I am creating a Fantasy Anime-style RPG and I was looing for some advice on the battle system (like Final Fantasy, battles won''t take place on the main map just walking around). I have come up with two possible ways to do the combat, either: 1) Use Final Fantasy style "ready" bars based for pseudeo-turn based combat (based on a characters speed), and then use a menu system to select actions like attacking, casting spells and ofcourse running like all hell. 2) Use a real-time system like a miniture fighting game, I belive the Rurouni Kenshin RPG wors something like this, although I have unfortunatly never played it. I see advantages to both systems. In turn-based combat, the outcome will be more dependant on strategy and statistics (as a character with twice the speed stat will be able to attack twice as often) and will allow the players to consider counter moves and which spell is best in which situation... In real-time combat, the battles would probably be more depandant on the skills of the player, as spells and attacks would be accessed through key combinations. Any thoughts on the relative merits/problems of each system, or any new ideas? Graeme Lowe "In the name of God, impure souls of the living dead shall be banished into eternal damnation, Amen"

If you are writing a stats-oriented RPG (as most of them are, and especially the Final Fantasy games) then I would suggest the pseudo turn based system was best. Although there are bound to be exceptions, I think a lot of people play RPGs because they''re not into button-bashing games, and prefer something a bit more cerebral where they can choose their tactics.

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i prefer turn-based unless you are only controlling one character; the interface can get in the way of a successful battle, when the real challenge should be the tactics involved and not trying to get the right good guys to attack the right bad guys or whatever before they all get killed (IMHO)...

--- krez (krezisback@aol.com)

Have you thought of using something like ''Legend of Legia'' for the original playstation? If you''re never played it, it is an active battle system similar to FF4-now, except that the control scheme used the direction controls to select battle options. performing attacks and combos were very similar to executing a special move in a fighting game. I own the game and can tell you that I love this system, it gets what you want done in a hurry and is increadibly intuitive once you get the hang of it(I can plan 3 or 4 moves ahead and not think about executing them.) If you have a friend who has it or can rent it, check it out and see how you like it. Also this system isn''t over-used like standard menu-based battles are, lending a little bit of originality, (or the appearance thereof anyhow,) despite being based on another battle system.



Ravyne
Owner/Lead Programmer & Designer
NYN Interactive Entertainment
HTTP://www.NYNInteractive.cjb.net

Star Ocean.

Star Ocean had the option for turn-based battles... but the AI on your allies was advanced enough that you could give them basic battle commands: protect, cast, heal, attack etc... and then take it to your enemies in realtime. This was by far the most exciting battle system I''ve ever seen. The fighters charged in on the nearest foe, auto-comboing their best attacks; the spellcasters would hang away from opponents and hammer powerful foes first with high power magic (and switch up elemental attacks till they found the best one), clerics would resurrect fighters posthaste and cast support spells on the people who needed them most. You''d control one of the party and the computer would run the AI on the other three... as the mages gained spells, the computer was actually faster at choosing the right one than any human, so you were better off controlling a fighter and running zone defense.

Star Ocean was an exemplary game in many respects - jillions of alternate endings, an emotion system, multiple plotlines, around twenty playable characters... but the battle system was perhaps the most memorable aspect, and the one most deserving of study. Check it out, it''s for the PSX - and it blows ATB away.

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-SpittingTrashcan

You can''t have "civilization" without "civil".

Indeed, many aspects of Star Ocean were rather magnificently completed.....except one: The Story. It was written, to quote a friend of mine, "as if it were written by an 8 year old with a very good vocabulary." It''s a shame, but I''ll have to agree with that.

Either way, I still think it''s a game worth purchasing, especially considering the $20 maximum price tag you''ll find it for. It''s a very good game for an aspiring gamemaker to purchase and examine, to perhaps learn a thing or two about mastering the systems in their own games.

I did play Star Ocean a couple of years ago, and I have to agree that that the story didn''t strike me as particuarly brilliant, although the real-time combat was an alright idea.

"In the name of God, impure souls of the living dead shall be banished into eternal damnation, Amen"

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night(PSX)
This is a 10 out of 10 kind of game.
Battles were real-time. It was still very much like an
rpg(you had stats, multiple endings, good music, good
bosses, and don''t really cool, really good bosses look
better in real-time than being partially animated like in
turn-based battles?)
Spells and abilities were real-time, but they kind of had
to be since the game was real-time and those kind of things
were often used.
You could have a Familiar out and ready, he''d fight without
intervention. Applying this to a party of characters,
I think an appropriate extensible(editable by the player) ai
could handle that well.
Weapons, items, armors, and the Familiar, etc. were all
selected from a pause menu. So in that case, your strategy
could be changed on the fly(the stuff at instant disposable
was general-utility,all-purpose things anyway).

My point is that I believe you can have real-time combat
and strategy. (To be honest, the number of choices
involved with the rpg games I''ve played have never
been beyond what could be played with in real-time, in my
opinion, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night had as many or
more choices than many rpg''s.)

As an aside, I have often wondered how an RTS style battle control system would play out. Wherein, the player has a band of three to six heroes and when they happen upon hostile enemies, the game mode switches to a brids-eye view of a battle field, where eah character can be given orders: Move, Attack, Spell, Item... so on.

I think that it would be an enjoyable change from the common setup:

My Force
---------------
Your Force

Anyone think this would be fun?

George D. Filiotis
Are you in support of the ban of Dihydrogen Monoxide? You should be!

Personally, I would quite like to control the whole game in something like RTS style.

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