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Limit Breaks generally occur when a character has taken a large amount of damage in combat, and offers the possibility of dealing large amounts in return. Subsequent games in the series have used similar mechanics with different names. 'Limit Break' has been popular slang for similar attacks or abilities in other Role Playing Games . Several other games have adopted systems similar to the Limit Break mechanic. The term Limit Break was first used in '' Final Fantasy VII '', though the same sort of move was first introduced three years prior in '' Final Fantasy VI ''. In the Japanese versions of the ''Final Fantasy'' series, ''FFVII'' is the only one to use the term ''Limit Break''. It is only outside of Japan that Limit Break has become a generic and all encompassing term for this sort of move or action in the ''Final Fantasy'' series and other RPGs. This fact serves as a very telling reminder that ''Final Fantasy VII'' was the first game in the ''Final Fantasy'' series to become extremely popular in North America , Europe , and Australia . They are also compared to the Super Combos in fighting games such as the '' Street Fighter '' series. LIMIT BREAKS IN ''FINAL FANTASY VI'' '' Final Fantasy VI '' featured a precursor to the Limit Break in its "Desperation Attacks". If a character was at very low HP (Character's current HP < their max HP / 8), there was a 1 in 16 chance that they would use a Desperation Attack when the normal Fight command was issued. If the character has any of the following statuses, then they will never do a desperation attack: Muddle, Image, Clear, Zombie. Characters will also never use Desperation Attacks during the first 25.6 seconds of combat. A Desperation Attack cannot be used twice. (i.e.Terra cannot use Riot Blade twice) All Desperation attacks are unblockable. All Desperation attacks are magical attacks, that ignore defense. Sabre Soul and Star Prism are instant death attacks, rather than damage-dealing attacks like the others. Shadow Fang will also inflict seizure status. In the Japanese version of ''Final Fantasy VI'', these attacks were called "Hissatsuwaza", for which the literal English translation is "Certain Kill Technique", and is often translated as Deathblow. However, a significant amount of text had to be omitted from the English version of the game, including a line where one of the instructors in Narshe gives the player this information. "Desperation Moves" and "Desperation Attacks" are fan-coined terms.
LIMIT BREAKS IN ''FINAL FANTASY VII'' In '' Final Fantasy VII '', each character has a Limit Break meter that fills up as the character takes damage. When the bar is full, the character can unleash a powerful attack. Not all limits have damaging effects; Aerith Gainsborough 's Healing Wind for example, will heal the party. Limit Breaks are divided into four levels. The first three levels contain two limits, while the fourth level only contains one limit. Each character starts with their first Level 1 Limit Break. By performing the limit eight times, the character will obtain the second Level 1 Limit Break. When the player has killed a set number of enemies (60 for Cait Sith or Vincent, 80 for anyone else), he or she will learn the first Level 2 Limit Break. The process then repeats. The only exception is the Level 4 Limit, which must be learned by obtaining a special item for each character, usually in a side-quest relating to that character. The player must choose outside of battle which level of Limit Break they want to use, but within battle all limits from that particular level are available. Higher-level limits are stronger, but require the absorption of more damage to charge the Limit Bar fully. Once obtained, the Limit attack may be saved for later, but as the Limit option replaces the Attack option, the character's repertoire is limited to magic-based attacks, summon monsters and any command materia that they have equipped. Final Fantasy VII's Limit Break system is similar to systems found in earlier games, such as Lufia II 's IP Attacks and Wild ARMs ' Force Attacks. The following is a list of the limit breaks from ''Final Fantasy VII'': Cloud Strife
Cloud's other Limits such as Sonic Blade, Cross-slash and a new variation of Climhazzard also return in Kingdom Hearts II. Aerith Gainsborough
Barret Wallace
Red XIII
Cid Highwind
Yuffie Kisaragi
All of the above characters select their limit breaks from a menu. The other three select their limits as follows: Cait Sith Cait Sith only has 2 Limit Breaks: ''Dice'' in Level 1, and ''Slots'' in Level 2. Slots is obtained after Cait Sith kills a certain number of enemies. When Dice is used, Cait Sith rolls several large dice and the numbers that are rolled determine the damage dealt. Slots brings up a slot machine with spinning wheels, and the pictures that appear cause a random effect to happen. Some deal damage or heal the party, others make them temporaily invulnerable, and two commission very powerful attacks. A combination of slots, on the other hand, can either instantly kill an opponent (including all "boss" enemies, even in the final battle, unlike other instant death attacks) or even the player's party. Vincent Valentine Vincent only has 4 Limit Breaks, one for each level. Vincent's Level 2 and Level 3 limits are obtained after he kills 60 enemies. When used, Vincent turns into a powerful monster. His maximum HP increases dramatically. The player loses control of Vincent and he attacks relentlessly with one of two attacks; at the end of the battle he reverts to his normal form. Level 1: ''Galian Beast'' - Vincent transforms into a purple, horned beast; he has a physical attack and a fire-elemental one. Level 2: ''Death Gigas'' - Vincent becomes a Frankenstein 's Monster-like creature; he now possesses a powerful physical attack and a lightning-elemental one. Level 3: ''Hellmasker'' - Vincent turns into a chainsaw bearing masked maniac; he uses a physical attack with his weapon or inflicts status effects upon the enemy. Level 4: ''Chaos'' - Vincent transforms into a huge, Gargoyle -like demon similar to the final boss of the first game; unlike the other forms, this one doesn´t use elemental-based attacks. Tifa Lockhart Tifa has the standard distribution of Limits (two for each level) and learns them in the same way, but uses them completely differently. Her limit attack brings up a row of slots, one bar for each attack that she knows. These slots reel between "Hit", "Miss" and "Yeah!" If stopped on "Hit" or "Yeah!", she will do the corresponding attack. If a slot is stopped on a "Yeah!" more damage is done for that attack. Too many "Misses" ends the streak. With all Limits learned and the Limit Level set to 4, Tifa's attacks are (in order):
Note that while Waterkick and Dolphin Blow could be seen to be water- or ice-elemental, they do not heal enemies strong against these types of attacks, like Vincent's transformations would. LIMIT BREAKS IN ''FINAL FANTASY VIII'' In '' Final Fantasy VIII '', the Limit Bar has been removed entirely. Whenever a character's turn comes up, there is a small chance that they will be given the option to perform a limit; this chance rises as the character's HP goes down, resulting in gameplay styles that allow some or all of the characters to remain critically wounded. The Aura spell also raises this percentage, without associated hazards. In the Japanese version of ''FFVIII'', these desperation moves were called Special Arts, shortened to '''Special''' in the Status Menu. They were re-named '''Limit Breaks''' in the North American and European versions of the game due to the fact that ''Final Fantasy VII'' was the first ''Final Fantasy'' game to become extremely popular in those regions, and the localization director decided it would be best to use a term players were already familiar with. Squall Leonhart Squall's ''Renzokuken'' is a series of Gunblade attacks, sometimes followed by a finishing move. ''Renzoku'' is a Japanese compound word meaning "consecutive". ''Ken'' is Japanese for "sword". The gunblade attacks follow a pre-set pattern (some of which are customized to certain Bosses ) and an optional gauge appears onscreen to show the player the correct timing in which to press the R1 button and enhance the damaging power of each strike. The finisher is chosen randomly. Squall learns new finishing moves by upgrading his gunblade. The finishing moves are:
Quistis Trepe '' Blue Magic '', uses the skills of enemies. She learns new skills by consuming items that are stolen from or dropped by various enemies. Only a partial list of Quistis' limit breaks is given below.
Rinoa Heartilly Rinoa's Limit is ''Combine'', which uses her eponymous dog Angelo to perform various effects. Rinoa learns new limits by reading ''Pet Pals'' magazines and then walking across the world map, which is meant to represent her walking with Angelo. The specific limit break that occurs when Combine is used is chosen randomly. Her ''Combine'' moves are:
Selphie Tilmitt Selphie's ''Slot'', performs a random spell a random number of times, including spells the player does not own. Besides various normal spells (which are not consumed), it includes four special spells that do not appear anywhere else, including:
Zell Dincht Zell's limits require the player to hit combinations of buttons that appear on the screen, similar to Sabin from '' Final Fantasy VI ''. He starts the game with several moves and can learn new ones by reading fighting magazines, although if the right button combination for the move and when it's able to be used is known, it can be used right away. The moves can also be strung together in specific hard-hitting combos. Zell also has the most over powerful limit break, and attack in the game. Although his limit break is based on combinations, with enough time, the correct loop, and with fast input, Zell can inflict between 120,000-240,000 damage points per turn, although extremely skilled players can do in excess of 1,000,000 damage, making it potentially the most damaging Limit Break in any Final Fantasy. While Zell's limit break doesn't ignore defense as opposed to some of Squall's stronger limit breaks, his limit break isn't as constrained as opposed to Squall's limit break, plus his moves and damage per turn are guaranteed. Zell's limits are:
Irvine Kinneas Irvine's limit: ''Shot'', consumes special ammunition items. Each type of ammunition has different side effects and can be fired at varying rates. His most powerful ammunition is ''Pulse Ammo'', which does grievous defense-ignoring damage to enemies. His best ammunition, however, ''is Fast Ammo'', which can do over 100,000 damage if fired fast enough. Seifer Almasy Seifer's limit: ''Fire Cross'', an attack using "Chi" force to cause fire damage. His three finish blows are
Laguna Loire
Kiros Seagill
Ward Zabac
Edea Kramer
LIMIT BREAKS IN ''FINAL FANTASY IX'' is transformed by Trance.]] '' Final Fantasy IX '' renames Limit Breaks to Trance and returns to the ''Final Fantasy VII'' model, with one notable difference: A filled Trance bar cannot be saved for later battles. The instant a Trance bar is filled, that character will go into Trance automatically. It is impossible to save a Trance for a later battle, or even a later turn in the current battle. Trances also remain in effect for a few turns and increase the stats of the Tranced character.
Unlike its predecessors, ''Final Fantasy IX'' uses Trance to affect the story. Certain battles important to the plot may involve compulsory trances and during the party's visit to Terra, Kuja learns about the effects of Trance and uses it to destroy Terra. LIMIT BREAKS IN ''FINAL FANTASY X'' As with ''Final Fantasy IX'', '' Final Fantasy X '' renames the Limit Break system to Overdrive, but retains its core function. However, in addition to each character's different Overdrives, the characters can also learn new Overdrive Modes, which change how the meter is filled. For example, characters who heal their allies often will learn the "Healer" Mode, which, when selected, will cause the character's bar to increase when they heal allies, instead of when they take damage. Only one Overdrive Mode can be selected at a time. Modes are learned after a character does a certain behavior enough times (for instance, Yuna will probably learn "Healer" first because she learns curative magic long before the other characters can). In addition, the Aeons (the game's Summon Monsters ) can also perform Overdrive attacks. Their Overdrive meters fill both when the Aeon attacks and when it takes damage. Players can reserve full meters for oncoming battles.
executes his Dragon Fang Overdrive.]]
Aeon Overdrives
LIMIT BREAKS IN ''FINAL FANTASY XI'' '' Final Fantasy XI '' continues the Limit Break tradition with Weapon Skills. As in previous games, a character can fill a special gauge by engaging in combat and then use the stored energy to unleash a powerful ability. This gauge can optionally be filled up to three times its normal capacity in order to magnify the effectiveness of a particular skill. Each weapon family (sword, dagger, spear, etc.) has its own exclusive skills. A character learns new Weapon Skills simply by using a particular type of weapon in combat until the numerical skill associated with it increases. For example, a character fighting with a hammer gains club skill. When club skill reaches 10 the character learns the Weapon Skill ''Shining Strike''. When club skill reaches 220 the character learns the more powerful ''Hexa Strike''. Although Weapon Skills are relatively weak compared to traditional Limit Breaks, they can be executed consecutively to produce additional damage events. This process, referred to as a skillchain or renkei, is the basis for much of the combat in ''Final Fantasy XI''. The 'two-hour' job abilities used by players and many enemies are also conceptually similar to Limit Breaks, providing a rare but powerful advantage in battle. The parallel is particularly clear when considering the battles against the avatars- their two hour abilities are their signature attacks, seen as Limit Breaks in other games in the series. The term 'Limit Break' (or 'Genkai Toppa') in this game, however, is a term for quests characters must complete in order to increase the level caps from level 50, and again every 5 levels, until the 70 cap where you can level up your character to level 75 (the maximum level) without hinderance. These quests are given by Maat, in Ru'Lude Gardens (Jeuno). LIMIT BREAKS IN ''FINAL FANTASY XII'' '' Final Fantasy XII '' gives yet another name to its version of the Limit Break: Mist Knack IGN - Final Fantasy XII Preview page 2 , retrieved 26th April 2006.. The mechanics of the system are as yet unknown. Some of the Mist Knacks are:
Most of these terms (including that of "Mist Knack" itself) will likely be given new names in the English version of the game. Some of them allude to certain special attacks used in '' Final Fantasy Tactics ''. Hokuto Kotsusaizan is a reference to the Holy Knight skill Hokuto Kotsusaida, known as Crush Punch in the English version. Ranmeihassasshou refers to Ranmeikassatsuda, Split Punch in the English version. LIMIT BREAKS IN ''EXALTED'' In the White Wolf Game Studio Tabletop Role-playing Game '' Exalted '', a Limit Break is a negative psychological effect rather than a positive combat effect. Other than the name, there is no similarity between this and the ''Final Fantasy'' Limit Breaks. LIMIT BREAKS IN ''KINGDOM OF LOATHING'' In the Asymmetric Publications online game '' Kingdom Of Loathing '', the Chocobo -like Familiar known as a cocoabo is able to execute limit breaks, which enhance the power and effectiveness of its abilities for the current turn. Unlike the ''Final Fantasy'' Limit Breaks, this ability occurs randomly and is not related to damage dealt or other factors. REFERENCES |
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