JarlFrank
I like Thief THIS much
All the "problems" people seem to have here with both TB and RtwP revolve around shitty encounter design.
"I don't want to micromanage my party in every single trash fight in an RtwP game!"
"I don't want to wait for an enemy turn that takes 2 minutes in a pointless trash fight with 30 low HP enemies!"
Yeah... so... the possible solution might just be not to include pointless trash fights that serve only as filler and don't add anything interesting to the gameplay, other than padding out the game length so the dev can proudly claim 60+ hours of play time.
If there is no filler, you don't need programmable party AI for irrelevant battles in an RTWP game.
If there is no filler, you won't need to wait for long turn times in irrelevant battles in a TB game.
Because there will be no irrelevant battles.
The only instance where trash combat is acceptable is when it serves to drain the player's resources. For example, when you're in a dungeon and there's no easy way back to town to heal up and re-stock on potions and bandages. KotC had some very effective instances of this, especially the orc fortress. You were cut off from retreat and had no opportunity to rest so even trash fights became strategic because you had to conserve your resources.
If you encounter a trash mob on the road to the city, there's no point to it whatsoever. You will easily wipe the floor with the mob, and since you're already on your way to the city it's not like you're cut off from resupply. Why even have that fight in the first place? What point does it serve?
If a fight is so trivial that it makes you think "Oh boy I wish I could script my party members' AI to handle it on their own without having to get involved", the game would be vastly improved by just cutting that fight out.
"I don't want to micromanage my party in every single trash fight in an RtwP game!"
"I don't want to wait for an enemy turn that takes 2 minutes in a pointless trash fight with 30 low HP enemies!"
Yeah... so... the possible solution might just be not to include pointless trash fights that serve only as filler and don't add anything interesting to the gameplay, other than padding out the game length so the dev can proudly claim 60+ hours of play time.
If there is no filler, you don't need programmable party AI for irrelevant battles in an RTWP game.
If there is no filler, you won't need to wait for long turn times in irrelevant battles in a TB game.
Because there will be no irrelevant battles.
The only instance where trash combat is acceptable is when it serves to drain the player's resources. For example, when you're in a dungeon and there's no easy way back to town to heal up and re-stock on potions and bandages. KotC had some very effective instances of this, especially the orc fortress. You were cut off from retreat and had no opportunity to rest so even trash fights became strategic because you had to conserve your resources.
If you encounter a trash mob on the road to the city, there's no point to it whatsoever. You will easily wipe the floor with the mob, and since you're already on your way to the city it's not like you're cut off from resupply. Why even have that fight in the first place? What point does it serve?
If a fight is so trivial that it makes you think "Oh boy I wish I could script my party members' AI to handle it on their own without having to get involved", the game would be vastly improved by just cutting that fight out.