From what I've heard, the battle system in FFXII will utilize the same realtime combat as FFVII. You can also pull one character out of the fight to heal or do whatever. If you take too long, other monsters will gather to the fight. There will be no load time when a battle starts.

A new system is the GAMBIT system, where you pick a gambit, which are basically different strartegies for combat, such as : use potion when HP low, or : all attack one target at a time. Your party will automatically follow the gambit that you set. You can also ofcourse give specific commands to cast spells and stuff, but what they do when they are not being monitored is dependent on the gambit. Sounds very cool.

Just in case you didn't know, the party will consist of three.

If you know anything else or want to see anything else, lets here it!

Everything I've heard about FF12's system sounds a lot like KOTOR to me - except not pulled off as well. The 'GAMBIT' system is just a fancy name for character A.I. - it will probably be pretty identical to KOTOR, in that characters will act by themselves unless you 'switch' to that character.

I'm just hoping that the system will bring some new stuff to the floor, otherwise Jade Empire will just wipe it out :(

It looks pretty fun to me, fast and more credible than round-based battle systems usually are, let alone the "standing on your spot, rush to enemy, hit enemy, rush back to your spot" that has dominated FF battles since the dawn of time.
And really, doing away with random encounters is a blessing. Lately they've started to annoy me an awful lot, that's one reason, and another is that it doesn't really work well with the graphics. I mean, everything looks realistic, and still you never see enemies running around anywhere... And you can accidently bump into a ten-meter-dragon who was hiding in the grass...
This will make the world a lot more lively in any case.

And I really don't want to say more yet... I haven't played the game yet, and I only know a few bits about the battle system. Once I get to play it I'll form an opinion...

It sounds like FFXI and I already love it. <3

It sounds like the FFXII's encountering system is really similar to the one in Crono Cross,,,,I didn't really like it though cause some monsters were just walking around in just specific area, they never tried to get me. I hope they'll modify it in FFXII and even though you encountered just one enemy on the normal field, on the battle field there are more than one enemy, that looked really weird to me.

Anyway, FFXII's battle system sounds cool, seems like they started thinking about new stuff other than just making better computer graphics.

Actually, 777, there will be no transition between the field and combat. Combat sort of happens in the field - there is no load time, so monsters that you see will be what you fight. Different monsters have diferent AI patterns too. Soldiers, while weak on their own, will call for reinforcements, and soon you will be swamped by a bunch of little soldiers coming in from all sides, if you take too long. Monsters will indicate if they see you by something called a sight line, which manifests itself on screen as a glowing arc between the monster and the player. This stays during combat as well, and will change colors and targets as the monster moves to attack members of your party.

Anyhow, thats all, ya.

P.S. Back to tasmania tomorrow.... ~_~" *sigh*

P.P.S. my e-,mail is down at the moment

It sounds good, they changed many parts of battle system, hummm,,, I can't really imagine how it is possible though,,,, combat happning in the same field.

By the way, didn't you get my private message, check it out!