Poll: Your opinions on RPG combat

[Evilpigeon]

I don't care what form the combat takes, all I care about is that the character's abilities are emphasised over your own. If your own physical abilities and reflexes are more important than what your character can do, then the game is no longer an rpg in my eyes.

I really dislike the way many modern games handle the combat because it strips away the a lot of the pleasure of building your character. I can definately finish Mass Effect 2 without levelling up my character at all on normal difficulty, it honestly isn't that difficult to do, what is the point in giving me combat stats? This kind of thing just undermines the bit that makes a game an rpg - developing a character.

For that matter, why is it that every rpg I can think of is combat based? The whole point of the genre is to put you into someones else's shoes and yet I can think of more First Person Shooter games that don't require me to kill.

 

[isometry]

I'm currently playing Fallout 3 and appreciating it a lot so I voted First-person style. I also really like turn based combat, I hope that style makes a comeback.

The upcoming south park RPG from Obsidian has me intrigued, since it's turn-based and even 2D. I hope it's just the start of a 2D turn based revival in 1080p.

 

[Savagezion]

Nothing in particular. I just want it to flow well with the game. RPG combat system doesn't really matter one way or the other and its funny to watch people argue over it. RPG combat systems are only there to simulate combat, if it does that, it succeeds.

 

[Devin Curry]

I kinda like the stuff in the Mario Rpgs, It is turn based, but it also gives you a chance to dodge or counterattack. It seems more natural than pure turn-based combat where you take turns slapping each other.

 

[loc978]

Nominally turn-based with an ATB system is my favorite. Pretty much all of my favorite RPG combat systems were that, from FF4 up through Resonance of Fate.

Honorable mention for actiony combat a la the Star Ocean series. After that first/third person action with a pause system (the new Fallout games... which I play mostly in third-person) works quite well... remove the pause from it and it turns to crap, though (lookin' at you, Elder Scrolls).

 

[LunaticPanda]

Turn based all the way, I can, will and have planned one turn for upwards of ten minutes and Fire Emblem is one of the few series I rank above Final Fantasy.

 

[Naeras]

My three favorites are the one with a tactical, turn-based approach(FF:Tactics), real-time third person perspective(Dark Souls, Phantasy Star Online) or a real time arena-based structure(Tales series). In all of these cases, it really does feel like I'm contributing to the result of the fight, it takes either skills or smarts, and I can easily get punished for making mistakes.

Although, I have to admit, the possibly most important part of it is that dice rolls/percentages/RNGs overall isn't a major contributor to the combat. This is the sole reason I can't be bothered to play the otherwise good Black Isle-RPGs. =/

 

[Wintermoot]

hacky slashy like in dot hack//GU it felt more fluid then the the one they used in Infection-Quarantine.

 

[verdugo136]

i prefer the combat from the Tales of games and star ocean. No random encounters and fighting like a hack and slasher but i don't mind random encounters they can be fun as well but some times they are way to frequent which just annoy me.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I sort of prefer third person since the only rpg combat that I actually like was Xenoblade Chronicle.
The way that combat work was that the character deal normal attack (hacking and slashing) automatically when you are within range of the enemy/ monster. You're pretty much keep circling around it but you can still move away from it.
You do got a skill/ spell bar to press and they all have cooldown timer so you can't just spam it. Also some of the skill/ spell do more damage depending which side you attack the enermy/ monster from like e.g. a backslash imply a greater damage when you attack it from behind.

 

[Zhukov]

In a nutshell, the more combat mechanics RPGs steal from other genres, the better they will be.

I like turn based combat too, but a lot of games screw it up. A turn based game should be about planning your actions, not about being forced to take turns performing the same actions over and over again.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

I like first and third person style.
And action hack & slash is good too.

 

[dvd_72]

uhm.... all of the above?

Sometimes I feel like something turnbased, other times something more hack-and-slashy, etc etc. I enjoy it all.

well apart from FPS. I'm not as big a fan of that style as I am for the others.

 

[Talvrae]

I like the Baldur's gate, NeverWinter Night, Dragon Age style, it's not WoW clone... Baldur's gate 2 was outyears before WoW

 

[Mordekaien]

It depends on the game mood for me, really. If the game is High fantasy with lots of elves dwarfs, magical MacGuffins and whatnot, I'll go with a turn-based/ realtime with pause combat.
If the game tries to set itself with a gritty realistic combat without the typical high fantasy magic, I love me som real time hack n' slash.

EDIT: Also, It depends on the style and variety of classes you can play- RPGs with wide variety of classes are better with turnbased/realtime with pause combat. If you have like D&D 14 starting classes (I think) it's really hard to make every class feel right when you play her in action/ skill-based combat.

 

[Space Spoons]

In my opinion, if it doesn't have turn-based combat, it's not a real RPG, and it isn't worth my time. A consequence of growing up on SNES and PSOne JRPGs, I guess.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

I like all of them except the first person type combat in Bethesda games. That is really and example of boring and truly abysmal combat and if they could ever sort it out their games would be close to perfect. People talk about turn based being unrealistic but so is standing there waiting to be attacked then hitting them twice, shield bash then smacking them twice or constant back pedalling while casting spells.