The best Final Fantasy system?

[ThePhoenixRises]

mine has to be the materia system, that definately rules.

The worst has to be FFX - that HUGE grid sphere thing eeeeek - was crappy and some of my characters ended up being underdeveloped while others had lots of strength but not much of anything else so they died quickly. Yuna had hardly any health but loads of powerful spells which i couldnt use coz i had to keep wasting power healing myself and others. But i do like the game hehehehe very very good game - just system sucks.

FF8 system not very believeable. Drawing :hmm: strange idea. Great game though.

[dkellis]

FF8 system not very believeable.

Magic in general is believable?

Personally, I preferred the Esper system of FF6. It was pretty annoying when you had to draw (or refine) your magic all the time, and I guess I'm just not used to the idea that you would lose your magic if you unequipped your Materia.

FF9's system is confusing. I haven't finished the game, though. As for FFX, I thought the sphere grid was a nice touch.

I believe the earlier FFs had more or less dedicated job classes. A mage is a mage is a mage. Unless it's a Black Mage. ^^

[Kamui4356]

I liked ff7's materia system the best. It seemed to be the most developed. The other systems had problems. The junction system in ff8 was good, but drawing was annoying. ff9 had a good system, but it seemed unrefined. FF10's sphere grid was nice, better than the systems in ff8 or 9, but it somehow seemed like it was missing something...

[AoshiOniwaban]

Wasn't the sphere grid just like Diablo 2 though? It used syenergies and stuff but any way.

I think FF9 had the best type of spells and stuff.. Thats the best system to me

[NoSanninWa]

I believe the earlier FFs had more or less dedicated job classes. A mage is a mage is a mage. Unless it's a Black Mage. ^^
It was like that in FF4, but in FF5 there was a job system like in FFX-2 where you gained jobs as you played the game (some were hidden) and had to learn each job's special abilities separately. The main difference is that in FF5 you couldn't change jobs during a fight, only between battles.

Having played every FF from 4 to X-2 I like the system best in X-2. My least favorite was the materia system.

[aahhsin]

It was like that in FF4, but in FF5 there was a job system like in FFX-2 where you gained jobs as you played the game (some were hidden) and had to learn each job's special abilities separately. The main difference is that in FF5 you couldn't change jobs during a fight, only between battles.

Having played every FF from 4 to X-2 I like the system best in X-2. My least favorite was the materia system.

I hated the materia system. I thought it was just plain annoying and everytime you reequip something you have to do it all over again.

Drawing as pretty bad too, then again pretty much only thing you needed was Aura.

FF9 was the best, equip a weapon to learn the skill. FF5 was pretty good too. Job class like Tactics

[RichMan]

I really liked FF7 and FF8 system, but I think i'm going to stick with FF8. In Junction, I set it up so my three main characters(Squall, Zell, and Rinoa) can absorb any elemental attack. Aura's and Ultima's are the best junction magics :)

But in FF7, I would level up in the submarrine, during that time I would also morph all the monsters there to get items that your stats. In the end, my three main characters(Cloud, Red XIII, and Cid) had all stats at 255, plus I was able to give em all Double Cut(which I mastered with each character and ended up being 4X Slash)

[deedlit]

One of these days should try ff5. I think tactics is one of the most interesting ff game. Is tactics system included?

I do hate the drawing system. Boring chore.

[Roots]

I hated the materia system. I thought it was just plain annoying and everytime you reequip something you have to do it all over again.

I agree, FFVII was annoying because of that.

My favorite system would be FFIV. For those of you who are too young or forgot, you gained spells automatically when you gained experience levels. Why is it good? BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING!!!

Runner-up I think would be FFVI. I like how you learned magic from equiping and Esper and you could also use it in battle and get a bonus if you had it equiped when you gained a level.

[Village Idiot]

I liked FF9's system the best, where everyone had a dedicated Job and could learn abilities/support abilities, but there was a limit depending on how many slots you have avaliable.

FF4 comes next, dedicated Jobs.

I hated FF7's Materia System, and FF8's Draw System. The Materia System basically made everyone the exact same as everyone else, with the exception of their Limit Breaks. The Draw System was by far the most annoying system I have ever seen in an RPG. You would spend 10-15 minutes drawing 1-3 spells per round until you managed to get 100 of the same spells, then you won't use it because if you do, it'll lower the particular stat and you'll have to spend time drawing the spell again.

FF5 and FFT's Job System was nice.

[NoSanninWa]

I had forgotten about the Draw-Junction system of FF8. (I probably blocked out the memory because I wanted to remember only the great things about FF8.) Yeah, that one was even worse than the Materia System. I forgot how annoying it is to have all these spells you never want to cast because they exist only for junctioning.

If you don't spend the time to draw 100 each of all the good spells, the game can be monstrously tough, but if you do that incredibly boring bit of work, then every fight (even bosses, even Ultima Weapon) becomes incredibly easy. Baka baka baka.

[Village Idiot]

Final Fantasy Tactics' Job System was perfect, though I generally don't like Job Systems in RPGs because it makes all the characters the same (I like diversity, like in FF4).

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance's battle system would have been perfect if not for one reason:

No Charge Time.

I didn't find much stratagy because of it, since practically all the classes are similar because of this (Dragoons were a joke). I just waltz in, spam the most powerful spells/attacks I've got, win the map.

[<xellos>]

i like the Esper system in FF6, it was in essence like a Job, or like dress in FFX-2 minus the being able to change, plus you get a cool summon and level bonuses depending on which esper you had equipped

[dkellis]

My favorite system would be FFIV. For those of you who are too young or forgot, you gained spells automatically when you gained experience levels. Why is it good? BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING!!!

That was a good system. Although I was chagrined when the ULTIMATE MAGIC METEO turned out to be as useful as a couple of strikes from Cecil and Kain.

One thing about the Esper system in FF6 was that it made all the characters... well, same-ish. When all four of your characters abuse the Ultima-Quick-Economizer trick (one of whom also has the Gem Box), battles tend to end really, really quickly.

[Village Idiot]

One thing about the Esper system in FF6 was that it made all the characters... well, same-ish. When all four of your characters abuse the Ultima-Quick-Economizer trick (one of whom also has the Gem Box), battles tend to end really, really quickly.

Why cast 2x Ultima, when you can just send out someone with Atma/Luminere Offering/Gengi Glove combo and kill everything in one attack :D

[Superchop]

The Draw System was by far the most annoying system I have ever seen in an RPG. You would spend 10-15 minutes drawing 1-3 spells per round until you managed to get 100 of the same spells, then you won't use it because if you do, it'll lower the particular stat and you'll have to spend time drawing the spell again.

Lol, I totally agree with you ^_^ I would never use Ultima or Aura just cause i didn't want to go out and find enemies that actually carry taht spell...and even when i really should have used some of them i would only use Aura to help out against the final boss or that hidden Weapon monster. Although i did like the junction system...even though it was extremely confusing in the beginning of the game...i went through half the game before i actually started to understand the full benefits of it...

ff7's wasn't bad...I just hated having to change materia every now and then cause my weapons/armor didn't have enough slots to hold all the ones i needed...then when i switched party members that was another annoying thing...moving the materia over to the other...just to realize the other has less slots making you pick and choose which ones are the most necessary....

the only other ff game i really played was ff3 for the nes...but that one i think was a bit more aggravating then the other 2...changing job classes then equipping the spells/summons to the chars that can use them....it's been a while since i beat htat game but at least towards the very end there were a ninja type job class that lets you equip any weapon and armor...and a mage class that lets you equip any magic including the summons..

[frowndog]

Systems-wise, i think that ff7 had a very cool system. The problem with it though was that everybody, outside of limit breaks, basically became interchangeable. You can argue that with the other FFs, everybody became interchangeable when you get to the higher levels, but that's only at higher levels. FF7, from the start, had characters that basically had the same abilities.

To some extent this was repeated in ff8 where you just exchanged junctions and the next character looks the same as your first. This was further made annoying by the draw/junction system. I probably used magic in that game less than 10x because of fear of losing the properties that spell gave my characters.

I'm an FF purist so i would have to go with ff6. Although eventually they can all become ultra powerful mages, they still had their individual jobs. Though i'd have to say that FF9 is tempting to choose because i really like differentiated characters. Not the cardboard cutouts (ability wise) that the latter FFs had. Though i make an exception with FFX (thought that the sphere system was cool)



EDIT: (i'm a typo machine)

[AG3]

I liked the materia system of Final Fantasy VII, though I tended to end up with the same characters in my team all the way through the game, and every single time I played it. Sure, there were some difficult decisions at times, which materia to use, who to give it to so you would get the most out of it, but that was some of the fun, at least for me.


I didn't care much for Final Fantasy VIII's junction system. Early in the game you relied almost exclusively on summons, then late in the game only on physical attacks and limit breaks, either because summons were too weak, took too long (Eden, anyone?), or you were just plain sick of seeing them. Magic spells, even if you did use them, never really did much damage at all, unless it was a specific elemental weakness or Ultima. At first I disliked the limit break system too, any character low on health should normally be healed as quickly as possible. But it was easy to exploit after a while, especially the combination of low health and Aura, which almost guaranteed 8 strikes and a finish move with Renzokuken, gave Zell plenty of time for his moves, and Rinoa got Invincible Moon just about every time.


Final Fantasy IX had a good system IMO, The characters finally had (mostly) unique roles on the team, and learning the skills was a simple matter. Summons weren't force-fed like in FFVIII, and they played a major role in the game's plot, which was cool. Even though their power in the story was somewhat unproportional to that in combat. Gameplay balance, I know....


The sphere grid used in Final Fantasy X wasn't my favorite FF system. If you used the basic system, you were very limited to how your characters could develop until very late in the game. It made the game easier, since you weren't so much at risk of missing an important spell or ability (like reflect, which was VERY useful against Seymour, especially on Mt. Gagazet). You also got several of the great spells/abilities earlier than the advanced grid. The advanced grid (the only one I used) was much more open, and later in the game you could make some really powerful all-round characters. Combined with a few Master Spheres, you could kick serious butt with that system, and it struck me as the most imbalanced system at that time, if you looked at the fairly low amount of work (read: Battle) it took to advance characters later in the game.


Final Fantasy X-2 is a game I haven't finished yet, and I'm not sure I will any time soon. I haven't gotten all the dress-spheres, so I can't give my overall impression until I've thoroughly tested them.


*Edit*
Forgot to list my favorite. I'll call it a draw between Final Fantasy VII and IX, both had elements I really liked, but I can't really choose one over another.

[AoshiOniwaban]

I still think FF9 was the best system.. Look at it this way

Lvl Up
Gain New Spells
Lose The Old Ones (Not as in they dissapear)

Then ya.. Plus all different items also and stuff.. I mean common simple as that..

Sphere Grid - Confusing
Materia - Decent but to much things to do
etc...

[321]

I think they all have their pros and cons.... I love the FF7 system.... I like the whole way it's set up...

But FF8's GF system is great... only limit is their HP... but after you see their moves 100 times... it gets lame... (the moves... not them)

FF9 is more of a throw back to 8-16 bit games... which is also good...

X X-2...err I won't comment... ;)

Crono Trigger had the best battle system... IMHO

I would love a -2 of FF7 and FF8... I can dream right?

[Village Idiot]

The best battle system I have ever played would be the Tales series, specifically Tales of Eternia.

Battles takes place like a 2d side scroller, with up to four of your own characters vs 6+ enemies. You control one character (up to four players can play at once with the multitap) with full control moving around the battle field attacking/evading/blocking enemy attacks.

The battle system is fully customizable. You can chose to play in Semi-Auto where you use R1 to lock onto an enemy, then press one of the attack buttons and the character will automatically move over and attack, and would automatically block depending on your evade rate. Or you could switch it over to Manual system, where it gives you full control over your character, and this is when the fun begins.

Normally, you can assign shortcut commands for your skills (ie: up + circle = Demon Hammer, forward + circle = Sonic Blade), so you can have up to four skills at a time. Or you can set it so you can use ALL the skills at the same time, but you have to input the command ala Street Fighter style.

There's even 'Extensions' to attacks/spells, where if you hit the skill command at the right time/do the right combo, it'll 'extend' into another attack on top of that. There's also combination attacks between characters.

And unlike the other Tales games, casting spells doesn't make the battle pause, so the battles get extremely chaotic later on, with spells flying left and right.

This makes random battles not a chore, but fun as hell. The game actually encourages you to use skills even though they cost MP by having you use combinations of skills a certain number of times in order to get a new one, as well as letting you regenerate a certain percentage of MP after every battle, and making restoring items % based and cheap to buy.

The magic system is also the most balanced system I've seen yet. You get 'Greater Craymels'(ie: summons) that you can give to both your mages. Spells are gotten depending on how the Craymels are grouped together. For example, having the Undine on one of your mages and Sylph on another will give you both Spread and Air Thrust, but also Heal. It seems simple at first, but later on, as you get more and more Craymels, you have to think about how you want to arrange it, and plan to make sacrifices on what spells you want.

For example, you can have the most powerful attack spells, but if you do, you won't get the most powerful healing spells(if at all), and vice versa.


Edit by Moderator: This is off-topic. This thread is for comparing Final Fantasy systems ONLY! Village Idiot put a lot of work into this post so I'd rather not have to start deleting posts to keep other people from posting about off-topic systems here, but I will if I have to.

[kakashi25]

Tales series battle system was great, but for final fantasy games I liked FF X's the most probably because ive maxed out 3 characters and trying to beat the games monster arena so fully understand the sphere grid. Can customize all your characters to get all abilities and basiclly equally strong.

[Chiaki Nozomi]

FF... I always played for the story. The only thing I liked about the battle systems was that I could mindlessly press buttons while doing something else. Sit there, run in circles or in a wall, when battle theme comes on, just start mashing 'x'. The thing I hate about those games (and most games in general) is that once you level up a bit, say 3-4 levels in the beginning, you can breeze through the game just mashing buttons mindlessly. Of course, on boss battles I had to watch their HP, but that was once a freaking story arc or stage.

Now Tactics... I adore that game. I've played though it about 6 times since its original release, and I love it more each time. The battle system required some stragedy (especially if you did the challenge routes made by fans)and the characters were diverse. I loved how the classes could be used effectively, no matter what class you were. Hmm.. I liked X-2 because of the dancer class. Just put the enemies to sleep, poison, and have Rikku and Paine do their abilities to learn faster. ^^. I have this weird thing of mastering every ability in a game like that. Makes it last longer, haha.

My true favorites are action RPGs... no mindless bobble on that! (It would kick ass if Square made an action FF RPG...but that's another topic! ^_~.)

[Biohazard]

Yeah, FF8 was way too easy if you draw enough ... but i found it quite fun..

I never played X or X-2 , but i liked the job class system in V too...

@ Chiaki Nozomi: Isn't Vagrant Story from Square? And that one is an Action RPG ^_^

[Prince of Chronics]

I liked the draw system (cuz everyone can have everything) and the materia system (cuz of the combos)... espers were alright too.... the battle system in FFX was quite good cuz you can get all the characters in for a given battle....

[DAK]

It's very close between the espers (magicite) of FFIII and the materia of FFVII. I think the magicite comes out on top (just because they permanently learn the spells unlike the materia system).

[diabolistic]

The best two systems for me were ff7 and ffx. the materia system allowed many combinations, such as the beloved revive+phoenix combo, or the hp-absorb+knights of the round .. gotta love the functionality of it. the grid system was great since you could customize the character anyway you see fit. my tidus could become a white mage, and my yuna had the potential to become a warrior.

ff6 had a pretty good system too.. though it was too similar to ff7 (or vice versa)

ff9's system seemed way too simple.. and after you learnt all the abilities, the characters seemed way too strong

the worst system would have to be 8..
after a while, you began to avoid random battles altogether; rendering the prospects of leveling your character useless.

[boneyjellyfish]

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that Final Fantasy 1 had the best system. Simple, easy to use, and it's the only system that had the spells NUKE, ZAP!, and XXXX. I may never forget the day I was able to beat WarMech thanks to the tireless effort of my Black Mage, who, with only 12 HP left, managed to defeat WarMech with a NUKE.

[e2-]

I loved Ff7 materia system but the most boring must bee ff8 junction or what the fu*k wos it it sucked :)

[Zero Avelok]

Like it was said before....your to young to remmeber...I just love the FFVI... :uhoh: the esper thingy...in the espers u could learn the magic and at the same time u could summon the beast in it.... :) ...that was THE best because they stay with u...the magic..not like in FFVII and many more....but the story of FFVII is one of the best...but i still love the magnificent FFVI and FFIV

[Hotaru]

Best battle system is FFVII
Worst battle system is FFVIII

[Bandersnatch]

Can't believe no one has mentioned FFXI as the worst. This means one of three things:

1. FFXI is your first mmorpg and your horribly addicted to slaying rabbits and sheep.
2. You have yet to play the game.
3. Like me, you consider FFXI an abomination and it doesn't deserve to be mentioned :p

Don't think combat could get more boring than FFXI. Best system is FF5's, while FFXI tries to improve on that it fails imo. FFVII had a great system too