See How the 4 Heroes Do Battle

[TwinBahamut]

The 4 Heroes of Light may have been created in the spirit of the older Final Fantasy games, but the battle system is entirely its own. Learn how it works in this trailer.

[Sui-kun]

This battle system reminds me of Final Fantasy XIII's battle system.

But I like the battle theme. It's very peppy.

[watcher]

That battle music already annoys me.

[Jitawa]

It seems too basic and Mystic-questy to me, but maybe that's just me.

[freykin]

I'm looking forward to this, especially if the multiplayer aspect is at all similar to DQ9's.

Edit: I think I might be the only person who enjoyed Mystic Quest. I played that game to death, it was the first rpg I played that didn't have random encounters and visually showed enemies weakening when they were low on health. I've used it a couple times to introduce people to rpgs, and it's worked pretty well for that .

[scorpio]

Yeah looks like this one is gonna be skipped by me. I've been wanting to like it, but the graphics, music, and now combat system, just all seem too childish for myself. I'm sure it'll be great for others... just simply not for me.

[shoptroll]

This does look like it's going to be "My First JRPG" which might work as a good intro to the concepts. The trailer seemed very tutorialish to me, although the combat system does seem a little bit like Chrono Cross and FFXIII's for some reason. The music is a weird combination of modern instrumentation with 8-bit synth. Weird.

I wonder if the simplified battle system was done to keep things flowing during multiplayer? Turn based multiplayer is kinda irritating if you have people with different skill levels for the faster people, so maybe it's designed with that in mind?

This game seems weird and I don't know what to make of it. I'm probably going to wait on reviews before deciding if this is worth getting.

[MonCapitan2002]

I was interested in this game until I heard about it being multplayer. That aspect of the title is giving me pause as I prefer my RPG's to be solo experiences.

[Confessor Rahl]

Hmmm, I like the look of it. The game in full motion is so much more attractive than the stills as well.

[VOXanation]

It looks more interesting than the previous entries, at least.

[hoktomaster]

Well iv already got mine pre-ordered

[Zbornak]

There was an interesting article on the game in Nintendo Power a few months back. Although the game may appear along the lines of Mystic Quest or a beginner RPG, it's not that at all. The game is a throwback to early RPGs with a focus on gameplay rather than story, difficult enemies, required exploration (as opposed to being told exactly where to go next), and the lack of modern niceties like automaps and unlimited inventories. The director of 4HoL also directed the original Final Fantasy IV. Whereas that game was one of the first to have a major focus on story, 4HoL is supposed to be revolutionary in how it eschews many modern RPG staples.

As for the multiplayer, it looks to be completely superfluous. The game is a full single-player game that you can also play with other people controlling your party members.

[scorpio]

There was an interesting article on the game in Nintendo Power a few months back. Although the game may appear along the lines of Mystic Quest or a beginner RPG, it's not that at all. The game is a throwback to early RPGs with a focus on gameplay rather than story, difficult enemies, required exploration (as opposed to being told exactly where to go next), and the lack of modern niceties like automaps and unlimited inventories. The director of 4HoL also directed the original Final Fantasy IV. Whereas that game was one of the first to have a major focus on story, 4HoL is supposed to be revolutionary in how it eschews many modern RPG staples.

As for the multiplayer, it looks to be completely superfluous. The game is a full single-player game that you can also play with other people controlling your party members.

Grrr... trying to make me play a game i've already dimissed. LOL... maybe I will get it.... doesn't take much to convince me to at least "try" a final fantasy titled game.

[Rage]

For all the people saying this looks like a simplistic, kiddie battle system: it's not. The graphics and goofy tutorial trailer probably aren't helping, but the trailer needs to be tutorialish or people are going to be pissed off when they grab this game. And even then, this battle system is going to throw people because it's not what they're expecting at all (and that, of course, makes people mad).

It's...uh, nothing like Chrono Cross. And absolutely nothing like Final Fantasy XIII. From someone who's beaten both this and FFXIII.

This is one that requires more strategy and forethought than some other systems because it lacks a targeting system. You don't get to pick your targets, and each ability has its own built in "rules" (as the trailer puts it) about who gets targeted and when. Each character gets only a few spells or skills, regardless of what class they are. Even a Black Mage can't equip all the black spells at once, for example. Any character can use any spell in any class (as long as you have it), but you've only got 24 slots at most when the whole party's potential is pooled together, and often characters are solo or in pairs. You need select attacks in the right order, and balance how many Action Points you're using and when you forgo doing anything in favor of charging those points. You can only store five action points, and heavy hitters like Meteor will cost four. It can get intensely strategic, honestly.

Job Crowns don't work the way other job systems do. People have complained that the game forces players to use specific jobs throughout the game, but those are people who are stuck in preconceptions about how those jobs should behave because of other Final Fantasy games. Drop those preconceptions. Give your White Mage a sword. Toss your Monk a Black spell. The customization is very flexible.

EDIT: And the game can be a completely solo experience. There is multiplayer, but it is, as somebody mentioned, superfluous. To say "it's a multiplayer game" is wrong.

[xaviersaint]

That seems a little odd for my tastes. Definitely not what you'd call a fan of it. I'm all for experimenting with Battle Systems, Level Up Systems, etc. but Square Enix might want to reign themselves in just a bit in the future.

[MonCapitan2002]

I happen to think they should experiment as much as possible. This is especially true with titles of this nature as their budget will be nowhere near what a console game would be so if the experiment turns out to be a failure, they won't take a huge loss.

[Nim]

@Rage
I like most of the things I have read about this game, but not being able to target your enemies the way you want sounds frustrating. Could you share your opinion on that?

[shoptroll]

I was interested in this game until I heard about it being multplayer. That aspect of the title is giving me pause as I prefer my RPG's to be solo experiences.

It's not fully MP afaik. You can play the game solo I think.

[Confessor Rahl]

You better be able to play the game solo. It would be ridiculous otherwise!

[Wheels]

The multiplayer is completely optional