Was having a bit of fun quoting from KOTOR reviews. The ones about the pinnacle of TB greatness and the story being the best of the century are my favourite, although pretty much everything that people were writing about the game is fucking awesome. Pure poetry.
"This is where KOTOR shines. The turn based combat is like no other and is done in real time."
"So all in all KOTOR's gameplay is incredible, if you like rpg's at all, you will love KOTOR. But don't expect to be able to fire your rifle at will, because combat is TURN BASED. Some of the pictures and screen shots you see may mislead you into thinking that that the combat is fully interactive like Dark Cloud, or Sudeki, but it's actually turn based like Final Fantasy."
"KOTOR utilizes a D&D twenty-sided-die rule-set for its extravagant, turned based battles. It's a bit confining at first, but once you get accustomed to the nature of the battle system, it becomes intuitive, thus providing a strategic battle each and every time. The options allow you to make it more real-time and some of the later boss battles rival most straight-up action games on the market. "
"The battle system of KotOR is a mix of real time combat and turn based attacks."
"Judging from screenshots, the combat seems to be action-based, much like the Jedi Knight series. However, it's actually the turn-based Dungeons & Dragons based combat."
"When I first heard that the battle-system of KoToR would be turn-based I started to spontaneously throw up. I am absolutely no lover of this concept but in this game it luckily has been worked out very well."
"The combat isn't real-time, although it may appear to be..."
"It's especially genius the way Bioware have blended the turn based combat with real time!"
"The game is a RPG similar to the likes of Morrowind, in that you direct your character from a third person perspective, but with a striking difference, the combat is turn based. All the combat is based on Dungeons and Dragons style rules, familiar with Bioware's other RPG titles, which have things like saving throws, attacks, and other factors all done using multisided dice and figures.
Now before you run away screaming, thinking this sounds really dull, boring, and extremely nerdish, please stop and listen: it actually works extremely well. For starters, despite technically being turn based, actions are played out in real time and all the dice rolling and character stats for combat are worked out in the background away from your eyes."
"The combat itself is turn-based, yet done so fluidly that it feels like real-time"
"When you're exploring, everything is real-time but once you jump into combat KOTOR shifts to turn-based action. While turned-based combat may seem weird considering all the Star Wars action games that have been released, it works."
"It's all turn-based and all the results are determined by the roll of unseen dice combined with modifiers based on your stats, skills, and any items or equipment you have equipped. The combat will actually play itself out if you leave it alone but by fine-tuning the combat you can be a devastating force of nature."
"Battling in the game adds a new kind of genre to the overly developing RPG style and will hopefully be seen in later games. "
"So much is streamlined that the game, essentially turn-based, has a real-time feel that draws you into the combat, without making you feel like you've given up one ounce of control."
That's only from the first 4 pages of the reviews in the Codex archive. Good times.
PS. The game is shit, but comparing to DA2 it's a fucking masterpiece of epic proportions.