ATB in this game is so annoying.

[Keytee Tamira]

By that i mean Active Time Battle, obviously.

In FF1-2-3 it's so nice, you pick actions for each of your characters, then you watch it exchange. It feels like a soccer match, your team does it's thing on the round, then before next round you tell them course of action for next round.

In FF4, however... i have to wait till they would let me DECIDE the action, then i need to wait for the action to be done, if it's not a simple attack command or an item.
So, for every mage, every time after they do their thing, i need to wait for their gauge to fill, then decide their action, then i need to wait for them to fulfill it.

...And of course the worst thing - every action PAUSES the time in battle. It's... so... ANNOYING

So, my mage's gauge is almost filled, i'm ready to decide the magic to use... then some monsters decide to act at this decide moment, usually three or so monsters in a row. So i'm waiting for each of them to complete their actions while my hands are freaking ITCHING with desire to finally pick the action for the character!

At least in Final Fantasy 5, all magics are cast instantly once you pick them... and in Final Fantasy 6, actions don't stop the gauge - which is amazing, as the flow doesn't interrupt.

But in FF4... flow is constantly interrupted by actions, as they always pause the gauges...
Only way to cope with it, is to always leave one characters with full gauge.


You know, Final Fantasy XIII did ATB the best... as you pick actions BEFORE gauge is filled. Then you wait for gauge to fill so they can do their action... It's basically the best fix for an ATB battle system... which is ignored because FF13 is considered a bad FF, so even something good that FF13 did is considered bad, or just ignored. *Sigh*

Seriously, imagine how much better it would be if game would allow player to pick an action instantly for all characters, not making player wait for gauge to fill, while filled gauge would mean the execution of action you choosen, then you can choose action again... like in Ryuuki Heidan Danzarb on SNES... a good classic SNES JRPG, which is about Mecha. If you like classic SNES JRPGs be sure to check it out. It also has ATB, but it's made much enjoyable, as you select an action just after character made an action.

[Black Mage Luis]

What speed are you playing on? FF4 actually has my favorite version of the ATB and favorite game in the series. I play on speed 1/Active setting where the battle moves faster.

[Judeo-communism]

ATB is my favorite by far. FF Dimensions does it best.

[Keytee Tamira]

Originally posted by Black Mage Luis:

What speed are you playing on? FF4 actually has my favorite version of the ATB and favorite game in the series. I play on speed 1/Active setting where the battle moves faster.

I play on Very Slow/Active

[Keytee Tamira]

Originally posted by Keytee Tamira:

Originally posted by Black Mage Luis:

What speed are you playing on? FF4 actually has my favorite version of the ATB and favorite game in the series. I play on speed 1/Active setting where the battle moves faster.

I play on Very Slow/Active

Which is funny, because i used Very Fast/Active to do a bit of level grind before Final Boss, while checking to fight Zeromus each new Level Cecil gains.
So i forgot to toggle Very Fast to Very Slow and... managed to defeat Zeromus. Idk why, but it felt easier on Very Fast, it's like Zeromus acted much slower on Very Fast...

[Keytee Tamira]

Originally posted by Dimlhugion:

In all fairness, game mechanics are rarely perfect the first time they're used.

Just look at FF2, which tried the "anyone can do anything" approach. It was rather clunky, but the basic idea of "characters are almost blank slates" turned out very effective for later FF's such as 6, 7, and 10. Meanwhile, FF3 was the first one to do the whole "Job System" thing and it, too, was found wanting compared to 5. FF1 was the first one to do literally anything in the FF franchise, and it started with "round-based" combat. This would eventually evolve into "turn-based" in later entries such as FF10.

And of course, the ATB was first employed here in FF4. It's far from perfect - did you know for example, that speed ties here are handled by character slot? 1st to act is in top slot, and it follows straight down to last to act in 5th. So unlike FF1, where the top slots "tend" to get favored by enemy attacks ("random" AI isn't quite so random in FF1), you actually WANT your crucial members up TOP in FF4 because they'll get their turn "faster," and will also execute their action faster, over other party members. That clutch Curaga or last-ditch physical hit will come THAT much sooner.

Furthermore, some things are straight-up bugged. Every single action in the game is supposed to have a SECOND "hidden ATB gauge" that is affected by a "time multiplier" unique to each action. Many commands have that multiplier set to "0" which basically means instant - so that physical attack, or that item use, happens instantly. But ALL spells and MOST abilities are supposed to have non-zero multipliers which essentially cause the gauge to fill SLOWER than normal.

But some spells, mistakenly have their time multiplier set to 0. The 3 most notable ones are Bio, Flare, and Curaja. Consider using those if you're up against a strict timer.

Personally I just kind of expect older games to have quirks and bugs and growing pains. Technically I suppose they could have changed the game to be something other than ATB, or even allowed a toggle option, with the Pixel Remasters. But, I also rather think they tried to be somewhat true-to-form with these entries, and significantly overhauling the ATB would have profoundly altered just about everything in FF4.

I see!

Still, speaking of ATB, i think games like Lufia (Which i'm playing for the first time right now) Implemented the "Character Speed decides Action Order" stuff kinda better. Same for Bravely Default 2.

Maybe this is what i want to see in ATB.

Stil... FFXIII did ATB good, but people ignore that feat because it's FFXIII ><

[Black Mage Luis]

Originally posted by Keytee Tamira:

Originally posted by Keytee Tamira:

I play on Very Slow/Active

Which is funny, because i used Very Fast/Active to do a bit of level grind before Final Boss, while checking to fight Zeromus each new Level Cecil gains.
So i forgot to toggle Very Fast to Very Slow and... managed to defeat Zeromus. Idk why, but it felt easier on Very Fast, it's like Zeromus acted much slower on Very Fast...

That's not true. Zeromus doesn't get his turn any slower on Very Fast. I just now fought the boss on Very Slow and it felt the same. Just slower ATB on everyone. Rosa was still able to keep up with the healing. You just need to be fast on selecting what action you want to use in the menu. Even on Very Slow. My party levels are in the 40s.