of one, etc.

Of course, instead of auto battle I actually select my commands because auto battle defeats the whole purpose of what the game was originally thought up to be - a game where you line up different combinations of moves.

hakanakumono

I don't know, auto battle wasn't even perfect all the time. Medics wouldn'y always heal the way I wanted, sometimes I would want to use physical attacks instead of ruin, etc

I only used auto battle when I needed to have commands issued quickly for tougher battles. Otherwsie I''d just choose commands myself.

I found it much more satisfying to select my own moves. If the game was too fast I would just press right to repeat the action I took with my last turn.

[QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

[QUOTE="DJ-Lafleur"]

I definitely found FFXIII to be a challenging game, more challenging than FFVI, VII, VIII, X, and also harder than updated ported version of FFI, II and IV (not their original versions, though, nor the DS version of FFIV)

FFXIII's battle system actually had me think alot. in any of the above mentioned FF's, you could get by just using the attack command, or maybe sometimes the magic command to win battles most of the time. This is the ame with FFXIII, but XIII also had you concentrating on switching paradigms, and also focusing on your leader's HP since XIII is the only FF where if the leader dies you lose. FFXIII also doesn't have any "ultima" like spells that, once you learn, you can easily obliterate enemy groups. Or atleast I don't recall there being any super spells like that.

yoshi_64

Moreover the system was designed so things were balanced in that Firaga isn't the spell you automatically use instead of Fire, because it took 3 slots instead of one, etc.

Of course, instead of auto battle I actually select my commands because auto battle defeats the whole purpose of what the game was originally thought up to be - a game where you line up different combinations of moves.

You're right in that if you're just going to do four attacks, its not going to make a difference if you're an Attacker. But if you're trying to time your launching of the enemy, it's more useful to do your own attacks, because it might start with ruin, whereas you may want to start with a normal attack. It makes more sense to select your own attacks if you're not going to use up all 4 ATB slots; I found that selecting how many ATB I would use became beneficial to later strategies.

As for magic, I would employ strategies like using a Firaga spell to throw them back and then follow up with 4 quick fire spells and things like that. As for mixing fire and flamestrikes, sometimes it's better to fire off a fire first, and then follow it with flamestrikes.

[QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

Moreover the system was designed so things were balanced in that Firaga isn't the spell you automatically use instead of Fire, because it took 3 slots instead of one, etc.

Of course, instead of auto battle I actually select my commands because auto battle defeats the whole purpose of what the game was originally thought up to be - a game where you line up different combinations of moves.

gamingqueen

[QUOTE="DJ-Lafleur"]

I definitely found FFXIII to be a challenging game, more challenging than FFVI, VII, VIII, X, and also harder than updated ported version of FFI, II and IV (not their original versions, though, nor the DS version of FFIV)

FFXIII's battle system actually had me think alot. in any of the above mentioned FF's, you could get by just using the attack command, or maybe sometimes the magic command to win battles most of the time. This is the ame with FFXIII, but XIII also had you concentrating on switching paradigms, and also focusing on your leader's HP since XIII is the only FF where if the leader dies you lose. FFXIII also doesn't have any "ultima" like spells that, once you learn, you can easily obliterate enemy groups. Or atleast I don't recall there being any super spells like that.

Hakkai007

FFXIII was a cake walk until much later into the game.

FFVIII was harder.

There were many ways in that game to set up your team.

When you get inside the spaceship Ragnarok in space you find it infected with alien species that you must defeat in pairs by color or they come back.

The Aliens had some pretty strong spells and some annoying ones that stopped you from using any magic which they would usually cast at the beginning.

In Ultimecia's castle there were elemental bosses that could be really hard without the help of junctioning the right magic to your defense or attack.

Ultimecia herself had a spell that could lower all your party's hp to 1. She had certain curse attacks too.

FFVIII required you to think about battles before going into them? Honestly, I found that to be more true for FFXIII and the paradigms. Even if FFVIII is my favorite Final Fantasy game, I didn't have put put nearly as much of an effort into battles as FFXIII. Moreover, I don't know how it's almost "impossible to die" in FFXIII; I died in FFXIII far more than previous FF games. When the game was originally released in Japan it was widely reported to be one of the more difficult FFs and fare easier to die in. I found that if I didn't prepare with my Paradigm setups beforehand, the chances of me dying were fairly high.

As far as autobattle goes, I think that's missing the point. The main reason why I don't use auto battle is because I never use auto battle, outside of FFXII's gambits (and even then I do most of everything myself). It makes the game more enjoyable for me that way. But the reason why it's missing the point is FFXIII's battle strategy doesn't come from queuing attacks so much as it comes from paradigm setups, paradigm shifts, and their timing.

[QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

[QUOTE="DJ-Lafleur"]

I don't know, auto battle wasn't even perfect all the time. Medics wouldn'y always heal the way I wanted, sometimes I would want to use physical attacks instead of ruin, etc

I only used auto battle when I needed to have commands issued quickly for tougher battles. Otherwsie I''d just choose commands myself.

yoshi_64

I found it much more satisfying to select my own moves. If the game was too fast I would just press right to repeat the action I took with my last turn.

FFVIII required you to think about battles before going into them? Honestly, I found that to be more true for FFXIII and the paradigms. Even if FFVIII is my favorite Final Fantasy game, I didn't have put put nearly as much of an effort into battles as FFXIII. Moreover, I don't know how it's almost "impossible to die" in FFXIII; I died in FFXIII far more than previous FF games. When the game was originally released in Japan it was widely reported to be one of the more difficult FFs and fare easier to die in. I found that if I didn't prepare with my Paradigm setups beforehand, the chances of me dying were fairly high.

As far as autobattle goes, I think that's missing the point. The main reason why I don't use auto battle is because I never use auto battle, outside of FFXII's gambits (and even then I do most of everything myself). It makes the game more enjoyable for me that way. But the reason why it's missing the point is FFXIII's battle strategy doesn't come from queuing attacks so much as it comes from paradigm setups, paradigm shifts, and their timing.

hakanakumono

I don;t use auto battle allot because it isn't perfect. Like I said before there were times where medics would not heal the way I'd like, or would heal an AI character instead of me, the leader, and I'd get a game over because of it. Or sometimes would use ruin when I would have prefered a physical attack.

I really only used auto battle if I needed to be more quickk for the tougher battles.

[QUOTE="yoshi_64"][QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

Moreover the system was designed so things were balanced in that Firaga isn't the spell you automatically use instead of Fire, because it took 3 slots instead of one, etc.

Of course, instead of auto battle I actually select my commands because auto battle defeats the whole purpose of what the game was originally thought up to be - a game where you line up different combinations of moves.

hakanakumono

You're right in that if you're just going to do four attacks, its not going to make a difference if you're an Attacker. But if you're trying to time your launching of the enemy, it's more useful to do your own attacks, because it might start with ruin, whereas you may want to start with a normal attack. It makes more sense to select your own attacks if you're not going to use up all 4 ATB slots; I found that selecting how many ATB I would use became beneficial to later strategies.

As for magic, I would employ strategies like using a Firaga spell to throw them back and then follow up with 4 quick fire spells and things like that. As for mixing fire and flamestrikes, sometimes it's better to fire off a fire first, and then follow it with flamestrikes.