Turn Based Combat
Turn based combat is an incredibly common staple of RPG games. I want to know what parts of turn based combat are common, what games can do to tweak it, and the pros and cons of using this feature.
Terminology
This document is bound to cover a wide range of games, so I think it’s best I set up a list of terminology and what I mean by them.
- Character: The units that are engaging in battle. Sometimes these are the player, sometimes they’re merely characters the player controls, enemies, pokemon, etc.
Common Mechanics
At its core, most turn based combat is a numbers game. The characters have X amount of health, and do Y amount of damage. In Z turns, someone will lose. Mechanics serve as layers to add tactics, and make the answer to who will lose a bit more fuzzy.
Actions
Actions are the choices the player makes to progress combat. Usually these options boil down to running away, fighting, or using items. Certain games have twisted this a bit.
| Game | Twists |
|---|---|
| Pokemon | You can swap pokemon at any time, certain moves have type effectiveness, you can capture enemies |
| Undertale | You can choose to not fight at all, and instead talk to the opponent, provide mercy. |
| Super Mario RPG | During certain actions you get quick time events, hitting buttons at the right time provides benefits to your attacks or allow you to dodge.. |
Turn Economy
The Turn Economy, or Action Economy, relates to how turns are dealt out to characters. The standard here is a back-and-forth sometimes decided by a speed stat or coin toss. Generally, whoever goes first in these sorts of games has the advantage.
| Game | Twist |
|---|---|
| Pokemon | You can deny opponents their turn through status effects, like paralyzed, sleep, or frozen. You can reverse the turn order through Trick Room, making slower Pokemon move first. Certain moves have priority, meaning they’ll always go faster than lower priority moves. |
| Shin Megami Tensei | You can continuously attack with specially effective moves to force characters to be stunned |
| Bravely Default | You can use turns as a resource, using them all at once, or save some up while blocking. This leaves some members out of the fight for a while if the battle doesn’t end quickly. |
| Child of Light | Actions take actual time, and after the action is preformed the player chooses the next action. Certain moves can slow down the timeline for specific characters, and being hit while casting an action can set your characters back. |