I...I really like this. I can understand surprisingly quite a bit. Mostly basic stuff. I'm really impressed with myself.
And, I'm buying this day one. The battle system is refreshing and potentially great. Feels like a great new revamp of ATB. This game NEEDS FF12 like encounter system. The separate battle screens is really disappointing, but ahhhh what can you do?
What sold me on it was the boss fight. Before, it was fun, but in the boss fight, it all comes together: the job switching, the combos, overclock, perfect guard. Every element of the battle system introduced in the demo comes together to form a very cohesive whole. Every element compliments another. Like, for instance overclocking. You need 2 EP in order to activate it, and when you do, it slows down time. You can use this to your advantage. You can switch to Black Mage, use Blizzaga, activate an overlock, and then just start to spam magic on it to keep it juggled. But since you have two other jobs in your arsenal you can switch to those to keep the chain going. It's like every facet of the battle system is there to compliment each other which creates a sense of balance, at least, based off the demo. I wonder how the final game expands upon this.
Then there's perfect guard, where if you time a guard jusssst right, you can instant stagger them. It's pretty tough to pull off I'm finding. Certain attacks have specific windows that allow you to parry. The boss of the demo, a dragon that taken control of Sarah, has a fire breathing attack that can be perfect guarded, but the window of opportunity is SO SMALL.
From where I'm standing FF13: LR has a battle system that really takes a modicum of skill. Theoretically, you can't just button mash, because every single thing, from guarding, to other defend actions, cost x amount of points.
This is so good I'm going to play this demo again immediately. The demo has three extra dresses, so you have A LOT of ways to experiment.
I am very impressed by this demo to the point where I'm trying to master the basics of the game and am planning how to replay the next demo session. The combat is thorough and potentially deep. You guys on the fence have got to try this.
