Combat

[davfra]

Hi - I haven't played any FF games until this one (FFX3), and I find the combat a bit strange. You see an enemy and you can do nothing until you get close. Then, while you're making your mind up about which weapons to use, you're being whacked by the enemy.
I've tried pausing the game, but in this mode you can do nothing in regard to tactics.
What on earth am I doing wrong?

[DragonHeart]

It sounds like you haven't quite figured out how the RPG's battle system works. When you see enemies on the map while you're running around, you can choose to avoid them, try to sneak up on them or just plow right into them. Or in some cases, they catch up to you before you're out of range. However it happens, once you contact an enemy the battle begins. Once you're in battle you cannot switch your equipment around, you just fight until you kill the enemies or you're killed (in which case no big loss since you can just retry the battle).

My advice is not to worry about which weapons to use before each and every battle. Just equip the strongest you've got and use general accessories like the HP+ bangles until you're comfortable with the way the equipment/battle systems work. 90% of the time you will not need specialized equipment for any given battle, especially in the early stages of the game.

The game does offer tutorials about how battle works, did you skip those? If you did you might consider going back and actually letting the game walk you through those first few encounters, it will really help you learn how it all works. I didn't skip them and it still took me half the game to really get a handle on everything. If you're lost now it'll be even worse later when the combat system starts gaining depth and tactics become very important to winning.

~DragonHeart~

[Voltaire Adams]

I think the combat really really works. It's so in tune, and action packed. However on paper...it sounds terrible. Before playing the game, the fact of auto attack sounded like sacrillige to me, but it works and it dosen't really feel like it takes away the strategy from you since you're constantly switching paradigms. But when you don't need to switch in an easy fight...just mashing A/X is fine because you just want the battle over, when you're grinding and such.

I think it works really well, but maybe not for people new to the series.

Also, welcome to the forum!

[davfra]

Thanks for the response. No, I didn't skip the tutorials. I just find it frustrating that I'm not able to take any avoiding action while that bar's filling up.
My character empties her weapons bar and then just stands there taking hits while being bashed, instead of getting out of the way.
I mustn't be too critical because I do like the game but the combat doesn't seem to need much input from the player.
I don't recall a tutorial on sneaking. Was there one?

[Voltaire Adams]

Thanks for the response. No, I didn't skip the tutorials. I just find it frustrating that I'm not able to take any avoiding action while that bar's filling up.
My character empties her weapons bar and then just stands there taking hits while being bashed, instead of getting out of the way.
I mustn't be too critical because I do like the game but the combat doesn't seem to need much input from the player.
I don't recall a tutorial on sneaking. Was there one?

In any FF game though, you're pretty much going to stand there and get hit while waiting for the ATB bar. As for sneaking, I don't know if there is a tutorial, but it's basicly just initiating combat when an enemy has not seen you. Easy way to do that is to use the shroud or sneak slowly up behind them.

[DragonHeart]

That's pretty much a staple of RPGs, there is no option for evasive maneuvers. However, the Sentinel role does give you the ability to block and occasionally dodge attacks. There's even an accessory that raises a Sentinel's ability to dodge. I don't know how far in you are but this doesn't really come into play until later, though.

There's no real tutorial about sneaking around enemies, it's basically just avoiding running into them so you don't have to fight. I don't really recommend this though, you need all the CP you can get. I made the mistake of avoiding a lot of battles on the Palamecia and I paid for it later. Only really avoid the battles you know you can't win.

~DragonHeart~

[davfra]

I've got to chapter three now and this bady is stomping my party in double quick time. I just can't touch him. It's next to the ice statue of Sarah and I think its a Scorpion.
I did the tutorial on relentless attack and sentinal, but I just get walloped in double quick time.
I'm well and truly stuck at the moment.

[Dodie16]

^ That's actually the same fight that I lost in the first time I played through the game too! What I wound up doing was run back and forth fighting enemies and building up my CP, then used my CP to build up my characters' stats so I would have a decent shot at fighting it.

Once I got my character stats up, I went in for another go. I started with Relentless Assault. It's best if you try to Stagger it as soon as possible so you can really get that health to go down. Keep an ample supply of potions with you, and be sure to switch to a good healing paradigm when you need it. The potions are good if your healers aren't exactly healing the right people (specifically Lightning, since if she is defeated, it's game over...). Once you've got your characters healed up, shift to the Relentless Assault paradigm and try to stagger it.

So basically what you want to do is attack it when you have good health, heal when your party's health gets too low, and then switch back to full-on attack mode when your party has high health again.

[davfra]

Thanks for that. I got past in the end. It was a question of flipping from agressive to solidarity.

[Kaiden]

As a note you will find a few enemies that have abilities that would normally one shot a character. This is where sentinels come in. These abilities usually have a charging stage to give you time to switch your paradigm to a defensive one with a sentinel.

[davfra]

I was on the point of giving up, which would have been a shame cos I love the graphics. I just find it frustrating to have to wait to get walloped instead of taking evasive action. I'ml just going to have to get used to it.