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The Fury on 11 June 2019
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Hiku said:

Nor did the original FFT7 ATB system. That's why I played most of the game the same way you just described.

Press X (Attack) -> Press X (Attack) -> Press X (Attack) -> Press X (Attack) -> Press X (Attack) -> Press X (Attack) -> Occasional Skill/Spell
Press X (Attack) -> Press X (Attack) -> Press X (Attack) -> Press X (Attack) -> Press X (Attack) -> Press X (Attack) -> Occasional Skill/Spell
Press X (Attack) -> Press X (Attack) -> Press X (Attack) -> Press X (Attack) -> Press X (Attack) -> Press X (Attack) -> Occasional Skill/Spell

Barely at any point did I look at the enemy and wonder what to do next. The answer was almost always immediately clear. And it was almost always Attack, unless you didn't want to conserve MP, or wanted to steal their enemy skill or something.
Outside of very rare occasions, like the first Scorpion robot boss that counter attacks when its tail is up, the game doesn't incentivize you to 'use any clever tactics and ATB', when all you need to do is press X to achieve the same result, with minimal mental effort.

If anything, an action based combat system will force you to think more during your attacks, because unlike the original FF7 where once you commit to a command you are invincible during that command, in this game you will (presumably) be able to get hit during your attack combos.
Meaning that if you simply mash buttons while another opponent is about to attack you, your combo will get interrupted and you'll get punished. But if you instead cut your combo short and do an evasive maneuver in the middle of it...

Any tactical aspects present in FF7 were not inherent to the ATB system. There are ways for enemies to get 'their turn' in action based combat systems as well.

I don't think people need to hate the turn based combat form the original to like the action based combat here. I love the turn based system from the original, but I admittedly would have found it oddly restrictive for this game. Technically speaking, an action based system is capable of the same type of gameplay as the standard ATB system, while having more to it. Though it likely won't play out that way.
But for people who want to take their time and think a bit extra in between each attack, there may very well be a 'wait' option available, similar to FFXV.

~Edit~
And shortly after I said that, Square confirmed such a system being in the game.

I think the major difference that I'm unsure of for me is how allies will act when you don't give them commands. Either they do nothing, or they will act based on A.I., or perhaps there will be a Gambit system which would be interesting. Because then they will only ever act the way you would.

In early stages of the game, yes, for standard enemies, yes, when you don't have much materia, this is the same as any FF game because you need base enemies to level up. You try and beat many bosses, Jenova, Sephiroth or a Weapon with just attacks you are going to spend a lot of time in the fight or lose very quickly. Buffing up the characters, countering the bosses moves is part of the strategy. Even if that strategy is you press the run button because a Malboro just showed up.

Remember first fight with Reno at the tower? He puts a shield on your allies making it so they can't move, meaning you have to attack that shield. This is while he is attacking you and he damage isn't small either so you'll need to heal often. How will that fight work? How will switching between characters work? How will Barrett's fight with Dyne work? Because if I recall, you spend most your time healing in that fight because Dyne will do 1/4 of your HP with each single move, you button mash in that fight and you dead. The Demon Wall fight would kick your arse if you didn't have some form of strategy there.

Here's the thing about the ATB, we haven't had a proper FF game with it with the level of graphics shown in this and FF15 ever. FF13 had a go at it only controlling 1 character? 'auto-attack' button? The ATB, how it works isn't outdated, only things that was outdated in FF7 were it's graphics and how you move about the environment. Story holds up, gameplay/battle system holds up.

You have to understand why I'm worried. FF7 is one of my favourite games of all time, being remade in a way where it's not FF7, it's KH. I like KH, it's great as KH but it's not FF. I love FF yet haven't played a new FF in nearly a decade because SquEnix seem to have decided the ATB isn't cool anymore, that all we want is button mashing no thinking gameplay. This saddens me and if I speak out, people just say "play the original", blah blah. No way, I can do that? Why didn't I think of that before? Not like I have for 22 years.

Plus you know, single game split over 3 parts charging you £50 a pop doesn't help.

 



Hmm, pie.