Final Fantasy XIII is a console role-playing game being developed by Square Enix. It is to be released for PlayStation 3 in Japan, and on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in Europe and North America. First appearing at the 2006 E3, the game features futuristic elements and is set in a high-tech world. It is set to be released in Japan on December 17, 2009.
The concept for Final Fantasy XIII's battle system is to maintain the strategic nature of command-based battles. The system stemmed from a desire to create battles similar to those found in Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. Like those in Final Fantasy XII, enemies are integrated into the world environment. Yet unlike Final Fantasy XII battles do not take place in the same "dimension", but rather a short flash transports players to a new battle screen, separate from the main playing world. The Active Time Battle (ATB) system will return, but it works differently from its predecessors. Users will be able to chain large numbers of commands together in order to achieve attack bonuses.
The first battle system was shown during the E3 2006, but it was only a prototype. A new interface was shown recently by Square Enix in various Japanese magazines and trailers (depicted in the image adjacent). In battle, the player can only control one character at a time out of a party of up to three.
Multiple commands can be stacked into slots per turn and released at the same time to form a combo. The number of command slots increases as the characters grow in strength. These commands include series staples such as Attack, Fire, Blizzard and Cure, as well as new ones such as Ruin, Ruinaga, and Radial Strike. The difference between XIII's battle system and the ATB gauge is that these commands can still be placed in the slots even though the bar has run out, and the actions will be executed once the required slots are filled up. This, however, affects the chain combo hits as the combo has been interrupted. The game does not make use of MP but introduces "cost points" for each command, which determine how many times the commands can be used per turn. Because magic cannot be used outside of battle, the HP of the party is completely restored after each battle.
