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In the battle system of the game, as with most RPG and Final Fantasy games, the player can only control one character at a time. New to the Final Fantasy series in FFXIII, you are now able to involve the other members of the party and define thier roles and actions. This system is called the "Paradigm Shift".
Paradigms are described as "stances" or "classes" that the characters temporarily take during battles to define the abilities they use. These settings are strict and call for careful planning before and during the battle, for example, the character with a Medic role equipped can do nothing but heal, while the Commando (Attacker) role forces the character to only attack with physical and magical strikes. You still control the party leader and use the Active Time Battle system to string together attacks, cast spells, use potions etc, but the back up of your other two party members and how you select and combine roles is vital.
The paradigms can be changed at any time to suit the situation at hand (by pressing L1 on the PS3 controller). However, they cannot be changed individually to each character, only for the whole party at a time. Thus, a paradigm is a combination of three roles. There are a total of 83 possible paradigm combinations; these roles can be defined while in exploration mode (ie not while in a battle).
While in battle the role of each party member is shown as an abbreviation next to the characters' name to serve as a reminder,. you will also see the name of the current selected Paradigm.
There are 6 Paradigm roles, some of which aren't available to begin with, you will need to unlock them after a few battles. The roles within the paradigms are:
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Before entering a battle you will want to set up your Paradigms according to your party's strengths and currently unlocked abilities/roles.
You can setup 6 to select from while in battle, and there are a total of 83 combination to chose from! I know this is pretty daunting, so to help you work out what you need here is an overview of the Paradign Roles. Thanks to Massivenerd.net for the following tips.
NOTE: Before you read any further you should realise that this game is complicated, it's huge. You will not remember the vast amount of information on the internet or even the mere sample I present in this blog. The amount information that the battle system withholds is simply enormous - weapons, item, spells, potions, magic, different attack/defence moves, summoning! If I can just get to the end of the game I will be pleased.
COMMANDO
Commandos are your front-line fighters. Excelling in melee combat, they also have a small selection of non-elemental magic attacks for enemies that are resistant to physical attacks. A Commando is a must for every group. They don’t fill the Chain Gauge very quickly, but a Commando slows down the rate at which it decreases. Having a couple of Ravagers will fill up the gauge quickly, but if your attacks slow down for a second, it’ll drop back to empty. Having a single Commando is vital to Stagger a foe. Once it is Staggered, using two Commandos is a great tactic, allowing you to keep the enemy juggled in the air, increasing your damage and preventing them from fighting back.
Lightning and Fang make powerful Commandos, with Snow not far behind. While Sazh CAN be a Commando, he’s much better suited to other Roles.
More information on the Commando Ravager role at Wikipedia
RAVAGER
Ravagers are the “Black Mages” of FFXIII. They excel in elemental damage, though not necessarily magic damage. Some Ravagers have elemental “Strikes” that are physical damage, but with elemental effects. Ravagers main role is to fill up an enemy’s Chain Gauge (which they can often do incredibly fast), and multiple Ravagers are key to dealing large amounts of damage.
Note - Elemental means of Fire, Air, Earth or Water - these can be magic attacks or sometimes just a special power of some sort.
Lightning, Hope and Vanille all make incredible Ravagers. Snow and Sazh are effective at increasing the Chain Gauge, and worth keeping around just for that, but are somewhat limited in their elemental range.
More information on the Ravager Paradigm Role
SENTINEL
Sentinels are tanks, plain and simple. They deal no damage outside of Counterattacks. Many Final Fantasy games have given you ability to create a tank character, but FFXIII is the first core title to do it right. The Sentinel will focus first on drawing the attention of every enemy engaged, then using a Guard or Counter skill, depending on health and damage potential. Interesting note, “Provoke” counts as a status effect for skills such as the Commando’s Faultsiphon.
Fang and Snow both make great Sentinels. Snow has a higher helth pool, so he gets a small advantage.
More information on the Sentinel Paradigm Role
MEDIC
Healers. It’s all they do, and they do it amazingly for your AI companions. Though, playing the Medic yourself can be a bit sketchy since it takes a bit of time to navigate the menus, precious seconds that can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
Hope and Vanille are both top-tier healers, take whichever fits your team. Lightning is a capable healer, and effective in a pinch, but focus on her other Roles first.
More information on the Medic Paradigm role
SYNERGIST
Having the right buffs can turn a tough fight into a cakewalk, and that’s what the Synergist is for. Offense, defense and elemental effects are all huge factors in FFXIII’s battle system. You NEED one on your team, don’t think you’re just going to DPS every enemy down with sheer awesomeness.
Sazh and Hope are your only two natural options. They both end up about the same, the main difference is how you get there. Sazh gains his offensive buffs first, while Hope gains the defensive ones. Sazh is amazing in the mid-game, as he gets Haste pretty early in his progression, but by late-game, Hope has the spell as well, and is more useful to the team overall. This is one of those rare occasions when grinding a secondary Role is great for a character. Vanille misses out on many of the standard buffs, but is the only character that can learn the second-tier versions of some core spells.
More information on the Synergist Paradigm role
SABOTEUR
Much like the Synergist, Saboteur is a Role that is easy to overlook at first. You can even progress through a large amount of the game without using one. Trust me, though, sooner or later, you’ll wish you had one. Forcing a powerful enemy to take longer to attack, or even preventing them from attacking AT ALL is extremely helpful, not to mention cracking a tough defense.
Vanille is a phenomenal Saboteur. Her higher Magic stat makes her far more effective than Fang. That said, Fang is more than capable of helping out your group if she’s who you would prefer to use.
More information on the SABOTEUR Paradigm role
Did that make sense? I guess it does in small portions and the key is to learn about it as you go along. Set up a few Paradigms and see what works and doesn't work. I am hoping that a little experimenting will help to make sense of this huge amount of information. So to summarise, here's that table again, this time with an added column with recommended characters for each role:
Links/Resources:
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XIII
http://www.massivenerd.net/part-building-in-final-fantasy-xiii-part-2-paradigms/
http://www.massivenerd.net/party-building-in-final-fantasy-xiii-part-1-roles/
NOTE: Before you read any further you should realise that this game is complicated, it's huge. You will not remember the vast amount of information on the internet or even the mere sample I present in this blog. The amount information that the battle system withholds is simply enormous - weapons, item, spells, potions, magic, different attack/defence moves, summoning! If I can just get to the end of the game I will be pleased.
COMMANDO
Commandos are your front-line fighters. Excelling in melee combat, they also have a small selection of non-elemental magic attacks for enemies that are resistant to physical attacks. A Commando is a must for every group. They don’t fill the Chain Gauge very quickly, but a Commando slows down the rate at which it decreases. Having a couple of Ravagers will fill up the gauge quickly, but if your attacks slow down for a second, it’ll drop back to empty. Having a single Commando is vital to Stagger a foe. Once it is Staggered, using two Commandos is a great tactic, allowing you to keep the enemy juggled in the air, increasing your damage and preventing them from fighting back.
Lightning and Fang make powerful Commandos, with Snow not far behind. While Sazh CAN be a Commando, he’s much better suited to other Roles.
More information on the Commando Ravager role at Wikipedia
RAVAGER
Ravagers are the “Black Mages” of FFXIII. They excel in elemental damage, though not necessarily magic damage. Some Ravagers have elemental “Strikes” that are physical damage, but with elemental effects. Ravagers main role is to fill up an enemy’s Chain Gauge (which they can often do incredibly fast), and multiple Ravagers are key to dealing large amounts of damage.
Note - Elemental means of Fire, Air, Earth or Water - these can be magic attacks or sometimes just a special power of some sort.
Lightning, Hope and Vanille all make incredible Ravagers. Snow and Sazh are effective at increasing the Chain Gauge, and worth keeping around just for that, but are somewhat limited in their elemental range.
More information on the Ravager Paradigm Role
SENTINEL
Sentinels are tanks, plain and simple. They deal no damage outside of Counterattacks. Many Final Fantasy games have given you ability to create a tank character, but FFXIII is the first core title to do it right. The Sentinel will focus first on drawing the attention of every enemy engaged, then using a Guard or Counter skill, depending on health and damage potential. Interesting note, “Provoke” counts as a status effect for skills such as the Commando’s Faultsiphon.
Fang and Snow both make great Sentinels. Snow has a higher helth pool, so he gets a small advantage.
More information on the Sentinel Paradigm Role
MEDIC
Healers. It’s all they do, and they do it amazingly for your AI companions. Though, playing the Medic yourself can be a bit sketchy since it takes a bit of time to navigate the menus, precious seconds that can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
Hope and Vanille are both top-tier healers, take whichever fits your team. Lightning is a capable healer, and effective in a pinch, but focus on her other Roles first.
More information on the Medic Paradigm role
SYNERGIST
Having the right buffs can turn a tough fight into a cakewalk, and that’s what the Synergist is for. Offense, defense and elemental effects are all huge factors in FFXIII’s battle system. You NEED one on your team, don’t think you’re just going to DPS every enemy down with sheer awesomeness.
Sazh and Hope are your only two natural options. They both end up about the same, the main difference is how you get there. Sazh gains his offensive buffs first, while Hope gains the defensive ones. Sazh is amazing in the mid-game, as he gets Haste pretty early in his progression, but by late-game, Hope has the spell as well, and is more useful to the team overall. This is one of those rare occasions when grinding a secondary Role is great for a character. Vanille misses out on many of the standard buffs, but is the only character that can learn the second-tier versions of some core spells.
More information on the Synergist Paradigm role
SABOTEUR
Much like the Synergist, Saboteur is a Role that is easy to overlook at first. You can even progress through a large amount of the game without using one. Trust me, though, sooner or later, you’ll wish you had one. Forcing a powerful enemy to take longer to attack, or even preventing them from attacking AT ALL is extremely helpful, not to mention cracking a tough defense.
Vanille is a phenomenal Saboteur. Her higher Magic stat makes her far more effective than Fang. That said, Fang is more than capable of helping out your group if she’s who you would prefer to use.
More information on the SABOTEUR Paradigm role
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Did that make sense? I guess it does in small portions and the key is to learn about it as you go along. Set up a few Paradigms and see what works and doesn't work. I am hoping that a little experimenting will help to make sense of this huge amount of information. So to summarise, here's that table again, this time with an added column with recommended characters for each role:
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Links/Resources:
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XIII
http://www.massivenerd.net/part-building-in-final-fantasy-xiii-part-2-paradigms/
http://www.massivenerd.net/party-building-in-final-fantasy-xiii-part-1-roles/
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