Battle Speed

Battle Speed is a setting in the game's config that determines how fast the units' ATB bars fill up, and can also determine many other things affected by battle time, such as how long status effects last.

Final Fantasy V
The battle speed can be adjusted between six different settings, three being the medium, one being the fastest and six the slowest. The battle speed setting only affects the enemies' speed; the player characters' speed is only affected by their Speed stat and whether they have Haste or Slow. This means the battle speed is kind of like a game difficulty setting, although setting the battle speed to fast can, in a few isolated cases, be advantageous to the player, if they want the enemy to get through their battle script faster.

Final Fantasy VI
The battle speed can be adjusted between six different settings, three being the medium, one being the fastest and six the slowest. The battle speed only affects the enemies' speed; the player characters' speed is only affected by their Speed stat and whether they have Haste or Slow. This means the battle speed is kind of like a game difficulty setting, although setting the battle speed to fast can, in a few isolated cases, be advantageous to the player, if they want the enemy to get through their battle script faster.

Normal speed:


 * $$((96 * (Speed + 20)) * (255 - ((Battle Speed - 1) * 24))) / 16$$

If Hasted:


 * $$((126 * (Speed + 20)) * (255 - ((Battle Speed - 1) * 24))) / 16$$

If Slowed:


 * $$((48 * (Speed + 20)) * (255 - ((Battle Speed - 1) * 24))) / 16$$

Final Fantasy VII
The player can set the battle speed for regular battles, but also for the minigame at Fort Condor.

The battle speed option gives a value between 0 and 255, where 0 is the fastest and 255 is the slowest. The default battle speed is 128. When a battle starts, the battle speed is converted into a Speed Value via the following equation:


 * $$Speed Value = [32768 / (120 + [Battle Speed * 15 / 8])]$$

On the fastest setting, the battles are 300% faster than on the default battle speed (100%). On the slowest setting, the battles are running at 59% speed.

The Speed Value, calculated from the battle speed set in the confiq, determines how fast the units' ATB bars fill (also depends if the character has Haste or Slow and their Dexterity stat) and how fast status effects wear out. However, the Battle Speed does not affect all status effects. For example, the negative statuses of Death Sentence and Slow Numb use a different timer, which means they are much more dangerous in slow battle speeds.

Final Fantasy VIII
Battle Speed can be set to one of five values: with 5 being the slowest, 3 the default speed and 1 the fastest. The Battle Speed affects the size of the ATB bar, although this change is invisible to the player.


 * $$BarSize = BattleSpeed * 4000$$

Every tick, the bar is increased by the BarIncrement


 * $$BarIncrement = (Spd + 30) * SpeedMod / 2$$

The SpeedMod is whether a character has Slow or Haste or neither.

It thus takes


 * $$200 * BattleSpeed / (3 * (Spd + 30))$$

seconds to fill the ATB bar.

The battle speed also affects the duration of status effects and how long it takes to summon a Guardian Force (in conjunction with GF compatibility)


 * $$Duration = Compability * BattleSpeed * 0.9143 / 32$$

Final Fantasy IX
The value of a full ATB bar is equal to:


 * $$((60 - Speed) * 160)$$

Which is filled in increments of:

Max Battle Speed:

+9 per 1/60th second in Slow status +14 per 1/60th second normally +21 per 1/60th second in Haste status

Medium Battle Speed:

+6 per 1/60th second in Slow status +10 per 1/60th second normally +15 per 1/60th second in Haste status

Slow Battle Speed:

+5 per 1/60th second in Slow status +8 per 1/60th second normally +12 per 1/60th second in Haste status

Battle Speed also affects how long status effects last, in conjunction with Spirit.

The one opponent, Ozma, has its own ATB mechanism that is not dependent on the battle speed setting. Setting the battle speed to maximum plays an important role if the player is attempting the Excalibur II challenge.

Final Fantasy XII
There are six battle speed settings, 1 the slowest, 6 the fastest. Final Fantasy XII introduces a new concept of Charge Time, where the player's actions have a charge period before being executed. The battle speed affects this time. On he fastest setting, the units' Charge Timers take half the time to fill up, compared to the slowest battle speed. The battle speed only affects how fast the characters' Charge Timer bars fill, not the rate the characters move about on the field in real time. This means that by setting the battle speed fast, one can reduce the relative disadvantage of actions with long charge times (such as guns), as the action length stays the same.

Other factors, besides the battle speed setting, also affect the Charge Time, such as what weapon/attack the character is performing, their Speed stat, the number of "Swiftness" augments purchased on the License Board and what status effects the character is afflicted with.

Unlike other games, battle speed doesn't affect the status effects' duration, which means the player is worse off if using the slow battle speed. The game's toughest enemies, such as Yiazmat, also don't have any charge time for their attacks, meaning setting the battle speed to slow only hurts the player. The battle speed can be set to slow when escaping from enemies, however, as it will make the enemies get their turns slower, but the party will still keep running away at the same pace.

Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy XIII has two settings: slow and normal battle speed. The slow setting fills the ATB bar half as fast as the normal setting. The settings determine the rate the ATB bar fills, how much target time the battle has, how long status effects last, and how long the Eidolons have time before the player must go to Gestalt Mode. The most obvious effect is Doom, as the player can see it ticking down; in normal battle speed, Doom gives 1800 allotted points, as opposed to 3214 (80% more time) in slow battle speed. The other status effects, however, have many other factors than just the battle speed which affect their duration, such as chain gauge and role level.