Battle Speed

[Yar]

Do you adjust the battle speed when you play Final Fantasy?

Whenever possible, I always have it cranked to the highest speed, in active mode. Any slower and I find the battles take longer than necessary. I like when battles go by very quickly, and it just feels more exciting when the game is in active mode.

I've also become accustomed to the fastest speed, so I know when to use which skills, or when to skip characters.

[blackmage_nuke]

I also push it to the max. Waiting around for the gauge to fill is a snooze early game and later in the game I cant be bothered turning it back down becuase that would be like quiting

[Chris]

I always speed them to max, too. Otherwise, it would make grinding even more... grinding. Horror!

[Faris]

I'll speed it up but not to the max D= I'm too slow with figuring out what to have the party member do.

[Gamblet]

Always to the max.

[VeloZer0]

I usually leave it on the default when I start playing the game then bump it up as I feel I am getting very proficient at the game.

[Red Mage Coffman]

Usually start with moving it up a fair bit. Once I figure out the gist of everything though, I'll crank it up to max. Any less than max is... unbearable sometimes.

[Goldenboko]

In the words of sonic, Gotta go fast.

[Bolivar]

It depends on the title. FFV and FFVII and maybe even FFIV have their battles paced just enough where on the default you can really take part in the tactical nature of ATB at their default speeds.

FFVI, FFVIII and FFIX, on the other hand suffer from having somewhat slower combat animations, where if you turn them all the way up, it reverts to the NES turn-based combat. You input all your commands at once and you're really just sitting there with everyone's bar on full, watching how the game system alotted turn orders.

Final Fantasy XII is a beast all onto its own. If you master the Gambit system, turning it all the way up is a must; it certifies your prestige as a strategist, that you know any battle will undoubtedly be resolved in your favor. You don't need to be able to make a quick decision to adjust, so you can make them go down as fast as possible.

[Laddy]

Maximum. 'Cause I'm hardcore and trout.

[Formalhaut]

If I have the game in "Wait mode" while I'm in the menus and whatnot, I crank it up right to max, so when one character's bar is full, I instantly select attack and then pause, thinking of my next move while everyone is frozen in time. For games without a wait mode (which I admit is slightly sneaky) I have it slightly above default. So my mind has some sort of time to think. The reason I loved FFX so much is because you could spend all day thinking over.

[Del Murder]

I usually put it on wait mode but leave the battle speed high. I like turns coming up quickly but I also like to think about my actions.

[Heath]

Unless it's unbearably slow I don't tend to mess with it too much, though I did speed up FFXII a bit. I don't tend to use wait mode as I'm a bit more impulsive and like the battles to be quite high pressured. I also find it excites me a bit more if I know I might lose if I don't get my move off in time.

[Sefie1999AD]

I usually increase the battle speed to the maximum, but I'll keep the mode on Wait instead of Active. When I played FFIV, it wasn't until my third game or so that I noticed that the game is a lot easier on slower battle speeds. For example, the final boss does 1-2 Big Bang attacks during one turn with the fastest battle speed, but he uses the attack once every 2-3 turns with the slowest battle speed. FFXIII becomes easier with the fastest battle speed, though, since the battle time is reduced, resulting in better battle ratings.

[Mirage]

I tend to push it to the limit.. I mean max as well. Active/wait depends on how easily you can navigate the menus of the game in particular, and how long animations are in general. In FF8, your speed stat goes so high that with that maxed and max battle speed, selecting commands takes like three times as long as for the ATB gauge to fill up, so I keep it at wait.