Turn based versions
madgamer
Member Posts: 32
I have three
basic things I need to know:
1. Are any of the various games by BEAMDOG avaliable in turn based mode only?
2. Perhaps someone can explain something that happened to me way back when BG was released for computer and steam was just a small time outlet. I bought the disk version back then and installed it and spent the better part of a day creatihg my 6 member party. I then headed out for the big adventure but only got part way when I met a NPC who informed me that they had to become part of my party in order to continue. None of the dialogue options allowed me to refuse this request and I did not know if I could add this NPC then kill her and get my character I created back. It just hit me wrong at the time and I just shut of the game deleted it and gave my copy to a friend..
Now over the years because of this I have not bought any of the games in this series and if I had known tat IWDEE was one I might not have bought it. I have received some responses to this question over the years and most have said that I must have been wrong or I did something that caused this like having only 5 in my party but L know there were 6 and I had to remove one to continue on. If someone can shed some light on this it would be
awesome.
ALSO: Will it ever be possible top have a BEAMDOG game that can be played in both real tim/pause and true turn
based modes?
basic things I need to know:
1. Are any of the various games by BEAMDOG avaliable in turn based mode only?
2. Perhaps someone can explain something that happened to me way back when BG was released for computer and steam was just a small time outlet. I bought the disk version back then and installed it and spent the better part of a day creatihg my 6 member party. I then headed out for the big adventure but only got part way when I met a NPC who informed me that they had to become part of my party in order to continue. None of the dialogue options allowed me to refuse this request and I did not know if I could add this NPC then kill her and get my character I created back. It just hit me wrong at the time and I just shut of the game deleted it and gave my copy to a friend..
Now over the years because of this I have not bought any of the games in this series and if I had known tat IWDEE was one I might not have bought it. I have received some responses to this question over the years and most have said that I must have been wrong or I did something that caused this like having only 5 in my party but L know there were 6 and I had to remove one to continue on. If someone can shed some light on this it would be
awesome.
ALSO: Will it ever be possible top have a BEAMDOG game that can be played in both real tim/pause and true turn
based modes?
0
Comments
1. As @BillyYank said, turn on the auto pause for End of Round, and Enemy Sighted under Game Play in the options to have a turn base feel to it.
I still stand by my explanation of what happened in my BG game those many years ago which ddid not give me a choice as adding the NPC that stopped my party.
(Reenactment)
At low levels it is at least as good as BG in that regard, the higher levels suffer a bit from the old race level restrictions and the lack of variety in higher level spells.
You can get the Forgotten Realms games on GOG (FORGOTTEN REALMS: THE ARCHIVES - COLLECTION TWO). Unfortunately, the Dragonlance ones are not available anywhere (besides Ebay), as far as I know. But there is a statement from GOG that they will offer them soon.
We had a discussion about it here: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/27110/tides-of-torment-numeria-bad-news/p1
If they've designed the battles well, it should be fun. Not to mention easier for the uninitiated to manage combat. Of course, if they mess up and have lots of battles where half the party does nothing, or you have to wait for a dozen or more enemies to take their turns, it could be exasperating, but that goes for any CRPG combat.
What makes it successful is, as some people have pointed out in this thread, the design of the specific encounters, as well as the animations used for each creature's attacks and abilities. You want combat to feel responsive and quick; you want there to be a feeling of suspense with each creature's turn. Turn-based combat is all about rewarding players for thinking ahead and zeroing in on moments of decision--both of which are elements that InXile has stated as goals for their crisis system.
I wouldn't write off Torment: Tides of Numenera (or any game for that matter) just because it's turn-based. If it's done well, it will feel like the only reasonable design choice for that game.
I think of it as a way to adapt pencil and paper to a single player computer game. In PnP, every player must take turns telling the GM what their character is doing, or else there would be chaos and mass confusion at the gaming table. The GM then has to resolve every action by every player and every imaginary enemy on the grid, one at a time, because the human GM is not a computer.
I like turn-based games the most, because they give me the closest feeling of pleasure to the one I had playing 1st edition AD&D with real life friends when I was still in high school. As an adult, other adult friends who want to play PnP are almost impossible to come by for me, in my location and situation. Turn-based computer RPGs give me the ability to keep having the same sort of mental pleasure and stimulation I got from my original, in-person experiences playing D&D.
Real time with pause, as in Baldur's Gate, is only a small step away from the more pure creative, story-based, imaginary experience of a PnP or turn-based game, so I can still really enjoy that as well.
I've even learned to enjoy Diablo-style action, hack and slash, loot-gathering RPGs by using my imagination to supplement the empty repetitive action on screen, as long as the artistic design is good.
But, every step you move away from PnP gaming towards real time keyboard and mouse oriented reflex gaming, the closer you get to just a regular arcade or console "video game" that is 100% reflex based. I used to enjoy going to arcades with the same high school friends mentioned above, and playing console games with them in our homes, so those games have their place. But I will never enjoy arcade or console games as much as I did D&D, and I have zero interest in playing those kinds of games alone at home.
I play to stimulate my imagination and my creativity, and reflex-based console and video games just don't do it for me.
So, the pure turn-based style of computer game is always going to be my favorite.
Ribald Barterman does go to sleep at night; he doesn't stand there forever. Dialog doesn't really freeze spells in the middle of casting. Not all ogres look exactly the same. War hammers aren't really bigger than your head.
And that goblin didn't really explode into huge chunks of meat when you hit it with that arrow.
"You see ten goblins. They all attack you."
"Roll for initiative.'
"Player one (two, three, four, five, six), What are you doing?" (Each of six players describe their actions for the combat).
"You have initiative."
"Player one, roll. You miss."
"Monster one rolls to hit. Hit. He hits player one for 5 damage."
"Player one, you have two goblins on you. Player two, you have two goblins on you. Player three, you have two goblins on you. Two of them run around and try to attack Player six, the mage. Player five, you have two goblins on *you*."
Player six, mage - "I cast Sleep!"
Player five, cleric - "I try to heal Player one with a Cure Light!"
DM: "Player two, roll to hit. Hit. You do 6 damage and kill one of the goblins on you."
"Player three, roll to hit." Hit. You do 3 damage.
"Player four roll to hit. Miss."
"Goblin on the cleric rolls to hit. Hit for 3 damage. Cure Light Wounds is disrupted."
"Player five, what are you doing now that your Cure Light Wounds has been disrupted?"
Player five: "Shoot, I guess I'd better just fight with my mace."
Player six: (complaining) "Where is my Sleep spell? It has a casting time of ONE segment, Mike!"
DM: "Coming up! But some of the goblins can still roll, and you have two of them on you. The first goblin (rolling a die) Miss. The second - (rolling a die). What do you know, it's your lucky day! Miss. Your Sleep spell fires. All the goblins fall!
Several party members in unison: "We strike all the Sleeping goblins!"
@subtledoctor , What the heck do you mean "the DM can then resolve all actions simultaneously?"
This whole procedure is clearly turn-based as far as I'm concerned. I disagree with your statement strongly.
It led to interesting scenarios in which my main character is about to get hit by the boss on the other side--the boss is right in front of him, frozen in time--and I have to decide if my other character attacks, and hopes that the main character can heal himself in time if necessary, or if the other character spends a whole turn healing the main character, which costs me a lot of attack power.