^ Same here, active battles and fastest speed setting for me. If your strategy's right, it should be more than enough to make your way through the game quickly.

VIII and IX, sure, they feel slower. The ATB pauses as your characters take actions, which the animations are sometimes drawn out and slow.

FFVII, however, had the perfecet mix with "Recommended" mode, where the battle would be free flowing except for especially long animations like summons in which it would stop. Outside of those, it felt like the best implementation of ATB - truly free flowing, fast paced battles.

FFX is turn based, and because I can usually choose my actions quickly and move on to the next character, it moves a little faster for me. XII obviously slightly quicker just due to the way I play it.