Active Time Battle (ATB) is superior to strict turn-based combat

I don't know why Square has gone away from using the best battle-system, that they themselves invented - ATB, and gone back to strict turn-based combat. I know that I am Setsuna uses ATB, but that has been the exception in a sea of turn-based battle-systems.

Even in turn-based systems, you can have characters with different speeds, but ATB offers a more tangible feeling of time because you have to wait for characters' turns to come up, and the visual ATB-bar on screen depicts a tangible representation of time that is truly palpable. When I play pure turn-based games, every turn is so immediate that it destroys any feeling of anticipation for my characters' next turns. I like having to wait a little bit for my next turn, as well as seeing that ATB-bar fill up.

I dislike how in many turn-based games, the order of every character and enemy's turn is displayed. It takes away from the dynamic feeling of combat. Not knowing when an enemy will strike makes it that much more exciting and dangerous, instead of knowing you should heal before or after a major attack.

In many turn-based games, even if the turn-order is not displayed, you can easily predict the order of turns because they reset every turn; the speed of every character and enemy is reset and everyone moves at designated times, unless a temporal ability is used. Some people might like that predictability, but I don't. I like having to adapt to changing conditions. It is more challenging, dynamic, and makes battles less tedious.

Square, please abandon strict turn-based battle-systems, and return to the best battle-system of all time.

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