Paradigm



A Paradigm (オプティマ) is a combination of one to three roles in Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2. The player can preset up to a maximum of six Paradigms when outside battle. During battle the player can freely switch between the preset Paradigms using the L1/LB button, also known as a Paradigm Shift (オプティマチェンジ). In Final Fantasy XIII-2, the English-localized name, Paradigm Shift, is used, instead of Optima Change.

If used properly, Paradigms may help the player by ending the battle sooner, resulting in the TP gauge filling up faster and a higher chance for enemies to drop materials.

Role
Roles (ロール) are a gameplay element unique to Final Fantasy XIII. The system is akin to past Final Fantasy job systems, however major changes have been made so that each role resembles a mix of different jobs. Names have been changed between the English and the Japanese releases.


 * Commando (COM) / Attacker (ATK)
 * Ravager (RAV) / Blaster (BLA)
 * Sentinel (SEN) / Defender (DEF)
 * Saboteur (SAB) / Jammer (JAM)
 * Synergist (SYN) / Enhancer (ENH)
 * Medic (MED) / Healer (HLR)

Setting each role to a character is made by default, although after a point, the player can freely switch between roles for each character outside of battle.

Paradigm Shift
The ATB gauge continues to increase during a Paradigm Shift. If the player shifts in the middle of an action, any unused ATB gauge is saved as if the player had simply cancelled the action. Shifting Paradigm refills everyone's ATB gauge. There is a 12 second cooldown time for this effect after each time it activates. If the player shifts less than 12 seconds after this effect last activated, the gauge is not refilled at the end of the shift. The computer-controlled characters have their commands automatically selected immediately following the shift.

During the Paradigm Shift animation commands cannot be input or carried out, but during the animation the ATB gauges of both the player party and the enemies continues to fill. The two computer-controlled allies can act again sooner than the leader, as the leader must wait until all characters' animations are finished before acting.

The first paradigm shift in each battle has a longer animation, but it can be bypassed by only shifting during an animation, which cannot be cancelled by the Paradigm Shift.


 * 1) During an Attack command special animation.
 * 2) While being in the air, either launched by an enemy or attacking a launched enemy.
 * 3) While using a character's Full ATB Skill.

Circumventing the long animation will make the next shift animation the long animation.

Settings
With six roles and three maximum playable party members, it is possible to set up to 83 Paradigms. Possibilities are shown in the table below.

''Note: Names shown in brackets are direct translations from Japanese.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Lightning can shift between paradigms in Dissidia 012 in order to switch between different abilities. To Shift, R button must be pressed whilst holding L button.

Etymology
A paradigm shift describes a fundamental change in ideology, usually in the field of science. For example, Darwin's theory of evolution replacing Lamarck's theories and creationism is a paradigm shift.

Trivia

 * Some of the Paradigms in both, Japanese and English versions, are referring to various terms in the series, e.g.: Delta Attack (both) refers to signature attack of Magus Sisters, Tri-disaster (both) refers to another ability of the same name of multiple elemental damage, Dualcasting (EN) to ability to cast two magic spells at row, Mighty Guard (JP) to magic that grants positive status effects on the target, White Wind (JP) to spell restoring certain amount of HP, as well, removes negative status effects.
 * The only time the player can see Twin Shields, Stumbling Block, Havoc, or Rally without using a cheating device is the battle against Hecatoncheir. Stumbling Block is put into the Paradigm Deck by default, but to see the other three, the player needs to get a Game Over on the fight or Retry it. Furthermore, Twin Shields requires the player to teach the Sentinel Paradigm to Vanille, and Rally requires the player to teach the Synergist Paradigm to both Fang and Vanille.
 * The Japanese name of Rapid Growth, Trismegistos, is a reference to.
 * In FInal Fantasy XIII, the first paradigm shift of every battle takes longer than all the other shifts that are made after the initial shift. However if the player's character is in the air, or in the middle of executing a Full ATB Skill, when the first shift is made, the scene in which the three characters are zoomed in and their roles displayed is absent. Final Fantasy XIII-2 makes the shifts nearly instant to reduce time spend while shifting between various paradigms.
 * In a advertisement for E3 2009, three of six roles have different names and abbreviations: Gladiator (GLA) for Commando (COM), Augmenter (AUG) for Synergist (SYN), and Tactician (TAC) for Saboteur (SAB) in their respective colors. Paradigm naming had also a different pattern.
 * A party of Lightning, Fang, and Hope can learn every skill from every role (excluding the exclusive Full ATB Skills).

Paradigma Paradigm