The development team behind1997’s Final Fantasy VII used the ATB system due to technical constraints, and the originally envisioned concept for combat was achieved decades later with the Remake series.
On the occasion of the 29th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII, Square Enix shared early concept material for the game alongside a message from creative director Tetsuya Nomura, revealing the development team’s original vision for its combat vastly differed from the Active Time Battle (ATB) system used in the 1997 original.
According to Nomura, the artwork was “drawn during the very earliest plot stages of FFVII,” at a point when the development team was still experimenting with characters, story structure, and core mechanics. The artwork depicts an early version of Cloud in a dense urban environment, with combat unfolding directly within the city itself rather than transitioning to a separate battle screen. The creative director explained that, unlike prior entries, the concept for Final Fantasy VII concept envisioned “combat not on fixed battlefields but whilst moving through the city’s three-dimensional environment.”
The accompanying design notes offer context for why this vision was scaled back. One note mentions that “technical constraints meant retaining the ATB system,” while encouraging the team to “consider more interesting ways to present combat.” As such, the ATB system wasn’t a purely creative choice, but a technical necessity dictated by the limitations of the PlayStation hardware.
Despite retaining ATB, the original concept pushed more toward immersion. The notes describe dynamically shifting camera perspectives, including switching to “the viewpoint of the character whose turn has come up,” a design intended to heighten tension and more realistically convey the feeling of attacking or defending. There is also discussion of the possibility of true real-time combat, which would allow players to see their own actions unfold directly on screen rather than switching to a separate battle screen.
Nomura said, “Ultimately, this form of combat wasn’t realized in the original,” despite being a part of the original vision for Final Fantasy VII. However, he noted that this long-abandoned concept “has been achieved in the ongoing FFVII remake series,” where modern hardware finally allows seamless transitions, a dynamic camera, and strategic systems layered on top of real-time action.
