Turn Based VS ABS

[Tyrinari]

I'm sorry if this has been asked before. I tried doing a few searches, but half my words were too small.

I've personally grown really tired of jrpg style turn based battles. I lack the coding skills to make one I'd want to play (or to make anything beyond a website). I've read a lot of negative comments about ABS though, and every good RM game I see is turn based. So, I thought I'd ask.

I'd love to get as much feedback on this as possible!

Do you prefer Turn Based? Why?

Prefer ABS? Why?

Combination of the two?

How would you feel about a choice when you start the game?

 

[Dirge]

I prefer ATB. It's still turn based but it's dynamic enough that you can see the impact of a "slow" spell or a big, strong, heavy character vs. an agile rogue or whatever.

 

[Sharm]

I love ABS, but it's pretty hard to get working in RM.

 

[bgillisp]

I personally like TB, as I like to be able to think about my moves appropriately. I'm just not a fan of ATB, especially as it seems too many ATB games (especially in RM) have everything move so fast you have no time to do anything but mash attack and pray.

Now, I know the scripts allow you to fix that, but it seems few developers care enough to do so.

 

[Chaos Avian]

This is an odd on e for me because I quite like ATB, but I prefer to play an ATB game rather than include it in my own projects. With projects I make I prefer TB. It isn't because I'm lazy or can't be asked, I just prefer TB in my own projects. I'm weird like that...

 

[sonofjay6]

I love ATB since it gives you this challenge to act quickly yet still intelligently if you want to win. I simply just find it more challenging compared to turn based games but that's probably because I'm an ARPG(2D, to hell with 3D ARPG) lover at heart.

How would you feel about a choice when you start the game?

I'll probably bow down to anyone who can pull this one off, I can't even imagine how hard it is to make sure that it is balance for both side.

 

[Misty]

I love ABS. You can get the basics done with SAS. It is a simple and free script to use for ACE. 

 

[Wavelength]

It would be hard to balance an "option" where you choose between them at game start, even though it's an interesting idea.

I usually prefer ABS, particularly ABS's that take place on a separate battle screen, like in the Star Ocean or Tales series.  Standard JRPG mechanics like the ones that come with the default Ace battle system are played-out enough that they're usually not very fun, although I've seen a couple of semi-fun battle systems made with strong Troop Eventing in Ace and there are certainly some pro games with fun and complex TBS's out there, notably the Shin Megami Tensei games.

 

[Eschaton]

I don't think there's anything inherently inferior about turn-based combat (I used to). The issue I take is how deep the menu navigation can get in turn-based games. I feel like designers aren't challenged enough by the lack of constraint turn-based combat affords them. A lot of games with turn-based combat tend to have *too many* battle options; an abundance of spells that have low-utility that eat up your turns when debuffing enemies.

Action-oriented combat systems call for less-menu navigation and higher utility skills. Instead of three different skills, one that inflicts fire damage, one that causes blindness, and one that lowers defense, an action game might want to combine the skill into one that does all three.

 

[Tyrinari]

I'm super busy with a new job this week, and don't have time to reply to everyone yet. Please anyone else reading this that hasn't comment, throw in your two cents. I genuinely want your opinion, even if you think ABS is stupid and I'm stupid for liking it.
 ^,.,^

 

[Misty]

I grew up playing many TB and ABS games. I have always wanted some TB games to be ABS. For instance, Pokemon would make an amazing ABS game. I have seen an open source project on that some where. It was doing an amazing job at 3D Game ABS, but have no clue where it was. It was in the beta stages and I ignored it.

Edit:




I found it! Pokemon Generation.

Note: It was been canceled. I have to skills to restart it, but don't want to waste time on a project that won't result in money.

 

[Rukiri]

A-BS for me, Seiken Densetsu 3 is one my favorites battle systems!  If only it were a tad bit faster... 

 

[Milennin]

I prefer TB, simply because it's more straight forward; I move when it's my turn, then the enemies will move during their turn. ABS is more chaotic in that respect. And while ABS has potentially more depth than TB, way too few RPG Maker game developers put enough thought and effort into their combat system to make it worth using over TB in my opinion.

Though, my main gripe with ABS is being rushed to make decisions. Make it too fast, and you'll probably end up spamming whatever just to make a character do something. Make it too slow, and you get bored of the waiting. I've seen a few games pause the combat when one of your characters is able to make a move, and it's by far my favourite version of an ABS.

When it comes to TB I prefer having characters move as soon as I select an action for them, rather than first selecting actions for all my characters and then watch them all move in a certain order. Immediate action feels more exciting and fast-paced, and has less downtime between turns as well.

 

[Kalin]

I have a slow computer and slower reflexes so I'll always choose TBS (and rarely even look at action games).

When it comes to TB I prefer having characters move as soon as I select an action for them, rather than first selecting actions for all my characters and then watch them all move in a certain order. Immediate action feels more exciting and fast-paced, and has less downtime between turns as well.

I agree completely with this, and add that it's really annoying having the computer choose my targets because the original was killed before it could resolve. I get really angry seeing my heal spell hit someone at full health because the healer was a little too slow.

I prefer ATB. It's still turn based but it's dynamic enough that you can see the impact of a "slow" spell or a big, strong, heavy character vs. an agile rogue or whatever.

I've seen turn based strategy games do this by having faster chars get more Action Points per turn and some actions use more AP than others.

What I'd really love to see (but don't have the skills to make myself yet) is that idea flipped inside out. Turn based babbling follows:

Spoiler

Instead of chars having multiple actions per turn, I'd like to see each action have a cooldown of multiple turns before that char can act again. Instead of faster chars getting more actions per turn, they would wait fewer turns before acting again. Ultima 5 had this and it was wonderful, but also subtle enough that most players never noticed.