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I think the "stagger system" is honestly one of the greatest additions to the RPG genre in many years

bbeach123

Member
I like it if the multiplier was okay (not more than 2x) .

Hate it when you spend 15-30 minute to hit the boss for only 10% hp and suddenly dealt like 50% boss hp in one stagger . Its stupid .
 
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I agree so much with this, and you can see in comments (here and everywhere else) about how many people never bothered to learn how to use it in any game. In FFXIII, there's a long segment without a character that can use Commando (Sazh and Fang), which is the job that the game tells you it can stabilize the stagger meter so it doesn't deplete as fast (and you can stagger enemies easily). In that particular segment, you're meant to use Ravager and Saboteur (but most people from what I saw ran with dual RAV), because Saboteur's abilities ALSO do this. Whenever I see a mention of "It took me minutes to defeat X boss/this was a slog", I can't help but feel it's just people that either didn't bother to learn how the staggering system works, or didn't understand the synergies required.
The give and take/delicate balance with staggering enemies is so freaking good. I think people are right when they say the combat system takes too long to open up, but when it does, there's nothing else like it. Incredibly engaging considering you're just cycling menus. Having to think and adjust on the fly is really exhilarating.
 

Fbh

Gold Member
While I've really enjoyed the combat in some games that have a stagger system (FF7R comes to mind), overall I don't really like the mechanic.
The whole concept of basically dealing "fake" damage in order to be able to do real damage is sort of annoying and, contrary to what OP says, I think it can often make the combat feel more monotonous and repetitive since you are encouraged to "hold" your best skills and attacks to unleash them all at once when the enemy is staggered
 

Crayon

Member
Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't.

I can say I tend to like it more for not.al fights and less for bosses. Bosses can transform and do all kinds of stuff to break a fight into stages.

Even normal enemies, though. They can be designed to come in different numbers and combinations that keep you on your toes.

The one cool thing is trying to set yourself up for the stagger. There's strategy to that. But I don't necessarily get a big payoff feeling from doing it right. The planing and execution on the way is fun though.
 

Kumomeme

Member
i like that the idea behind it that it rewarded players that keep continuous doing damage. it added direction, reasoning and layer of planning behind all the DPS.

so far we already see few variation of it. like in FF13, Remake, Rebirth, Guardian of Galaxy, and FF16.

ofcourse it is not perfect and there is some sound reasoning pointed from some of comments here. so it cant continuously remain same. it need to evolve with more tweak and variation need to be added if more game want to implement similliar system. personally some game might do wonder of benefit by the addition of variation over this system.

for example i like to see it in FF14. however to implement it would required overhaul of major gameplay design from boss fight structure, to job design & rotation and its burst phase. it might also encourage more focus in meta which is usually would attract more toxic behaviour.
 
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StueyDuck

Member
It's been around for a little bit with now different variations with the Final Fantasy series(I think stagger was first introduced to FF with XIII unless I'm mistaken?) and the Octopath series(break system) as well as some other games, but I think it's just a great system. It provides strategy to every fight to help alleviate a lot of the boredom and monotony that comes with RPG combat(specifically JRPGs) and also gives you that feeling of building up to something. The anticipation of working toward a stagger and finally getting it so you can unleash you best attacks is always super satisfying. To me, it never gets stale. The stagger system also prevents a lot of the "my strongest attack vs your strongest attack" that a lot of JRPGs devolve into.

I just think it's an awesome system. And Octopath built on it with the boosts that I think added an extra element to it as well.

I wish even more games would incorporate some variation of it. It's my favorite battle system in JRPG combat these days and by a wide margin.
It works in action jrpgs because you can only have so much fun repeating pressing the square button.

But it would be entirely unnecessary in an old school turn based jrpg where strategic planning takes priority
 
I thought it was an awful system in FFXIII but most games afterwards have done a better job with it.

But I could do without it in general.
 

Hudo

Member
For me personally Press Turn in SMT is my favourite combat system in JRPG, its fast and snappy and highly addictive.
If you really know what you're doing it feels like Tetris. When you line up every attack so that your enemy never gets a turn it feels like lining up rows in Tetris to me.
 
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