ctb What do you want/like/hate in CTB?

[DoubleX 208]

Athough I think CTB can be regarded as a subset of ATB if the latter's feature set's expanded enough, I still think this topic deserves to exist here(Even though I've posted similar topics for ATB).

Do you think there are some features that should be in a CTB, yet almost no CTB system implements it?

Do you like any feature that exists in at least 1 CTB system, and that feature should just be included in all CTB systems?

Do you hate any feature that exists or may be going to exist in at least 1 CTB system, and that feature should just never exist in any CTB system?

When stating what you want/like/hate, I'd be glad if you clearly state whether you feel/think they're your subjective preferences or just objective facts, and whether your points apply to the entire CTB concept or only specific CTB systems.

 

My 2 cents right now(they're just my personal opinions):

 

 

What I want

- Unison skill/item: More than 1 battlers are needed to use those skills/items and they'll all use it and pay its costs at the same time. All those unison battlers can only use it if at least 1 of them can act right now and all the subsequent battlers in the action order queue are the rest of those unison battlers. For example, let's say UB1 can act right now, UBX are all the other unison battlers, and OBX are all the other battlers. If the rightmost battler displayed in the action order queue is the one that can act right now, then:

OB1 UB2 UB1

Means the unison skills/items can be used if all the other skill/item use conditions are met, while:

UB2 OB1 UB1

Means the unison skills/items can't be used

 

What I like

- Skill/item charging/cooldown: As actions are extremely valuable in CTB, more powerful skills/items can have longer charging(Users will be placed more behind in the action order queue right after finishing inputting the skills/items)/cooldown times(Users will be placed more behind in the action order queue right after executing the skills/items) so they've to be used only when they're truly called for(thus reducing the chance of spamming powerful skills/items).

- Different action costs for different skill/item: While battlers having higher agi gain more actions in CTB, battlers having high Action Times + can gain more than 1 actions whenever they can act(or 1 action's gained whenever they can act, but if they pass their turn several times, they can gain even more actions, Action Times + will be the maximum number of action points a battler can stack in this case).

This allows different skills/items to have different action point requirements. Standard attack/guard and less powerful skills costs 1 action point, while more powerful ones costs 2, 3, or even more. Passing turns should cost 0 action points(but the battler will be pushed back 1 position in the action order queue), and some special skills/items might even give users more action points after using them(so trading hp/mp/tp for action points become viable strategies).

 

What I hate

- Not showing the action order queue: While it sounds ridiculous, if I recall correctly, I did have used a CTB system(or played a game using it, I can't remember accurately now) quite a long time ago, and that system really doesn't show the action order queue. It hides essential info for CTB players/users, effectively keeping them into the dark. At the very least, I think an action order queue showing only actors should exist, otherwise it's like hiding the actors' hp/mp/tp bars.

 

 

Edited July 8, 2015 by DoubleX

[+ Sughayyer 163]

Again, the nefarios name rises... Final Fantasy IV had a charge-time system (plus the atb). In the original game, the charge time was a mystery. This made me SO angry. While I don't like players knowing all battlers' orders, not having any information at all simply makes you plan a strategy in a vacuum, and it took A LOT of trial and error to figure out what actios were better each time. Plus it was unbalanced as hell.