Support NeoGAF

[Sad Affleck]

Let's settle this! What is your favorite combat system and why? The choices are:

Turn-based (examples: Divinity Original Sin, Wasteland 2)

Real-time (examples: Dark Souls, Witcher 3)

Real-time with pause (Examples: Pillars of Eternity, Dragon Age Origins)

What say you, RPG GAF?

 

[Mudcrab]

RTwP. Baldur's Gate 2 the GOAT.

 

[Nyx]

Turn-based.

 

[James Scott]

Would action RPG fall under real time?
I'm fond for the KH-like entries like Kingdom Hearts 2 and Neir Automata.

Turn based I'd probably stick with Paper Mario TTYD thanks to the perfect block, badges, time presses for additional hits, etc.
Overall I'm not a fan of turn based games since very few stand out as actually being the best parts of the game.

Not sure I understand the last one

 

[Basketball]

Real time

Fight me

Reason : Quick reactions or death

Basketball vs Pool

 

[Tyraniboah]

Not sure what they fall into but I love the systems in Final Fantasy XII and Xenoblade Chronicles

 

[Massicot]

As I am completely enamored with D:OS II at the moment I'm going to say turn based. I love having all of the information at once: enemy position, current statuses and HP, the turn order, etc. Being able to make and execute a plan and win is always so satisfying. I love the strategy and planning that rtwp doesn't really allow you as much of in my experience.

RTWP feels like a game of heuristics..."twitch" isn't the right word but since you can't take in all of the information at once (unless you /really/ lean into the pause part), you just kinda have to know which combination of skills will usually pay off. You'll queue up some abilities and hope that they initiate in the way that you want without weird pathing and bodyblocking mucking things up. It can still feel good to have that clutch response to an unexpected attack but idk, it just feels really messy compared to turn based for me.

Don't really have a comment on real-time games.

 

[Anno]

RTwP > turn based > real time

 

[hydrophilic attack]

souls

 

[Danjin44]

For me SMT/Persona's Press Turn is the best turn based combat.

Valkyria Chronicles for mix of turn based and real time.

As for Action I go with NieR Automata and Kingdom Hearts II FM.

 

[Fou-Lu]

I like turn based the most, it's the best at handling multiple party members and insanely flashy abilities, while also being tactical and giving you time to think. RtwP has never really clicked for me, but I still like some games that implement it.

 

[danthefan]

TW3 has no business being mentioned in a best combat thread.

Divinity or Dark Souls style for me but they're so different it's hard to pick one over the other.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

All of them can be great ¯\_(&#12484_/¯

 

[Ushay]

Turn based has the most tactical depth of the 3 by far, simply because you have time to think your next steps through. Just look at Divinity OS for example.

Real time obviously has the most widespread appeal, and can potentially have an excellent system if done right. That being said, I've yet to see a solid implementation of it.

 

[mrmickfran]

Real Time:
Kingdom Hearts 2, Bloodborne, Xenoblade

Turn based:
Persona 5, Mario & Luigi, Final Fantasy X

 

[CountAntonius]

Dark Souls has ruined damn near every non FPS game for me since it's release.

 

[Flame Lord]

I'd go with turn based. So many RPGs with real time combat are either shit gameplay wise, or barely feel like RPGs at all. I can't really think of many RTwP games besides Fallout 3 and New Vegas and that's pretty meh.

 

[AmayaPapaya]

The Souls games have the best combat, but I feel like devs execute the other 2 better, more often. Nonetheless, I guess real time.

 

[whatever6352]

Real time for me, but I also love turn based games and RTwP.

 

[Staf]

Not real time that's for sure. Love both rtwp and turn-based.

 

[Toni]

We have 2 of the greatest Rpg battle mechanics and those are Bloodborne and Dragon's Dogma.

Therefore, real time is unequivocably, the best combat system.

 

[PshycoNinja]

They're all good.

Gun to my head I would say real-time as most my favorite games I have playing with are real-time based. (KH series, FFXV, etc.)

 

[Nightbird]

Turn based.

I enjoy that the most

 

[Stiler]

I am a fan of RTWP, a la Dragon Age Origins.

It offers the best mix of tactical combat and being able to micromanage your party members and what they do while still allowing you to play real time when you want.

Basically the best of both worlds.

Now only if real-time rpgs could have more combat like Dark Souls/Severance/Mount and Blade's mounted/range combat, we'd be set.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

In order:

1) Real time
2) Turn-based








































3xinfinity) RtwP

Oh, I have to say why? Sure. RtwP sucks because it's the worst of both worlds. Same with "pseudo-action", as in, menu-driven action like Xenoblade Chronicles and most modern JRPGs. Action is my favourite because, when done right, can demand both strategizing and precision skill (Nioh, Souls games, Dragon's Dogma) and is just more engrossing.

Edit:

We have 2 greatest Rpg battle mechanics and those are Bloodborne and Dragon's Dogma.

Therefore, real time is unequivocably, the best combat system.

No lies detected. Add Ys to that list, too.

 

[GRaider81]

TB >= RTWP>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Real Time

 

[The Hermit]

Real time by far

It really depends though, I can enjoy the Laissez-faire pace of turn-based rpg.

Never played the paused variation, sounds annoying

 

[Kolx]

FF12 system whatever you wanna call it.

 

[silva1991]

TB and action are equally good if thy are done well. I guess action has reply value that TB can't offer to me.

 

[KonradLaw]

Turn-based for me. Makes for most tactical combat, plus I like how the rulesets can be hugely complicated compared to PnP combats because the game is doing all the calculations.

RTwP is close second, but I feel like no game has fully realized the potential this mechanics has.

Souls-like combat is fun, but because of it those games barely classify as RPGs to begin with. They have great combat systems, but terrible RPG combat systems.

 

[GameplayWhore]

After Undertale, I think there should be more RPGs with a bullet hell combat system.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Whatever the combat Xenoblade 1 and 2 are.

 

[patapuf]

I probably like turn based best but theres lots of good action/RPG Hybrids too.

There's few RTwP systems i like.

 

[Aters]

All I want to say is that I have no idea why you put those gifs in the OP.

 

[Hektor]

i'd pick Turn-based because it's the most consistent.

While Dark Souls has some of the best combat in all of videogames, i can't remember playing a Turn-based game that's as janky and dull as a Gothic.

RtwP i'm generally not opposed to, but it feels to me like it's still too much stuck in the 90's, a lot of evolution and QOL improvements just get continuously ignored by devs, like FFXII's Gambit system

 

[muteki]

Turn Based a la FFX.

 

[Bladelaw]

I'm a fan of "Tales" style combat which is mostly real time with the player directly controlling one character and AI handling the rest of the party. If you manage the AI before battle things mostly work out in practice.

 

[GRaider81]

TB >= RTWP>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Real Time

Turn based and RT with pause work my brain which I enjoy. Some real time is ok like From Software stuff and others I really, really dislike, the Witcher 3 for example.

 

[RurouniZel]

Turn-based. Specifically Grandia 3 has the best turn-based system in my opinion.

Too bad the rest of the game is really bad.

 

[DMONKUMA]

I enjoy both real time and turn based but definitely have a preference towards real time combat. Stuff like Tales, Ys and other series well give me a satisfaction in combat.

 

[Staf]

TB >= RTWP>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Real Time

 

[hobblygobbly]

My preference is RtwP with a proper rule set, then turn-based, then real-time. RtwP and turn-based is far, far superior to real-time because the former two have character ability scores that govern your character and the combat much more than real-time does.

 

[Syril]

Turn-based: Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door

Real-time: The World Ends With You

RTwP: Grandia 3

 

[redcrayon]

Turn-based when leading a full party and especially when either positioning on the field or skills working in tandem matters. I love being able to give precise orders to each individual so they work well together, particularly if I've chosen skills to synergise with each other. Action rpg when controlling an individual, RTWP I don't mind so much if it's only three characters rather then five or more. Otherwise I just end up pausing every couple of seconds and juggling cool-downs rather than turn-order, and it might as well be turn-based at that point. Strategy over reactions for me, but to each their own.

If real time involves allies under AI control, it really depends how good the AI is. I quite like gambits from FFXII/Tales of Hearts R etc for at least being able to assign priorities myself.

Honestly there's hundreds of RPGs, and so many variants within turn-based (including different sub-genres) that its hard to pin down to such a simplistic rule. I like a turn-order-system, be that any of the above, that works well for the game mechanics they are paired with. The turn-based combat of Trials is nothing like Xcom or Etrian Odyssey, they are three great approaches to three different genres rather than just 'turn-based'.

 

[Bolivar687]

Active Time Battle is the gold standard of RPG combat systems. Its marriage to Real Time with Pause in Final Fantasy XII produced the chosen one, who will return again at the end of time.

 

[Stormblessed]

Turn-based tends to have more depth. You can put all kinds of mechanics into your battle system. It also doesn't feel as unnatural as the others. Real-time often feels awful because RPGs are stat-driven, so you can be almost point blank on something and still miss because the dice you can't see (versus the cross-hair you can) says no. That disconnect happens far less in a turn-based game, where the dice-rolling is expected by the player (even in cases where it isn't explicitly acknowledged).

But I'd take the worst real-time RPG over a RTWP one any day - I can't abide them.

 

[Lister]

RTwP >> Turn Based >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Real time.

 

[Skulldead]

Turn-based. Specifically Grandia 3 has the best turn-based system in my opinion.

Too bad the rest of the game is really bad.

My big winner ! Grandia 3, fun and very challenging combat system. A lot of other game tried to copy it, but none of them approach the finest of G3.

 

[redcrayon]

Active Time Battle is the gold standard of RPG combat systems. Its marriage to Real Time with Pause in Final Fantasy XII produced the chosen one, who will return again at the end of time.

My issue with ATB is allies standing idle while you surf through the menus, with enemies and other allies also filling the bars at the same time. If it pauses on menu opening I don't mind so much, but if ATB bars still fill up while lengthy attack animations play out, then the speed of the animation is affecting combat, which feels ridiculous.

 

[Enduin]

RTwP hands down. TB is fun but too slow and more often than not revolves around turn denial tactics and eliminating enemies based on turn order.

RTwP is both more realistic and tactical requiring smart use of positioning, skill use and battlefield awareness to control enemies, protect party members and make full use of terrain.

I'm loving Divinity OS 2 right now, it's the pinnacle of TB, but is still rather play something with PoE or Tyranny's combat if I could.

RT is just so far removed from either I don't really consider it comparable. So it's not really an alternative for me, it's just a completely different thing.