Joe Darkthorne:
No clue what or how a FFXI skill chain/Magic burst is like.
In FFXI, you have something called a "Weapon Skill" that is very similar to FFVII's "Limit Break". You have a meter that fills up as you hit an enemy or as enemies hit you. When it's full, you can use a "Weapon Skill."
The weapon skills you had available were dependant on how much you have used your weapon (You leveled up how much skill you had in a weapon just like WoW used to do) As you leveled up your skill in a weapon, you got new weapons skills.
Being a White Mage, I generally used a club as my weapon. When my club skill reached 10, I got the "Shining Strike" Weapon Skill. So when my meter filled, I used Shining Strike.
But that's Weapon Skills. Which are neat in and of themselves. Skill CHAINS are where things get awesome.
A Skill Chain happens when 2 or more people perform the correct sequence of Weapon Skills in a row. So say a full party gets their Weapon Skill meters full, then the party leader says, "Skill Chain!" and he pulls out his Weapon Skill. The next person pulls out his Weapon Skill about a second after. Then the next person, then the next. Each person getting bonuses to damage and getting special status effects as a result.
But wait! Then the white mage casts Holy and the black mage casts Fire and BOOM! Magic Burst! A magic burst is when you finish off a skill chain with a spell. It's a beautiful sight and often ended the fight with a glorious atomic explosion.
This obviously takes a lot of coordination, but nobody was forced to do it. Just that when you did, the reward was worth it. As Chris got good at the game, he started doing that all the time and encouraged me to. By the time I left the game, I had gotten to where I could do a skill chain or magic burst as a reaction to someone using their Weapon Skill without even having planned a skill chain. Sometimes, newbies would be all "what in the world did you just do?" and it filled me with glee.
The concept is pretty smart. FFXI is probably the most "you have to party with others" centric game I've ever played. You know how I love duoing with Chris or you or trioing with both if you? Yeah... in FFXI, you ALWAYS had a full party. You could do mini skillchains with yourself in FFXI too, but as gratifying as it was, believe me when I say the party skillchains rocked hard.
But I would like to have WS/SC/MB concept as an option for any game really. It's a neat bonus to throw in.