Llyranor said:
Are these any other types of icons that help specify which target it would prioritize?
There's only one icon per skill: red for enemies, blue for allies. And then there are four Japanese kanji used to show who and where it will target: Back, Front, or All for enemies, and Single or All for allies.
Attacks default from left to right, front to back except back-targeted skills that prioritize front-to-back instead.
It isn't mentioned outright in the game, but where spells and elementally charged attacks are concerned, enemy weakness does make a difference. If there are two enemies in front, attacks normally default from left to right, but if the right enemy is weak to Fire, then Fire attacks tend to target that one instead.
For healing, the best candidate is some combination of who has the lowest numerical value for HP, the lowest percentage of max HP, and who takes the most damage. In the early game, numerical value almost always seems to be the determining factor, but later the other two come into play when max HP is large enough to differentiate the three. Its easier to predict than it sounds.
Any self-respecting person with a White Mage will be praying to make Cure or Cura multi-target, so targeting is less important later in the game. Combined with Pray, Cure is more effective than Curaga on a good White Mage.
Spells like Esuna and Shell do have rules, they're just a bit harder to predict than healing. They will always target whoever needs it, first and foremost, and will never target anyone that doesn't need it unless no one does, in which case it will target the caster and miss. If only one person needs it, they are the default target. If multiple characters need it, the top priority is on the caster, and then after that, I'm not very sure. It situationally followed consistent patterns after the caster had it, so Shell might have a basis in Magic Defense.
Llyranor said:
This is a pretty poor justification/rationalization for the lack of targetting, though. Especially since it's stylus-driven, it'd take you a second to tap a target.
It's not entire justification so much as listing an up-point about a feature that will probably piss off the masses, heh. The rest of (what may be seen as) justification is said elsewhere, where it talks about how targeting is
not needed, surprisingly often, in this game, especially if you build the party correctly.
There's more emphasis on party building and management in this game than in most other FFs, which is one reason it can sort of get away with auto-targeting.
Llyranor said:
The esuna/shell comment above is one such concern. If I want to cast shell on specific character X because that's an active part of my plan, but can't because the game judges it can do a better job than me at targetting, then I can't really implement such a plan, whichever it may be. At least with clear rules, I can take into account who the game will target for me, and formulate a plan from that.
I agree on that one, definitely. The only pain I would encounter, with auto-targeting in this particular game, seems to be with healing my own party rather than attacking opponents.
Llyranor said:
EDIT: I'm not too bothered by the limited inventory, unless the game goes out of its way to make it so that you need a specific item or else you're screwed and have to backtrack back
to town to get it. Limited inventory really added to the gameplay for Riviera and Shiren.
Yeah, those games are pretty great.