Replaying Final Fantasy X: the battle system so far feels like a game of Simon Says

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

Final Fantasy X is the first FF I experienced. I think I was 5 at the time. My brother rented it and I watched him play and I was COMPLETELY blown away by the opening, and subsequently, everything else, and I ended up buying a copy and FF became my favo

This is probably my 6th playthrough.

Some things didn't age well, like with the cinematography and animations being very awkward a lot of the time (to the point where I have no clue what the game was trying to convey), and the game is BORING until you reach Kilika, my god. The stretch from being sucked up by Sin to waking up in Besaid is like 20 minutes but it feels like 3 hours.

Luckily, though, I've been mostly really enjoying my time since then.


However my main concern is with the battle system.

I don't see what's so... amazing about it? It almost makes me feel like I'm missing something here.

It can be fun to mess with the turn order, I guess (not really).

I remember reading a post online where someone compared this game's battle system to Simon Says and my god that stuck with me.

A majority of the game so far (I'm in Mushroom Rock Road) has pretty much been exactly that: flying monster? Wakka. Ground monster? Tidus. Elemental? Lulu. Thick monster? Auron. ???. Yuna. ???. Kimahri. Though since the game has the annoying rule of "whoever didn't participate doesn't get any AP," I tend to also waste 2 (soon to be 3, I guess) turns having the non-needed party members doing some random thing so they get AP at the end. I guess that's more of a "me" problem.

But I've seen a lot of people mention FFX as one of their favorite battle systems, and it just makes me feel like I'm not getting it. Or maybe it's only kind of like "Simon Says" early on and I'm forgetting that?


I still love the game despite this, and I think it's greater than the sum of its parts, but the battle system praise just confuses me. It just feels incredibly basic in comparison to other turn based battle systems from the PS2 era, like with the Baten Kaitos games, Grandia, Shadow Hearts, Valkyrie Profile 2, etc.

 

[Chivalry]

Once you start swapping chars, the game is a cake walk. The difficulty spike at the final boss is total bullshit, though.

 

[PickledCucumber]

Could you clarify what you mean by "Simon Says"? 🤔

 

[Mediking]

I dropped the game when we fought Seymour on a cliff. Lol I was beyond done. The actual cast is cool but it drags on and bosses become so annoying

 

[Jaded Alyx]

I seem to remember the Battle system being the best thing about the game.

 

[Exist 2 Inspire]

Yep for me the battle system is the best thing about X and i would even say it's probably my favoite in the entire main series.

 

[Transistor]

Honestly, you're not wrong. Simon Says is a pretty apt metaphor.

Ranged -> Wakka
Element -> Lulu
Machina -> Rikku
etc etc etc

That's not to say it's bad at all, but it's just a good description. However, X-2 has a much better battle system. Hell X-2 has the best implementation of ATB ever IMO.

 

[ZeroX]

Expert Sphere Grid and late game/optional fights are where it shines. I played the PAL release so I had the Dark Aeons from the start so it was always good.

I like that the game has recommended builds for characters and roles but that you can customize how you want or just teach everything to everyone. Lots of freedom (you just get to it sooner on Expert).

 

[Gush]

Yeah it pretty much is. The bosses can get real interesting but the random encounters are tedious and require next to no thought once you understand the premise behind the system and each character's intended role.

 

[super-famicom]

Simon Says is hitting the buttons in the order you're shown. How is FFX's Battle System like that? Do you mean that it's very simple, or what?

 

[Kuro]

You sure you're not confusing people loving the battle system with X-2?

I haven't heard many say they loved X's battle system. I found it serviceable and was pretty cool for the spectacle at the time. The sphere grid is really what people liked a lot about X.

 

[headfallsoff]

It starts off pretty simple. Every JRPG system is basically simon says with resource management when you get down to it, just ramping up in complexity and difficulty as it goes. Most of the main quest in X is extremely easy tho because they wanted everyone to see the story. I think the battle system shines in some of the more difficult and optional boss fights.

 

[The Last One]

The game has some kind of rock - paper -scissors system that makes the game kinda easy, some poeple don't like it this mechanic. But the second half of the game is more challenging.

 

[tommyv2]

I assume you mean Rock, Scissors, Paper instead of Simon Says.

 

[ZeroX]

Oh I also like that for a turn based system it was perfectly clear what the turn order was (and how it could be affected with things like Haste, Slow, etc). That's a huge improvement over just sort of guessing based on hidden agility values or alternating with the enemy.

 

[Cryoteck]

The problem is that the encounters are far too easy. The battle system itself is quite good but the encounters too often are made up of monsters that can be one hit killed with the right party member and these are noted by pallet swaps on the monster design. Other games have taken elements of the battle system (Trails games) or straight up stolen it (Lord of the Rings: The 3rd Age console version) with great success.

 

[werezompire]

It's a lot like FF13 in that the battle system is well designed, but the encounter design & game itself don't really take advantage of it like they could have. Outside of a few boss encounters, the general difficulty is pretty low and frequently is along the lines of "See what type of enemy you're dealing with and swap in the correct character." And like you said, the fact that XP is only given to active combatants but there's no penalty for having more active combatants encourages the player to swap in everybody in every battle and defend just to get the most XP.

There's some optional harder stuff, but the optional stuff in FFX tends to not be very fun & very tedious.

It is fun to try to break the LV-Up system though. Like with the advanced sphere grid, taking Yuna to weird paths since her stats influence the stats of her summons.

Also, even with all its flaws, I'd still say FF10's combat is still way better than the combat in any of the PS1 games. FF9 is slow, FF8 is weird, and they're all unbalanced.

 

[Gush]

Simon Says is hitting the buttons in the order you're shown. How is FFX's Battle System like that? Do you mean that it's very simple, or what?

Click to shrink...

I think it's an apt comparison. Game shows you wolf, that's the sign to swap in Tidus. Game shows you armoured beast, that's the sign to swap in Auron, etc.

There's little variation or complexity in random encounters so most fights boil down to seeing which party members to swap to and then going autopilot.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

I assume you mean Rock, Scissors, Paper instead of Simon Says.

Click to shrink...

Not really. Only the enemies have weaknesses. I think Simon Says is a more apt comparison.

 

[Devon]

I liked the battle system when I was playing through the actual story. Don't want to drop names but some of the story boss fights were really good. I can think of a couple dungeons/areas with harder encounters than usual, and those were all way after the "remember to throw a blitzball at a flying enemy!" phase.

But I didn't think the postgame was very deep. I just remember a lot of big tubs of HP, getting oneshot if I'm underleveled and long, boring fights with a hundred Quick Hits if I'm not.

I guess it's a system where with the sphere grid the differences between the characters get whittled down the further you go, so at the very end you're just picking by whose celestial weapons you have + whose overdrive has the most hits.

 

[MP!]

It's more like Go Fish ... where the game always get's what it wants
"Got any blitzballs? ... "

"Yes"

"Got any magics?"

"Yes"

"Got any big swords?"

"Yes"

It's especially dumb cause I find no use for rikku (most of the time) Tidus is basically useless as he's not as powerful as auron isn't good at ranged and his magic is weaker than lulu or yuna.
OH and I forget Kimari exists.

It is a nice change of pace when Yuna finally gets black magic and more summons and you can use her instead of lulu. I guess... (even though I hate yuna as a character) Back in the day I hated the battle system with a passion cause it just takes away your control... this last time through (on switch) I knew that going in and didn't fight it as hard and it ended up being servicable. Not great... but not terrible.

 

[tr1b0re]

Could you clarify what you mean by "Simon Says"? 🤔

Click to shrink...

Yeah I'd like some clarification as well

 

[super-famicom]

I think it's an apt comparison. Game shows you wolf, that's the sign to swap in Tidus. Game shows you armoured beast, that's the sign to swap in Auron, etc.

There's little variation or complexity in random encounters so most fights boil down to seeing which party members to swap to and then going autopilot.

Click to shrink...

Gotcha. I remember the game basically telling you this in the first couple hours of the game. But then that goes away later, right?

 

[Deleted member 13155]

Battle system of FFX is nothing special. I guess the characters have defined roles (until the cap is lifted and you max it out, then everyone quick hits). Expert grid lets you define jobs from the get go.

The defined roles go kind of off balance during the second half. I don't think I used the Mage much beyond some point. Tidus becomes multi purpose and can hit for a lot of damage with limits. Wakka is broken if you Blitzball.

FFX has one of the most classic battle systems. Its pure turn based with jobs.

 

[Deleted member 58846]

Yeah, I never got the praise for this battle system. It's extremely simple and basic, and makes battles trite. The Sphere Grid is awful as well, achieving the exact same end result of linear growth via a far more convoluted and tedious process (expert mode does fix this somewhat).
In terms of straight gameplay and mechanics, this is my least favorite FF game ever. Even with XIII, for example, I adore the battle system, and XV is broken but at least it's fun. X is neither fun nor deep, and it's just a railroaded experience with no regard for agency.

 

[Deleted member 19533]

Once you start swapping chars, the game is a cake walk. The difficulty spike at the final boss is total bullshit, though.

Click to shrink...

Is it really that hard? I never fought him straight. Pretty sure I killed him in 1 hit with Anima's ultimate.

 

[Poemkin]

A majority of the game so far (I'm in Mushroom Rock Road) has pretty much been exactly that: flying monster? Wakka. Ground monster? Tidus. Elemental? Lulu. Thick monster? Auron. ???. Yuna. ???. Kimahri.

Click to shrink...

Yuna's big monsters. Using her is just as rote as the rest of cast.

 

[Deleted member 13155]

Yuna is just a white mage. Kihmari has blue magic and is kind of the joker character with most customizability on regular grid.

Is it really that hard? I never fought him straight. Pretty sure I killed him in 1 hit with Anima's ultimate.

Click to shrink...

He's tough if you don't grind. In my first run I had troubles beating him.

Later on I did it with 1 attack reels lol.

 

[Gush]

Gotcha. I remember the game basically telling you this in the first couple hours of the game. But then that goes away later, right?

Click to shrink...

You don't get told explicitly what to use later on but it follows the same patterns and many enemies even in late game are palette swaps of earlier enemies so there isn't a lot of doubt or experimentation.

There are exceptions of course, but a majority of the fights can be figured out just by using that initial knowledge the game gives you when it first explains its systems.

 

[PickledCucumber]

Is it really that hard? I never fought him straight. Pretty sure I killed him in 1 hit with Anima's ultimate.

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Yeah, I didn't have an issue with the Final boss.

Seymour Flux, on the other hand... 😒

 

[MP!]

Yeah I'd like some clarification as well

Click to shrink...

"Simon says ... USE MAGIC!"
**uses magic**

"Simon says... Break armor"
**Auron swings his sword**

"Throw a blitzball"

"AHHH!! Simon didn't say!"

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

I like the gameplay in FFX a lot, but it's one of those battle systems where it isn't even remotely challenging, but it's still fun. I enjoy figuring out who is supposed to attack who and swapping characters in and out during the fight. Would it be better if it was more challenging? Maybe, but difficulty isn't the only way a combat system can be good, and I don't think difficulty was ever really something Final Fantasy has tried for.

 

[Massicot]

I don't think the later parts of the game are too much like that. You've got Couerls, Basilisks, Zus, Sand Worms, Wraiths, Giants, the bevelle machina, etc that aren't codified to a single member of your team.

Not that the game ever gets incredibly challenging but that's not quite the same subject.

 

[TechnoSyndrome]

It just takes way too long for them to start throwing some actual challenge your way in FFX. I love the battle system on paper but being incredibly easy and incredibly linear for like 3/4ths of the game makes it not at all worth sticking through to me. Maybe people who enjoy the story and characters would feel otherwise but I also find those aspects incredibly lacking.

 

[Dark_Castle]

Yeah I don't think X's combat system is particularly great when you realize it's a big game with rock paper sisters. I think people just like seeing turns and swapping party members mid combat mechanic which was fairly new at the time.

 

[Ralemont]

FFX's battle system is something you pull individual aspects of that it did right to critique other battle systems, such as showing turn order or allowing swapping of characters in battle. as a whole I don't think it's anything special.

 

[Flame Lord]

I like having certain party members being better suited for different enemies. I tried getting back into IV recently and I hate the aimless feeling of the battle system. It's not always obvious who's weak to what, and even when you hit a weak spot, it's not obvious unless you hit them with something they weren't weak to for contrast. Of course you can use scan, but that's a boring and tedious way of doing that compared to something like SMT where you just test the waters and the game keeps up with it for you. I feel like the FFX system could have been polished into something really great had they not dumped it out in the next game.

 

[Deleted member 19533]

Yeah, I didn't have an issue with the Final boss.

Seymour Flux, on the other hand... 😒

Click to shrink...

Yeah, he sucks. Yunalesca as well. The long cutscene before that fight, ugh.

With Flux I go in with every aeon having their limit. You can get it out before he banishes them, and it deals enough damage going through them to where, when that's done, it's very manageable.

 

[mute]

At the time X's battle system felt like they took every complaint about the past ~4 or so Final Fantasy's combat systems and said "alright, we did what you wanted here ya go" and while it seemed like a good idea at the time, it isn't so great in hindsight 20 years later.

 

[Linus815]

I think it's an awesome battle system. The first half of the game is a tad too easy, but there's a lot of great fights in the latter half. The game can be cheesed pretty easily by constantly relying on full aeon meters or just outleveling encounters to brute force them but it's quite fun to win by learning the weaknesses/strenghts of each enemy/party member.

But yes, the first few hours are very simplistic.

 

[exodus]

I agree with your assessment about the Simon Says nature, though that goes away in the post-game. What's really enjoyable is the turn order and the quick and precise nature of the turn based combat. It's fast, snappy, and predictable. That's what I want out of turn based combat. No other game has quite matched the responsiveness and overall feel of FFX's combat system.

The battle system is fantastic. The encounter design and overall skill balance leaves something to be desired.

 

[Canucked]

The enemies aren't difficult enough to care about who is attacking them. I mean, sure if they're flying cast a spell or kick a ball. But otherwise just hold x or whatever.

As for AP, if you switch your party once in awhile, they all catch up.

 

[ghibli99]

I still really like the combat system of FF10. I appreciated being able to see turn order, but that it could be affected by spells/items like haste, slow, etc., so it wasn't always obvious what was going to happen and when. I mean, I guess with six playthroughs, you're going to see more of the flaws/exploits than you would on a first, blind one.

I do agree with the cutscene/dialogue stuff not aging well though. I found a lot of it to be awkward even when the game was new. That got worse when I played the HD version on Vita.

 

[Deleted member 34949]

Expert Sphere Grid and late game/optional fights are where it shines.

Click to shrink...

Yuuuuup.

 

[Deleted member 49535]

FFX's battle system has the depth of a game of rock, paper, scissors where you know what your opponent is going to play.

Definitely not the best part of the game. Still fun though.

 

[AndrewDean84]

I think you mean rock, paper scissors. But that's how RPGs work.

 

[Gush]

More than simon says or rock paper scissors, this is what always comes to mind for me

 

[Dreamboum]

Even the battle system of FFX is linear.
No thought, no strategy, just use X against Y and win. It never requires brain matter

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

I think you mean rock, paper scissors. But that's how RPGs work.

Click to shrink...

No I don't mean Rock Paper Scissors. The party members don't have blatant weaknesses like the enemies do.

 

[Viale]

Huh. Ffx is like one of the only systems that does active and reserved party well in my opinion. Otherwise I feel like in so many jrpgs, you have a cheer squad while your main team actually does stuff. in ffx tho, everyone is doing stuff(besides khilmari, but that's partly my fault since I was ehh on him). I personally loved X's systems especially when you unlock more of the grid and get more options. It's great and probs my favorite FF combat wise.