The Existence of Turn "BASED" Systems, implies that of a Turn "CRINGE" System.

[DinoRexMax]

YEAH! I LOVE TURN BASED COMBAT!!! I LOVE CAREFULLY PLOTTING OUT MY MOVE AND AUTISTICALLY OPTIMIZING MY CREW TO THE LAST DETAIL!!! I WANNA PLAY SOME BORING STORY JUST TO COLLECT AS MANY VARIABLES AS POSSIBLE, IN ORDER TO COORDINATE THEM INTO A METICULOUS FIGHTING FOR FOR ONLY GOD KNOWS WHAT!!

Okay, joke over. I like turn based games a lot. I also like Character Action, Beat 'em Ups, and Fighting games as well. Mostly I just like to press as many buttons in sequence as humanly possible, as if I were some sort of chimpanzee. Now, turn based games have seen a sizable resurgence over the years, Expedition 33 beat out Kingdom Come at the Game Awards, Atlus released their first non-SMT related game in decades (a turn based RPG), Indie RPGS like OMORI, Fear & Hunger, and Look Outside get a lot of attention, Mario & Luigi bounced back with brothership, Square Enix actually making TRPGs again, Digimon Story getting to live another day, and probably a host of other great things that bode well for the future of this methodology.

HOWEVER

The damage has already been done. And the stigma against Turn-Based games has burned a number of franchises into wallowing as mediocre "real-time" games for all time. Fallout, Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Paper Mario, and surely a host of other games that got rinsed of all their complexity to fall in line with ilk of Kingdom Hearts (mash Square to continue reading).

Now, I would hate it if every game in the world was an RPG, that would be boring. But the opposite is true, in that slower games deserve to exist as well (like Puzzle, or Adventure games).

I understand it might not be for everyone, but the complaints against RPGs (other thant their individual narrative tropes, though, feel free to bitch about RPG plots you hate the most) are inherently banal. It all boils down to the fact that they're slower, but that's the entire point. Let me breath and take my time instead panicking as I'm mashed into the corner by some trigger happy sociopaths infinite combo string.

So what was it that made everybody collectively turn against RPGs for so long? It used to be somewhat of an event when a game got converted to an RPG (SMRPG, MMX: Command Mission) as it would feel like an oppurtunity to be able to explore those worlds and stories you normally blast through in split seconds.

Fighting games had a similar Dark Age due to the fall of the Arcade scene (Capcom even dissolving their Fighting game division before rebuilding it for SFIV). And while they got simpler, they never quite got "converted" like RPGs did.

 

[jon2]

So what was it that made everybody collectively turn against RPGs for so long?

Cinematics

And the abundance of "games" (in quotes as they were absolute shit when compared to good games)

The improvement of CGI meant that devs can improve cutscenes, to the point that it looks like a movie; and the PS2 era was the zenith of these (lots of games from that time were immortalized in memories and memes) cuz it was the last days of people willing to forgo and work around (in games) the limitation of the consoles while devs pushed the capabilities of those consoles to the limit. Even Hideo Kojima wasn't immune to this trend, to his detriment

After that came the PS3 era, which plateaued as more and more people flocked to VG, even those not suited for it (basically short attention spans, poor hand-eye coordination, impulsive judgment and most importantly: a inflated assessment of one's capabilities). From then on, devs have to dumb down games a lot to retain the "new blood" while the new 'uns got this increasingly heightened levels of expectations (basically a flawed belief of "things will get better")

Then came the dumb games and failed expectations era, which Frank Herbert (author of Dune) eerily predicted the behavior of game producers way back in 1985 in his book Eye. Then here we are today

P.S.

The Existence of Turn "BASED" Systems, implies that of a Turn "CRINGE" System.​

For those not in the know, before an idiot made the word 'based' into something trendy and memetic, its root word 'base' meant something crass, low and unworthy (it's like making the word 'shit' into something good and awesome); or to put it into the immortal words of Gunny Hartman:

 

[CheesyExplosive]

This is why i choose action rpg... see ya on the pso and mhw side.

 

[χKai]

Fallout 3 has a turn cringe system
You can go from a baby, to a kid, to a teenager, to an adult, to blowing up poor people and becoming a mass murderer, sell children into slavery, and kidnap a baby.

And that's only the beginning.

 

[Sorion]

 

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

I'll put my hand up as still enjoying turn-based RPGs quite a bit.

 

[moonbits]

YIIK: A Turn Cringe RPG

 

[BrawlMan]

I'm not into the genre, but the stigma is nowhere near as big as it used to be. Especially when indie games and smaller developers keep making them, and they're all selling fine. I do notice stigma came from know nothing know at all critics and people who didn't like anything Japanese back in the mid to late 2000s. A lot of japanese developers were having trouble adapting to h d and staying well financially, so that didn't help either. Those who were against traditional japanese r p g's got more arrogant about it. The joke was on those assholes, as Japanese games made a comeback as to around the eighth generation of consoles. E33 is a straight up old school rpg and became its success everywhere. Persona it's still a thing too.

the word 'based' into something trendy and memetic, its root word 'base' meant something crass, low and unworthy (it's like making the word 'shit' into something good and awesome); or to put it into the immortal words of Gunny

Exactly why I don't use the modern variations of that stuff. It already sounded lame, and it was just made by some guy trying to think they were cool when they were just another annoying dork.

 

[MisterHiggins]

IMO, Turn Based Video Games, are a relic of lost 8bit computer games that just did not support graphics in any meaningful way. There was a reason Nintendo did not import many of the jRPG of the FamiCom to NA. I, personally, never was a huge fan of turn based (video) games outside of text games, even then I have my limits on them.

Makes me think of Legend of the Red Dragon. In its day, it was awesome!! But today, especially given the how and why most people used to play it, it's an antique that most people will not get to experience in any meaningful way today. Much like trying to play a dead MMO.

 

[Advil Lavs]

I love turn-cringe role-playing games!!!

 

[hardcoretyphoon hardcoretyphoon]

This!!! I hate that the industry sees turned based battles as some sort of limitation of old games that needs to be done away with. Games like Dragon Quest were deliberately designed they way they were because thats what worked. Yuji Horii didn't just say "man i would have made this an action game but the hardware didnt allow for it", preposterious!! Zelda and The Tower of Druaga already existed. I think a big part of the RPG hate is RPGs slow start in the west, and the RPGs that did become popular in the west being ones that don't require the player to interact with their mechanics as much. I totally get why someone wouldnt like turn based rpgs, but we all have our opinions. Where it gets me is when people act like traditional JRPGs are this antiquated concept we need to move on from

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

So what was it that made everybody collectively turn against RPGs for so long? It used to be somewhat of an event when a game got converted to an RPG (SMRPG, MMX: Command Mission) as it would feel like an oppurtunity to be able to explore those worlds and stories you normally blast through in split seconds.

I mean in all honesty its a case of

The damage has already been done. And the stigma against Turn-Based games has burned a number of franchises into wallowing as mediocre "real-time" games for all time. Fallout, Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Paper Mario, and surely a host of other games that got rinsed of all their complexity to fall in line with ilk of Kingdom Hearts (mash Square to continue reading).

I don't really think Pokemon belongs here since the mainline games are still turn based and it's likely the next games will be too. It's only Legends and those are treated like a sub series, and even then Legends Arceus was turn based, Z-A is the only real exception. Now if they remake Pokemon Black & White and that's an action RPG, then we'll have a real concern.

 

[Ikagura]

What about "Turn Acid System"?