Paradigm Shift! What Possible Roles?

[Astro]

I find the Paradigm Shift concept really cool; seems like it's gonna' be like a combination of FFX-2's Dressphere/Garment Grid System and FFXII's Gambit System!

Like, perhaps the various roles are just like different dresspheres, and the way you set the various party formations and roles to each character would be just like creating "garment grids", if you get what I mean? Like, an "ATK/BLA/BLA" combination or a "ATK/ENH/HLR" combination, which you select in battle! (Because when you "Optima Change" the whole party switches roles) And within each character's roles you'd be able to set gambits? WOW, imagine the insane customization we could do!

But then again, the main focus of this thread, besides discussing this new system... Is "What possible roles do you think there could be?" They've already revealed that new roles will be available as you progress through the game; I wonder how many there are! (But then I again I wonder if some will turn out useless/lame...)

So far they've revealed officially:
ATK: Attacker
BLA: Blaster
ENH: Enhancer
HLR: Healer

Below few revealed in screenshots, but only their abbreviations; they're only my guess as to what they could stand for...
DEF: Defender?
TAC: Tactician? (Uses skills?)
GLA: Gladiator?

Anymore I missed?

Some other possible roles I came up with:
MAG: Mage
THF: Thief
TNK: Tank
BSK: Berserker
SMN: Summoner (Maybe gains TP faster?)
STL: Stealth (Maybe has crazy speed?)
EVA: Evader (Insane evasion stats?)

What do you think?

[*~Jade~*]

Maybe something like the Alchemist from FFX-2, who can uses Items whenever he / she wants to.
Or a sort of Mage who just spells magics like blind and so on.

[Glacies]

You remind me of someone... hmm, oh yeah, Agito Mussolini.

Anyway, I really doubt that they'll use names that were previously jobs, simply to distence the roles from the jobs (at least the classic and common jobs)

Roles like:
TRI: Trickster [speedie]
GAR: Guardian [use your imagination -.-]
SPE: Specialist [better combination attacks]
I forget but I think that Blaster is the same as my specialist.

[Nex]

I like the idea of the Paradigm Shift system, but there's a major flaw right now I think. Why can you only change the whole party at once? Why not individual characters? The system could be broken because they don't allow individual switches. O_o

[Astro]

You remind me of someone... hmm, oh yeah, Agito Mussolini.

Anyway, I really doubt that they'll use names that were previously jobs, simply to distence the roles from the jobs (at least the classic and common jobs)

Roles like:
TRI: Trickster [speedie]
GAR: Guardian [use your imagination -.-]
SPE: Specialist
I forget but I think that Blaster is the same as my specialist.

What do you mean by me reminding you of Agito? And anyways, your point about the naming thing may very well be right!

I like the idea of the Paradigm Shift system, but there's a major flaw right now I think. Why can you only change the whole party at once? Why not individual characters? The system could be broken because they don't allow individual switches. O_o

Hmm, I guess you still can, really. Just switch from ATK/BLA/BLA to ATK/BLA/HLR and you'd be effectively changing just one member's role? Hmm, we can only speculate what it'd really be like, but you've a point too...

EDIT: Thanks to new info posted, we know more about the system! (See below:)

I don't know if this has already posted.....
[B]All About Final Fantasy XIII's Roles

Plus more on the afro dude's kid! (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3175963)

he's name is Dajh Katzroy

for more see the link above.

Basically, I've quoted the main thing:

""Stylistically they may seem like jobs or FFX-2's Dresspheres, but FFXIII's roles run far deeper than those," noted Shintaro Takai, the game's graphical director. "For example, the Healer role is equivalent to the white-mage job. White mages don't have much power, but they can still melee-attack with their staff if they want. But XIII's healers don't have that. They can't attack; all they can do is heal.""

"Each role has a strict set of things you can and can't do with them, and that makes it easy to know what you'll get from your AI-controlled party members. Since you know what they'll do, I think it'll be easier to fight as a team with them.""

I guess this means that they're really forcing you to switch Optima! Quite interesting, guess they really want you to "strategise" your battles and constantly switch Optima to win the battle and get a good rating for battles! In this case, I guess it would really make more sense if we could change individual characters' roles instead of the whole party's. And I wonder if there'll be too much switching constantly of Optima. =\

[Nex]

I think there'll be a paradigm for building up your Chain gauge, so it's easier to Break enemies. The allies in the demo seemed to do that.

Hmm, I guess you still can, really. Just switch from ATK/BLA/BLA to ATK/BLA/HLR and you'd be effectively changing just one member's role? Hmm, we can only speculate what it'd really be like, but you've a point too...

But you'll be limited on how many shifts you have, it looks like right now you can only take two to five into a battle. I understand that they're trying to put restrictions on how powerful you are, but that's not what they're doing. They're putting restrictions on how tactical you can be, and you should NEVER, EVER do that in a JRPG.

I'm guessing there will be A LOT of different paradigms in the game. It'll be such a waste if the system works how it looks.

[Glacies]

What do you mean by me reminding you of Agito? I can't seem to put my finger on it quite yet... But anyway, thank you for agreeing with me good sir.

[Falsate]

I'm you brought this thread up! This has been the most enigmatic part of the Battle system that I favor. Ok, for roles I am thinking they will at least have some sensible names. For instance, they might have the following:

ENF: [Enforcer]:Secondary level to Attacker. Unleash multiple combos efficiently and ensuring balance.
ARC: [Arcane]: Secondary level to Augor. Uses stronger magics.
BRA:[Brawler]: Assumes a closer position to enemy and fights physically susceptible enemies.
DEC:[Decipher]: Weakens enemies and opens up vulnerabilities. Opposite of Enhancer against opponents.
DES:[Destroyer]: Targets weaker enemies and lowest level.
WHI:[Whisperer]: Strikes enemies with larger attacks. Hence the irony!
REJ:[Rejoicer]: Revives and uses stronger cure attacks.

Discovered so far: Peacemaker, Sentinel, Gladiator, Overwhelm, Tactical, Aggression, Healer, Blaster, Attacker, Enchancer, and Defender.

[iv4nsbc]

Where did u bring all this up ?

I heard that u can level up the paradigm ... is that correct ?

[Astro]

I'm you brought this thread up! This has been the most enigmatic part of the Battle system that I favor. Ok, for roles I am thinking they will at least have some sensible names. For instance, they might have the following:

ENF: [Enforcer]:Secondary level to Attacker. Unleash multiple combos efficiently and ensuring balance.
ARC: [Arcane]: Secondary level to Augor. Uses stronger magics.
BRA:[Brawler]: Assumes a closer position to enemy and fights physically susceptible enemies.
DEC:[Decipher]: Weakens enemies and opens up vulnerabilities. Opposite of Enhancer against opponents.
DES:[Destroyer]: Targets weaker enemies and lowest level.
WHI:[Whisperer]: Strikes enemies with larger attacks. Hence the irony!
REJ:[Rejoicer]: Revives and uses stronger cure attacks.

Discovered so far: Peacemaker, Sentinel, Gladiator, Overwhelm, Tactical, Aggression, Healer, Blaster, Attacker, Enchancer, and Defender.

Whoa, awesome ideas! But where'd you get the info for all those discovered so far? Just through screenshots? I mean, I wonder what exactly Peacemaker, Sentinel, and Gladiator is about!

[RLx]

Lol I just wonder if we get that many different classes; will it get really confusing? I hope we don't end up using the same 3 over and over when theres like 20 modes.

[Falsate]

Whoa, awesome ideas! But where'd you get the info for all those discovered so far? Just through screenshots? I mean, I wonder what exactly Peacemaker, Sentinel, and Gladiator is about!

http://www.onelastcontinue.com/10398/gamescom-2009-final-fantasy-xiii-demonstration-and-interview/

The Paradigm Shift system was shown during the battle scenes in which you are able to modify your character’s stance in order to gain a tactical advantage over your enemies. Whilst it wasn’t displayed for very long, options for this mode include Overwhelm, Peacemaker and Aggression. You can assign these to your party members and they then act out the role of defender, offensive or healer and so on and can be changed in real time during the battle. A further note to be added here is that this system was implemented later in the development of Final Fantasy XIII due to the team feeling there was a lack of depth to the battles – before you would just chain up attacks, and now you would adjust the battlefield with your tactical knowledge of how enemies react in combat scenarios, and of course based upon your characters skills and weaknesses. Another thing to note regarding this system is that it is separate from the Active Time Battle system, which itself has evolved More has been promised regarding this system over the coming months, more than likely at Tokyo Game Show next month in Japan.As for SEN and GLA, I figured it would be Sentinel and Gladiator as possible level up for the Paradigm Shift System. I can only imagine they will future Role upgrades like: Soldier -> Gladiator -> Commander. Something along those lines. GLA and SEN was seen in the E3 09 Trailer NA.

HEA, BLA, and ATK was seen in the Premiere Gameplay and it was said those are the 3 available roles to choose from.

[RLx]

http://www.onelastcontinue.com/10398/gamescom-2009-final-fantasy-xiii-demonstration-and-interview/

As for SEN and GLA, I figured it would be Sentinel and Gladiator as possible level up for the Paradigm Shift System. I can only imagine they will future Role upgrades like: Soldier -> Gladiator -> Commander. Something along those lines. GLA and SEN was seen in the E3 09 Trailer NA.

HEA, BLA, and ATK was seen in the Premiere Gameplay and it was said those are the 3 available roles to choose from.
Hmph. I like the idea of kinda leveling them up and getting them to be more effective as you do.

[Falsate]

Oh yeah, here;s some more i saw in the English 09: AST/SEN/AUX.

AUX = Auxiliary

[thedarkknight]

SEN could be sentinel mabye