“The battle system can usually make or break a JRPG,” writes Sinxsoft, the team developing anime-style RPG Cross Reverie. Knowing this, the studio tested out many different battle systems for its game, before deciding on a conditional turn-based battle system, as seen in Final Fantasy X.
Unlike a traditional turn-based battle system, the conditional variation allows you to see the order of character and enemy attacks in advance, as seen in the image below. The order also changes based on the currently selected command so that you know how much of an impact on your character’s future turns will have.
For Sinxsoft, this worked as the team envisioned its characters as juggling multiple abilities, stigmas, items and commands on any given turn. Each of the eight main characters in Cross Reverie is expected to have four unique weapon skills and six unique abilities to use in battles. As to the stigmas, these are crystals that are important both to the game’s story and acquiring new magical spells and customizing a weapon’s attacks, kind of like augmenting them.
Sinxsoft is still developing Cross Reverie’s battle system so you can expect it to change. There will be updates on the game’s IndieDB page. And you can find out more general information about it on the game’s website.