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The opposition

Whether it’s playing FFX or FFX-2 battles have either been with fiends or bosses. With boss battles being more of a challenge fiend battles are more like for practicing and gaining experience. FFX-3 is set to be different however this time around there are a couple of surprises in store.

Strategic damage (new)

In almost all RPGs including Final Fantasy when a character takes damage from an opponent the character would react by losing HP in the CSD. If more damage is sustained overtime during a battle the character will become pretty beat up, show signs of slowing down like for example falling to one knee before being KO’d. When it comes to physical attacks the some opponents comes towards the character targeted and then attack. Those opponents that prefer elemental spells such as Thunder say still opposing the characters.

But I think its time to involve a little strategy and tactics to make the opponents smarter and make the character’s job more difficult. The idea is that each character is a being (of some sort) with a head, torso, arms and legs (well duh…) and each (in particular to arms) play a crucial part in battle. For example: when Paine goes in for an attack she uses her arms to strike the opponent with her sword. Now what would happen if opponents realised this and try to take that offensive out of Paine’s arsenal? In the same way that when a character loses half (1/2) of his or hers HP they become battle weary and show signs of struggling to stay up. The idea behind this “Strategic damage” is that the opponents can somewhat neutralise parts of the character’s being to stop them in some way. The idea goes as follows:

In the CSD there is a small clear silhouette figure be siding the momentum, Overdrive and stamina gauges for each character (see image above). This serves as an indicator of the character’s being in the same way that HP and MP on the CSD are represented (not in figures but a clear readout if the player doesn’t notice the character’s motions). The black symbolises “safe” and no damage done. The head, torso, arms or legs area will change colour depending on the amount of damage inflicted.

The head is least protective area and if an opponent strikes there critical damage (more damage) will be done to the character then an attack on any other part of the character’s being. It is the clear weak spot and the almost sure way of KO’ing the character with physical attacks. However opponents will find it more difficult to go for the head since it’s a less obvious part of the character’s being to attack and harder to reach. The faster and more agile opponents would be better at going for the character’s head.

Ø If the head area is clear it means no damage done
Ø If the head area is yellow it means slight damage has been done (it will turn back clear after the next turn)
Ø If the head area is orange it means sufficient damage has been done (damage taken will be higher as a result (it will turn back to yellow after the next turn and then clear the next turn afterwards)
Ø If the head area is red it means the next attack will be critical (the attack must be substantial enough) (it will turn orange after the next two (2) turns, then yellow the turn afterwards and then back to clear the next turn after)

The torso is the most obvious target area of the character’s being. Like in the predecessor titles damage would be standard and in many ways it won’t bother the character too much if the attack isn’t sustainable enough. And it is better defended (naturally). However attacking the torso the opponents are more likely to cause the character to flinch and miss an opportunity to have a turn.

Ø If the torso area is clear it means no damage done
Ø If the torso area is yellow it means slight damage has been done but won’t cause the character to flinch (it will turn back clear after the next turn)
Ø If the torso area is orange it means sufficient damage has been done and the chance of the attack causing the character to flinch increases (damage taken will be higher as a result (it will turn back to yellow after the next turn and then clear the next turn afterwards)
Ø If the torso area is red it means the next attack will cause flinching guaranteed (the attack must be substantial enough) (it will turn orange after the next two (2) turns, then yellow the turn afterwards and then back to clear the next turn after)

The arms; most physical attacks require the use of the character’s arms to strike the opponent with their weapon. Taking the arms out of play will disable the command Attack for a brief while leaving the character to take a different command.

Ø If the arms are clear it means no damage done
Ø If the arms are yellow it means slight damage has been done but it won’t disable the command Attack (it will turn back clear after the next turn)
Ø If the arms are orange it means sufficient damage has been done and the command Attack will be disabled until the area turns yellow (it will turn back to yellow after the next turn and then clear the next turn afterwards)
Ø If the arms are red it means the command Attack will be unusable until the area turns yellow (it will turn orange after the next two (2) turns, then yellow the turn afterwards and then back to clear the next turn after)

The legs are the less obvious target area of the character’s being. However if opponents where to do substantial damage to the character’s legs it will temporally destroy their vertical base which means they become slow in their build up for their next turn.
Ø If the legs are clear it means no damage done
Ø If the legs are yellow it means slight damage has been done but it won’t slow down the character’s momentum (it will turn back clear after the next turn)
Ø If the legs are orange it means the character’s momentum will be slowed to half’s its normal speed (it will turn back to yellow after the next turn and then clear the next turn afterwards)
Ø If the legs are red it means it means the character’s momentum will be slowed to 1/4 its normal speed (it will turn orange after the next two (2) turns, then yellow the turn afterwards and then back to clear the next turn after)

When damage has been sustained to limbs, the arms for example (and if sufficient) that character (as well as showing trouble with his/hers arms (for example Wakka may have his left arm hanging and his right arm covering above the elbow) the command Attack will be unusable for a brief moment. With legs as well as showing a similar effect to trouble with the arms (for example Rikku may fall back and be rubbing her knee/thigh) the middle gauge in the CSD which is the build up for next move (which fills up automatically whilst the character is in play) will be much slower temporally. (Mustn’t get it confused with the Slow effect as damage to the legs is a temporary delay whereas Slow is a permanent effect unless lifted.)

Now if you’re reading this you’ll be thinking “you’ve got that idea off the Smackdown VS Raw series didn’t you?” And you would be dead right. However I do think by incorporating some aspect of it into battle situations in FFX-3 it does offer a new aspect to battles which requires the player to think carefully. One problem noticed with the battles in FFX-2 is when the Strength of YuRiPa or YRP (Yuna, Rikku, Paine) is substantial enough the player can simply opt for the Attack command and defeat the essential opponents such as Vegnagun or the aeons. The only way this type of offensive could be stopped was if a negative status affect like Petrification, Sleep, Slow etc. was inflicted upon the characters. By incorporating this “Strategic damage” opponents can potentially turn the tables on the characters enough to defeat them. If the arms have taken damage the command Attack will be unusable temporarily (depending on the amount of damage caused). By doing this it will encourage the player to take more decisive action such as Black Magic which may not be the given character’s particular strength and use up their MP.