Active Dimension Battle: A Failed Experiment?

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reddas

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This game took a drastic change of direction from all the previous games in the series by introducing the Active Dimension Battle system (ADB). Whist some appreciated this change, others hated it.

Looking at some of the Final Fantasy XIII trailers, it looks like the game will have a turn based combat system like all the games before XII.

Does this mean Final Fantasy XII will be the only Final Fantasy game ever to have the ADB system? Did Square-Enix feel the response the ADB system was that bad, they will never use it again?

Opinions please :)
 
I doubt so. Most likely, they'll use it again someday for another game, when gamers take a liking to it.

As to whether they believed the ADB to be that bad, I won't be able to say for sure. But there are some that like it, and some who don't. Based on the numbers, they might decide accordingly whether or not to use it...
 
I enjoyed the change and looking at trailers for final fantasy XIII it looks like they will be bringing it back with a new twist
 
From the looks of XIII it looks like it is using XII's battle system with some of Crisis Core as well such as being able to dodge attacks and spells. I really liked this battle system though so i hope it is used in future games.
 
I enjoyed this battle system a lot. It was refreshing and not in a way so that it made me long for the old 4-person parties from FF1-6... I hated that longing feeling that was only sated for a brief time by FF9.

Didn't they want to employ it for FF10, but just didn't get the technology down for it in time? (Or were just thinking faster than technology could move?) FF10's battle system certainly felt like it was on the brink of something.

This system gave the most amount and feeling of true freedom; but also adjusting and choosing gambits did take up a lot of time for me.

If this was their "experiment", I think it was a good one.
 
It was a good first step, but I feel square needs to go back to what they did in Chrono Trigger....you can most of the time see the enemy on the screen and if you got close enough or on occasion if one jumped out at you then you go into a battle that is turn based and takes place in the environment. I always liked that, you can see the enemy and its turned based. I did not like the gambit system, it was great for grinding, but I stopped using it because I could auto program wins pretty easily.
 
Not at all. From the looks of things so far, it looks like Agito XIII could be a revisit to ADB. Which is great, because ADB was great for the series. It has alot to do with WHY XII was so great, in my opinion. It dared to step away from what everyone thought a Final Fantasy game "should be".

There were mixed emotions about ADB. Just like there were mixed emotions about Dirge of Cerberus. However, they still plan on releaseing the sequal. Final Fantasy XIII is one of three (Possibly four, if Hakurus is anything more than jsut an itnerest), and each sports a different battle system. Final Fantasy XIII: ATB with new innovations. Final Fantasy Versus XIII: Kingdom Hearts-esque battle system (As to what I heard, and believe..), Final Fantasy Agito XIII: ADB (As far as I see from the trailer).
 
Personally i find the ADB a progress when compared to the final fantasy titles that came before XII, it made the battle look more real and exciting, and i would consider a step back to return to the old battle system.

Of course the system was not perfect, it could look even more dynamic and exciting, perhaps the movement of the characters needs some work, interacting more with surroundings and so on. But in my opinion i think this system needs to be more developed and keep being used in the future final fantasy titles.
 
A failed experiment..simply no.

I must say that i enjoyed this system, it really gives the battles another way to fight unlike any other FF, and when you have it on active...man that some intense fighting!

But it could be better!
Look at Star Ocean's 4 battle system. It looks much like Chrono Trigger of some sort or Grandia 2 to be more precise!

In the end is all about if a players diggs it or not :P
 
I wouldn't say it was a failed experiment, I thought it was quite innovative and it was certainly a step forward, however, tweaks are needed.

I think Gambits were the most annoying, sometimes it was like watching a battle instead of actively taking part in it. Yes, I am aware that you can take gambits off, however then each little battle is a huge chore.

I'd say that in future games, the basic premise of the XII battle system will be used, but it'll be tweaked so it has more turn based elements included too.
 
i wouldnt call it a fail, sooner or later square were gonna do something different and although i do prefer the battle screen i didnt hate the active battles of ffxII. I liked seeing the monsters on the world map as oppose to the random screen change, My main criticsm is that the battles felt quite dull, there isnt that excitement that the older games have or even a battle system like kingdom hearts can produce. I particularly wouldnt wnt to see this kind of battle system again but i still wouldnt consider it a fail, it was nice to have something different.
 
Something alot of people dont seem to realise is if you take out gambits and the ability to run around, your pretty much left with FFVII's battle system.

It's really not that different to the standard ATB. I'd say it's an improvement
 
The two main reasons why I think that SE went with this system was to get rid of the random battles to make the game run along more quickly as well to get rid of some of the grind of leveling up. They pretty much acheived that and did it well.

Random battles are annoying in a lot of cases and any effort to minimize this would be welcome and with the Gambits you save yourself having to reinput the same commands over and over again that you would have done with the older systems.

It wasn't perfect but the only serious issue I have with the system now (I was a serious hater a year ago) is that it does become a bit bland and 29 hours into my file I've only had to switch one or two Gambits out of my three characters during the game so far apart from against some of the bosses/hunts.

It probably helps that I've only used 3 characters during my entire playthrough and I'm probably a tad overpowered for where I am but the battles are just a little less frantic than usual.

Overall the system wasn't a failure, it worked fine as it was as a starting point. With other people it was probably either the case that they just couldn't get to grips with it or it just simply wasn't for them. SE tend to mix it up with every new game anyway and they gave this game something different from what we had seen before. I was eventually happy with the change in any case.
 
Actually, the ADB system has been used in Crystal Chronicles for the DS, except there isn't a Gambit System. You can attack whenever you want, and with one character you can chain attacks limitlessly. Kind of like Legend of Zelda... try it out, and you'll see what I mean.
 
the ADB system isn't nearly as involved as the turn based or ATB system. i felt like i could pretty much program the game to win. which totally sucks. i dunno, it didn't feel like i was playing the game...more like the game was playing itself. that's why i didn't like it so much. but i think the story more than made up for it. so overall, the game was an epic win despite the shortcomings of the battle system.
 
I thought it was splended. Failed experiment? Certainly not.

I enjoyed this change very much in XII. It adds much realism to battles and the innovation is great in re-juvenating a long-running franchise like FF. It was one of the reasons why I like XII.
 
Ugh, I HATED the battle system in FFXII. It was just anoying, repetitive, and time consuming. It was fun for about the first few hours but then it was just ... nyeh. No random battles was kinda cool but when I replayed ones with random battles I kinda enjoyed them.

I hope they try to use FFX's battle system again because that was pure genius. Simple, easy, and fun.
 
I loved the system of the ADB. It kept me playing and entertained. Without it, I dunno if I would've kept playing. lol. =/.

I am pretty sure they'll use it again in the future games. It might be something the fans need to get use too but it can be pretty fun and useful if put together right.
 
It took me a while to get used to the battle system, but once I did, I LOVED it. Its the perfect mix between a turn-based and a hack-and-slash
 
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