Best magic system?

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Best magic system?

Postby Thoul » Fri Nov 21, '08, 8:41 pm

One thing that evolved over the course of the series is the the way magic attacks are used. In PSI it was a fairly traditional system - MP to cast various spells learned on leveling up. In PSII, that was replaced with TP and techniques, but was still basically the same thing. However, items that could cast important techs were added, rendering TP less useful later.

PSIII had set technique groups for everyone. No one ever learned a new technique by leveling up. However, you could adjust the power of techs at certain shops, making one weaker or stronger.

PSIV went back to PSII's style, but with fewer tech casting items. They also added skills, which were (at least for Rune and Kyra), the same spells used in PSI. Instead of MP though, they had a set number of uses that increased as characters leveled.

Which of those do you think was the best? The traditional, the traditional with item backups, the distributed techs, or the skill system?
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Postby Lemina » Fri Nov 21, '08, 11:20 pm

Thoul wrote:No one ever learned a new technique by leveling up.

Seriously? I need to play that game again....

Me? My favorite magic system has to be PSIV's. I like the mix between techs and skills; if you ran out of TP--cast a skill. :rofl: Erm, the main reason I liked PSIV's system was that it had the biggest variety of techs and spells coupled with a pretty big variety of character units. Yup. :D
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Postby Atlinsmere » Sat Nov 22, '08, 5:28 am

I would have to say PSIV. My reason? Well, I would have to agree with Lemina. I like the mix of techs and skills. Also the combinastion system was superb. If I remember correctly, PSIV was the first game to successfully have a working combination system.
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Postby Lucas » Sat Nov 22, '08, 5:36 am

I have to go with Lemina and Trenzer. PSIV all the way not to mention it was very easy to pick up. PSIII had me stuck for a couple of fights there when I first started it. So yeah definitly IV's magic system.
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Postby Thoul » Sat Nov 22, '08, 5:20 pm

I also have to agree on PSIV. The skills fitting each character added a lot of strategy to the battles, especially when you have to heal Wren or Demi using their own skills instead of techs.

To be honest, I never understood how PSIII tech's system worked when I first played it. The whole distribution concept just went completely over my head back then. Instead of using techs, I mostly just used normal attacks all the time. I should play it again, really making use of the techs, sometime.

Trenzer wrote:If I remember correctly, PSIV was the first game to successfully have a working combination system.


Yeah, there is that also. All of the games could have benefited from that.
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Postby Dorrinal » Tue Nov 25, '08, 5:18 am

This is a toss-up for me. The most interesting technique system was found in PSIII. Being able to tailor your spells to suit your playstyle and/or needs was great, and the system was simple and intuitive. You can't say that about the customization systems found in games like Final Fantasy 8. Too bad that system was wasted on PSIII; after Lyle the only techniques worth casting are heals.

Well... I'm lazy so here's a repost of something I wrote a while back.

Here's one of the reasons PSIV is my favorite -- you can use techniques and skills regularly without running out before the boss of the current level. Sega solved the equation I like to call the "Warrior/Mana Problem". In any RPG, how do you balance the power of "magic" versus the attack power of your average fighty class? How do you make a magic-user useful in every little fight instead of saving them up for nuking bosses? PSIV solves the equation in three ways.

The first solution was skills. Since skills don't cost TP, they don't share a common pool of resources with other abilities. For example: Rika can use Disrupt and Eliminate to mangle regular monsters while saving all her TP for her Nasar technique.

The second solution was to provide multiple-target attacks that were actually TP-efficient or skills. These abilities weren't useful on most bosses but you could blow your way through regular fights with smart use of them.

The third solution is my favorite. Sega actually made the instant-death attacks work. How many times have you blown 5% of your MP on "Death" in some other rpg, watch the cool animation, only to see "Miss" or "Immune"? Not in PSIV. Conserve your TP and single-target damage skills like Crosscut, while killing monsters much faster than you could with regular attacks.

Go ahead, try selecting Explode, Eliminate, Crash and Diem every combat in the last dungeon!
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