1) For most of the battles, use randomized teams instead of presets.
Randomization is easy to code, so why not add every possible team combination to the mix? I'm sure everyone has had the experience of fighting two or three solo Filias in a row...
If it seems necessary, each character could have a priority number so that characters like Valentine are more likely to be on point than Squigly, but it seems unnecessary to outright prevent less viable teams. Just let every character appear equally often.
2) Give a slight health or damage boost to CPU teams as you get closer to Marie.
It would make sense the fights to get progressively harder, right? We've already used this trick for story mode final battles, and it could be used here to a lesser extent.
3) Alternatively, have a few modifiers to force different strategies.
Maybe a team can randomly have perfect blocking (a la Nightmare Filia), so counterhits become more important. Maybe their stun drains extra slowly, so you're forced to use early resets and short combos. Maybe their meter gain is three times normal? This would be hard to implement, but would go a long way towards making a fight feel different.
4) For the penultimate battle only, have preset teams with ideal assist choices.
Wait, wasn't I just praising random teams? Well, fighting a well rounded team with matching colors is a nice way of saying "you're almost there, so here's a final challenge before Marie". As an extra touch, maybe this could be the only battle that takes place on Nightmare Crest?
Randomization is easy to code, so why not add every possible team combination to the mix? I'm sure everyone has had the experience of fighting two or three solo Filias in a row...
If it seems necessary, each character could have a priority number so that characters like Valentine are more likely to be on point than Squigly, but it seems unnecessary to outright prevent less viable teams. Just let every character appear equally often.
2) Give a slight health or damage boost to CPU teams as you get closer to Marie.
It would make sense the fights to get progressively harder, right? We've already used this trick for story mode final battles, and it could be used here to a lesser extent.
3) Alternatively, have a few modifiers to force different strategies.
Maybe a team can randomly have perfect blocking (a la Nightmare Filia), so counterhits become more important. Maybe their stun drains extra slowly, so you're forced to use early resets and short combos. Maybe their meter gain is three times normal? This would be hard to implement, but would go a long way towards making a fight feel different.
4) For the penultimate battle only, have preset teams with ideal assist choices.
Wait, wasn't I just praising random teams? Well, fighting a well rounded team with matching colors is a nice way of saying "you're almost there, so here's a final challenge before Marie". As an extra touch, maybe this could be the only battle that takes place on Nightmare Crest?
