Turn Based Combat vs ATB

[Marcus]

i have had this discussion with all my friends and most of them agree with me turn based combat is the best battle style ever however some of my friends disagree and say that ATB is the best, its been annoying me for days what do you think?

 

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

How can they all agree if some of them disagree and say the ATB is better?

Anyway, I much preferred the ATB. I assume by turn based, you're referring to FFX's system? I didn't like that too much, since you could see ahead into the battle as to who had what move and when, so you could pick what you'd do a long time before you needed to. The ATB required a little more spontaneity in your attacks.

 

[Saix]

If developers created monsters/bosses to be much more intelligent/diverse, then turn-based would be a far more accepted style of battle, in my opinion. Sadly the examples I've seen of it thusfar don't do the concept any justice whatsoever.

That in mind, ATB is far more appealing. It keeps you on your toes due to the time limit, the foe can attack at any time too, so the pressure is applied automatically. Much more fun, to be honest.

 

[FF7Guru]

Ditto, and in X2 you got chains and shit, and ATB is better all-round.

 

[Davey Gaga]

I think the turn-based system in X gave you too much of an advantage, particularly against bosses who followed a distinct attack pattern - you could see when they would attack and how your attacks affect the pattern later in the battle. That being said, it was quite a good system but it's nothing compared to the ATB, which does, indeed, keep you on your toes.

I, however, think that real-time battles are the best, Kingdom Hearts being the prime example. XII was close but still had an ATB, to an extent.

 

[TheRealTrxd]

I think if alot of poeple gave ATB a chance they would like it. It has all (most) of the things turn based combat does and just gets rid of the annoying randomness of it all.

 

[Auronlu]

Turn based combat is a lot easier for grannies with arthritic hands. I had to ice my wrists after using Trigger Happy!

Seriously, though, I like the tactics-and-strategy style of turn-based combat. In ATB I tend to flail and fall back on a few particular techniques I've mastered, and forget to experiment because I'm afraid while I'm trying out mixes and such my characters will die.

 

[Hayate]

I personally loved X's system. It DID give you time to think and such. I loved it. But, if I had to pick which had better diversity and kept you entertained, I'd say the ATB system was nice to have.

I loved X2's battle system because of the chain effects and how fast paced it was. It kept you on your toes as Siax said. The enemy can attack you while you are deciding your next move. It keeps you thinking.

 

[Donald Trump]

I like them both, though I prefer X's turn based system.
Like Auronlu said, you didn't have to worry about being killed, so you could play around with it more.
With an ATB I just tend to hold down X, so that when it is my turn I attack straight away, it makes you less inclined to experiment.
However an ATB does give you more contol over who attacks, you can let other characters attack first without loosing your turn, which you couldn't do in FFX.

 

[Kitab]

The ATB system is still, effectively, a turn-based system - it's just that the turns happen after a set period of time, rather than everyone being able to act at any time. I think that all the ATB games before FFX had the option 'Wait', so that time stops when you're selecting items or options. This makes the system almost the same as FFX's. When playing FF7, I set it to Wait for most of the time, because I don't like to be rushed when deciding what to do. What's more, when you get an enormous number of items in your inventory, and you've forgotten to re-order them or customise the order of them, you can end up trying to find an item that's way down the list, and I wouldn't want to be attacked in the mean-time.

 

[Jonny]

I going for ATB, I rely liked the fact it keeps me on my toes while turn base lacks the hurry up I need to give x-char a potion.

 

[Eight]

I prefered ATB myself, it did make battles more exciting, plus it made haste more useful even when your far into the game unlike FFI - III...but FFX did have quite a good turn based system which also made use of Haste...but still, ATB gets my vote.

 

[V_Translanka]

The X systems were a nice enough variation, I suppose. I don't think I'd want every (or even every other) RPG I play to use it, though (it was really just a nice distraction and a "oh, yeah, they made the turn-based battles like that, huh, that's nice" moment that really barely changed anything in the end)...I still think that Chrono Cross' "Cross Sequence Battle" system was by far one of the most unique (& most full of potential) takes on turn-based RPG gameplay, though...

 

[Solidjuss]

Like both.Turn based is kinda more appealing to me,dont know why,meaby because its used in FF I and i like it.Still ATB is more modern and nicer

 

[Ultimecio]

I do like the turn based because you can predict ahead of time, but the ATB is more realistic and more of a challenge, i like that!