Turn-Based or Real Time Combat Debate at RPGWatch

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Corwin from RPG Watch is looking into one of the classical controversies in the RPG world: what is better, turn-based or real time combat? Here's a bit of what he has to say:

Let me state my personal bias immediately, so there is no confusion. I much prefer TB to RT. For me, Fallout had the best RPG combat ever. However, in the interests of fairness and provoking animated discussion, I will attempt to present the strengths and weaknesses of each. Further, I will treat SP games separately from their MP counterparts. Let’s consider MP first.

The concept of TB combat in an MP environment is both impractical and nonsensical. Who wants to wait around for ‘their’ turn when faced by a horde of monsters, or even ‘real’ enemies while each and every one of them takes their individual turn? Give me a kick and wake me up when it’s my turn. YAWN!! No, it just won’t work. RT combat is the only thing that makes sense; it’s hopefully fast, furious and fun (as all the box blurbs claim.) That’s really why people play MP campaigns and why they are so popular with a large section of the RPG playing market.

Read the rest at RPG Watch.

 

Interesting article. I prefer turn based since my reflexes are slow. Except that some turned based games are too slows. I liked the way BG and BG II handled it where you could pause and think about what you wanted your characters to do and yet you had RT movement.

 

Interesting point, Nakia. I don't like the idea of my manual dexterity mattering more than the character's own. I just like both, I think, depending on the system or maybe even the adventure. But what I don't really like is when you can go around character stats with your own.

 

I agree that the character stat whether intellectual or manual should count more than mine. The manual stats of the character are certainly better than mine are now. A character with a low Ill stat should not be able to figure complex puzzles.

 

One of the fundamental flaws of Oblivion is the fact that it's more about your reflexes as a player than your character's stats and abilities. That monster that just shot a fireball at you? Hmmm... cast a "Resist Fire" spell on yourself? Use your alchemy skill to brew a "Resist Fire" potion and drink it? Enchant some "Resist Fire" armor? Hope your character's reflexes are high enough to avoid being hit? Nah... just push your "A" key fast enough and dodge out of the fireball's path.

 

Sir Fink. I had my characters jumping all over the place and I consider myself slow. I reloaded less in Oblivion than any other cRPG I've played. If the character's stats aren't important why have them?

 

The real time seems to be easier for the developers. Turn based needs more thinking.

 

I loved the turn based combat in TOEE, and my favorite game ever was turn based X-Com: UFO Defense and X-Com: Terror from the Deep!!

 

Like chev, for me it depends a lot on the game itself, and how the combat is implemented. Although I do consider ToEE's combat to be the best I've seen so far.

 

And I hated the combat in the ToEE demo. One of the reasons I didn't get it.

This is a problem for developers. How can they make us all happy? I like turn based but I want it to move quickly and naturally. I guess what I really like is real time fighting that I can control or some cross between the two.

 

Well, I prefer turned-based, too. Something that requires tactics and thinking. The complex interactions and variety of multi-character combat is much more interesting, than controlling a single character.

That said, I'm playing Oblivion now and liking it. There's lots of instant gratification in this game, but it's not very deep.

Real-time with pause (like Oblivion and Gothic) is a fine compromise for single character RPGs. But for large parties (like in BG or ToEE), I prefer true turned-based or at least auto-pause with lots of options like BG. Otherwise, there's too much to keep track of, and it gets to be more based on luck. Then again, I'm a certified control freak

 

Nakia, you can never make everyone happy. Take Arcanum: it has both a turn-based and a real-time mode. IMO, neither is very good. So even trying to put both in to make everyone happy doesn't work - there will always be someone who complains