Fallout co-creator Tim Cain has weighed in on the different reasons why devs might opt for turn-based or real-time combat in their games, and while both have their place (and dedicated fans), he reckons that for some RPGs, the choice should be obvious.
As spotted by PC Gamer, Cain discusses the matter in depth in a new video on his YouTube channel (below). He acknowledges, of course, that there are pros and cons to both types of combat.
Real-time combat, for example, is more fast-paced, and "a lot of people just like that better," Cain says. "They think turn-based is too slow. They hate when they're just sitting there waiting while the enemies all take their turns, and [are] like, 'Why am I here?'"
This type of combat also "allows for player reaction," meaning that dodging or blocking an attack, for example, are down to you as the player to do the correct inputs at the right time. In a similar vein, this means that "offensive and defensive abilities are used at the same time" rather than on separate turns. Cain also reasons that real-time is a great choice for first-person games.
However, there are also issues with it. For example, he says, "I frequently see rules designed for turn-based being used in real-time games with no change."
In Baldur's Gate 1, which uses real-time-with-pause combat, he says he'd often get "annoyed" when he'd cast a fireball, only for the enemy he was aiming for to move out of the way of the target area and one of his own characters get in the way. On that note, turn-based combat is a lot more tactical than real-time, he says – there's a lot more strategy than in a real-time game where "prediction is more chaotic and positioning is way less reliable."
Cain continues: "Both sides, real-time and turn-based, they have their loud vocal advocates, to the point where some people will only play real-time games and some people will only play turn-based games. So don't think you're going to pick one of these and [be] like, 'I have solved the issue.' There will be a group that goes, 'Oh, I won't play your game because you picked this combat.'"
With that said, there are ways to reduce the issues of each genre, he says, such as real-time-with-pause, or adding ways to speed up turn-based combat. In recent years, we've seen many major JRPGs add time-saves to turn-based combat, for example, like Metaphor: ReFantazio's insta-kills.
But even if there's no perfect solution that everyone is going to love, there are some rules that can be applied when it comes to determining which kind of game should be given what type of combat, Cain suggests. "If you decide you want it to be a first-person RPG, you almost certainly want it to be real-time. But if you want to do an old-school party-based isometric RPG, you probably want to be turn-based, or at the very minimum, real-time-with-pause," he says.
For devs, he argues, "it depends on which of those solutions ameliorates the problems you dislike the most and leaves problems that you don't really care about."
