Combat preference: Turn based or not?

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Personally, I can't stand turn based combat. Its one thing in PnP, but in a PC game I don't like the breaks in fluidity it causes. I much prefer the BG style with the auto pause turned off. Turned based combat was one thing that turned me off of Fallout I. Any thouhts?

 

For me it depends on a number of factors, the most important being - games speed, game AI and game type.

With the game type I am more inclined to go with real time if it's appropriate and part of the intended challenge of the game. So for things like Close Combat, Shogun, Age of Kings, etc I'm reasonable happy to accept loses that are due to my poor commands/reactions in the thick of combat. With BG I'm less inclined as I don't play them primerily for the combat and so am less keen to accept losses.
Speed is another big factor. Maybe I am getting as old as I feel somethimes but some games are just too bloody quick for me to keep up with and hence enjoy. Now I might be criticised for this and told its part of the challenge etc but the main reason for playing games is to have fun. So in BG I tend to use the pause key quite a bit.
Speed also links into AI. there is nothing more frustrating to me than seeing losses in a game due to stupid AI. When this tends to happen I use pause an awful lot to make sure they are doing what they should. This especially applies to BG (hand to hand fighting with arrows, charging into an area affect spells, are examples that spring to mind).
Finally, some games to me seem best suited to turn based, especially strategy games. Take Civilisation for example. In real life you would have plenty of time to think through the level of decision that you are making in the game. To force you to rush in real time or, even worse, allow you days to make a decision would spoil the game. As an example of how this doesn't really work try playing StarWars Supremacy (or Rebeliion in the States). An ok game that was spoiled by attempting to do strategy in real time. I think Shogun has it right, Strategy turn based, conflict on the battle field real time, plus a pause key for when things become overwhelming or the AI acts stupidly.
Finally, I guess I could handle BG in real time if the spell selection method was vastley improved. As it is, it takes too long to find and cast a spell (I can't learn all of the short cuts and you are limited to how many quick spell slots you have).

 

Well, in the BG family of games, I always play with the auto pause off and pause it myself, which happens with great regularity! I alsways pause also to check on location, action and whether or not someone is unfortunately stunned/confused and so on, and to make sure osmeone isn't wandering off somewhere they shouldn't be. I also turn off AI all of the time, too. The only experience I had with turn based combat was Fallout I, and I just couldn't get the hang of it really. I like how sometimes you can give instructions and let the battle play out, maybe make a few changes, and just watch it go. I posted this because I found Ruins of MD will be turn based and it was bad news for me at least. I won't judge too quickly, though.

 

I had enjoyed turn based combat a lot until I played real time combat bioware style. Now I much prefer that type of real time combat. It seems to just flow better and it seems more natural. Turn based has it's advantages, of course. But I think real time combat with plenty of pausing offers makes for a much more strategic fight with more advantages to the turn based "sit and take it and then give it back" aproach.

 

I for one got a more strategic mind. I like to take my time - not hours but a minute or so - and then act. I couldn't have made it through either of the BG games or IWD without the 'pause when enemy sighted' feature. I get panicked easily, that's all.
Besides, I try to act as quickly as possible to maintain a certain degree of realism and usually I don't pause much during a combat to issue commands unless I'm not sure of how to handle the situation.

 

Here comes again the overall excellent game of Might and Magic! In the awesome games of Might and Magic 6, 7 and 8, you can simply by pressing the enter button, choose between fighting and moving in turnbased mode or normal! Lord, how these games are great!

 

I think both styles of game have their place. I liked turn based combat due to the ability it gives you to be accurate in combat. With a large number of units in combat sometime things can get out of control fast. Games like X-COM have done a good job with turn based combat.

On the other hand RTS are also good games. I don't think I could stand StarCraft or TA if they weren't real-time. I do tend to pause if things get out of hand but most of the time I'm play all out.

But after examining both style maybe the middle of the road is best. I hate moving my units via TB in X-COM before I meet the enemy. Thus Fallout with a real time movement system and a turn based combat system is the best. The same is true for BG and IWD. I just set pause for every round in combat so I get the best of both worlds.

 

I like the intensity of real-time combat. The space bar enables you to jump between the roles of combatant and general. You can still change your tactic in the heat of battle to flex to the unpredictable nature of any confrontation.

If I wanted a turn-based combat, I'd dust off my Dragon Warrior games for Nintendo.

 

I think BG handles this perfectly. I don't reassign every one's actions every round, but I do use the auto-pause feature for most things. As has been said, tactical combat is greatly enhanced with pausing. The only thing I used AI for was trap detecting, and even that didn't last long. I just don't like giving up any control over my characters.