That reminds me of the system I was planning on using in a way. In my system instead of the wait time which active time bar act as. There is instead what I''ll call here action time. Thats the time it takes to complete an action. Once that amount of time has elapsed the action is considered completed. However its possible to interupt actions before there completed canceling that action. So the player tries to drink a potion the whole action takes a second. However in that time the opponets arrow strikes the victim. Injuring them and failed luck roll results in the potion being dropped and shattering on the ground.

So when the action time is running the character is considered waiting. While there waiting you can issue more orders to them. There is also recovery time which is the time it takes to recover from an action. The charater can be issued new orders until they recover.

So to use the above example.
- axe man decides to swing their axe.
- sword man decides to swing their sword.

Both action happen at about the same time and both people recive a minor injuries.

axe man then decides to perform an over the head chop.
the swords men however waits and when he see what the axe man is doing. Performs a quick thrust stabbing the axe man through the heart while he''s vulnrable, killing him.

It may seem a little akward but it will seem less so when its being used.

I think the simplest solution would be have combat run in slow motion. That would give the player the oppertunity to react in time even though the actual actions take only a second or two.

In fact you could have how slow the slowmotion is be ajustable by the player. So that they can change it to there liking. As well as that could lead to bragging rights. With player saying things like "I play on 1 second slow motion" and there friend replying "Thats noting I play with 1/10th of a second slow motion.



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Writer, Programer, Cook, I''m a Jack of all Trades
Current Design project
Chaos Factor Design Document

true. But remember the old street fighter 2? There was a quick strong and fierce attack buttons. Why not incorperate something similir into an RPG?

Instead of just pressing X to attack the player could choose the kind of attack by pressing diffrent buttons. Z for quick, X for balanced and C for heavy. Like wise you could have defense buttons. A for dodge, S for block, C for Parry.

It seems to me that designer just has make simple choice when desining their combat system for games. To make it action oriented or Strategy oriented. Combing both may work but you lose the advantages of the two seperate concepts.

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Writer, Programer, Cook, I''m a Jack of all Trades
Current Design project
Chaos Factor Design Document

the "sword waiting a moment to see the axe charge up his strong attack" problem could be solved with an "attack if there is an opening" command right under the "quick light attack", "normal attack", and "chop them to hell" options.

of course you''d need a better name for it.

I believe that Capcom's Kingdom Hearts did a very good job at doing what the OP was speaking of. You still gained levels and increased your abilities like in the Final Fantasy games, but the combat was all done in real time with a look not dissimilar to some other Capcom games such as Devil May Cry or DMC2. You even eventually learn not only new spells to cast but even new combat moves as you gain in levels. And it still kept the same RPG elements as the FF games but thankfully with not so many of those 20 minute long cutscenes.

P.S. To whoever mentioned Morrowind, I must say that the only combat difference between that in Everquest is that you actually had to click the mouse to get the sword to swing instead of standing there waiting. You still stood there looking stupid, just with a tired finger...

~Vendayan

[edited by - Vendayan on December 18, 2003 3:24:25 AM]

Both sounds like the Grandia 2 battle system, and my own system, I described in several threads already.

Nothing really new, except it''s not the standard battle system.

What I mean is that cutting time into slices won''t help making the battle go smooth, only a real time battle system such as in Jedi Knight would, but that rely on Player''s skills, which most CRPG players don''t like.

-* So many things to do, so little time to spend. *-