So is the battle system in this game any good?
I've played through Victory and Rebirth 1 and found those enjoyable enough despite also having a lot of problems with them, but with this being an entirely different type of game I'm not sure whether to get it or just stick to the main series.
It's a very simple SRPG system with a transformation mechanic.
Each character has 2 passive abilities (Exp Up, Immune to some status effect, etc) , and a selection of skills from levelling up (5 Skills in total + 1 Special Move). Skills use SP which is the normal MP resource (it doesn't normally regenerate but there are ways to restore it using equipment), they can also be reduced in cost by having other allies next to the character using the skill. Skills are the standard fare: Damage, Healing, Status Buffs / Debuffs, Status Effects , Status Cures. When moves are discounted you get a global resource (Lily Points) which can be used for Special Moves (which are basically very powerful attacks) and to allow the CPUs to transform into HDD.
They also have different stats (the usual stuff and Move, Jump and Throw). There's also a Physical and Magic Resistance that comes from items but you have to keep track of that yourself.
Even the HDD works off a simplified version of the usual transformation mechanic (instead of saving up a personal resource, transforming and remaining transformed until the resource runs out, you save up a global resource, transform and remain transformed for 3 turns (One of Noire's abilities allows her to act 5 times in those 3 turns). They do use the processor mechanic from the standard games so you can customize the transformation a bit. HDD forms don't have different or additional skills (unless one of their passives only functions in HDD (all 5 HDD capable characters have -20% SP cost when in HDD) but it comes at a cost of a general ability.
Equipment in the form of Weapons, Armor & Accessories.
The unusual bits are:
Elemental affinities are equippable items so you can decide if you have one and if you do how strong it is (if you're far enough through the game to have access to the higher ranks)
Disc system (which works like in the standard games, take a disc insert Idea Chips, certain combinations are godly games which give 1 extra ability.
You can pick up and throw objects.
You select a leader before battle and that provides 2 effects on your entire side, depending on the character this can be 2 positive effects or 1 positive effect and a disadvantage.
There's also some kind of mechanic for swapping in characters that are sitting out a battle but I haven't unlocked that yet.
There's also the special features on most battle fields.
It's not a bad system but its not spectacular or particularly distinctive either. It's serves well enough though. .
