time gauge and card battle system
Still getting used to the Grandia Parallel Trippers game that Scot gave me (also a challenge because the game is totally in Japanese but thankfully it's for Gameboy so no kanji). The battle set up is basically the weirdest thing I have ever seen for an RPG. There is a little numbered meter on the bottom of the battle screen which shows where your characters are vs the enemies in a span of time rather than space. You move to the left as your turn approaches to decide your action. Then you get to place that character on any untaken number (can't have them be at the same point in time as another team member or an enemy). From then on they move toward the right of the meter. When they reach the right end they perform the action.
Actions are performed strictly of attacks which use AP points. These points gradually recharge as time passes while the character moves across the meter, so that you don't run out in a battle and become screwed. Each attack uses a specific number of points. Some attacks are physical and some are magical (there are also moves which are NOT attacks such as healing spells but they are all in the same category). Different characters have different moves that can be equipped. You can add and remove any moves you wish but each character can only have so many equipped.... I think it's 6 or 8.
You often get cards after defeating enemies and bosses. These cards are the moves you equip. You can also get cards out of a bubble machine in the main town for 50 coins, but they come at random. You can equip the cards as moves immediately and any time you want by opening the menu. One sucky thing about this system is that each card is only one move and some of the great cards take so many AP points it's ridiculous. But at least you are able to customize what moves each character has.... with the drawback that certain characters can't do certain moves.
You can combine cards at any warp point (a glowing pyramid-like thing that also appears in the PS Grandia game). You can chose any two cards to combine that are not equipped to your team. It will show you at the bottom what card they will create when combined. Combining a water and fire card doesn't work so well and usually just gives you a lower level than you started with, but you can create magical weapon attacks by combining magical and physical attacks. You can also create higher level cards by combining two of the same kind or sometimes two of different kinds (the first card you pick sometimes dominates over the second).
The coolest thing about the battle set up with these cards is that something special happens when two or three of your characters hit the end of the action meter at the same time. The moves of all your characters will create a special combo move which in effect is like having an extra move that turn because your characters will still perform all the individual moves you assigned them. The combo move is based off from the individual moves. For example, if you pick a fire attack and a bow attack, you will have some kind of flaming arrow attack followed by each individual attack. The only big drawback to this system is the obvious - when you want someone to heal someone (water-based magic) and you want someone to attack someone (especially if you want to attack with fire). In that case it almost makes more sense to not have them near each other on the meter otherwise their combination will be not so great. Another bummer is that the enemy also is on the same meter and you can't be on the same space of the meter as them, which means you might be lining up your characters to be together when suddenly an enemy cuts in between your members. But you can do combos with groups of two or three people so if even two are together it's still pretty good. That also helps when you want to heal and attack because you can have two people attack together and one person heal separately.
I'm still figuring out the best way to use this system. Luckily there is an index in the menu which allows you to see every kind of card you have already seen and what it does. That way as soon as you get a new card you don't have to equip it to know what it's for and whether or not you want to keep it. It's also handy to reference them. There are almost 250 kinds of cards available.
Actions are performed strictly of attacks which use AP points. These points gradually recharge as time passes while the character moves across the meter, so that you don't run out in a battle and become screwed. Each attack uses a specific number of points. Some attacks are physical and some are magical (there are also moves which are NOT attacks such as healing spells but they are all in the same category). Different characters have different moves that can be equipped. You can add and remove any moves you wish but each character can only have so many equipped.... I think it's 6 or 8.
You often get cards after defeating enemies and bosses. These cards are the moves you equip. You can also get cards out of a bubble machine in the main town for 50 coins, but they come at random. You can equip the cards as moves immediately and any time you want by opening the menu. One sucky thing about this system is that each card is only one move and some of the great cards take so many AP points it's ridiculous. But at least you are able to customize what moves each character has.... with the drawback that certain characters can't do certain moves.
You can combine cards at any warp point (a glowing pyramid-like thing that also appears in the PS Grandia game). You can chose any two cards to combine that are not equipped to your team. It will show you at the bottom what card they will create when combined. Combining a water and fire card doesn't work so well and usually just gives you a lower level than you started with, but you can create magical weapon attacks by combining magical and physical attacks. You can also create higher level cards by combining two of the same kind or sometimes two of different kinds (the first card you pick sometimes dominates over the second).
The coolest thing about the battle set up with these cards is that something special happens when two or three of your characters hit the end of the action meter at the same time. The moves of all your characters will create a special combo move which in effect is like having an extra move that turn because your characters will still perform all the individual moves you assigned them. The combo move is based off from the individual moves. For example, if you pick a fire attack and a bow attack, you will have some kind of flaming arrow attack followed by each individual attack. The only big drawback to this system is the obvious - when you want someone to heal someone (water-based magic) and you want someone to attack someone (especially if you want to attack with fire). In that case it almost makes more sense to not have them near each other on the meter otherwise their combination will be not so great. Another bummer is that the enemy also is on the same meter and you can't be on the same space of the meter as them, which means you might be lining up your characters to be together when suddenly an enemy cuts in between your members. But you can do combos with groups of two or three people so if even two are together it's still pretty good. That also helps when you want to heal and attack because you can have two people attack together and one person heal separately.
I'm still figuring out the best way to use this system. Luckily there is an index in the menu which allows you to see every kind of card you have already seen and what it does. That way as soon as you get a new card you don't have to equip it to know what it's for and whether or not you want to keep it. It's also handy to reference them. There are almost 250 kinds of cards available.