Turn based combat

[Midnight Crossroads]

This has mostly to do with FF because I may not have as much experience in others, but does anyone else see this as just a stagnant relic that haunts JRPGs?

Now, I can admit this made sense when FF first came out on NES due to technological restraints, but why is it still there on the PS3 with FF13? It's not as if that's what marks a FF game as an FF game. Xenosaga used it too, as did Wild Arms, and Chrono Trigger. It's almost shocking to gain control of Lightening and realize she has to wait several seconds while just standing there to make an attack.

It's not as if there hasn't been a better way. Kingdom Hearts 1 had a beautiful and elegant combat system. You weren't teleported to a new realm where all of your skills were hidden in menus that you had to navigate with your left hand, they could be pulled up by holding a button, and your most common ones were right there hot keyed. Aero, cure, fire, and stop were what I always had for the most part.


It's one of the reason's I found FF12 so underwhelming. The game oozes a desire for change, but it's all cut short. The combat is pulled out of the twelfth dimension, but you're still there operating menus and bars that must be full before you can swing your sword. Bathier provides a welcome break from the usual suspects of questionable gender, but he's pigeonholed into a supporting role in favor of prancing boy "look-at-my-navel" Vaan.

 

[Radeonx]

I love turned base combat.
If anything, I prefer it compared to normal combat.

 

[Fusionxl]

There have been plenty of other successful games with turn based combat.

Motherfucking X-COM!

I wish someone made a worthy successor to the first two.

 

[Judgement101]

Fallout Tactics did turn based right. Using a point meter for your moves instead of a back and forth punch battle

 

[Worgen]

I like turn based, I wish more games would still use it instead of every single one wanting to become gears of war

 

[PureChaos]

nothing wrong with turn based combat. i don't think Golden Sun 1 & 2 and Breath of Fire 1 & 2 would be as good if they didn't have the battle style they did

 

[Ironic Pirate]

I don't like turn based for most games.

A handheld game? Fine, control with those can be finicky (where the fuck'd the other analog stick go, PSP?) and the ability to render large scale battles is lacking.

On console and non-shitty computer, though, I don't like it, it doesn't seem fun at all.

 

[DazZ.]

Worms is awesome, and always will be.

I've never had a problem with turn based combat, and really didn't mind FFXIIs combat, but that might have been because I was just happy it wasn't random encounters any more.

 

[ckam]

I'm fine with turned based combat. Though it is used quite a lot. Just like First-person Shooters; I get a gun and shoot at things. It gets boring after shooting so many things for over twenty years. The same with Third-person Shooters.

Or how about Racing games? All you really do is get a car and race on a track against other cars.

There's also every single sports game. It's all the same except for the new year's line up and characters.

Life-simulation games are also more of the same. It's just normal life, but pixelated and you have to pay 60 dollars for it.

So we can agree that all genres of video games are bland, boring, and overused. Man, we should have just made a new type of genre when the new millennium came around.

Worms is awesome, and always will be.

A fine example of how awesome turn based games are.

 

[Judgement101]

I didn't enjoy FFXIII's turn based at all. That wasn't even really turn based.

 

[pirate64]

Ahh there is nothing like a good turn based grindfest to waste away the days. FF6, disgaea series and pokemon are just a few examples of how good this genre is.

 

[number2301]

Turn based games are alright by me where they're tactical, X-COM et al do this right. Fallout 1 and 2 do not. The JRPG 'press X every 5 seconds' system baffles me.

You know, it's really nice when you're in some kind of conflict where you keep getting beat and a change of tactics can change the outcome. In the early Fallouts and JRPGs you have no option but to go away and do something else for a while. Where's the skill in that?

There have been plenty of other successful games with turn based combat.

Motherfucking X-COM!

I wish someone made a worthy successor to the first two.

Apocalypse was pretty good, and Interceptor was cool if a little different.

 

[omega 616]

No, I find it refreshing.

99.9999% of games are fast paced. Every genre is about being fast, FPS, 2D fighters, 3D fighters, racing, RTS etc. Having one game with turn based is a nice change and in fact one of my all time favorite games is turn based (FFX).

I think more games should make people think, rather than rely on your reaction times. I don't mean "boring" games like chess, I mean things that are fun but require you to plan stuff out.

 

[Jonluw]

I usually don't care much for turn based combat, except for in pokémon.

 

[Woodsey]

I always liked it in KotOR, but that always seemed more flexible compared to JRPG offerings.

 

[Et3rnalLegend64]

Worms is awesome, and always will be.

Yes.

I don't see turn based combat as a relic. It's simply just another way to play. I honestly would be sad if absolutely everyone felt it was necessary for games to be played in real time.

Turn based party games are fun.
Turn based strategy is fun (Advance Wars).

Turn based RPG's can be fun. Final Fantasy specifically changes it up a bit with every new game. Some people might complain that it doesn't change enough. I've seen one guy complain that every new Mario game is too similar to the last. I say that they change enough that each game feels different from the last but they don't change so much as to be unrecognizable.

 

[hopeneverdies]

I enjoy turn based combat, but loathe the Active Time Battle. As much as I love Chrono Trigger, I hate waiting for a bar to fill up so that I can make my move. Instead of adding a real time function to battles, it just adds filler. I really just want to give orders and then watch the fireworks in as short as possible time.

TBC allows me to feel like an almighty god by ordering a small group or even an entire army with little pressure and means that keeping track of the conditions of all characters is much easier. This is also why I am absolutely terrible at RTS.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Turn based combat lets the game designers make more the game more complicated. Without it RPG combat would all either be very simple or only playable by a smaller group of people with "uber micro" pro RTS player skills. It isn't a relic. It's a very valid design choice.

 

[godofallu]

Turn based combat is soooo boring, not to mention no skill needed to win.

Anyone can click attack, you don't even need to aim.

 

[L4hlborg]

There are 2 turnbased game series that I have played: Pokemon (the first 5 games or so) and Final Fantasy 13 (turn based enough). One is a good example of how turnbased combat can work, the other shows us how bad it can be.

Pokemon is great. You could execute 24 different attacks with a full set of pokemons. The combat was tactical and grinding didn't feel like a second job. Plus it was also a brilliant technical choice since real time combat on a gameboy color might have gotten a bit messy.

Final Fantasy 13 shows how things shouldn't be done. You basically have one option: hack the autoattack button. It's really boring that you have no effect on what your character does on screen. The only tactical aspect is switching your teams focus on attacking or attacking a bit harder. I've played 20 hours of the game and all of it has been done using a medic, a commando and a ravager. Also, I hate how the real world and fight world have no connection at all. Emo kid waves around knife, but he still prefers to literally take a boomerang from his ass in combat. Wounded guys can be healed in combat, but not in the other dimension. In pokemone you could atleast use your pokemons as boulder movers, lamps or ride on them above water.

EDIT: I also play Chess and Civ 4 but those aren't really RPGs. I think that turn based gameplay is at it's best when not in its RPG element, because it creates the awkward swapping between the realms of fighting an not fighting.