Lightning Returns: FFXIII director talks about action-oriented combat system

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII has decided to ditch an age long tradition for the series and (most) RPGs in general of battling with a party with you, and will give players control of only Lightning. Why? To approach the combat in a more action-oriented manner. The combat system has been completely reworked to move away from the Semi-turn based battles of the series to a more Kingdom Hearts-like style.

Lightning Returns director Motomu Toriyama says that this is actually a much better direction for the series.

“I think when we talk about the visual side of the battles, if you think about the traditional RPG or JRPG, if you like, [driven] by command battle systems, you have to wait for your enemy to attack you, which is highly unrealistic,” he told NowGamer.

“In order to pursue a more realistic depiction of combat, I think this is the way – the mainstream way, anyway – in an RPG in general. But on the other hand, that strategic element and command battle elements, which were the case with Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2, is still there in this latest instalment,” he continued.

“In this game you can see three Active Time Battle bars on the screen and you can change into costumes for the best customisation possible, so it’s not entirely an action game, it’s not action game enough to be solely intuitive

“It’s more like you have to think about it – we believe that’s one of the great legacies from XIII and XIII-2 that were still sticking to.”

What do you guys think of this? Are you impressed with the details on Lightning Returns’ combat? Tell us via your comments.