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groze: As a backer, I must say I'm not too happy with the fact they opted to go with turn-based combat, as I have always been more of an action-oriented type of player. To me, turn-based games ruin the immersion, I like things to be fluid and that every action I perform is intuitive and immediate, usually associated with a button click equaling an onscreen action. Combat was never the main focus of Planescape: Torment, and I can't quite understand why they went the route of turn-based, except for the fact these fads are cyclical and, as of now, turn-based games are experiencing somewhat of a comeback.

This fact alone has made me much less interested in the final product, and I haven't been keeping up with the project since they announced it.
So, the combat wasn't the main focus of the game that this is a spiritual successor to? Then why does it even begin to matter how the combat works in Numenera if it is meant to be a spiritual successor, which seems to suggest that the combat in it will also not be the main focus?
I think I would have been happier with RTwP too, but I do not care that much for combat. I am more interested in atmosphere and story telling.
I guess the main reason why inXile so happily accepted TB is because it was convenient since WL2 had TB combat too.
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Jonesy89: So, the combat wasn't the main focus of the game that this is a spiritual successor to? Then why does it even begin to matter how the combat works in Numenera if it is meant to be a spiritual successor, which seems to suggest that the combat in it will also not be the main focus?
I can't answer for groze, but descriptions of ToN's 'crisis'/'tussle' mode indicate that the game goes into TB mode at fraught moments, so it seems likely to affect diplomatic builds as well, and to do so at points of high drama.

My impression is that the devs want to avoid inheriting PS:T's reputation for weak combat, and therefore aspire to create the Mary Poppins of RPGs, practically perfect in every way. They have faith that TB mode will achieve this through being inherently 'more thoughtful' than RTwP. This faith is shared by about half their backers.
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Post edited July 18, 2023 by eri~
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jdsgn: I think I would have been happier with RTwP too, but I do not care that much for combat. I am more interested in atmosphere and story telling.
I guess the main reason why inXile so happily accepted TB is because it was convenient since WL2 had TB combat too.
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sear: Wasteland 2 doesn't have much to do with it as, given the differences between technology (even though both games use Unity), they will have very different combat systems in the end indeed. In fact, since we're using much of Obsidian's tech from Pillars of Eternity, it'd be much easier for us to stick with RTwP. We didn't pick turn-based combat because it's "easier" to do.

Rather, turn-based combat gives us the opportunity to introduce far more complex encounters than what would generally be manageable in real-time - such as introducing conversations, non-combat actions, environment interaction, and so on that would be extremely chaotic and difficult to process. It also lets us be more faithful to the Numenera ruleset, which is of course also turn-based.

That's not to say it couldn't be done in real time, but as Torment is generally a very thoughtful, slower-paced game with complicated scenarios and characters, we wanted encounters (or Crises as they're known internally) to match that. Our goal is to have no filler combat, and a limited number of Crisis scenarios throughout the game, and turn-based is more in line with that for us.

Ultimately, TTON isn't a direct sequel to PST - it's built in the same foundations, but has entirely different characters, setting, and it explores different (but familiar) themes and ideas. We absolutely intend to make a game that fans of the original PST will enjoy, and we hope that a different (and, in our opinion, more appropriate to our vision) combat system won't change that for fans of RTwP.
Wow, thanks for the detailed reply! It even makes me feel a bit proud that a real inXile dev participates in a thread I have opened... : D
After seeing Wasteland 2 (though I did not yet have a chance to play it), I do not have any concerns that players of the original PS:T could dislike T:ToN... And the 'first glimpse' video makes for some very high hopes!
Is there any chance we'll get to see a video example of a crisis in the near future? I am excited about this kind of thing, but cannot really imagine how it can be implemented.
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groze: As a backer, I must say I'm not too happy with the fact they opted to go with turn-based combat, as I have always been more of an action-oriented type of player. To me, turn-based games ruin the immersion, I like things to be fluid and that every action I perform is intuitive and immediate, usually associated with a button click equaling an onscreen action. Combat was never the main focus of Planescape: Torment, and I can't quite understand why they went the route of turn-based, except for the fact these fads are cyclical and, as of now, turn-based games are experiencing somewhat of a comeback.

This fact alone has made me much less interested in the final product, and I haven't been keeping up with the project since they announced it.
I'm still going to buy the game because it does look good outside of combat. But I'm also highly disappointed that they went with turn based combat. I fought a lot of the battles in PS:T by luring enemies away from groups and taking them out one at time. It made fights with cranium rats or the Curst prison a lot easier. Other times I'd just run away or sneak past enemies rather than fight them, that isn't going to work in a turn based game. Turn Based combat takes a lot of the freedom out of encounters and draws out fights to the point that they're often annoyingly long. While I like it in games like some turn based strategy games, like HOMM, I don't think that combat style is fun in most other games, particularly RPGs. I'm also not all that good at it, I liked Shadowrun: Dragonfall despite it's turn based combat system, but then I got to the point where I couldn't win the fights and had to give up on the game. That might happen in the new Torment and that's really the worst thing that can happen with a story based game. The turn based trend is in my opinion the worst fad in RPG gaming right now, I hope it's relatively short lived and that games start going back to real time with pause or real time with a togglable turn based mode like in Might and Magic 6.
Post edited December 16, 2014 by Punkoinyc
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Post edited July 18, 2023 by eri~
Heh. Hoping gamers won't game your AI is like hoping nobody will decide to use your characters in perverted slashfics.
Received an update on the development status just yesterday via email. The essence of it: more manpower for graphic design, a new underwater level (looks as beautiful and mysterious as you'd expect) and some serious dialog writing is going on.