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[senj]

RTwP = 80% of the tactical depth of turn-based in 1/10 the time.

Depends a lot on the turn based system?

Fighting four dudes in DA:O take forever vs, say, Final Fantasy X. The only time RTwP ever feels fast is if it's a trash enough mob that I can avoid pausing and just let everyone's default cluster-and-swing animations play until dead.

And that's really boring to watch.

 

[Moose Biscuits]

Best is a really weird question, it's very much up to the individual's taste.

For me, real time. Fuck turn based. Ideally with actual control of your character.

 

[kswiston]

Depends a lot on the turn based system?

Fighting four dudes in DA:O take forever vs, say, Final Fantasy X. The only time RTwP ever feels fast is if it's a trash enough mob that I can avoid pausing and just let everyone's default cluster-and-swing animations play until dead.

And that's really boring to watch.

Try Might and Magic VI or VII. You can swap between real time and turn based fighting on the fly.

 

[Mulgrok]

There is no best combat system, there is only quality of the implementation for the desired mechanics.

 

[Neoleo2143]

There are a number of factors that go into making an interesting combat system. Does progression simplify strategy (increasing the breadth of viable options)? Are enemies and/or situations interesting enough (introducing dynamism in the mechanics or raw enemy variety) so that novel strategy does not become simply routine (good encounter design)?

These are not questions to be only answered by "real-time" or "Turn-based" I feel.

I'm starting Divinity Original Sin 2 but I did feel that the first game was a prime example of a great combat system.

 

[Anustart]

I personally love turn based combat. Final fantasy just isn't the same for me anymore. But that's just for jrpgs. I wouldn't want it for dark souls.

 

[Wulfram]

It depends, of course. Good games exist with all of these

I think recent RTwP attempts have been flawed because the orthodoxy has developed that fighters must "interesting", rather than the more or less auto-attack bots of Baldur's Gate.
The problem with this is that it makes combat increasingly fiddly and full of micromanagement, even with reduced party sizes. Dragon Age 2's tactics were quite a good way to deal with this, but DAI unfortunately had considerably worse tactics and no one else seems to have continued with the idea.

Good action combat systems tend to stray into not being RPGs, but that's not really very important so long as they're good. Just remember not to take away the player's hits based on the character's skill - that always feels like crap even if it seems to make more sense than the alternative of scaling damage.

Turn based combat I think can be particularly tedious if they're badly designed and dall into essentially rote repetition of a single strategy. But well designed turn based combat can be extremely interesting, and for me makes controlling multiple characters less of a hassle than RTwP can.

 

[Sothpaw]

Turn based is the best.

I absolutely love the Souls games, but I feel like those games are all in their own league/genre.

Witcher combat is absolute shit and is a great example of bad rpg combat.

 

[JustSomeone]

Turn based is the best

 

[Arcia]

I have always preferred Turn Based. It allows the most strategy if thats what you want. Real Time is still great too, but I enjoy that more when it is straight up action like Dark Souls rather than a weird hybrid turn based w/real time like ATB from FF.

Speaking of weird hybrids, Real Time (with pause) is kind of awful a lot of the time since games that use it only let you play one character and the AI is terrible.

Some of my favorite versions of Turn Based combat are in the SMT games. The Press Turn system is especially innovative because it is set up so that it rewards good play and strategy and punishes you if you become lazy and fuck up. It is a little long winded to explain it but man its seriously one of the best.

I also have a fondness for Turn Based combat with minigames like Shadow Heart's rhythm circles and Undertale's bullet hell sequences.

 

[Sarcastic Poster]

Turn-based is clearly the best. Lends itself to the deepest mechanics and is more methodical.

Real-time can be great but there's lots of bad implementations.

RTwP is a shit system. Baldur's Gate and the like are good in spite of RTwP. Even the biggest RPG nerds hate RTwP.

 

[Cameron122]

I'd like to see a third person real time with pause somehow

 

[Morrigan Stark]

I'd like to see a third person real time with pause somehow

Mass Effect

 

[Cameron122]

Mass Effect

Ah ye! And that XCOM shooter but I feel like the only one that liked that. A Fantasy rendition of that sorta combat, that's what I want

 

[kswiston]

Mass Effect

technically, most of the RtwP games are third person.

I assume he meant third person shooter though.

 

[Braag]

I enjoy real time combat the most. RTwP is also fine.

 

[cryptosporidium]

I really like Xenoblades and MMOs cooldown battles

I really like Niohs and Niers combat

I enjoyed Personas TBC

 

[TC McQueen]

It depends on the game, but probably real time or XCOM style turn based combat. I don't think most turn based RPG implementations are visually or experientially interesting, which makes the prospect of playing unappealing. Persona 5 is on the higher end of the visually interesting spectrum of traditional JRPG turn based combat, and even that looks boring and unengaging due to the fact that it maintains the "protagonists on one side, antagonists on the other" format of JRPG turn based combat.

In contrast, for me, even the 2D implementation of an XCOM style combat system in the Harebrained Schemes Shadowrun games is way more interesting, since it involves more tactical thinking in terms of positioning, ability usage, cover, and weapon fire modes.

 

[CHC]

I'd like to see a third person real time with pause somehow

Mass Effect

Knights of the Old Republic as well.

And (sort of) Fallout 3....

 

[Golden_Pigeon]

I'm glad this topic exist. A lot to read. I want to love each genre so much <3

 

[Teriyaki Blues]

We had a similar topic a couple of months ago about JRPGs if anyone wants to read that.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1404729

 

[Transistor]

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

Yeah, it really depends on the game. I love them all

 

[The Jutty]

Turn based for me. RTwP just feels clunky to me.

 

[crazy monkey]

Zelda like fighting
Or mass effect.


No turn based.

 

[Dezzy]

Real-time or turn based, depending on the game. I really dislike real-time with pause, because it just feels like a cumbersome version of turn-based to me. It's why I couldn't enjoy Pillars of Eternity.

 

[Cameron122]

technically, most of the RtwP games are third person.

I assume he meant third person shooter though.

I meant something like Dragon's Dogma or Dark Souls or Dungeon Siege 3 but with a button to change party members

 

[autoduelist]

Turn based.

When I want my reflexes and reaction time tested, I play a solid dual stick shooter.

If I'm playing a game where 'stats' matter, then make them matter. My characters stats should determine whether he hits and how hard, not my skill. When you mix stats and skill, balance becomes a severe problem... based on how much you've grinded [or what lewt you found] either the game is ridiculously difficult, or you can just tap x to win.

Don't get me wrong, I have a blast in games like Diablo, but I can't ignore that it generally feels either 'too easy' or 'lets go play another dungeon and hope for a better lengendary'.

And I absolutely love D*Souls, but that's mostly because I think they get it right in every way they can get it right - you can't hack and slash your way through, you need to take care.

But if you want pure RPG goodness, then it's stats all day, every day. A solid, well designed turn based system with risk/reward [chance to hit, etc], requiring tactical thought and knowledge of your environment/enemy.

 

[KonradLaw]

Real-time. If done right like in Souls games, nearly everything comes down to the player's skill, and not some RNG bullshit.
.

That goes against everything RPGs are about though.

 

[Crayolan]

I'm a turn-based kind of guy. Not that I can't like real time RPGs, but I tend to prefer turn based games.

 

[Kumomeme]

Turn based without need to stop the time (real time) is the best for me
With freedom to either give command to other character or not

Like FFXII

 

[kikiribu]

Bloodborne. Turn-based bores me to death.

 

[Sygma]

Turn based since it includes usually more systems to toy with. I thought FF XIII-2 was quite a good mash up of what essentially made this interesting, in real time

FF XII is kinda hard to overcome too. In real time it usually comes down to finding the pattern of the enemy and countering it. It's fun when well made but on the length it get stale faster than turn based

 

[NoblesseOblige]

Text based.

 

[lumzi23]

Real Time with Pauses (like Kotor) > Turn-based (FFVI) > Real Time (The Witcher, Mass Effect)

 

[PensivePen]

Obviously it depends on the game, but I would say that RTwP is the hardest one to get right, probably because it's also been experimented with the least.

 

[Ivory Samoan]

I like all of them equally, and I'm not even trying to keep the peace haha.

 

[Soar]

To me they are very different games and depends on what I am up for.

Real time: Blood pumping action, the more difficult the better. (i.e. Nioh, soulsborne)

Turn-based: Relaxed, tactical, resource management (Persona, fallout 2)

RTwP: Rarely play these anymore because they can be difficult to pull off. Example of ones that were utterly shit and put me off the entire game (Fallout 3/4). That being said, absolutely adore BG2/Torment but the combat is secondary to the story and role playing to be honest.

 

[blubb]

Real time has more action more gameplay more fun. Big plus is that you don't have to stand still and let yourself get damaged by the enemy like a chump.

Real time with pause is usually more tactical and can sometimes be good. But it usually does not pull a game down. Less fun than real time but always better than pure turn based. Works well for tactical games like the UFO series.

Turn based is the worst for combat. It slows everything down and turns combat into chose your own adventure games. If I want turn based I play a table top RPG. There at least I have real choices and a free and living interactive world (other players & DM). And random encounters are the worst.

 

[Rathorial]

Love all 3, but so few games exist that I can say one does it predominantly better more often.

I'll pick turn-based though, solely based on when I'm elderly it's still combat I can enjoy without losing any depth or challenge for me to pull off. RTwP can do something similar, but few games in general use it, so the variety of experiences is lower. Also, when I see the games people are listing, and think of my experience in Divinity: Original Sin 2 so far...it's beating all those other games in terms of fun.

That said, turn-based combat without positioning < RTwP or Real-time.

 

[poodaddy]

Real time. Always and forever. Fuck waiting around to smack each other, I want dodges and combos dammit.

 

[texhnolyze]

Real-time with pause is still my favorite since Neverwinter Nights era (yeah, I missed out on Baldur's Gate I was too young).

I like turn-based and real-time action equally.

 

[Arkkoran]

RTwP is king for me, followed by turn based if positioning is an aspect. If no positioning, snooze.

 

[MrCookiepants]

I like some element of turn based strategy because it's relatively unique to the genre.

Real time combat systems in RPG's usually just play like bad action games. Dark Souls doesn't count because it's not really an RPG.

 

[Experimenter]

Generally I'd prefer Turn-based but only when it allows me to move characters along the battlefield like in D:OS 1-2 and Fire Emblem, don't really know how they call it (with Pokemon being a sole exception, because it's Pokemon). Real-time hack & slash is always welcome in any form. RTwP is probably the least preferable choice for me although Dragon Age Origins and Baldur's Gate 2 are among my favorites RPGs of all time.

 

[Plumpbiscuit]

There is no best combat system, there is only quality of the implementation for the desired mechanics.

This. There's no magical combat system that makes every game better, it's how they're implemented. I've played plenty of real time games that are better than turn-base, and there are games with turn-base that are much better than real time. But in general, I prefer my top-down games to be turn-base and everything else real time.

 

[TatteredHat]

I'm gonna have to put RTwP at the bottom, the other two are equally good if executed well.

 

[His Majesty]

The game with the best combat is Divinity: Original Sin.

So I'll go with turn-based. Real time can also be fun but I'm not a fan of RTwP.

 

[Bishop89]

I prefer faster paced action rpgs like Ys + Star ocean series.

 

[Staf]

I love how they have done rtwp for PoE on PS4. It controls great and is super-fun! But it's no Divinity:OS, that's GOAT tier.

 

[mnemonicj]

Unpopular opinion: all turn-based games are ew.

Real time is best, particularly Dark Souls > [insert game]