I'm derailing the thread... yeah I'm out. Shameful on so many levels.

Basically, when they fail to behave they way they should. Barret shoots to aerial enemies. Cloud takes care of ground ones. But many times, they decide to do the opposite... and they obviously fail. And that sometimes affects my control of the situation, because maybe I'm shooting distant enemies with Barret and Cloud instead to keep the enemies on the ground at bay while I'm doing my thing, decides to let them gang up on me. I know, I can just take control over Cloud and try to kill the warriors, but then the flying robots shoot at me from the distance because Barret may no target them. Is like a vicious circle xD

My problem is basically with the quality of the AI, not with the fact that the party has independence. If they are independent and they use it in an ok way, I'm good. As I said, I like the mix between real time action and being able to control every charcater while they can also do their thing (to a certain degree). I like the combat mechanics. I just have problems with the AI behaviour.

As for healing... I think it's all about how the game has changed. In 1997, it was a turn based game. The characters would only act if you input commands on them. Think of it like a chess game (relatively speaking). They were only "alive" when I use them. Now in 2020 said characters act on their own. They walk, they shoot, the block, they take cover. It feels natural and I like it. And that's why it feels weird to me seeing these characters, who can act on their own, not react to the a situation of death danger. I get that they are trying to recreate the sensation of control of the original game, but to me it just feels weird that Barret is almost dying and he does nothing to improve this situation. Is not about need: I never was in a situation in the demo were I died because the AI didn't heal me. It's just about coherence. They didn't act on their own then, so me ordering them to heal felt natural. Now they move on their own, so it feels weird to tell them to do so.

You may be thinking: "Well, then why doesn't bother you telling them to cast magic and abilities? Just like healing, it should be "natural" for them to do so". To that... I don't know. I just know that I'm happy with being able to control magic, items and such... but bothered by the healing thing. Go figure xD

Thank you.

Walking and chewing gum is hard though.

Got a bit crazy in here.
I played through the demo again, I think I enjoyed it even more. You have to get used to filling the ATB gauge and keeping an eye on character status at the same time, then issuing commands. I was also a lot more comfortable with switching stances the second time around which helps depending on which enemies you are fighting or which state the enemies are in.

I like the new battle system, it's not just standing still like classic JRPG's, but still keeping the strategy component.

Best tip: Heal between each encounter when needed so you don't need to worry about filling ATB bars in battle to heal. ATB is lost after each encounter also, so might as well use abilities in small skirmishes.

What a demo. Loved every second of it.

This is what post-PS2-FF should've been!

I actually found myself doing that anyway and was one aspect I was thankful for. FF13 and 15's single control character thing was completely the wrong direction for the series. Party based RPG games like FF12 or Dragon Age need you to manage all party members even if they have AI commands to cover them, as they are stupid and position badly. This has none of that and they will just attack mindlessly until you do tell them what to do.

If Clouds ATB was up, I'd have him cast an ability and instantly switch to Barrett to check on him, make sure he's not sitting there waiting to do a command with full ATB.

The games like FF12 or DA is that your characters can do more than just attack. You can make sure they are doing what they are supposed to while you are wailing on the big enemy as doing that is a distraction, especially if you can't see all your controllable characters on the field as they are out of view.

In FF7 you can see everything in the battle, so lets take the Guard Scorpion, in the original you see both Barret and Cloud, you can plainly see both their HP, MP, ATB and limit gauges, you can see the enemy and it's attacks. Because of all this you know what's going on and can act accordingly when the ATB is full for each character. In this you have to be reminded to practically. You see the controlling character and have to remind yourself to do switch because in other games with party leaders and AI controlled characters, they at least do a little for themselves beside just attacking. HP and MP bars are small and non-obvious, ATB gauge is even smaller, so it also can be hard to know what you should be doing when.

Which is why I presume Cloud was constantly telling me "I should heal up." when he has 50% HP which was fine and he'd was no where near danger levels. In the original I wouldn't need those kind of voice over instructions, as I would be able to see his HP, know I needed to heal and easily managed my party members.

The reason I'm not fussed on this combat and why I haven't even played FF15 and didn't enjoy FF13 is simply I want an expereince from FF that is like older FFs as in my view the system has in no way dated but SquEnix is for some reason just not making games like it anymore. FF5-9 are easily the best in the series still.

I'm playing FF8 at the moment. I just did the assassination mission and had to fight Seifer and the Sorceress. In the first fight with just Seifer, I knew his attacks were mainly physical, so I cast Protect on myself first, then Haste. In that time he'd already hit me a couple of times, I then checked his Draw, summoned then finished him off. Pretty simple but then against Edea, I knew it was magic damage. I spent the first few ATBs just casting Shell to protect me from her high level spells. Getting ready to cast summons (early game in FF8 is all about the summons) to win the battle. 

In this I don't feel I'd have time for any of that. I'd have to go in the fight and start wailing on people before I can even do anything special. How will Big Guard work in on Enemy Skill materia? I honestly doubt it will even exist.

That was a longer post than I had planned for, sorry.

BTW, reading this thread over is fascinating. They could have easily sorted if it they just made the original, improved it by removing actual old redundant things like random battles but kept the combat pretty much the same.

The healing stuff? Sure. I think I said from the beginning I wasn't sure if this is how it's supposed to work. I ended up thinking it shouldn't work like that... but yeah, it's mostly a feeling.

I agree: I've never experienced a combat system like this one. I doubt there is something similar out there. Mostly because traditional turn based JRPG series have either sticked to their classic battle systems (like Dragon Quest) or evolved into something more action orientated (Final Fantasy XV). FF VII Remake tries to retain the classic feeling of controlling your characters while at the same time giving them certain freedom of action and movement in order to keep consistance with the real time action. And as I said: I like this, but If I were the one to make the game... I would have given the party members just a tad more of freedom. Just a tiny little bit more. That... and a better lock on system. Sometimes it gets difficult to change between targets when performing the basic attacks.

I still don't agree with the AI though. As I said, if I'm controlling X character and using him in order to exploit the weakness he is designed to exploit and at that moment I'm exposed to any other enemy that comes in to attack me... and the AI doesn't do anything to avoid that from happening... I don't think that's how it should be. If I'm shooting flying targets, I can't defend myself from the ground enemies. If I attack the ground enemies, I'm vulnerable to the flying enemies. If I were alone, it would be up to me to do the job. But If I have allies, it's logical to think that they should help me. Not get in the way. I get it: in order for them to do the most useful actions I have to take control of them. And then again: I like that. But I think it is to be expected a certain degree of competence while on their own. Or at the very least, that they don't make my job harder. This is not a "feeling". In this case, I strongly believe that the AI is flawed.

Anyway... talking about how we want control over our characters makes me wonder if they needed to change the battle system at all. I'll try classic mode when I'm out of work and then I'll say more about it.

Really this is no big deal,why should you expect/demand that others approve your opinion?

You can dissagree on an opinion and respect it at the same time.

Finished the demo for the second time now and everything just feels more natural. Now I want a hard mode. I guess some gaming boomers need to adjust.