Best battle system (not character buildin) of the main series?

[Skyblade]

Honestly, with the exception of moving around and combo bonuses, there really is not much difference between FFX-2 and FFXII's battle systems. Hell, technically FFX-2's system is simply a grossly sped up version of the original ATB system from FFIV before FFV came around and streamlined the system for players.

Moving around, combos, lack of battle instantiation, gambits... Yeah, not buying that one.

Actually they are quite simialr in the fact that in all three games, (IV, X-2, XII) a major element of the battle system is the fact that all skills have different charge times, which is one of the reason I'll never fathom how people feel X-2's system is fast when you put into account the dressphere transformations and most of the useful skills have long charge times which slows the battles to a crawl.

So I suppose FFXII and FFTactics use the same battle system as well, then?

Dressphere transformations can be turned off (which I recommend, especially if you use them a lot), but I don't really feel the charge times slow things to a crawl. Between Haste and the various boosts to charge speed (Black Magic level 2 or 3, etcetera), the game winds up keeping up a good pace anyway. And, then too, the fact that you control three characters give you a lot more input in the game then you get in, say, XIII. Even with charge time, the pace of the game keeps up fairly well. At least, in my experience.

Plus, similar to Chrono Trigger, it's one of the very few games to make the "Active" part of the ATB system useful. Too often the ATB is simply turn based anyway. But the hit-stun and Chain bonuses give X-2's system a benefit to waiting. There can actually be a tactical advantage to not attacking as soon as your bar fills up.