Final Fantasy XIII: Active Time Battle redefined. Summons, too.

When you saw that menu slider in the bottom of the Final Fantasy XIII trailer, Square Enix apparently meant it. When they said that they wanted Advent Children-brand arse-kicking throughout, Squeenix meant it. The challenge is to merge the two in a seamless and thorough fashion. You know what comes next, right? Squeenix means it.

1UP reveals yet another Squeenix-confessions-to-Rev. Famitsu piece, featuring Motomu Toriyama doing penance for keeping such juicy information away from the prying eyes of the public. Highlight of the piece: unless 1UP horribly mistranslated, Toriyama says that “the foundation (of the new battle system) is based on active-time battles (ATB), but the waiting time until you choose a command is gone for the most part.”

In other words, what you saw in the trailer is – hopefully! – what you’ll get when the game and  – hopefully! – its demo come out. Maybe there’ll be a few changes, or it might not look that way at all, but would 1UP really say the words “active time battle” without understanding what it meant? We think not.

Let the imaginations run riot later, there’s more spilling out of the confessional. Toriyama also confirms: every summon will be part mecha, and will have “an expanded role”. Like Shiva, who now doubles as Fenri – er, a motorcycle. “Toriyama hinted that he thinks ‘it might be the case’ that you can ride it during a fight.” … … Are we talking about the ATB-modified fight or a motorcycle minigame a la FFVII?

When you saw that menu slider in the bottom of the Final Fantasy XIII trailer, Square Enix apparently meant it. When they said that they wanted Advent Children-brand arse-kicking throughout, Squeenix meant it. The challenge is to merge the two in a seamless and thorough fashion. You know what comes next, right? Squeenix means it.

1UP reveals yet another Squeenix-confessions-to-Rev. Famitsu piece, featuring Motomu Toriyama doing penance for keeping such juicy information away from the prying eyes of the public. Highlight of the piece: unless 1UP horribly mistranslated, Toriyama says that “the foundation (of the new battle system) is based on active-time battles (ATB), but the waiting time until you choose a command is gone for the most part.”

In other words, what you saw in the trailer is – hopefully! – what you’ll get when the game and  – hopefully! – its demo come out. Maybe there’ll be a few changes, or it might not look that way at all, but would 1UP really say the words “active time battle” without understanding what it meant? We think not.

Let the imaginations run riot later, there’s more spilling out of the confessional. Toriyama also confirms: every summon will be part mecha, and will have “an expanded role”. Like Shiva, who now doubles as Fenri – er, a motorcycle. “Toriyama hinted that he thinks ‘it might be the case’ that you can ride it during a fight.” … … Are we talking about the ATB-modified fight or a motorcycle minigame a la FFVII?