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[RCU005]

Ever since they showed the combat for FFR7, I loved the idea of it. I prefer ARPGs over turn-based combat (although I love games like Dragon Quest), and they somehow manage to balance both styles to make everyone happy.

The combat is super fun, however there are two things that suck really bad:

1) AI party members are dumb as hell. I know that the combat system encourages you to switch characters constantly and micro manage things manually, but sometimes you just need to focus on something with one character. AI characters should be able to do something useful. There should be a menu about what you want characters to do when they are not being controlled, like heal, attack, defend, etc. That's something very common in games with AI characters.

2) This is the biggest flaw in my opinion:
Since the combat is materia based, and you choose which materia to equip, it becomes a game of trial an error, which gets annoying very fast. For example: You start a fight and realize that enemy's weakness is ICE, and you go "oh shit, I don't have ICE matiera equipped. So you have to either try to beat the enemy without it and take ages, or just quit the fight, equip the right materia, and start over.

This completely sucks! It's annoying as hell! In combat simulator for example, they don't tell you which enemies you are fighting when doing it the first time, so you have to constantly start over because there is no way you can't carry every single materia to win every fight!

To use Dragon Quest XI as an example: You unlock abilities to use in combat as you progress an level up, but those abilities are always there to use, so no matter what type of enemy, you can beat it. Then you have pep powers that depend on which characters are active in combat. However, if you need one particular Pep power, you can switch characters to be able to use it. It doesn't lose any strategy by having everything at your disposal.

In Final Fantasy VII, if you don't equip something, you are screwed. There is no way to equip anything mid-fight, and there is no way to win with what you have (specially with bosses) if what you have is the wrong choice of materia.

 

[kingbean]

Not being able to change materia mid fight is a pain in the ass.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Air combat. It’s barely functional and is very messy looking. There has been a lot of chatter about folks wanting a swap system ala FFX to accommodate (especially since Yuffie and Vincent can help fill in the gaps).

Both AI and materials swapping need work. The latter should be easier to implement.

 

[The Hamburglar]

It’s broken and too easy imo. The only way they could
Balance it was by shoving in a hard mode and disabling items.

nevertheless it was fun. My concern is how do they make that powerful so early in the story and then transfer the to part 2?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

They really should have conveyed to the player better that you're supposed to constantly be switching between characters because otherwise your party members will basically not do anything.

 

[Danjin44]

AI in action RPGs are hard to balance between being too useless and too useful. If they are too useless then most of the time you are spending too much time babysitting your party than the actual battle but if they too useful then it will make battle too easy. This mostly why I alway prefer turn-based combat, I have full control over the battle and my parties.

 

[Nankatsu]

Point one is true, specially if you build your characters for having roles. Most players make one character their healer, and if you're not controlling them they simply won't heal you. It's something they need to rework for next game. A role system per character should be enough: pyshical, magic, support and tank. Something like this. You have auto materia for when your not controlling characters, but a role system should be better.

Point two, I understand it can be a drag (quit battle and reslot the right materia) but I honestly prefer this approach you either stratagize or you are screwed. Know your characters, their skills and when to use them.

You really learn this if you tackle hard mode, specially since you can't spam items and MP is a very special thing since it does not regenerate besides the shards you collect from boxes.

If you could change materia mid battle, coloseum and battle simulator would be a walk in the park.

 

[Aranea]

In my opinion the game has too many "slow walking" moments. They need to tone down that for the 2nd part.

 

[Sign]

The game pauses when you issue commands and there is no scenario in the game when you are not free to do this. The ai is there to build meter. The ai could definitely be better about sticking to buff locations though. If I place Arcane Ward on Aerith she should stick near it if possible.

There are four elements in this game: fire, ice, thunder, wind. If you don't have these equipped at all times that is on you. If the game required more esoteric materia to win fights I might understand, but it does not. The game doesn't even require the materia on every character. Just comes off as poor planning on the players part, imo.

 

[Nankatsu]

In my opinion the game has too many "slow walking" moments. They need to tone down that for the 2nd part.

In the combat system? There are a few yeah, but certainly not in the combat system.

 

[Manus]

The fact that you can't even set simple battle tactics to your party is maddening.

 

[Oddspeak]

Changing materia mid-fight would be awful.

It'd be way too forgiving and abusable, and takes away from the consequences of both poor and good planning. Have some foresight. Or if you realize if your preparations are bad, hit pause and reload before the fight began, almost no fight in this game is longer than 20 minutes on Normal mode. Also, there's only four elements in the game, and you're clearly expected to have at LEAST two of them on your team at all times.

AI could be better at building meter, yes, but it's not hard for yourself to do. If you need someone to fill their ATB, take temporary control and hold down square for five seconds. If you have trouble doing that because enemies move on you too fast, then give your tankiest party member at the moment Provoke. Or give Steadfast Block, First Strike, ATB Stagger, or ATB Assist to whoever needs them the most. Materia is also there to help cover the AI's shortcomings.

 

[Fbh]

I really loved the combat system in the game.
Most of the issues you had with it to me felt like things made to encourage you to constantly swap characters, which I really enjoyed. Same with the enemies that grab you, the limited aerial combat for melee fighters or the fact characters gain ATB faster when you are in direct control. It's one of the few action JRPG's that made me feel like I was playing as the whole party instead of as a single character supported by an AI party , which has always been my main issue with JRPG's switching from turn based to real time combat.

My only 2 issues with the combat were that it's too easy on normal and how limited Summons are. I get that they don't want you spamming your summons for every small fight but it would have been nice if they had put it on a long cool down, or made it use a lot of MP or something. The way it's now it feels more like a scripted event than an actual battle mechanic.

 

[psorcerer]

Scrap all that shit, return to FFXII battle system, which is the best in the series.

 

[Grinchy]

I agree, but I also don't know the solution. You want the AI to be "smart" but you also don't want it to use up all of its ATB.

Like maybe I'm setting up a situation where I stagger the enemy and have every character use their moves that do extra damage to staggered enemy. But, Aerith's AI just used up an ATB bar, so she can't use her big 2 ATB bar laser move that I was saving it for.

It all becomes a lot to juggle and sometimes having to switch to someone just for the sake of gathering ATB causes the first character to use a move, or now switching and doing damage has caused you to need to heal, ect. It's clunky compared to an actual turn-based system.

 

[TwoDurans]

I wish that I could take better control of the AI's behavior. I don't need something as robust at 12, but maybe 13-1's system would be nice.

 

[Sejan]

It’s broken and too easy imo. The only way they could
Balance it was by shoving in a hard mode and disabling items.

nevertheless it was fun. My concern is how do they make that powerful so early in the story and then transfer the to part 2?

I don't know if they are going to be able to have skills transfer. You already have most materia mastered by the end of REMAKE. Either they are going to have to come up with an excuse to cut back your power at the beginning of Part 2 (Yuffie steals all your materia), they are going to have to go ham on power creep so that everything from part 1 is very quickly outclassed, or ignore it and make it not transfer.

Its a bad situation for them to be in. If they didn't make you feel powerful at the end of REMAKE, then the combat would most likely feel less satisfying, but this way it puts them in a pickle for next time if their goal is to transfer saved data between games.

 

[T8SC]

I've never returned to the game and although I loved the original, the remake was a bit of hit & miss. However I do remember a part of the combat I hated that's not mentioned in the OP. Those who are immune to physical damage, yet to build the ATB you have to hit them anyways or run around waiting for the gauge to build. Seemed stupid. The points in the OP are also frustrating and stupid.

 

[Alphagear]

Did anyone else get annoyed when you were casting a magic only to be hit by an enemy and it would cancel it?

Really annoyed me whenever I tried healing my characters.

 

[lyan]

Having enough elemental coverage on your party is fundamental in jrpgs, but I guess the action skin makes people forget that. It's just like not having access to the pc/velvet room in pokemon/persona at all times.

 

[Myths]

Scrap all that shit, return to FFXII battle system, which is the best in the series.

The absolute best.

 

[Roufianos]

Did anyone else get annoyed when you were casting a magic only to be hit by an enemy and it would cancel it?

Really annoyed me whenever I tried healing my characters.

This is the worst part for me, that and air combat.

 

[El Sueño]

I hated how they approach the summons. After they are summoned you can't appreciate anything from their attacks or something (only at the end of their turn). Hate them.

 

[Alphagear]

This is the worst part for me, that and air combat.

Yes definitely the Air combat too. Annoying as hell.

 

[Boneless]

It was miles better than FFXV, but could still do with a lot of improving.

I thought the section where you played and fought as 1 character were the best, which says something about the combat.

The games (though I enjoyed it) has worse problems than the combat (like the horrendous ending).

 

[leo-j]

best combat since FFXIII's pretty good turn based combat. FF XV wasn't that bad either.

 

[TheDrunkenMerchant]

I mostly agree with all your points, but I've learned to adapt around them so now they're minor issues.

My biggest issue is this: I understand being hit out of a command and losing your ATB bar while casting magic. I think that's fair enough, but answer me this: Why the F*CK does it take away your MP as well?

 

[LordKasual]

Ever since they showed the combat for FFR7, I loved the idea of it. I prefer ARPGs over turn-based combat (although I love games like Dragon Quest), and they somehow manage to balance both styles to make everyone happy.

The combat is super fun, however there are two things that suck really bad:

1) AI party members are dumb as hell. I know that the combat system encourages you to switch characters constantly and micro manage things manually, but sometimes you just need to focus on something with one character. AI characters should be able to do something useful. There should be a menu about what you want characters to do when they are not being controlled, like heal, attack, defend, etc. That's something very common in games with AI characters.

2) This is the biggest flaw in my opinion:
Since the combat is materia based, and you choose which materia to equip, it becomes a game of trial an error, which gets annoying very fast. For example: You start a fight and realize that enemy's weakness is ICE, and you go "oh shit, I don't have ICE matiera equipped. So you have to either try to beat the enemy without it and take ages, or just quit the fight, equip the right materia, and start over.

This completely sucks! It's annoying as hell! In combat simulator for example, they don't tell you which enemies you are fighting when doing it the first time, so you have to constantly start over because there is no way you can't carry every single materia to win every fight!

To use Dragon Quest XI as an example: You unlock abilities to use in combat as you progress an level up, but those abilities are always there to use, so no matter what type of enemy, you can beat it. Then you have pep powers that depend on which characters are active in combat. However, if you need one particular Pep power, you can switch characters to be able to use it. It doesn't lose any strategy by having everything at your disposal.

In Final Fantasy VII, if you don't equip something, you are screwed. There is no way to equip anything mid-fight, and there is no way to win with what you have (specially with bosses) if what you have is the wrong choice of materia.

The only fight in this game where not having the correct element can completely fuck you is Hell House, because you need at least one elemental weakness to stagger him.

And the AI do the only thing they SHOULD do when not controlled -- not die.

If they have ATB then you can give them the most important actions anywhere on the screen.

But since they only auto attack when its 100% safe (and block/move whenever there's danger) I rarely ever feel like i lost a fight because of the AI getting themselves murdered.


Which has to be one of the most important takeaways from XV they've gotten from this game.

 

[Doom85]

By the time the game gives you bosses that practically require certain elements to beat (in a reasonable length, I still did fine against a certain boss when I didn't have a particular materia, it just took longer), I found I had more than enough slots to have most if not all the elements covered even when I only had two party members. Was never an issue for me.

Also once I got used to switching I stopped caring about my teammates' AI. Sure, it could be better but I never felt like the game was being unfair, they were competent enough in my experience.

 

[HerpDerpstreit]

To the 1st point in the OP, I agree 100%. FFVIIR needs a gambit system like XII has. Maybe not quite as complex is required here but having to change between characters and micro manage every aspect of a battle in a realtime based combat system was not fun IMO. I feel like what they did was the perfect example of how to have the worst of both worlds.

Can't focus on the action based real-time combat system because you have to switch and micro everyone and have to make "rushed" decisions in the turn-based side of combat because shit is happening in real-time. I truly hope this is refined in part 2 if not presented a choice in a later patch.

 

[deriks]

The mix of action and RPG turns the game easy, so the equip thing is to keep the player into more time to make some strategy

This is since the early days of RPG

 

[Lethal01]

Did anyone else get annoyed when you were casting a magic only to be hit by an enemy and it would cancel it?

Really annoyed me whenever I tried healing my characters.

No, the first time It happened I was filled with joy since it means I need to think and plan better.

I mostly agree with all your points, but I've learned to adapt around them so now they're minor issues.

My biggest issue is this: I understand being hit out of a command and losing your ATB bar while casting magic. I think that's fair enough, but answer me this: Why the F*CK does it take away your MP as well?

To punish you for fucking up.

 

[Lethal01]

The AI and Materia in battle are perfect. You are free to hate swapping, But that doesn't mean a game based around swapping is bad

The only real issue is not having Materia loadouts and the fact that the camera for Aerial combat is terrible and the animations look bad.
Additionally I would just go all out with aerial combat because I personally love it, give me some air combos and find a different way to make long ranged fighters more useful.

 

[TheDrunkenMerchant]

To punish you for fucking up.

And you're saying being temporarily immobilized, taking damage, and depleting your ATB isn't enough?

 

[Northeastmonk]

And you're saying being temporarily immobilized, taking damage, and depleting your ATB isn't enough?

It’s been that way for a long time. Get a turn, use magic, lose mp, and then wait your turn (until ATB bar fills up). Otherwise it’s an action game.

 

[Lethal01]

And you're saying being temporarily immobilized, taking damage, and depleting your ATB isn't enough?

Exactly, I don't see why losing MP is the thing that makes you decide they took it too far.

 

[Eevee86]

Did anyone else get annoyed when you were casting a magic only to be hit by an enemy and it would cancel it?

Really annoyed me whenever I tried healing my characters.

Yeah, that was obnoxious. I got around it by changing characters pretty much every time I cast a spell, because everything in the fucking room goes after whoever you're playing as.

 

[Bryank75]

I really loved the combat system in the game.
Most of the issues you had with it to me felt like things made to encourage you to constantly swap characters, which I really enjoyed. Same with the enemies that grab you, the limited aerial combat for melee fighters or the fact characters gain ATB faster when you are in direct control. It's one of the few action JRPG's that made me feel like I was playing as the whole party instead of as a single character supported by an AI party , which has always been my main issue with JRPG's switching from turn based to real time combat.

My only 2 issues with the combat were that's it's too easy on normal and how limited Summons are. I get that they don't want you spamming your summons for every small fight but it would have been nice if they had put it on a long cool down, or made it use a lot of MP or something. The way it's not it feels more like a scripted event than an actual battle mechanic.

Totally agree with this... if they improved or iterated on the air combat, made the summons less scripted...clearer to earn during battles and balanced the combat a bit more to ramp up gradually so it gives you a good challenge, then it would be pretty perfect. Right now, I think it's still very very enjoyable.

 

[ULTROS!]

I liked the battle system moreso than FFXV. But still my top is FFXIII’s battle system.

 

[RCU005]

I liked the battle system moreso than FFXV. But still my top is FFXIII’s battle system.

I really enjoyed FFXIII's battle system. I loved to grind exp on that game. I was one of the few that really liked it (but hated part 2 and never played lighting returns).

I can see that many of us have little annoyances about the battle system for FF7R, butI also get that many of us love it too. I think it's just matter of improving it. I hope Square Enix is getting all the feedback an do something great with the next one.

One other thing, I think this battle system would be better in an open world where you can decide when to fight, instead of scripted instances when the game tells you to fight. If the next game goes open world, I think the battle system will feel much better and adding to that the improvements they'll likely make.

 

[ethomaz]

It is a weak battle system where you fight bullet sponges doing the same thing over and over again.

It is a bit better than FFXV battle system but that is not something to grab about lol

 

[Rentahamster]

FF7R's battle system is the best gameplay I've experienced in a while. It's an almost perfect mix of action RPG and turn based. It's not too overwhelming to beginners who are just going to button mash on easy mode, but there's a lot of depth for hardcore players who play on hard mode.

The player has to think about gear, like in any respectable RPG. The player also needs both the actions skills and the tactical decision making to squeeze the most optimal play out of the game. It draws on many different video game skillsets, and the variety there is refreshing.

It's a pleasant contrast to other games where the optimal play is limited to a few strategies. In FF7R, you can achieve success through different means. You have to carefully manage your resources, and make good decisions in order to get the best DPS or the best damage mitigation. As Sid Meier says, a good game is a series of interesting and meaningful decisions, and FF7R has plenty of them in its combat.

I'm excited to see where the next episode goes as we get more characters, gear, and materia.

It is a weak battle system where you fight bullet sponges doing the same thing over and over again.

It's only like that if you don't use the tools given to you.

 

[small_law]

Not being able to switch materia mid-battle wasn't in original game, so I didn't expect it to be in the Remake. The real issue is the low number of materia slots your equipment has during most of the Remake. Once you got deep enough into the original game, higher-level equipment came with a ton of materia slots. I expect that to happen in the next part of the Remake.

I love Remake's combat, pretty much the only FF combat system I've liked since XII. Air combat is a bit squirrely, but everything falls into place with practice. The way Tifa's abilities combo is particularly excellent.

Stopping things and setting up character actions is a huge part of the combat. I hop around characters for a bit, build ATB, then stop and think through what I'm doing next. Just like the original game, it helps to have one character be a dedicated healer at all times.

 

[T_LVPL]

There’s almost nothing I don’t like about the combat in Remake and FFXIII. Up to me, every single RPG would use a stagger system. The improvements I’d make is a more streamlined way of using the menus. It takes away too much excitement opening up the menus. should be quicker and less intrusive. Stuff like this, and more material slots, will be added in the next game. It’s true it felt there was too few slots, but just have to remember it’s game 1 in a 3 or 4 series game.

 

[Rentahamster]

The improvements I’d make is a more streamlined way of using the menus. It takes away too much excitement opening up the menus. should be quicker and less intrusive.

Don't you use the shortcuts?

 

[Spukc]

that moment when you realize that all those stats means fuck all

Scrap all that shit, return to FFXII battle system, which is the best in the series.

 

[Rentahamster]

that moment when you realize that all those stats means fuck all

In FF12?

 

[Spukc]

In FF12?

fuck no 7R

FINAL FANTASY 12 is the greatest fighting system in a jrpg forever

 

[Rentahamster]

fuck no 7R

FINAL FANTASY 12 is the greatest fighting system in a jrpg forever

Stats matter in FF7R. Can't optimize DPS without min/maxing certain stats.

 

[Spukc]

Stats matter in FF7R. Can't optimize DPS without min/maxing certain stats.

As the enemies scale with you it means fuck all. I was super careful with stat tinkering for the first 9 chapters or so. Then i realized that i could just automate and not care.
And i did just as good. Made the game super boring. Heck i never even changed clouds weapon in the entire play through besides 2 battles..

ff7r has a better fighting system then 15 tho I guess that means something.