Real Time With Pause vs. Turn Based

[solidbatman]

I do not like RTWP (if you don't know, think of games like Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 or nearly every Infinity Engine game). I am silly, and not that smart and am very bad at them. Tn based games are based. its even in the name.

On a more serious level, I really don't like the way I feel I am rushed in a RTWP game. This honestly stretches over to my dislike for ATB, but in crpg RTWP I feel the information to keep track of, plus the sheer amount of stats when compared to a standard ATB game is much more copious.

meanwhile, in a good turn based game, it feels more like a fun table top, I can stop and think, consider options, play out different scenarios in my head, and get up to fix dinner without worrying about my turn.

ultimately, its taste, but i am curious what people's thoughts are on it. can you sell me on playing old infinity engine games that have rtwp? please? I actually really do want to play those games (BG1 & 2, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter, etc.)

 

[happymasksalesman]

I don't know much RTWP. But stoping time, feels like max pain series and someother games. I like turning games which give you time to think
Nice thread

 

[NotGodlike]

You start from trash to something meaningful along your journey. You can even import your character from BG1 to 2 and become even more stronger, to the point of literal god

 

[Asian girls loverAsian girls lover's icon]

Seen that I can choose only one, I vote for "turn based" if progession it's not tedious as in the Persona games.
Although I like ARPG more (like Ys, Trials of Mana) I can't play Baldur's Gate nor Pillars of Eternity, not my cup of tea. Diablo and Grim Dawn are more suited for me.

 

[Samatonic]

Valkyria chronicles, Pokémon (old ones), Diablo and a few more area mixed bag for me in terms of Turned based and time stopping games. Technically, Red Alert and Fallout do fall in these categories, am I correct ?

 

[NotGodlike]

Technically, Red Alert and Fallout do fall in these categories, am I correct ?

Old Red Alert and Fallout, - yes, they're turn based

 

[Samatonic]

Old Red Alert and Fallout, - yes, they're turn based

How about the Deception series ?

 

[NotGodlike]

How about the Deception series ?

I'm clueless about those, as far as I saw, they're classified as tactical rpgs

 

[Potapota]

The abundance of stats, weaknesses, dice calculations and all kinds of esoteric knowledge you need to keep track of can feel a bit overwhelming but for me, I really just need to shut my brain off and focus on just doing what I feel like and ignore the desire to minmax everything with a wikipage and a bunch of reddit tabs open on a browser. Just roll with it and trust that the devs were competent enough to create an experience that can be enjoyed in a variety of ways.
It's not really my favorite genre either though but I've had fun with them in the past. My dumb brain is just more suited for real time action and explosions.

Also isn't red alert just an RTS?

 

[Tonberry]

I didn't like RTWP until I finally committed to playing Baldur's Gate 1 last year and getting over the beginner hurdles, but even then I still prefer turn-based.
In old Infinity Engine games, it mostly just feels like you're bumrushing the enemy with your party of martials, while you maybe control a spellcaster a bit further back, and it has a pretty braindead feel because it's so fast-paced, outside of a handful of particularly tough encounters. But it's a really anticlimactic system imo, as most of the time you see a powerful enemy, the game pauses, and your gang just walks up to them and hopefully your Minsc lands a crit and the monster explodes, and you carry on. A sudden critical hit in turn-based feels much more impactful and exciting to me.

Still, what sold me on BG1 was the exploration and the atmosphere, not the combat. I loved traversing the areas and discovering all the little special encounters and NPCs and events. It gave me a really nice sense of adventure. Icewind Dale is mostly dungeon crawling, so I couldn't get into that one because it's more about the combat.

While not an Infinity Engine game, Knights of the Old Republic has probably my favorite feeling RTWP, though I still kind of feel like pausing all the time is much more cumbersome and immersion-breaking than the worst turnbased ever were.

 

[solidbatman]

How about the Deception series ?

Those are such weird little games. Technically they would be RTWP but again, just such weird little games (I do enjoy them)

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

Real time with pause can be set up to play like a turn-based in the auto-pause options. I'm in the middle of Tyranny with pause set just after any spell cast, but you can set it after 1 or 2 seconds making it play like a turn based rpg. The issue with setting things like that is that devs feel somewhat obliged to attenuate or mute the background music when paused. Which is quite obnoxious because most of the time it's combat music with tribal drums and the like.

So I end up totally muting the music and playing my stuff instead. It also help with the tediousness of hearing the same tune in loop for games that are usually 100 hours long just for the main quest, and most of the time you can find full playlists of OSTs or playlist of battle music from the same composer.

I've played most of the Infinity Engine games like that. Fallout 1 and 2, and also Arcanum IIRC, are purely turn-based but you can set it to real time if you want a quick death.

 

[Tonberry]

Oh, I almost forgot.
I remember liking RTWP in Pillars of Eternity 1.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

Also, if you're in the mood for some fantasy punk RPG with lots of well written dialogs you should respect yourself and play Disco Elysium's big daddy, Planescape Torment.

 

[solidbatman]

I've played most of the Infinity Engine games like that. Fallout 1 and 2, and also Arcanum IIRC, are purely turn-based but you can set it to real time if you want a quick death.

fallout 2 was so much fun. i cannot imagine the pain of that being in real time.

 

[Cantarella]

just depends on my mood and how it's implemented y'know. most turn based stuff tends to operate pretty similarly, but there's more variance with semi-realtime stuff. thought the growlanser games where you have a lot of flexibility in pausing and directing the battle on the fly was pretty engaging. there are still 'turns' in a sense since each action has a set delay after it.

think it worked bc growlanser is just the right amount of simplicity. just enough option selection with a good, easy to understand ui. I can't handle semi realtime stuff once it's like... I pause the menu... and then the process of directing characters to do things is like filling out an overly bureaucratic form that I have to look at with a magnifying glass because it was written in 6pt font.