Gameplay - Final Fantasy
The unique role-playing gameplay (RPG) featured in Final Fantasy games, developed by Square Enix has been one of the major reasons fans have loved the series from the beginning of the franchise. Since the release of Final Fantasy 1 in 1987, the franchise has introduced a variety of different battle systems and gameplay elements. Ultimately, evolving throughout the years with systems such as the Turn Based Battle System, Active Battle System and Real Time Battle System. In addition to the RPG games, the franchise has also released a number of spinoff games that are entirely different, such as the racing game Choco Racing.
Overview
In Final Fantasy games, players control a group of characters as they progress through a story, exploring a game world, and battle opponents. Many different battle systems have been used, outlined below. Like most RPGs, players can advance levels and gain experience by defeating enemies, acquire new items and abilities, and receive loot from various sources. Character classes and specific jobs enable unique ability for characters, a theme that recurs throughout the Final Fantasy series. Some games require one class, other games allow players to change their class. Magic and summoning is a large component of gameplay, and a number of different transportation methods are offered, from cars to chocobos, and airships.
Battle Systems
Throughout the history of the Final Fantasy franchise there have been multiple number of battle systems introduced into gameplay.
- Turn Based Battle System
- Active Battle System
- Conditional Battle System
- Real Time Battle System
- Active Time Battle Dimension System
- Active X Battle
Turn Based Battle System
The first battle systems of the Final Fantasy games were turn based and designed by Akitoshi Kawazu and Hiroyuki Ito. In turn based combat, when a random battle is initiated and a battle screen appears, the player can select from a number of options for each member of their party (such as Fight, Magic, or Items), which are carried out in an order depending on the agility and speed statistic of each member in the party. After this, the computer attacks and the cycle continues until the enemy is defeated or the player loses.
Active Battle System
In the active battle system, designed by Hiroyuki Ito, many of the same elements from the turn based system are preserved but an element of timing is incorporated in player commands. A gauge fills up and, once full, a player is able to attack. The gauge then becomes empty, and recharges according to a speed statistic. ATB has two modes, active mode and wait mode. In active mode, time continues no matter what is going on in the game, and in wait mode, time is frozen when a player is navigating through menus.
Conditional Battle System
The conditional turn-based battle system, used in Final Fantasy X and designed by Toshiro Tsuchida, is a turn based system that utilizes what is called an Act List instead of being “round” based. This act list is influenced by a number of factors, and does not guarantee each character in a battle will have the same number of turns. Instead, characters with more speed can take more actions than slower characters. In this system, players are able to sub in party members during combat. Certain spells and abilities like (Overdrives or Haste) can modify the act list, causing long cooldown times. Thus a tradeoff between speed and power is introduced.
Real Time Battle System
In the real time battle system designed by Akihiko Matsui whose first debut was in Final Fantasy IX, random encounter battles were replaced by monsters that freely roamed and could be seamlessly engaged. This caused there to be no need for a separate battle screen, and gave the player the option to avoid combat altogether. However, monsters were still able to be aggressive without cause, maintaining a level of randomness to the battles. In combat, characters automatically engage in combat but the player may input commands, such as magic, spells, abilities, which have delays and recharge times similar to active time battle system.
Active Time Battle Dimension System
In the active battle dimension system, so far only used in Final Fantasy XII, no random battles exist and there is no battle screen like real time battles. The player controls only one party member’s movement, and the distance between the party and enemies has a strong influence on abilities, spells, and AoE, which often require a certain range to use.
Active X Battle
In the active cross battle system introduced in Final Fantasy XV and designed by Takatsugu Nakazawa, a threat bar appears when an enemy is approached, increasing until battle begins or the enemy is attacked. In the AXB system, there is not a seperate battle screen or interface and the transition from combat to wandering is seamless. In battle, actions such as “Attack”, “Defend”, or “Item” are directly mapped to controller buttons. Each character had health points (HP), and the main character Noctis has magic points (MP). A “Wait Mode" option becomes available if the player does in input commands in battle for a certain amount of time. This triggers a number of options to become available, like engaging new enemies or the chance to active Libra, an ability which displays an enemy's health, strengths and weaknesses.