Alright, FF-GAF, this is a pet peeve of mine. It isn't really important, but I find it interesting that people often confuse battle system names:
TTB (Traditional Turn-Based Battle System) (Final Fantasy I, II, III)
The oldest battle system employed in the Final Fantasy series. Used in the first three games and Hikari no 4 Senshi. The player chooses an action for all player characters at the beginning of a round, and then the action plays out for them. The characters' action order is determined by their Agility stat. The Agility stat also determines how many hits a character can land in one round.
ATB (Active Time Battle System) (Final Fantasy IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX)
This system was introduced in Final Fantasy IV by our favourite, Hiroyuki Ito. It was inspired by Formula One racing. It essentially adds timing and strategy to character attacks, and it determines when characters are going to act. When the action is completed, the ATB gauge resets and recharges in order for the character to act again. The recharge rate is determined by the character's Agility stat and Battle Speed (set in the game's settings menu).
There are also two modes: Active for experienced players, and Wait for learners. In Active mode, time flows even when players are selecting party members' actions from the menu, meaning they can be attacked by the enemies while selecting commands. In Wait mode, time freezes when players are selecting party members' actions from the menu, meaning they may stop enemies from attacking them to choose commands, or they can even stall status ailments from taking off HP or the Doom counter from continuing. Exclusive to Final Fantasy VII was the "Recommended" mode, which mixed both modes together.
Characters may also start battles in different circumstances and formations, like pre-emptive strikes, back attacks, side attacks, and pincer attacks.
ATB Kai (Active Time Battle System Kai) (Final Fantasy X-2)
An extension of the ATB system used in Final Fantasy X-2. Playable characters now have an opportunity to interrupt enemy actions by timing their attacks correctly. Both playable characters and enemies may chain attacks together for greater damage. (I'd consider the ability to switch jobs flexibly within battle using the garment grid as part of the game's ability system.)
RTB (Real Time Battle System) (Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XIV)
This was introduced in Final Fantasy XI by Akihiko Matsui. Monsters are now found free-roaming on the map and seamlessly engaged with no battle transition as opposed to being encountered in random encounters. Characters start attacking automatically when they engage an enemy. They can use special attacks or magic at any time but they usually have a casting time/delay to use. The system was later evolved in Final Fantasy XIV.
CTB (Conditional Turn-Based Battle System) (Final Fantasy X)
Developed by Toshiro Tsuchida for Final Fantasy X, CTB is a turn-based affair whereby action is paused whenever the player is prompted to select an action without feeling pressure of making split-second decisions. Turn order is also displayed in the Act List so that the player can note the enemy's attack times, and those of the player characters. Characters with a higher speed stat can take more turns than characters with lower speed stats (thus an increased speed stat is very important in battle). The Act List can be modified via prioritizing certain attacks, Overdrives, and spells like Haste and Slow. Players can also sub characters in and out of battle... and, like in some of the older games, they may switch equipment mid-battle.
ADB (Active Dimension Battle System) (Final Fantasy XII)
Designed by Hiroyuki Ito to evolve the ATB system, ADB eliminates random encounters, and opts instead to make enemies visible to the player in the environment prior to engaging in combat. Combat is seamless, and there is no battle transition to another screen. Players have the choice of engaging the enemy or not. Players also have control over playable character movement while in-battle, and spells and special abilities now have an area-of-effect attached to them due to this change. Characters may also chain enemies of the same palette swap for more XP, or to fight enemies in overlimit mode.
Combat can either be controlled manually or controlled via using Gambits. Gambits allow the player to generate a list of commands or actions to be carried out by the characters automatically for convenience and ease of combat as opposed to managing everything manually. All gambit commands can be set to be used on all allies, one ally, all enemies, or one enemy.
The player can control one party member at any time. They may also switch their controlled player whenever they want. If the controlled 'leader' character is KO'd, then the game asks the player to choose another character or bring another character in from reserve should more than one character be downed. Characters may also be swapped in-and-out of battle at any time. The game also allows Convoy characters into the party who act on their own without the player's input.
CSB (Command Synergy Battle System) (Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII-2)
Toshiro Tsuchida designed this battle system for Final Fantasy XIII, and was later used in Final Fantasy XIII-2 with some tinkering.
Players are able to control only one party member: the party leader (though this is modified in FFXIII-2 where players may now use the Change Leader command). If the controlled party member is KO'd in battle, the battle ends and the player is greeted with a Game Over screen. However, in Final Fantasy XIII-2, if the leader character is downed, control is automatically switched to the other human party member in battle (if both human characters are KO'd in battle, it's game over).
Included in CSB is the ability to choose between Auto-Battle or manual input via the 'abilities' option. The commands selected by Auto-Battle, in general and in theory, depends on the current battle circumstances (ie: if player characters are in critical condition, if they need to be buffed, etc). Selecting commands via the 'Abilities' option is identical to that of previous Final Fantasy titles. Auto-Battle was added to create an experience similar to that of Advent Children's acrobatic battle scenes. Information for Auto-Battle's command selection depends on how much of the enemy's bestiary entry is filled.
The ATB gauge is divided into equal segments, each segment taking up an action. The maximum amount of segments is 6. Certain techniques like -ga spells take up two segments, while a character's signature attack takes up the full ATB bar itself. If the player executes the commands without filling all ATB segments, the unused amount of the bar will remain for the next round. Using Items or Techniques will not use any of the ATB gauge, and the action is generally immediate (though animation speeds may take up some time for the action to be carried out). Passive abilities such as Ironstrike, Haste, or Slow may also affect how quickly the gauge fills up. Siphon abilities and ATB charge abilities may also affect how much of the ATB gauge is filled on a next round.
Both enemies and allies have a Chain Gauge. Enemies' chain gauges fill as allies attack them, and the rate the bar is depleted or filled depends on the enemies' stagger resistances. When the enemy's chain gauge is filled, it's staggered, the gauge numbers turn golden, and the enemy's chain resistance is now 0. Chaining attacks is faster and more efficient, and it's much easier to take enemies down as opposed to when it's in its unstaggered state. During Stagger, some enemies can be Launched into the air by Commandos' Launch command or by -ga spells in order to simulate aerial combat a la Advent Children. This also makes enemies' HP deplete faster. There are also abilities and weapons which affect the rate of the stagger gauge filling up, either locking the ability to stagger enemies outright (Stagger Lock), or bringing enemies extremely close to stagger (RIC; Quick Stagger).
When the player characters' chain gauges fill as they're buffed or heal, it increases the buff/healing potency.
Optima Changing/Paradigm Shifting is an integral part of Final Fantasy XIII's battle system. Roles are essentially different classes that the player can assign to different party members in battle. Three members can be included in a battle party, and the player can assign up to 6 combinations of roles (Paradigms/Optimae) in order to shift battle strategies for certain conditions. Roles can only be changed for the entire party, not one character only, thus there are only a total number of 83 combinations of party Optimae for the player to employ in the entire game.
The roles include: Commando/Attacker (basically melee and physically attacking the enemy, or using pure magic to hit the enemy when physical attacks aren't useful), Ravager/Blaster (mage-type characters), Sentinel/Defender (tank or evasive-type characters), Medic/Healer (self-explanatory), Synergist/Enhancer (cast status-enhancements on allies), and Saboteur/Jammer (cast status-enfebblements on enemies).
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It's a pet peeve and I'm a bit of a stickler when it comes to this kind of stuff, but... I guess it isn't important. I needed to vent that. It isn't necessarily inspired by the GAF votes thread or anything.
For example:
Final Fantasy X does not exhibit an ATB system, and yet I see people calling it that even though there isn't anything "active" about it. O_O
Final Fantasy XIII's version of the system is a bit like an ATB system, but it's ultimately called the CSB to emphasize the role that different jobs have in the battle system.
(I tried to sound as unbiased as I could in the CSB summary. I don't like CSB much.)
YRP?
Dodging them bolts was not as bad as I thought it would be. But I hope that it won't be part of the trophy in the remastered edition.
If that's a trophy, I'll take super-long to plat the game, and might not even plat the game if it takes long.
And oh, so Rikku overcame her fear of lightning/thunder enough so they can have a concert with a metal stage/sound equipment in the Thunder Plains for thousands of people where lightning strike dodging is so prevalent that it's a minigame, lol. @_@