Final Fantasy XIII character progression system explained
by Griffin McElroy 
{ Nov 1st 2009 at 1:30PM } 
Andriasang laid out the gist of how the system operates -- instead of gaining experience from battles, players earn "Crystal Points," which they can then spend on new abilities and stat boosts which are arranged on a circular chart. As you progress down one of the chart's specialization trees, you unlock stronger abilities; Fire leads to Fira, and so on. Sounds a lot like the aforementioned Sphere Grid -- but we suppose we'll have to wait until we get our hands on the game before we can make a more insightful assessment.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Nov 1st 2009 1:34PM
THESE ARE 'TALENT POINTS', PEOPLE!
Don't play into their market hype.
The game will be great but enough of this talk, just give it to us already.
Punkrawk Bbob @ Nov 1st 2009 2:32PM
I wouldn't say Talent points, because it's a system that has been around well before WoW.
Sounds like Champions of Norrath, which is like Diablo 2, which is like every other hack and slash these days. Same as Borderlands and so forth. Skill trees are incredibly awesome when done right.
Examples of it done wrong? Untold Legends on PSP. Each rank up added less than a percent of performance per rank. Was sooooo lame.
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Nov 1st 2009 2:39PM
Fair enough. I just said 'talent points' because it seems like the one explanation that most people can compare it to these days.
Autobot (Now with Vitamin D)! @ Nov 1st 2009 3:07PM
I have to agree on Spyder on this one.
Punkrawk Bbob @ Nov 1st 2009 3:45PM
I know, that's the exact reason why I brought it up. Leave something like that alone long enough and everyone will think Warcraft invented it. I try to demoralize the WoW troops the best I can, ruffle their feathers and hope they open their eyes to a much more beautiful world of gaming. Ya know, everything else.
I guess in all fairness though, Blizzard made Diablo 2 and Warcraft...
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Nov 1st 2009 3:50PM
True, Bbob.
It's like the die-hard Warcraft fans who like to believe none of it was ever taken from the old Warhammer / D&D series.
Which was taken from Tolkein.
Olicon @ Nov 1st 2009 10:29PM
Then you'd have to date it all the way back to Feats of PnP RPGs. But seriously--they're just minor semantics.
Vincent @ Nov 2nd 2009 8:08AM
@Olicon: To be fair, "Feats" showed up in DnD 3rd Edition only in year 2000. Talent trees in electronic RPGs are a little older than that if I'm not mistaken. You could talk about Vampire: The Masquerade's Disciplines though which dates from early 90s.
Huey2k2 @ Nov 1st 2009 1:34PM
Sounds like a more streamlined version of the sphere grid.
The problem I always had with the sphere grid is it was difficult to pick and choose abilities you specifically wanted.... plus it always felt like you were being forced down specific paths. I hope this system isn't like that.
The_Punisher @ Nov 1st 2009 1:44PM
Agreed. The Sphere Grid was definitely one of the best progression systems from a FF game, so taking that and making it easier to use sounds awesome.
Flo @ Nov 1st 2009 1:44PM
I remember Final Fantasy X. I never finished it :( It was fun though.
Magresda @ Nov 1st 2009 2:22PM
The Sphere Grid was by far my favorite FF leveling system. While it set every character down a specific path, you were never forced to pick a specific skill. And after you finished a characters "part" of the grid you were free to choose which one you would do next. It wasn't perfect by a long shot, but definitely my favorite. A re-tuning of the Sphere Grid would be amazing.
I just got even more excited for FFXIII... If that's even possible.
Punkrawk Bbob @ Nov 1st 2009 2:35PM
I wouldn't say streamlined sphere grid, I'd say it sounds more involved.
It sounds like instead of just skills and attributes, now you can get like "Dodge +5%" or "Swords +5%" as well. That would be way sweet if they go that route. I'd imagine that being incredibly hard to balance (or incredibly easy to make inefficient chars) - But we'll see come December.
LegendaryRedass @ Nov 1st 2009 4:31PM
I didn't think it was that difficult. I had the entire thing unlocked for every character by level 45
Filthy Assistant @ Nov 1st 2009 6:04PM
FFX is one of the worst goddamn RPGs I've ever played, but yes, the Sphere grid was good. It was the only good part of that wretched game, but still.
Punkrawk Bbob @ Nov 1st 2009 7:16PM
... You do know there were no levels in FFX, right?
And FFX wasn't that bad. Story was great, and cinematic presentation was sweet. FFX-2 perfected the CTB battle system though. But if you're a fan of western RPGs, I can't expect you to see the greatness of FFX.
WREturns [Planeteer I Power of The Final Countdown] @ Nov 1st 2009 7:37PM
I think the Junction system from FFXIII was the best by far. I could make my people exactly how I wanted them.
Filthy Assistant @ Nov 1st 2009 8:29PM
"Story was great, and cinematic presentation was sweet."
Nah. It wasn't. You can dress up a dog turd all you want but it's still a turd.
"I think the Junction system from FFXIII was the best by far."
Learn roman numerals please, they're not hard.
Ghen @ Nov 2nd 2009 9:00AM
I loved the Sphere Grid as well. Mainly because I like needless complexities :)
On a simpler note, I really loved materia and integrating weapons with spells. Damn that was a nice system. Completely different than the rank and file character systems you see albeit pretty simplistic by today's standards.
den-69 @ Nov 2nd 2009 1:19PM
I always made Yuna go down Lulu's path on the sphere grid, that way I could have multiple magic casters.
Was awesome game and I am desperate for it to be brought to the PS2.
WREturns [Planeteer I Power of The Final Countdown] @ Nov 2nd 2009 2:53PM
Ah shit. Well I clearly meant FFVIII as Filthy Assistant so tactfully pointed out.
Ghen @ Nov 2nd 2009 3:59PM
The Junction system had a fatal flaw though. Once you get your available magics to max storage numbers using draw you never wanted to use magic unless the situation was desperately dire. Also, when fighting monsters you had to sit there for 20 minutes drawing over and over again on every character to get those maxed magics.
As for the rest of the game, loved it.. but the junction/draw system needed fixing.
Archon (PSN: Archonik, XBL: DarkARHN) @ Nov 1st 2009 1:37PM
I really like the standard Diablo-like level progression.
You level up, your stats increase, you choose what to boost and an ability. Love it.
I found the FF XII progression system a pain on my first playthrough. The whole grid
system... Oh the endless choices :(
I like playing a game without having to use a guide just to enjoy it and not get my ass kicked every five minutes because I did it wrong :)
Neptune @ Nov 1st 2009 2:37PM
I actually think the Diablo (2) system can also kick your ass every five minutes if you do it wrong. Like putting 20 points to the crow summon skill or something. Or I could be wrong and that would be the toughest crow ever :)
But the point in FFX system was that you could easily focus on the characters own class's sphere and get the necessary skills and hp/mp boosts.
Avatar @ Nov 1st 2009 5:03PM
@Neptune
It's actually really hard to fuck up your character in Diablo 2. Whether you focus on just on skill tree or spread it around a little, the game is no more difficult. Now I want to play it.
Wardo @ Nov 1st 2009 1:45PM
Hopefully this doesn't make leveling up too much of a chore.
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Nov 1st 2009 2:05PM
+1
BigD145 @ Nov 1st 2009 6:26PM
Hopefully this doesn't make leveling up too much of a bore. I'm looking at you, FFVIII.
Jinsenken @ Nov 1st 2009 8:39PM
Why exactly were you leveling up during FFVIII in the first place? You're not supposed to do that on purpose.
tmacairjordan87 @ Nov 1st 2009 1:46PM
I really don't see very much of a difference between this and the sphere grid, but then again I'm not expecting innovation out of a jrpg anymore so I'm not going to complain.
Wiizer ($299) Having BC On Your Launch Console? (Priceless) @ Nov 1st 2009 1:48PM
But see, by trolling in the FFXIII post...
You kinda just did. =/
tmacairjordan87 @ Nov 1st 2009 1:49PM
It's not trolling when you're stating a fact.
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Nov 1st 2009 2:01PM
It's difficult to read a tmac post and not expect there to be some trolling sprinkled somewhere in between the lines.
The Artist formerly known as Jesus @ Nov 1st 2009 2:04PM
I find it difficult to read tmac posts because they're always whited out. :(
tmacairjordan87 @ Nov 1st 2009 2:05PM
Might need better eyes then cause I can see whited out posts as good as regular ones.
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Nov 1st 2009 2:07PM
I would expect you of all people to be able to read white posts.
tmacairjordan87 @ Nov 1st 2009 2:10PM
You should be able to as well from your trolling stint a few months ago. That's why I was laughing at how you were trying to play the good guy yesterday, you're not fooling anyone.
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Nov 1st 2009 2:12PM
Um.. What?
tmac, I think you're making 'too much' out of this site. Maybe it's time for a break?
This isn't a soap opera. It's a blog.
tmacairjordan87 @ Nov 1st 2009 2:14PM
Exactly what i'm talking about, that right there. You're also on here all the time, which is also why I was laughing at you calling bradwart out for that the other day. No matter how much you try to deflect that attention no one on here has forgotten how annoying you can be.
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Nov 1st 2009 2:17PM
Yes, but here's the thing.
I'm not afraid to admit I'm a pompous ass who annoys a fair amount of people.
I think that's already been pretty much been proven to be true.
However, if you look at my comments that actually require some sort of intelligence, you will see that most of the time they are blue.
Get over yourself, Halloween is over. It's time to stop playing 'detective'.
Hace @ Nov 1st 2009 2:20PM
tmac if you want people to like then don't be such a bitch about everything
tmacairjordan87 @ Nov 1st 2009 2:21PM
Your comments are blue because you try to pretend to be the good guy, because you cannot be who you are all the time. You're too worried about blue posts and white posts.
I at least have the balls to be who I am 100% of the time regardless of who I offend or upset.
SecretAgentHam @ Nov 1st 2009 2:27PM
This is the best thread ever. please, keep going. this is better than those spanish soap operas on tv. you two have a real knack for this kinda thing...
Darth Bradwart, Dark Lord of the Sith @ Nov 1st 2009 2:32PM
I don't know, Ham. Those soap operas are pretty damn good.
And I'm gonna have to side with Tmac here-he does say what he thinks.
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Nov 1st 2009 2:33PM
Tmac Pero, ¿cómo podremos averiguar quién mató al cantinero?!
Babel @ Nov 1st 2009 2:33PM
Gentlemen, please! This is a thread about Final Fantasy, not troubled young guys with something to prove!
Darth Bradwart, Dark Lord of the Sith @ Nov 1st 2009 2:36PM
Aren't the protagonists of Final Fantasy games 'troubled young people with something to prove'? So it makes sense, in a twisted kind of logic.
tmacairjordan87 @ Nov 1st 2009 2:38PM
I'll have to get fernando to translate that for me later. I'd love to keep this pointless argument going, and on a normal boring day I would, but this is football day and I need to watch my broncos go 7-0.
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Nov 1st 2009 2:38PM
...For once someone was able to give meaning to an argument.
Damn you, Bradwart.
Well, at least you're tolerable. Not like tmac.
Reuben @ Nov 1st 2009 2:52PM
Tmac, you started it with the end of your comment. There is no way that you didn't know what you were doing.