Crossover Appeal example prompt: Final Fantasy 13 and Marvel vs. Capcom 2

Welcome to the example piece for the May 2011 Bitmob Writing Challenge, Crossover Appeal. If you ever felt that two games of different genres shared a common bond, now is the time to write about that connection. For more information, follow this link to the rules.

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I credit fighting games with my ability to complete Final Fantasy 13. A session of Street Fighter is essentially a conveyor belt of battles, and for most of the game that is what Final Fantasy 13 is. A good battle system is all that I need to enjoy a role-playing game.

So what drew me into the combat? FF13’s mechanics seem almost too easy, and yet getting through the final dungeon was one of the most grueling game experiences I’ve had in a long time. It was then that I realized that Final Fantasy 13 was the role-playing game equivalent to the hyper-kinetic and legendary Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes.

Both games are deceptively basic. Square-Enix’s game has only three stats you can upgrade and an attack system that can automatically choose actions for you. MVC2 has just four attack buttons and two partner assist buttons, and the attack commands are not as complex as in other games.

That is, until you watch competitive play. The game is notorious for its advance techniques that require great execution to use and the rapid reactions needed to counter them. Watching a tournament is a lot like the scenes in Dragon Ball Z where the warriors are fighting so fast that only a handful of people can follow the action.

Final Fantasy 13’s battle system reaches a similar level of "What on earth is going on?" complexity due to the Paradigm Shift system, where every character has access to six different roles. If heroine Lightning wants to heal someone, she has to switch to a Medic role. If she wants to use magic, she becomes a Ravager. With three party members and only six paradigms, you have to customize each formation for weakening enemies, defense, boosting stats, and so on. Since these fights occur in real time, one bad move can lead to the Game Over screen.

Speaking of death, battles in both games are tense due to the slippery slope created when you lose party members. In FF13, if your lead character dies, you automatically lose the fight. If it’s the AI that bites the dust, your team is still in trouble as you have to quickly resurrect your fallen partners and give them the stat boosts they lost before your foes kill your leader. The game replenishes your health after every battle, but even fighting regular enemies can turn into life-or-death struggles.

Likewise, in MVC2 the matches are three against three, but losing a character burdens his or her teammates, since they have one less person to switch to and the team looses an assist attack. The best teams function as a unit rather than as three separate competitors, so falling behind early in a bout is often a death sentence.

Most importantly, in both games how I make my team actually matters. While every Final Fantasy 13 character can access all six roles, each specializes in only three of them, and who you choose to control as leader matters. Hope is bad as a leader due to his low health but is otherwise fantastic. If you want to have Snow on point, you’ll have HP to spare but will need to build a group that covers his mediocre support abilities. The best team formation is probably Lightning, Hope, and Fang, as each excels in his or her specialties. Experimenting with different teams, however, offers a lot of fun possibilities.

Team chemistry in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 has been scrutinized by hardcore players for a decade. While competitive play has whittled down the number of viable teams to a handful, each formation emphasizes different strengths. Magneto, Storm, and Sentinel, much like the Final Fantasy party above, gives you the three best characters in the game. But replacing Sentinel with Psylocke allows Magneto and Storm to take utilize Psylocke’s terrific assist to cover them. And you can still create formations with interesting tactics, like using the two different versions of Wolverine and chipping defensive opponents to death with their super attacks.

The tactical well of both Final Fantasy 13 and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 runs deep. This isn’t always a good thing, since while newcomers can still enjoy the latter without ever knowing about competitive play, you have to like the deeper aspects of FF13's fights to enjoy the title. Those who do persevere in either game, however, will find some of the most satisfying battles their respective genres can offer.