Battle system

The Battle Systems are the core engine for battles between characters and enemies in the Final Fantasy series. The first few games in the series had simple battle systems, but it was developed to become more and more realistic as the series grew. The newer games have much more intricate battle systems that involve careful attention from the player. They generally make up a large part of the game as well as allow the party to increase their strength, learn new abilities, gain new items and advance in the storyline.

On a typical battle screen, there is a display of the party and the enemies they are fighting with a background to show the surrounding area, such as a forest. There is a list of the enemies, a list of the characters in the party, and the basic statistics used in combat for each unit. These stats can encompass HP, MP, and various other gauge levels.

Traditional Turn-Based
The Traditional Turn-Based system is the first battle system used in the first three Final Fantasy games and Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, and it is also the oldest battle system used. When encountering random enemies or bosses, the field screen fades out into a battle screen.

Each turn, party members in battle are chosen to perform an action from their available options (like Fight, Magic, or Items). When all members of the party have chosen their action, whoever has the highest Agility or Speed status goes first. The battle round ends when the monster or character with the lowest of the status performs their action last. Because of this, the Agility status does not determine how often a character can attack so much as how many actions the units perform in a single turn, namely how many hits with a weapon the member lands, and in what order they attack in.

Active Time Battle
The Active Time Battle (ATB) system, designed by Hiroyuki Itō for Final Fantasy IV, shares many attributes with the former system, but adds the dimension of timing-based strategy for commands. In it, an ATB gauge tracks when characters are going to act. When the gauge is full, they are able to perform an action. In later games and/or remakes, some actions then have an additional wait time, such as casting spells or using special abilities.

After the action is executed, the ATB gauge is depleted and must recharge. The rate which the gauge recharges will typically correlate to the Speed stat of the character and the Battle Speed, which can be adjusted in the config. This means that combatants do not always get an equal number actions on a turn. ATB also introduced Attack Formations, a new element on how the battle itself is played out. A few additions, like Preemptive Strike and Back Attack, change how the battle begins, normally giving an initial edge to one side or the other by giving them an extra turn or changing the party order to disadvantage them. Others, like Side Attack and Pincer Attack change the entire combat, providing even more need for strategy.

There are usually two settings to ATB, Active mode and Wait mode. In Active mode, time flows regardless of what is going on in game. In Wait mode, time stops when the player is navigating menus. Final Fantasy VII had a third mode called Recommended, which was a mix of the two. These two modes are usually the closest thing to changing the in-game difficulty, as some events can be stalled to an extent in Wait mode. The best example is stalling the status ailment Doom, in which the player can let long actions go on in a menu to pause the counter, only to quickly input actions and stop in another menu later. What could seem like "10 seconds" could be extended to minutes.

The first game to make use of this system was Final Fantasy IV, but it did not feature the ATB meter in the SNES and PlayStation versions. The ATB meter was introduced in Final Fantasy V, while the option to skip turns debuted in Final Fantasy VI. All following main installments until Final Fantasy X made use of the ATB system, and it returned in a modified form for Final Fantasy X-2.

Charge Time Battle


Final Fantasy Tactics introduced the Charge Time Battle (CTB) system. It was designed by Hiroyuki Itō, who also created the Active Time Battle (ATB). In this system, "Charge Time" (CT) meters fill up to 100 to then allow each character to take different actions. The system has since been used in a modified form in both Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift.

Conditional Turn-Based Battle
The Conditional Turn-Based Battle (CTB) system, or the Count Time Battle system in Japan, designed by Toshiro Tsuchida is used in Final Fantasy X. At its most basic, CTB is a turn-based system which does not operate in rounds, instead it uses an Act List, which can be affected through various means throughout the battle.

That is, the order of the turns does not guarantee that each participant in a battle will have an equal number of turns. Characters with higher speed will be able to take more turns than slower characters, thus making speed much more important than in other turn-based battle systems. Uniquely, players can substitute out and in characters mid-battle, thus adding a new level of strategy.

Furthermore, spells and abilities (such as Haste or Overdrives) can modify the Act List, as some abilities require a longer cool down time. In general, weaker abilities tend to require less cool down time, thus introducing a trade-off between speed and power. The system is distinguished from Active Time Battle system by the fact that when a character's turn begins, all action stops while the player decides upon an action. This shifts the focus from reflexes and quick decision-making to strategy and careful planning.

Real Time Battle
The Real Time Battle (RTB) system is a battle system introduced in Final Fantasy XI and was designed by Akihiko Matsui, who created the battle system for Chrono Trigger. The RTB system replaces the Random Encounter that has featured in past Final Fantasy games, instead monsters are found freely roaming areas and are seamlessly engaged.

As the battle takes place without a separate battle screen loading one is free to move around the landscape during battles, interact with other players or avoid battles altogether. Monsters may also attack players without provocation, retaining a hint of random encounters. Characters start attacking automatically once they are in combat with an enemy, and special commands and magic can be inputted by the player at any time. Many items, spells and abilities used during battle have a casting time or delay to use once activated, similar Active Time Battles.

An evolved form of the RTB system is used in Final Fantasy XIV.

Active Dimension Battle
The Active Dimension Battle (ADB) system is the evolution of the Active Time Battle (ATB) system and designed by Hiroyuki Itō, the original creator of the ATB system. It was first used in Final Fantasy XII. The ADB system eliminates random battles; enemies are fully visible on the field before they are engaged in battle and so the player has a choice of if they want to fight them or not.

The battles take place on the field with no separate battle screen and there is no transition between exploration and battle; ADB makes battles completely seamless. The system also includes the ability for the player to still have full control over character movement while currently engaged in battle. The distance between party members and enemies also influences battles as various spells and abilities now have an Area of Effect (AoE). The addition of AoE simply means that party members and enemies need to be within a certain range of each other for their spells and abilities to hit.

Command Synergy Battle
Command Synergy Battle (CSB) is the name (declared in-game) of the system used in Final Fantasy XIII and in Final Fantasy XIII-2, designed by Toshiro Tsuchida. It derives the flow of time from ATB as each character has their own ATB gauge. The ATB gauge in turn acts like an action point meter that's divided up into equal sections (a similar system was used in Enix's game Robotrek).

Each action consumes a portion of the ATB gauge, for example attacking consumes one point, while casting a powerful spell consumes three. Commands can be chained so as long as there's enough action points. When the player decides on what commands to take, the player presses another button to execute the commands for the character to do. If the player executes the chained commands without filling all ATB slots, the unused slots will be filled at the start of the next turn. Unlike regular ATB, the player is only able to control the actions of the party leader.

At the end of each battle, the player is judged on a rating of zero to five stars. In Final Fantasy XIII, this rating is based on a comparison between the party's power and battle duration; while in Final Fantasy XIII-2, only battle duration is ranked.

Trivia

 * Another iteration of the ATB system is featured in the Squaresoft title Chrono Trigger, where it is dubbed Active Time Battle ver. 2. It was created by Akihiko Matsui, who is also the creator of Real Time Battle (RTB) used in Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV.
 * Square filed a Japanese patent application related to the ATB system on July 16, 1991 and a corresponding US application on March 16, 1992. One Japanese patent (JP2794230) and two US patents (US5390937 and US5649862) were granted based on these applications.
 * Although all the main series games from Final Fantasy IV through till Final Fantasy IX used Active Time Battle (ATB), every main series game from Final Fantasy X through till Final Fantasy XIII has used its own unique battle system.

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