Favorite Level up and Battle system.

[Shaissa]

Final Fantasy has experimented a lot with leveling up your characters, almost every game there is a new way to level up your characters.
Whether that was just plain old getting experience and leveling up.
Or Final Fantasy II's using the magic/weapon/getting attacked to level up.
Or FFX's Sphere grid...
Or Final Fantasy VI having espers equipped to learn magic, and also give you level boost.

There are so many more ways that they did this. So which game was your favorite one for leveling up, both magic and character purposes?




Final Fantasy also has slowly began doing different things with its battle system

From a regular TB, to ATB, to modifying the TB and ATB, to a few others.

What game/games had your favorite Battle system?




For me as basic at it was, my favorite leveling up system was FFIV.

Each character had their own class, and learned their own spells, and it was very basic, no gimmicks needed.
Not to say that I didn't enjoy say... the sphere grid, or having Espers learn your magic. Or having people equip magic. But something was enjoyable about just a a basic system for me.



As far as the battle system goes... ATB was the best IMO.

From I wanna say the first IV-FFIX (and they did it to the remakes of I-III) ATB was the foundation of the main FF games. I never saw any need to step away from that, but then again after so many years of it, and that was almost the limit of the hardware that made them stick with it for so long. Yet it was my favorite battling system for RPGs. Going to a separate screen, and fighting your enemy in a time manner. I loved it. But now that technology has evolved, games can do so much more, can't blame them from trying to step away from it after so many years. Maybe one day a new FF game will go back to the classic...one day....

 

[spoonyrogdrumps]

First, thanks for the thread Bender! I've always felt that the battle and level systems of Final Fantasy was the heart of the games. In many ways they wouldn't be games without them. I'm currently playing V right now and while I like the job system I did favor IV more. With V I have felt that some jobs aren't as useful for the majority of the game. I have yet to play VI but I have read up on it.

Turn based battles have been my favorite in JRPG's as well as it has been implemented in Final Fantasy. During the NES to the Playstation 1 and a little in the Playstation 2 era Japan had a strong influence in the RPG genre for consoles. There wasn't a lot of RPG's on consoles but there were more on PC's even in the DOS operating system. Turn based wasn't necessarily used because the technology was limited per se. In the 90's there were action/real time combat RPG's on PC. A popular example was Elder Scrolls Arena in 1994. Final Fantasy as well as other turn based RPG's would transition to a battle screen. The transition was because of technology but turn based was just choice. Wiki actually has a nice section on the history of RPG's: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing_video_game

Back to Final Fantasy, IX was my favorite leveling and battle system. I loved everything about it.

-Four player battle party
-Turn Based
-ATB
-Ability Points
-Each character has a specific job or class
-Magic Stones
-Eidolons
-Trance
-You name it!

I like action/real-time RPG's but Turn based will always be my favorite.

I've been working on a design mechanic that would combine turn based with real-time battle, but it's in the early stages.

 

[Ignavusd]

I really enjoyed the Sphere Grid of FFX, it was really innovative to me that the stat boosts didn't come from level ups, but from nodes on a giant grid.

But my absolute favorite comes from FFV. The sheer amount of different classes and abilities to me was both fun and tedious. Having to constantly shift jobs was frustrating but rewarding, and while some didn't like having that much going on at once, i enjoyed it.

I like simple leveling systems too, but FFV really changed things up for me, cause I really enjoy versatility.

As for battle systems, I enjoy the ATB way more than any other system. The turn based from FFX was bearable, but I enjoy the classic look from the first few series.

 

[Prince Oberyn Martel]

For me Final Fantasy V has the best and most enjoyable level up experience with its Job system. There was only four characters to choose from but the ability to switch between any combination of jobs and their learned abilities kept it fresher than any other Final Fantasy game before and since. Ofcourse some jobs were better than others, being a more regular fixture (Knight, Monk, White Mage) than some that could be overlooked completely (Chemist, Ranger, Berserker) but all brought something to the overall FFV experience. Even if that 'something' is barely used novelty (Beastmaster, Dancer, Bard). Instead of simply levelling up your characters and learning pre-determined abilities to pass the next part of the game with more ease (like in IV and VI), you are made to give much more thought to development as which jobs are selected (and what learned abilities are equipped) determine the difficulty of the game somewhat. You could go so far into the game and realise a particular point would be much more easier to pass than currently if you had spent time on that one job you've been overlooking for the past several hours. Frustrating at the time maybe but that adds to the charm and overall replay value of the game that other entries of the series lack. Also need to be careful what jobs to change into and at what times as a single job change could effect your general battle strategy for the whole party. I liked spending time building up odd yet effective job combinations for my characters such as a White Mage that can attack like a Monk or a Thief than can cast Time Magic. With most other FF games there just isn't that flexibility. Sure there was VII with its Materia system that kinda offered similar in that sense but that was too free and X with its Sphere Grid offered flexibility but that is mostly when it came to the end-game. The Job system in V was fantastic and I would like to see it implemented again with improvements in a new entry of the main series.

 

[Artemisia]

I really loved FFV's job system, as well as III and VII. I will probably be crucified for this but my favourite battle system is actually X-2's >_

 

[Sheechiibii]

FFX's sphere grid is hands down my favourite levelling system. It was so great to be able to take control of the characters and do whatever I wanted with them. They had their pre-designed roles, but I could mix it up however I wanted to and that was awesome. It made levelling feel like something playable, instead of just something that happened automatically while fighting enemies.

As for battle system...I think XII is my favourite, I loved having the control of my party, and being able to set up gambits to tell my characters what to do and when and basically control everyone at once. It was really great. That the gambits were so diverse and covered almost every scenario you could think of was even better.

 

[Folmarv Tengille]

First, thanks for the thread Bender! I've always felt that the battle and level systems of Final Fantasy was the heart of the games. In many ways they wouldn't be games without them. I'm currently playing V right now and while I like the job system I did favor IV more. With V I have felt that some jobs aren't as useful for the majority of the game. I have yet to play VI but I have read up on it.

Turn based battles have been my favorite in JRPG's as well as it has been implemented in Final Fantasy. During the NES to the Playstation 1 and a little in the Playstation 2 era Japan had a strong influence in the RPG genre for consoles. There wasn't a lot of RPG's on consoles but there were more on PC's even in the DOS operating system. Turn based wasn't necessarily used because the technology was limited per se. In the 90's there were action/real time combat RPG's on PC. A popular example was Elder Scrolls Arena in 1994. Final Fantasy as well as other turn based RPG's would transition to a battle screen. The transition was because of technology but turn based was just choice. Wiki actually has a nice section on the history of RPG's: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing_video_game

Back to Final Fantasy, IX was my favorite leveling and battle system. I loved everything about it.

-Four player battle party
-Turn Based
-ATB
-Ability Points
-Each character has a specific job or class
-Magic Stones
-Eidolons
-Trance
-You name it!

I like action/real-time RPG's but Turn based will always be my favorite.

I've been working on a design mechanic that would combine turn based with real-time battle, but it's in the early stages.

Yea the battle system for FF IX is the best. To me it got everything right in the battle and level up system.
Couldn't of said it better myself spoonyrogdrumps.

 

[Robbiedbee]

My favourite has to be FFVII. Firstly, because the Materia itself dovetails nicely in with the plot of the game, with mako, lifestream etc. But also because you can spread out the materia evenly and have three all rounders, or distribute it such that you have clear "classes" like other FF games. I also really like how the materia system naturally unfolds as you get into the game, both in terms of how and when in the game you acquire them, and as the materia levels up as you progress. FFXIII handles this poorly in my opinion; the Crystarium is only fully available to the player far too late in the game.

Runner up would be FFX. I like the Final Fantasy games where the characters are in pre-set classes, like FFIV and FFIX, I think it helps add to the characters' identity, and makes you use more characters than just a set three you might decide on. FFX has this quality to it, but also allows the player to have their characters break from that later in the game, or grow out of that class organically. So, they are in pre-set classes, but they can also utilize the level of customization seen in games like FFVII or FFVIII.