Combat

Combat in Final Fantasy VI is menu-based, in which the player selects an action from a list of such options as Fight, Magic, and Item. A maximum of four characters may be used in battles, which uses the series' traditional Active Time Battle system, or ATB, which was designed by Hiroyuki Itō and first featured in Final Fantasy IV. Under this system, each character has an action bar that replenishes itself at a rate dependent on their speed statistic. When a character's action bar is filled, the player may assign an action. In addition to standard battle techniques, each character possesses a unique special ability. For example, Locke possesses the ability to steal items from enemies, while Celes' Runic ability allows her to absorb most magical attacks cast until her next turn. Characters are rewarded for victorious battles with experience points and money, called gil (GP in the original North American localization). When characters attain a certain amount of experience points, they gain a level, which increases their statistics. An additional player may play during battle scenarios, with control of individual characters assigned from the configuration menu.
In contrast to previous versions of the Active Time Battle system, the player is able to pick from any character that has a filled action bar and has not yet received any commands, rather than being forced to issue commands to whichever character had his or her action bar filled first. Another new element is a powerful attack substitution that occasionally appears when a character's health is low. Similar features appear in later Final Fantasy titles under a variety of different names, including Limit Breaks, Trances, and Overdrives.