Action Time Battle

The Action Time (AT) Battle (ATバトル) is the traditional battle system in Trails games, used from until.

Background
Action Time Battles take place turn-based on a grid. The character's turn order is determined by a tracker called the AT Bar. During the character's turn, the player can attack, move, use items and a number of other actions introduced in subsequent refinements.

In addition to normal attacks, each character also has three other methods available for action: Arts, Crafts, and S-Crafts. Arts are magic spells utilising "Energy Points" (EP) gauge" that characters can use to attack opponents or support teammates but must take an additional turn to cast. Crafts are character-specific abilities utilising "Craft Points" (CP) that are similar to Arts but can be used in the same turn. S-Crafts are powered-up Crafts that can be performed once a character has over 100CP but completely depletes the CP gauge upon using it. S-Breaks are actions which allow pre-set S-Crafts to be unleashed immediately while ignoring the battle order.

AT Bar and AT Bonuses
The AT bar, the character's turn order tracker, shows the turn order of party members and opponents. An additional component in combat is AT Bonuses, which may randomly appear for a character's turn on the AT Bar, which grant bonus effects.

Trivia

 * Despite the name, this is technically a Conditional Turn Based battle system (CTB), not an actual Active Time battle system (ATB).
 * An actual ATB is a system where each character has a "cooldown bar" which empties in real time after a character has acted: after it empties, said character can act again. In an ATB, a character can be attacked during their turn (when their action menu is displaying) and two characters' turns can happen one right after the other if both cooldown bars are empty.
 * In a CTB, on the other hand, turn order does not rely on real time. The player can also see the icons of future turns, change their order and act accordingly.