I introduce to you: The Reform system. Such is the official name for the system the game uses for weapon/accessory customization and upgrades - revealed in a recent Famitsu print. How does it work? I'm glad you asked... (I'd talk about it even if you didn't...)

To start off, it's only available after you pass a certain part in the story - when you do, you'll be able to visit certain places that allow you to customize your gear, implying that the feature won't be available anyplace, anytime, even though the captions in the magazine make it look like it's a part of the main menu.

Below are some of the inner workings of the system:

The process works like this: after choosing the weapon/accessory you wish to upgrade, you'll be presented with a list of the materials you have. Choose the desired ones out of this list, adjust the quantity you want to use... and that's it. Pretty simple and obvious, right? well, I wouldn't try and explain it if it really was... (I can't say if the following relates to weapons only, but it seems so)

The effect of each material is different, as you would expect. Some give the weapon experience points (as the weapons level up, but more on that later), others have other effects, such as acting as a modifier for the aforementioned exp materials - the example Famitsu gave was having a 1.25x multiplier material affecting a 100 exp material that was added on top of it - creating a 125 exp material. Some have the opposite effect... a negative multiplier.

As I mentioned before, the weapons level up. Level ups make the weapons more powerful (REALLY?!) and grant them special abilities. Level them up to their limit... and you can get them to change form. The transformation is not automatic, as the new weapon is weaker than its origin at the initial stage. Here's where things get really interesting - beside abilities, now the weapons also change their appearance. You'll need a special material to allow transformation, too.

Shonen Jump gave a few examples of the characters' weapons a few weeks ago, the article can be found on Vgchartz here. It provides basic Reform info, and some weapon info too. I'll do a recap here anyway.

The weapons of all the characters in the game - Lightning, Snow, Vanille, Hope, Sazh, and Fang are as follows: transformable sword, coat, bind rod, boomerang, gun, and lance, respectively. Some were detailed before, some not. I'll go over everything presented...

Snow's weapon is... a coat. Yeah. He fights using his bare hands, but it's the coat that powers all that. The coat has a special pattern on its back and sleeves, the initial one being "Wild Bear" - which you can see in battle. The pattern changes with upgrades.

Vanille uses a bind rod. The weapon's body consists of 4 long wires with hooks that latch on to enemies and pull... ouch. Imagine pieces of you being ripped off, slowly. The initial headpiece looks like a pair of antlers, an upgraded one has something akin to feathers as a headpiece.

Lightning uses... dare I say it... a gunblade. Well, it is a sword and a gun combined. Not as special as Snow's or Vanille's weapon. The initial is called a Blaze Edge, it upgrades into a Slash Carbine.

That covers it for the detailed ones.

The materials for the upgrades can be acquired through all the traditional methods - find 'em in treasure chests, buy them in the store, steal 'em from enemies... the real good stuff can be awarded for completing missions. You can also destroy your old weapons to obtain materials from them.

The game's Director, Motomu Toriyama, has said that it's possible that you'll be fighting the game's end boss with your very first weapons... sounds good if you grow attached to them, heh.

All in all, the system promises to be deep, with over 100 materials to choose from.

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