Any RPG with phase based (wego) combat?

[Galdred]

I love the concept of phase based combat (wego), because it removes some gamey aspects of turn based games (like lining 5 shoots on a newly seen ennemy before he can even shoot back), but they usually don't click for me:

Laser Squad Nemesis was less fun than the original one for me, and I had much more fun with Steel Panthers than Combat Mission (but maybe that's only because your guys don't improve in Combat Mission).

Is there any PC RPG with a phase based ( simultaneous turn) combat system? It needs to have individual characters movement too (not something ala M&M).

 

[flushfire]

Wizardry. Don't remember the older titles but 8 is def. phase-based.

Temple of Elemental Evil is turn-based but does not have (from what i remember) your gripe with TB. it's just really good TB, would be a shame if you won't try it just bec. its not phase-based.

 

[Galdred]

Wizardry. Don't remember the older titles but 8 is def. phase-based.

Temple of Elemental Evil is turn-based but does not have (from what i remember) your gripe with TB. it's just really good TB, would be a shame if you won't try it just bec. its not phase-based.

I have nothing against turn based games: I really liked KOTC and Helherron, XCom and Jagged Alliance 2 (and even Chaos Gate) are among my prefered games, and I was planning to play through Temple of Elemental Evil eventually. It's just that I prefer the concept of Phase based games, even though I have always been somewhat disappointed by their execution.

 

[DraQ]

Wizardry 8 has very good execution, except it doesn't allow for individual party member movement, only party as a whole and formation management.

 

[gromit]

I've always wanted someone to take the Wasteland's combat and modernize / expand upon it. Even if it could only be the simple things, legitimate "would've if they could've" deals like not splitting the relevant information across mutually-exclusive displays. It felt properly chaotic during the right encounters; the early battle featuring the mayor's wife and the "dead man's switch" sticks out in my mind as working extremely well.

 

[mondblut]

Baldur's Gate, lol. Say what you will, but it has that inimitable "by the time your fireball goes off, everybody's long out of the AOE" phased vibe. Which is yet another reason BG sucks, hohoho.

Beyond that, only blob games, like Wizardry and Bard's Tale. 'Cause people like to target their fireballs where the enemies *are*, not where they once were.

Oh, and guys do improve in Combat Mission. At least in CM2 games.

edit: my bad, I lied. There was a game by the name Knights of Legend, with battlefield-moving phase-based combat. Never got past the first encounter though, it got kinda boring after the first two hours in a combat, and you can't save until it's over. Good thing, there are supposedly only 24 of those.

 

[Johannes]

Baldur's Gate, lol. Say what you will, but it has that inimitable "by the time your fireball goes off, everybody's long out of the AOE" phased vibe.

Meh, it's not hard to predict and/or shepherd the enemies movement to get a good hit.

 

[octavius]

Might&Magic 1 and 2 has phase based combat.

 

[DraQ]

Baldur's Gate, lol. Say what you will, but it has that inimitable "by the time your fireball goes off, everybody's long out of the AOE" phased vibe. Which is yet another reason BG sucks, hohoho.

I hate to break it to you, but if you can't aim delayed AoE weapons effectively you should probably stick to simpler games - checkers, tic-tac-toe, etc.

 

[hanssolo]

Grimoire!

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

Dragon Wars
Knights of Legend
Wasteland
Bards Tale series
Might and Magic series
Wizardry series
Sword and Sorcery - Underworld
Legend of Faerghail

Of these, only Knights of Legend has what you are looking for. And Mondblut is correct; though I enjoy the combat system immensely, sometimes I don't have the time to take a couple of hours fighting one epic battle these days: Use a C64 emulator and use the savestate system to save whenever you like, unless there is a similar dos system about that allows this. There you go Mondblut. No more excuses out of you.

Probably plenty of others I am missing, especially blob games.

 

[Galdred]

Thanks for the recommendations!
I'll definitely try Knights of Legend then.
Wizzardry 8 and Wasteland were already on my toplay list, but I keep stuff to that list ...

 

[Nutmeg]

'Cause people like to target their fireballs where the enemies *are*, not where they once were.

The problem is how the action is specified. What the player wants to do is tell his caster to target their fireball so it maximizes damage on some number of targets in some order of priority. If this more indirect approach to control were taken, the problem would disappear.

 

[mondblut]

The problem is how the action is specified. What the player wants to do is tell his caster to target their fireball so it maximizes damage on some number of targets in some order of priority. If this more indirect approach to control were taken, the problem would disappear.

LOL, trusting an AI to do your micromanagement. Sure way to fuck up spectacularly.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

You learn something new every day...

So who's going to explain to me in easily understandable words of very few syllables and zero acronyms exactly what phased based combat is...

 

[Zombra]

So who's going to explain to me in easily understandable words of very few syllables and zero acronyms exactly what phased based combat is...

You know ... "wego".

I notice no one mentioned Wasteland as a phase-based game.

 

[Riel]

Phased combat occurs when combat is split in phases

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

I kind of get it.

You give everyone orders/instructions and click "end turn" and then everything you ordered to happen plays out at the same time as everything your opponent ordered to happen, with the order of what happens first being directed by some kind of initiative stat.

But why is it any different from one-at-a-time turn-based? What's the big differentiating factor?

 

[Zombra]

You give everyone orders/instructions and click "end turn" and then everything you ordered to happen plays out at the same time as everything your opponent ordered to happen, with the order of what happens first being directed by some kind of initiative stat.

You got it.

But why is it any different from one-at-a-time turn-based? What's the big differentiating factor?

In turn-based you don't have to plan ahead or think as much about what is happening. Like in phase-based, if you tell your entire party to attack Goblin #1, most of them will end up just standing there after your first character kills it. You have to be more strategic about what you want each guy to try. In turn-based you don't have this issue and every action can be optimal.

 

[Athelas]

I kind of get it.

You give everyone orders/instructions and click "end turn" and then everything you ordered to happen plays out at the same time as everything your opponent ordered to happen, with the order of what happens first being directed by some kind of initiative stat.

But why is it any different from one-at-a-time turn-based? What's the big differentiating factor?

Uh, everything happens simultaneously? Which makes things more interesting/tactical.

You could determine order with an initiative stat, but you could also let things play out in real-time and have it be determined by movement/attack speed/etc.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

It makes combat more of a resource management problem, gotcha. Yes, I can see how some people would most def prefer that method. They should have tried it for one of the King's Bounty sequels, just to give it that little something extra to make combat a bit more interesting that the repetitive routine it turns into.

 

[Zombra]

I miss Laser Squad Nemesis so bad sometimes.

 

[a Goat]

You learn something new every day...

So who's going to explain to me in easily understandable words of very few syllables and zero acronyms exactly what phased based combat is...

Play combat mission or at least read how it works and you're done.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

Only if you read War and Piece first...