So, I will try to depict it the best I can. If you or anyone then sees, please add on. The initial idea is there, pretty much, as said, like FFX. So, for fast-paced, some of it, is just in the look and feel. It could just be animation-wise. But, game-play, might be simple, horizontal, juggling of actions.
If you picture typical FFX, you are juggling characters, switching them in and out, due to their abilities. You also have vertically up and down. I.e., if someone KO's, you need to get all party members back up to being alive. So, the switch animation looks fast. Then, usually, people cast Haste, making characters do many moves in one segment, and their animations look, again, fast.
What this means is, instead of just attacking, or healing -- as in FF7, we are already then juggling switching people, and using things like Haste -- i.e. same level, varied moves. Admittedly, as said, a lot of the ''fast-paced'' might just be looks, but it all adds up to ''our experience''. I think it is enjoyable, and, if it can be somehow implemented into FF7, it would, too, make it highly enjoyable.
I also, to understand this, deeply recommend First watching on youtube a let's play, some of it, anyway, of on console, PS3 or PS$ -- they have the ability, the player, to ''up'' the speed to x3 or x4. With battles on Active as well, it becomes a lot more ''real time'', as I guess FFX is, or feels like, as well.
I suppose, one way this could work with pre-existing in-game ''things'' is --
Making it where, perhaps, if your party absorbed poison, and then you had to cast Regen, Poison, and maybe Barrier, just to survive. Maybe had battles on Active. Maybe Haste could work out well as well. And then, with this, you would survive, and just have enough time to get some attacks in.
With the above e.g., I guess enemies wouldn't need that much HP. A lot of the battle would be keeping these things ''up''.
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I was thinking as well, maybe you could have a manipulated materia. So, if you wanted to Cure everyone, you could only use Cure 1. But, if it was just one person only, you could use Cure 3, etc..
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Maybe give everyone a mastered MP Up materia from the start. And maybe get rid of hard-core stuff, such as KOTR -- don't worry, we still have vanilla to play with that stuff ! Just -- it would turn game-play more into, you know, the other stuff. If you think about other things, that we could use while keeping it vanilla-ish (even a modded Cure materia would... mod a bit so, your call) but -- you have other stuff that no one really uses. Such as sleep, and frog, etc.. So -- you could even have it where those too were only one-at-a-time cast spells. Maybe this time, keeping it on the enemy. And so, maybe like Yuffie -- your materia could be taken, or something, and before that, on some large groups of enemies, it may be good to put them to sleep, and keep them that way. Almost like whack-a-weazel -- casting on any that wake up. And then, after your materia gets taken (or you get commanded to throw it away, if it makes programming easier) you then get given, say, a ''Toad'' materia, which could work the same way.
As long as it's done right, battles could take a new spin, using already in-game mechanics, pretty much.
Requirements:
- Possible new materia (seen done before)
- New enemies, or altered pre-existing (seen done before)
- Possibly new speech bubbles/etc./ (seen done before)
I guess it would be like, if some requirements were done, maybe about three of the following at once only. And would vary, depending on the battle (e.g. Haste, Barrier, M-Barrier, Poison, Sleep, Toad... Etc.) -- then you would ''live''. Upon doing-so -- you could then either Heal those that are needed, or attack the enemy. The mind-set would be keeping one eye on keeping the status things going and making sure that they are ok. And the other eye on then, upon them being ok, healing or getting an attack or two in.
Do you see ? Can you imagine ?