Originally Posted by The Front Site
In the most recent issue of Japan's Ge-maga magazine, several members of the Square Enix development team shed some light on the new Final Fantasy XIII battle system, which has, until this time, been shrouded in a certain amount of uncertainty.
While executives Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama have already been interviewed on several ocassions about FFXIII, a new face was present at this month's interview--Tosirou Tsuchida, who has previously worked on Final Fantasy X and the Front Mission series, and is now leading the development of XIII's battle system.
Tsuchida was in charge of the Count Time Battle system used in FFX, and had previously asked the higher-ups if he could do away with ATB altogether when starting work on the Playstation 2 RPG--as thing turned out, the CTB system wasn't so far removed from its predecessor. This time around, Tsuchida was asked to create a slick battle system with plenty of flair, which was something he decided was impossible with the traditional ATB system.
The new system is still considered an ATB system, but apparently things are going to be quite a bit different than what we've seen in the past. Square Enix's goal is to craft a battle system that worked as quickly and fluidly as an action game, but still allowed players to enter commands. As a result, the battle system now offers more choices for controlling characters than ever before--for example, gamers can choose to carry out a simple attack, or charge forward at the enemy and then deliver the strike. Certain characters will also be able to combine magic and physical attacks, and the entire system is designed around a brand new animation system that will supposedly blend attacks and motions into a single, cohesive visual experience.
Apparently, Square Enix has taken a new route when it comes to getting into random battles. While nearly all of the Final Fantasy titles have contained "random encounters" that take place on an alternate battle field, Final Fantasy XII offered a seamless experience, allowing players to transition straight from exploration into battle. FFXIII will take neither of these routes, although Tsuchida hinted that players will be able to, at least to a small extent, change the manner in which they engage an enemy before a battle begins, so as to place themselves in an advantageous position.
Tsuchida wouldn't comment on whether or not players will be able to control each character in the party, or whether they'll simply assume control of one and allow the AI to control the rest; however, Motomu Toriyama referred to the system as a "part battle system," and stated that one of his goals is to make sure the characters in Final Fantasy XIII play a role in the battle system that's appropriate to their character. In short, the battles in FFXIII will be more closely related to the game's plot than we've seen before--characters won't simply be tackling random monsters, and the roles of the characters in battle will likely be very specific.
Tsuchida stressed that the game's scenario and its battles should be closely connected, so the types of enemies encountered in an area could change based on the present situation: for instance, if the army is in searching the same area you're exploring, soldiers could end up attacking your party. They also mentioned that enemies will possess some level of intelligence, so gamers may not be facing off against mindless "monsters" like we've seen in the past.
The last bit of information regarding enemies implies that an impressive amount of details is being paid to every aspect of their development--battalions of soldiers will have personnel charts, and each soldier will have a name and a backstory.
Finally, due to the confusion around Square Enix's white engine and their recent licensing of the Unreal 3 engine, Kitase hinted that Square Enix is considering using the white engine for more games after Final Fantasy XIII, though he didn't mention any specifics.
