There was a lot I loved about Final Fantasy 7 Remake—from its updated graphics, to the new way in which it remixed and reintroduced the world to the original’s limit breaks, summons, materia, equipment, and the ATB gauge. One thing that didn’t click with me however, was the combat system.
While it gained acclaim for striking a balance between novelty and nostalgia, I found it kind of tiring. I got tired of constantly swapping between characters because if I didn’t, the other party members would stand around and impotently engage enemies.
Swapping characters so many times just took me out of the experience. I only wanted to play as Aerith,my favorite FF7 character, but was forced to change to other party members in order to make them fight more effectively. Luckily, it sounds like the devs at Square Enix are onboard for changing things up a bit. In an interview in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake Ultimania guide book, translated by fans, lead battle programmer Satoru Koyama said that he wants to have a combat system that takes what madeFinal Fantasy 12’s combat unique, and expand on it.
But more recent recruits to the series may be wondering: what exactly was so special about the combat in Final Fantasy 12?
FF12 first came out in 2006, and I didn’t love it at the time. I was still in my PS2 era love of JRPGs, in which I appreciated games with long, convoluted narratives involving a young group of teens saving the world, where combat was either action-oriented like Star Ocean, or turn-based like Xenosaga. 12 melted those two different styles together in what was called the “Active Dimension Battle” (ADB) system, and that didn’t jive with younger me. This, however, all changed when I played the remaster, Final Fantasy 12: The Zodiac Age, in 2017, when the combat system in fact became my favorite of the entire series. The mechanics were the same as in the original FF12, but apparently I just had to go away, grow up a bit, and mature into it, because it blew me away.
The game’s “Gambit” system lets you program your characters’ actions in advance, freeing you up to focus on controlling one character while the others execute their pre-programmed actions. I loved the high level of customization and strategy this offered, encouraging me to experiment with different party compositions and tactics.
With the Gambit system, I was able to make Basch act as a forward-charging damage dealer, and have Vaan focus on buffing and debuffing enemies. This allowed for me to focus on being a white mage, casting Protect, Haste, and Regen on the party. I find it relaxing to focus on the health and maintenance of the party, and it felt extremely satisfying when I found just the right Gambits to have Basch and Vaan doing their own thing. On the other hand, if I wanted a break from healing, I would have easily made Ashe an automated healer, by setting up a command like “If an ally’s health falls below 50%, then cast Cure on that ally.”
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InFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth, a Gambit system-like approach could enhance the game’s real-time combat by letting you program a character’s actions in advance and assign them to different buttons or hotkeys. The challenge comes with trying to make the system work without interrupting FF7 Remake’s excellent combo system, but they could set it up in such a way that the player controls one character while the others automatically execute their pre-programmed actions (a bit like inDragon Age: Origins’ underrated combat). It would also allow for players to stay in the action a bit longer and not as much tedious micromanagement of individual party member’s actions.
The Gambit system isn’t perfect. One of the problems with it was that once the perfect setup was discovered, the game would play itself. You basically become a passive member of combat, watching your characters either annihilate or fall to the enemy. But it’s been almost two decades since Final Fantasy 12 initially came out, so you’d hope that the combat AI will be improved in Rebirth.
With the growing amount of characters coming into the combat fray, it’s going to be a challenge to keep the combat fresh and engaging without it becoming too convoluted. But if it picks up the best elements of Final Fantasy 12 and merges them with its more fast-paced stylings, I believe that Rebirth could prove quite special.
