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Square Enix's Final Fantasy 14 reboot — A Realm Reborn — will introduce F.A.T.E Battles and limit breaks to the massively-multiplayer online game, the studio announced.
In a demo of the game that Polygon played, Square Enix highlighted that F.A.T.E Battles are a new way for players to earn XP and other rewards quickly without the need to grind for hours or to coordinate a party to go on a quest.
"There are plans to introduce well-known monsters from the Final Fantasy universe as F.A.T.E exclusives."
 The way F.A.T.E Battles work in A Realm Reborn is they're located across the realm and are marked by blue circles. When a player crosses into the blue circle, they automatically join a F.A.T.E Battle — there is no need to look for or join a group. When in a F.A.T.E Battle zone, players will encounter waves of monsters — many of them unique to theF.A.T.E system — and they will be able to earn bonus XP and rewards. The version Polygon played featured waves of slimey lizard-like monsters, but a Square Enix spokesperson said that there will be different types of F.A.T.E Battles, such as mini-missions where players have to take a bandit stronghold, set up camp and defend it against the bandits who try to take it back.
Square Enix told Polygon that the next phase of the game's battle will add more than 50 new F.A.T.Es, and there are plans to introduce well-known monsters from the Final Fantasy universe as F.A.T.E exclusives.
In addition to F.A.T.E Battles, Square Enix is introducing the limit break ability, which is a powerful ability that affects all party members. When a party works together — whether in a traditional quest or in a F.A.T.E Battle — a limit break bar at the top of the screen fills up everytime they perform actions like giving critical hits or healing. Everyone contributes to the building up of the bar. When it fills up, anyone on the team can hit a key to activate the limit break. Whoever activates it determines what the power will be. If a character is of a tank class, then the limit break will offer all party members a shield. If a character is primarily deals with magic, they might heal everyone in their party with a limit break.
Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn will release on Aug. 27, 2013.
