Hey again, Gamedev community... The reason for this post, as stated in the subject, is the battle system of my game. It is intended to be an RPG, (Single player, not MMORPG, I have no hopes of getting that kind of money, and even if I could, I wouldn't want to make one) set in the third person. I am having quite a bit of trouble deciding between two battle types: 1. Traditional Final Fantasy VII style mixed in with Xenogears combat and maybe Star Ocean combat. This style involves turn based battle and, for those of you who know about the games, Deathblow combinations, limit breaks/overdrives, and, possibly, movement during battle. 2. A more current type akin to Otogi: Myth of Demons, or something like it, that involves a great deal of movement and the ability to use a weak, medium, or strong strike (among other things, such as weak energy, weak shot, etc.) to attack the foe. You would also be able to block. The toss up between these two comes in as three things: Playability, Difficulty, and Space. Playability in the first type would be strategically using attacks, energy, and those omnipresent deathblows to fight. But that wouldn't be very fast paced. In the second type, it is much easier, and would probably be much more fun, to move around and attack quickly. You would have a great deal more freedom. Difficulty, however, is another ball game. Both types would have to be different than other RPG's- the battles would take some thought and application of skill. In the first type, however, you could use 1 button attacks, and maybe queue up a few, or time some, but that's about it. The second type allows many more attacks and scenarios, but it might be too hard to continually go through so many battles that way. Both types would have you doing some damage to the foes, but would also have the enemies be fairly powerful. (Example: Arian Guard, one of the weaker foes in the game, can't keep up with your speed, but allow him to get some hits in, and his weapon will do damage to your body.) Of course, this would only be more emphasized in the second battle type, in which evasion and quick attacks, or counter attacks, are key. In the first, you might just take normal damage, but still have to resolve a conflict, but, due to the turn base type, it wouldn't be stressed as much, as I said. The last category is Space. I've been working on this game for a LONG time (At least 1.5 years now, I pretty much have the main points and some more specific points fleshed out) and I don't intend for it to be just an RPG Maker type game that you can get on the Internet. I'm going to save this and make it my "life's work," if you will, and it will be commercial quality. But I have no illusions, of course, of "sky's the limit" thinking. I know that with a more advanced combat system, the battles would grow from megabytes to gigabytes, and soon it could get VERY big. (The game is supposed to be six stories all connected to each other in a line of time, with one story as the focus) So, I'm trying to figure out just what would be the right way to go. I'm thinking a balance between both. If you have any suggestions, please respond A.S.A.P.! Many thanks in advance.

I'm partial to turn-based games too. They usually just seem to have a better storyline, and fun factor altogether. But, with new capabilities that are coming about, realtime battle may have a richer and better storyline. Anyway, thanks for the quick input! Any more advice is welcome and greatly appreciated!