2023-05-21 00:30:00
I can’t blame those who don’t swallow with turn-based combat of video games. It does not matter if it is about JRPGs, tactical role-playing or anything else. In fact, despite all the fancy names and numbers displayed on the screen, the common premise is very simple– At least two sides trade attacks while health bars go up and down for the next few two, three or ten minutes without the plot advancing. Well, sometimes you make a little progress: miscalculated and soon, in 1 out of 30 fights.
If you see them from outside, ignoring the history of the video game itself, the context of the protagonists or simply the weight of the feat, they look like tedious procedures when it comes to crossing an area from one end to another. Of course, from time to time you have to give a lever. But oh my friend! the way in which they bewitch the player is beyond doubt, manifesting itself in globally successful games such as Pokémon, Undertale or Persona 5 Royal.
And before all of them, and many others who today keep this way of experimenting the role alive. Made in Japan, a saga that was a before and after: Final Fantasy. Being more specific, the first ten games in the Squaresoft saga.
Don’t get me wrong: neither the original Final Fantasy, nor the legendary Hironobu Sakaguchi They invented turn-based combat. In fact, his arrival was an intentional slipstream from the success of Dragon Quest, despite the fact that Sakaguchi had been wanting to make a fantasy role-playing game for years. But in each of the main installments released until the turn of the millennium there were an evolution of those battles which Squaresoft led by far.
Enough, so that JRPGs (or Japanese role-playing games) gradually ceased to be considered niche and they became a true international phenomenon. A succession of revolutions that, as in most fantasy adventures and swords, began with a warrior, a magician and a thief.
How Final Fantasy set a new standard in turn-based combat
The great influence of Hironobu Sakaguchi when creating the F sagainal Fantasy it was not Dragon Quest, but Dungeons and Dragons and other games like the Wizardry saga that, even in Japan, were considered niche. And it is not for less: in the mid-80s both in the NES and in the arcades there had been a technological leap that exploded on the screens, and compete with games similar to conversational adventures or in which the text prevails over the action and graphics was going very against the grain.
But of course, how do we comment? Dragon Quest and its success completely changed the perception people had of RPGs and fantasy games, and Squaresoft -like so many others- saw an opportunity that they couldn’t pass up and that suited Sakaguchi like a glove. After all, he himself was clear about his preferences: offer good stories instead of another more action game. Something about which more than one current great role-playing blockbuster created in Japan should reflect on.
That said, and to put us in context, the turn-based battles in Dragon Quest, the most successful game of its time, and other PC RPGs looked just like that.
And well, to be honest, the most recent reissue of the game for Nintendo Switch is not that it has touched that structure too much.
What the player saw constantly and every certain steps were the enemies head-on and a variety of options to face them. A ritual that, as we mentioned at the beginning, has its own appeal, but is always subrogated to the combat that the one who holds the command imagine what is happening. Something very similar to the battles of Barcode Battler.
And, in that regard, the first Final Fantasy He knew how to establish a new chair: Hironobu Sakaguchi adapted (not to say that they copied) the essence of the role of paper and dice to video games through monsters, effects of weaknesses and strengths, and a layer of depth that favored the result. But it is that, in addition, those combats looked much more attractive than in the rest of the games.
The great milestone of designing the battle system of the first Final Fantasy It belongs to Hiroyuki Ito, and it has a double merit: not only was I learning as I went, but I had never played an RPG of any kind. As a result of this, he devised the combats inspired by other types of games, more specifically such as sports games of the time, so that following this logic we see two teams lined up on each side of the screen and each one deploys its strategy.
This was complemented by another essential element of the saga: the bestiary. Or, the collection of beasts and enemies. One of the greatest strengths of Dragon Quest – courtesy of Akira Toriyama’s imagination – that in Final Fantrasy gained another series of nuances given its rolera roots and the colossal influence of Dungeons & Dragons.
And despite the fact that the turn-based battle system of the original Final Fantasy today we see it with lots of weaknesses, since neither the heroes are balanced nor the magic system offers that kind of depth that is requested from the standards of the genre, that it established the direction to follow and established a new chair within a genre that was then emerging and is now widely expanded.
The leap in quality: the evolution until Final Fantasy VII and everything that came after
RPGs are the sum of many types of game experiences ranging from narrative to puzzles with more or less ambition, and despite the fact that it is hardly referred to, strategy is one of the most essential. Offering an entertaining, exciting and addictive combat system is just as important as the story. Among other reasons, because it depends on them that we are really interested in reaching the end of the game.
With the release of each new Final Fantasy, both Hironobu Sakaguchi and his teams perfected the formula following the trail of what was already being done. Little by little polishing the class systems, the affinities with the elements and the use of magic. Dedicating the same care as to the rest of the elements of the game, knowing that it is one of the great pillars of the experience.
Precisely for this reason, when it was reconsidered for the fourth installment It was a brave leap in all respects.
Final Fantasy IV introduced el Active Time Battle (ATB), the first combat system in the Squaresoft saga with its own name. For reference, until then they were known as just turn-based battles. The big difference was due to an extra conditional: the action of each character is determined by the time it takes to fill a bar, which makes attribute management more interesting.
That’s not to say that Square put all its eggs in one basket: it’s coming out in 1997. Final Fantasy Tactics and with it an alternative: the Charge Time BattleAlthough the real hit on the table will come a little later and it will not only be the implementation of more and more improvements, but a new condition that will bring down the last frontier for the general public.
The historic Final Fantasy VII was the first installment created in 3D, and that opened the door to the great epicity in turn-based battles.
The battle system Final Fantasy VII It was still the ATB, but the way in which the strategy was manifested through the characters and the tremendous summons rounded off an experience that crossed the screens. Sentencing the fights while we emptied our powers was and still is a great pleasure.
The next two games in the main saga of Final Fantasy They will continue that evolutionary line, interconnecting emotions and strategy in those same duels that continued to last several minutes, but were enjoyed in a very different way on the original PlayStation.
By the time it was time to make the generational change, Squaresoft also took the opportunity to go one step further: Final Fantasy X introduced the Conditional Turn-Based Battle (CTB) completely destroying the idea of rounds used until then and taking well-deserved muscle from what has been achieved in terms of presentation and emotion. In a way, a magnificent finale for what will be the end of an era.
From Final Fantasy XI Henceforth the course of the main saga will focus on combat in real time. Delegating to spin-offs and reissues the extensive legacy of ten installments to turn-based combat and those ideas directly extracted from role-playing manuals.
Implementing the strategy in combats in different ways and giving much more field and prominence to the show on screen and the execution of pirouettes and combos.
The current state of turn-based combat in Final Fantasy… and beyond
Each game in the saga of Final Fantasy it has its own story and characters, its main theme, and in general terms, its identity. There are recurring motifs and elements that in one way or another make an appearance. And despite the fact that not even the happy Chocobos are present in all the games, the battles are and will be one of the transcendental aspects.
In a way, it can almost be said that the success of the battle system of each Final fantasy is proportional to the draft of the delivery.
It would be a manual error to say that the genuine essence of the saga Final Fantasy was diluted with the disappearance of turn-based combat: there are many conditions that have affected each game released after the departure of Hironobu Sakaguchi and, like the RPG genre, lThe entire franchise should -and should- evolve and adapt to the reality of the industry.
Even when we can consider that the saga Final Fantasy pIt currently belongs to the genre of Action RPGs.. And that’s not necessarily bad.
Among other things, because new games come out Final Fantasy It does not mean that we continue to receive new versions of the classics. And even daring reinterpretations that seek to expand what has already been seen.
An example of this is Final Fantasy Origin, which is a total spin on the first Final Fantasy focused on multiplayer action. And yet, parallel to this proposal, we come across the Pixel Remaster version of the original, with all the good and nostalgic features of the NES title. With a completely revamped art section, of course, but with the best and not-so-good of the original vision preserved for longtime fans and those to come.
In fact, and despite the fact that the Final fantasy saga took a turn towards action, Hironobu Sakaguchi continued to bet on turn-based battles, adding success on success with Blue Dragon o Lost Odyssey.
But even in those, and to be fair, we ran into his The Last Story for Wii. The game in which Sakaguchi dared to plunge into ARPG territory and, in the process, took the color out of more than one more ambitious Japanese role-playing blockbuster.
In other words: turn-based combat is a transcendental part of the original legacy of Final Fantasybut the barrier that separates the most beloved games from the rest has been raised from other aspects related to the saga.
And despite the fact that the current Square Enix sometimes gives us one of lime and another of sand with its blockbusters, it is fair to recognize something essential: games like Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy or Live a Live keep alive the greatness of those combats for turns that we fell in love withThe first Final Fantasy.
Not by following closely what has already been seen in dozens of games, but by ensuring that each casual encounter, each battle and each great duel in which the fate of the world is at stake has the exact dose of strategy, the right amount of emotion and a special draft that is not expressed based on numbers.
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