Oh yeah, really sounds like combat is gonna be very tactical and thought provoking like FFXI is. Me likes!
- Quote :
- It’s all in the timing
In FFXI, battles took place through an auto-attack system, but in FFXIV, you will be selecting each action from your action menu, and the timing will be very important. A character is normally in passive mode, with their weapon sheathed, but they switch into active mode by drawing their weapon. In active mode, the action menu opens when an enemy is targeted. When you select the move (attack, magic, weapon skill, etc) that you want to use, the action gauge (the gauge that shows how much time must pass before you can use the skill) begins to fill. The move will activate when the gauge is full. If a player chooses not to use the move, a second gauge, the “effect gauge,” begins to fill. The effect gauge has three levels. With each level the gauge fills, attack power goes up at the cost of a little accuracy.
You can control when you attack, but you need to pay attention to the distance between you and your enemy, because you can’t use the attack if your enemy is out of range. Some moves will allow movement while action gauge is filling. By putting away your weapon, you enter passive mode. In passive mode, your HP regenerates and your movement speed increases compared to active mode. Perhaps players will sheathe their weapons between fights and take time to chat between battles until they heal their HP.
Enemy’s party strength is viewable via the colored icon next to an enemy’s name. There are five colors: red is “incredibly tough,” orange is “very tough,” yellow is “tough,” green is “even match,” and blue is
“easy prey.” Without a party, I tried challenging an enemy that appeared red to me and got the pants beat off me in a few hits. I think it’s safe to say that you’ll be going after green enemies alone, while taking on yellow to red monsters in parties.
Learned moved are useable by placing them in the action menu, and one page of the action menu holds up to 10 actions. In the alpha, there were two pages available for use, so you could set 20 actions. Aside from a few exceptions, most moves were useable cross-class, and the moves were still pretty strong even when used by a different class, so this will probably really open up character development.
When you take a mercenary guildleve, it tells you your target monster. There are a few rare guildleves, too.
If you get in a tough spot, you can run away in passive mode to restore HP.
If you are defeated, return to the Aetherite using warp. You’ll be in a weakened state for a period of time.
Subject: Battle & Guildleve Details 
Sat Apr 10, 2010 7:14 pm
