| A203D said: In FF13, all your meant to do is stagger your opponent, you do this exactly the same way. Ravager, Commando, Ravager, etc. yeah you can use Synergist, or Medic but the battles are fought the same way when you fight the same type of opponent. for example that Porcupine thing that you must stagger, and it takes AGES. |
At the risk of sounding both like a jerk and cliched - that's becuase you were doing it wrong. Sure, Ravager/Commando/Ravager works great for a large portion of enemies, but it's often the case where it's much, much quicker and more effective using a Sabotuer or two. Sab/Rav/Sab is particularly fast for staggering an opponent.
There are plenty of legitimate criticisms of FF XIII - Hell, I think it's among the poorest in the series as I'd mentioned earlier in the thread - but I think having 'scripted' battles is not one of them. There are several ways of approaching any one battle (namely in the latter stages of the game). Sure, there are more efficient ways than others for certain enemy types but they do differ from battle to battle.
It isn't a game I'd likely ever play again - due to a boring plot and somewhat shallow characters, but I thought its battle system, especially in the latter parts of the game, was thoroughly enjoyable.
Edit: Thought I'd add some afterthoughts. The system, played to its strengths, challenges the player to actively think during battle: having you assess your enemy, determining whether or not either debuffs or buffs are necessary or time effective; how best to build and stabilize your gauge - having a commando out isn't always the most effective option; and it requires you to correctly time your switches.
Played properly (and I don't at all mean this in a condescending manner), it is among the most demanding and rewarding systems in any turn-based JRPG I'd ever played.
