Is it ok to combine multiple battle mechanics?

[Carnage123]

I will be making a game and just getting all my ducks in a row. I have the story in my head and thinking how I want my characters to battle. As far as I know, there are 2 main types of battle systems, the FF style battle system and the real time battle system, like diablo. I was thinking about having both types of mechanics into this game. The FF style when doing random encounters in the world and some story driven battles, and the diablo style mechanic when the player needs to grind for XP and other types of bosses. Is this ok? Or would this just be a mess for a player?

 

[Andar]

Theoretically this is possible to do (and there are a lot more types of battles that could be mixed, not only those two).

Practically I think it won't work for several reasons.

From a player perspective this might become confusing, especially when he can't see a reason ingame for the difference.

From a programmer's perspective, most existing battle scripts would refuse to become exchangable, requiring them to be partially rewritten (especially when combining something as different as on-map-action battles and turn-based battlescreen battles.

From a tester's perspective the balancing of those battles against each other would be a nightmare...

That said, I know of a very few old RPGs (Part 4&5 of Might and Magic, the World of Xeen parts of that series for example) that did successfully mix those options, but in all cases a little different than your plans:

It was possible to shoot bows at enemies approaching on map, damaging them - but when they did succeed in getting to the player (which they did many times) then a regular battle would start, with the enemies partially damaged.

However, it would be a lot of work to implement even such a combination into RM...

 

[Dark Paladin]

I'm not really sure what to think about that Idea. I don't think they mesh well together. I could see it be a bit frustrating switching between the two mid game. I agree with andar on what he says about the bows. That I could see work but not just switching between completely different battle systems unless its in some sort of mini-game.

 

[Carnage123]

Ok, thanks for the input! Once I get the story flow chart made and further into the art, I will come back to the battle mechanics and which one I want to have. Both have pros and cons. Seems like the FF would be a lot easier to manage, but I would kinda like a Zelda link to the past style as well lol.

 

[Omnimental]

Running two completely separate combat modes doesn't really work unless there's a strong in-game reason as to why there's a difference.  So you could do personal combat with one system and vehicle combat with another, but you shouldn't use two combat systems for the same type of combat.  It fragments your player base (most people will prefer one system over another) and risks alienating the player from the story ("I was really looking forward to fighting boss X, but it was a stupid Y fight!  Why can't all the fights be Z?").

Personally, I wouldn't do it.  Figure out what you enjoy about both systems, then try to incorporate it into one unified combat engine.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Don't... as a player I find it distracting to have two battle systems in a single game... unless you can make them blend...

like how Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria did it's battle system... It's a mix of a slighty active and slighty turn based system... You encounter an enemy unit ( some kinda shadow) to initiate battle, it transfer you to another map where the enemy units (troop) are, then you can freely move around and cast spells or use items to fight (both uses up action points that only regenerate when you don't move), then if you bump to an enemy unit here, you initiate a kind of turn based battle with that unit...

but for an RM game, I think it will be hard to implement such a system blend... 

also, about your idea... FF style for random battles and Action for grinding... uhm, so random battles cannot be used for grinding?

 

[Espon]

It's probably better to combine the two.  Something along the limes of Tales or Star Ocean games where you have touch-based encounters then fight them out in real time.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Touch based is an encounter type though, not a battle type as a whole... he asks for turn based and real time battle types...

on the question of having both RT and TB battle, the SO suggestion would still result to the suggestion of not having them both... it's simply a modified RT style battle...

a contained real time battle style like that of SO till the end of time is pretty nice if you will go with RT battles... that way, during travel, we won't have the HUD on the screen...

PS: I just recently started playing SO 3... have you finished it Espon? is it good?

 

[Carnage123]

Don't... as a player I find it distracting to have two battle systems in a single game... unless you can make them blend...

like how Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria did it's battle system... It's a mix of a slighty active and slighty turn based system... You encounter an enemy unit ( some kinda shadow) to initiate battle, it transfer you to another map where the enemy units (troop) are, then you can freely move around and cast spells or use items to fight (both uses up action points that only regenerate when you don't move), then if you bump to an enemy unit here, you initiate a kind of turn based battle with that unit...

but for an RM game, I think it will be hard to implement such a system blend... 

also, about your idea... FF style for random battles and Action for grinding... uhm, so random battles cannot be used for grinding?

Random encounters will be more the rare monsters with rare drops, kinda like I want the player to be surprised by the encounter and kinda get excited for it instead of seeing a mob that is rare and chasing after it. I would like the rare monsters to have something a bit more special than to just plop onto the screen.They need a special entrance or mechanic to get the player excited for the encounter. Having a turn based system for that, will give the player a bit of time to plan their attack instead of just running and gunning. Also having multiple people in the party, I feel like it may give the player an opportunity to use all the characters of the party. I may be wrong, since I am new to this, but it seems if you have 5 players in your party, it would be hard to use all 5 parties effectevly in a RT fight.   The grinding will be for the most common type of mobs.and they will visually be walking around. Does that make sense? 

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

You can still achieve the rare monsters thingy with real time battle... 

 

[Carnage123]

You can still achieve the rare monsters thingy with real time battle... 

How can you make it where the player can easily utilize multiple party members?

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

That's a different story... I've set to see a fully working active battle system that does that... I'm not sure if Mog's XAS does that...

 

[Carnage123]

That's a different story... I've set to see a fully working active battle system that does that... I'm not sure if Mog's XAS does that...

So it might just be better to go with a TB mechanic that way I can utilize multiple members?

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

well, yes...

 

[amerk]

Maybe use real time as a means of trying to get the first hit, or applying a status effect before moving into the official battle screen.

Something like, if I strike my opponent first then when the battle starts, I get a pre-emptive strike, or vice versa if the opponent hits me first. Or if I hit the enemy with a frost spell, they will begin the battle in a frozen state. Some enemies would be immune to various types, of course, but it makes engaging in combat more than just randomly touching something and starting a fight.

 

[kerbonklin]

I'd say go for both of them.

If you ever played Kingdom Hearts: Re-Coded, the game has 3 different battle systems or so, the first is the classic KH beat-em-up, the second was an RPG-ish setting for the Olympian Coliseum world, and the third was a side-scroller for Traverse Town.  Nothing was confusing, everything was explained, and it was super fun.

 

[Clord]

I'd say go for both of them.


If you ever played Kingdom Hearts: Re-Coded, the game has 3 different battle systems or so, the first is the classic KH beat-em-up, the second was an RPG-ish setting for the Olympian Coliseum world, and the third was a side-scroller for Traverse Town.  Nothing was confusing, everything was explained, and it was super fun.

However it was somewhat reasoned by the storyline of that game. That's why it worked so well too.

 

[Zechnophobe]

I will be making a game and just getting all my ducks in a row. I have the story in my head and thinking how I want my characters to battle. As far as I know, there are 2 main types of battle systems, the FF style battle system and the real time battle system, like diablo. I was thinking about having both types of mechanics into this game. The FF style when doing random encounters in the world and some story driven battles, and the diablo style mechanic when the player needs to grind for XP and other types of bosses. Is this ok? Or would this just be a mess for a player?

I'm going to advise against this. Mostly due to you having to duplicate work. If you want the real time combat, it will almost for sure need different effects than turn based. You would be creating a lot of extra work for yourself, without necessarily getting any advantage.

Ask yourself this, WHY do you want to have both combat types? What advantage does it give your game? Realize that you give a bigger burden of knowledge due to the paradigm shift between the two, to the player. Is it worth that extra 'cost'?