Sol Exodus: Combat Systems and Mission Types

Sol: Exodus is a space flight simulator; a genre that was very popular ten years ago but steadily fell off. Sol uses new features of today’s computers to improve on old systems and borrows from other genres to create new features. The end result is very interesting and this post will critique the unique combat hacking system and enemy fighter design.

The game’s combat is standard dog fighting for the most part but for larger enemies there is an interesting new system: Hacking. Ships too large to attack directly can be weakened by hacking their computers to expose sweet spots that are vulnerable to the player’s weapons. Hacking takes the form of a memory mini-game that goes on while the player is still flying through space. The hacking window shows an ever changing grid of letters and numbers that gradually fade while the correct characters will glow one by one in sequential order. After the key has been revealed the player just has to pick it out of a list of similar looking keys. The Hacking window is well sized and placed to allow players to hack and dog fight at the same time. In game I found having to do both at the same time was manageable and gave a sense of intensity to the character matching mini-game.

Hacking - Lower Left Corner

The enemy design is where the game falls down a bit. Enemy fighters and frigates are all very dark in their color scheme which lets them fade into the blackness of space. On one hand this is realistic but on the other hand it doesn’t make for good fun. Even large enemies can get mixed up in the background when the player is moving at max speed. The targeting computer compensates a little in this regard but I’d rather be able to see brightly colored space ships (see Battlestar Galactica’s Viper design).

The biggest issue I had with the game was its most used mission type and the enemies associated with that mission: the escort quest. Most of the missions will require the player to protect an asset from various types of enemies. The most frustrating of which are the leech ships which are tiny, dull colored, do massive damage, and latch onto the sides of friendly ships. They don’t target the player but the assets the player is trying to protect and this is where the frustration comes from. Making strafing runs against an enemy cruiser is one thing but strafing a friendly ship looking for little grey-blue bulbs to shoot off is another thing entirely. This wouldn’t be as large an issue if this enemy and mission type weren’t always reappearing.

As a whole the game is competent and has some potential. For now though its mission selection and enemy design are holding it back by creating frustration instead of engagement. 

Final Fantasy XIII - Command Synergy Battle System

Final Fantasy games have been changing combat systems between each game in the franchise. Taking this into consideration; the combat of XIII is probably the most divergent and ambitious system to date. It still adheres to basic conventions of the series such as turn based combat, 3 character teams, et cetera but it takes a drastic step back in terms of player-avatar alignment. Players no longer directly control 3 characters in combat: two are left in the hands of competent computers while the player has control of the party leader. This and other leaps the combat system takes are interesting choices which have substantial results on the gameplay that, in my opinion, work against player engagement.
The Command Synergy Battle (CSB) system emphasizes speed and precision. This is reinforced in many different aspects of the game. Damaging enemies will fill their chain gauge which causes them to take more damage. After the initial strike the gauge will empty itself increasingly quickly which teaches players to do as many attacks as possible in small amounts of time. Also the score screens at the end of each battle will rate players on damage done, damage taken, and time length of the fight. Even performing Paradigm Shifts, the act of changing the collective roles of your team (called Paradigms), at the right time will make the ATB gauge fill faster thus allowing the player more actions over less time. All these systems encourage players to act quickly in the game’s strategic environment. This isn’t an inherently bad concept but the CSB’s shortcomings really show when the required speed begins to clash with the required precision and other game system’s styles.

Precision in combat execution is just as important as speed. Many enemies react strongly to certain attack types whether they are magical, physical, or have an elemental type to them. Some enemies are naturally resistant to all types of damage until they have their Chain Gauge filled entirely which makes every attack cause devastating amounts of damage. It becomes important to spend actions to “Libra” an opponent which will reveal the targets weaknesses allowing AI partners and the auto-battle option to be more effective. I found that I used Auto-Battle more than any other command available from the menus. All of combat centered around two turns of Libras to thoroughly know an enemy type and then auto-battle to victory.
I found that navigating the menu to select my desired ability proved more arduous than I anticipated because of the speed required to make my actions effective. For example: timing AOE attacks to hit multiple targets while they are grouped together or selecting specific spells to exploit a target’s elemental weakness in conjunction with AI partners. These issues recur throughout the game which discouraged me from using anything but the auto-battle button.
The battle system’s prominent feature, Paradigm shifts, didn’t engage me as a player. The act of shifting paradigms boiled down to pressing three buttons and selecting an item from a menu. Admittedly there is a lot of pre-battle preparation to make this system work but time spent organizing a chart of roles wasn’t fun or engaging for me. The combined elements I mention streamline gameplay down to where I, as the player, didn’t feel necessary to the game. I wasn't involved in the combat so much as I guided the characters through their enemies.