*battle music plays* If you don’t like turn-based combat, then
you’re… stupid and wrong! I don’t know… It’s no secret that turn-based RPGs are
one of the most controversial game genres of all-time. Or at least… vocally controversial. There’s never been a game for “everyone…” Maybe… maybe Wii Sports? But when it comes to turn-based combat, people
really like it, or they REALLY don’t. Before I let my extreme amounts of bias show,
there are no doubt things to criticize turn-based games for, and I totally understand why some
people avoid the genre. Fighting the same enemies over and over or
losing hours of progress since the last save point can be incredibly draining. Pressing buttons in menus doesn’t always
feel as cool as beating up a big boss directly. JRPGs are the games most commonly associated
with turn-based combat, and while there are plenty of standouts, their stories have gained
a reputation for being… "generically convoluted," in a sense. Gameplay features can also be so complicated
or require so much reading and planning that players looking for a casual experience might
feel dissuaded by too many words and numbers. Imagine if a psychologist was showing you
those ink blot tests, and then he goes “how does this make you feel?” What the fuck is that? What I’m getting at is that even as a fan
of turn-based combat, there are plenty of features that grind my gears, break my bones,
insert third analogy here, and they’re often why people try one or two games, get a bad
taste in their mouth, and refuse to go near them again until they see how cool Persona
5 looks. Yet in the same vein, I think the state of
discussion surrounding turn-based combat is disappointing. Like most other genres, it’s home to an
incredible amount of variety, and the very idea that turn-based combat is “outdated”
causes it to be viewed as a technical limitation, rather than a stylistic choice. It’s easy to dunk on what older games do
wrong, as their problems often stem from an attempt to extend playtime with limited resources. But making some joke about JRPG storylines
or saying “grinding and random encounters are bad” doesn’t even take a full sentence,
so now I can talk about the reasons people SHOULD give these games another try! If I were to call this video "the problem
with turn based combat," the problem... is that people are PLAYIN’ THE WRONG FUCKIN’
GAMES! You think you know somebody and then you find
out they've never played Toontown… The first area I wanna look at is the “defining
feature,” so to speak. I don’t mean in a gimmicky way, a la Pokemon
inventing a new button to press before forgetting it in the next entry, but rather, a fundamental
twist or complete overhaul of an existing system that makes combat engaging or memorable. You’ve got plenty of games that offer things
like job changes and break systems, but I wanna talk about mechanics that go a little
farther than that. The innate simplicity of turn-based combat
is what gives each game an opportunity to shine. The systems themselves are so rooted in the
minds of most players that they can go in a million different directions, or in some
cases, subvert your expectations about the genre entirely. Yes, I’m gonna mention Undertale but it
won’t be my only example I promise- Fire Emblem implements permadeath to recontextualize
conventional battle strategies and difficulty. Many games in the series allow you to view
various conversations between characters, with some entries including the option to
have units get married and start a family. This narrative focus on giving a name and
story to each soldier then challenges the way you approach each mission. Instead of speedrunning the game by sending
nameless chess pieces to their certain demise, you have to consider how to keep as many allies
alive as possible If little Jimmy the tank driver gets blown
up in Advance Wars, you can just replace him with his twin brother, but your anime wife? She’s dead forever! How are you gonna give her pets on the touch
screen and blow into the mic to wake her up? Camilla: "Close your eyes…" Ok, hold on, I thought I was talking about
turn-based combat! And then there’s Darkest Dungeon, which
has permadeath AND no kissing! Why would anyone play it then? Guiding a ragtag team of adventurers through
ruins and caverns as they constantly whiff attacks and develop horrible illnesses while
ALSO trying to manage torchlight, food, ailments, stress and inventory space generates more
tension than some of the most intense action games I’ve ever played. It doesn’t feel impossible, but it simultaneously
makes every action feel very deliberate while also challenging preconceptions about roguelikes
- even a successful run can result in setbacks, whether that be diseases and mental illnesses
for your party, or even the death of your best characters. While difficulty CAN be a great way to stand
out from the rest, it certainly isn’t the only option, and many of my favorite RPGs
range from comfortably easy to very punishing, so let’s take a look at some other gimmicks. Persona breaks up long stretches of dungeon-crawling
with its signature high school life mechanics, creating an entirely new form of “turn-based
gameplay” where you have to spend your limited time in the real world wisely, just like you
would with each turn in a battle. Who you choose to hang out with or the activities
you pursue after class then end up having a direct impact on your strength and abilities
when you get back to adventuring. There can also be a certain fatigue when it
comes to using the same moves or strategies ad nauseum, but while most games circumvent
this by occasionally giving you new party members, Shin Megami Tensei uses the demon
fusion system to encourage constant changes. Your party will often become outclassed by
stronger enemies, and the game gives you two choices: ya either switch up your demons to
utilize the wide variety of elemental moves and buffing skills, or get your shit kicked
in by a skeleton. "THE FLAMES OF THE MENORAH BECKON ME TO THE
BATTLEFIELD" Also, you can’t just force all-powerful
demons into tiny balls like some sort of barbarian. No, you have to engage them in rigorous conversation. Maybe demolish them in a debate with your
superior facts and logic. “So here’s the big question: top or bottom?” Uh… middle? For some players, another problem with turn-based
combat is that it feels like watching a fight rather than participating in one, so the developers
of Yakuza 7 said “hey… let’s make it fuckin’ stupid!” Instead of a quick jolt or fancy pre-rendered
explosion, almost every move in Like a Dragon happens in real time, from the ragdoll-infused
beatdowns to the unbelievable special moves. Not requiring constant user input AND having
the ability to break away to cutscenes allows for some insane attacks that are genuinely
fun to watch multiple times. Plus, they’re much more rewarding when they
tie back into the game’s optional content. Assisting people through side stories will
allow you to call them in for clutch assists, and the ways in which you can absolutely obliterate
your enemies are… a little concerning, actually. Like, I didn’t just punch and kick the final
boss. I helped a young woman grow her failing business
by hiring homeless people and children off the street to run a small confectionary, then
bought some more property, ran some local commercials, apologized to the shareholders,
took out some loans, hired a monkey after beating him up in an excavator, busted out
the big money, and grew in the rankings until I became the number one business in the city,
which earned me a funny little button on my phone that calls down an orbital laser, which
I used to… holy shit- Video games have been around for long enough
that they can include a character that grew up playing classic video games, and it makes
sense! Adding this personal touch makes Like a Dragon’s
turn-based combat feel meaningful, a love letter to the JRPGs that inspired the way
Ichiban fights and views the world around him. Oh, and Undertale and Deltarune completely
redefined the form by letting you dodge onslaughts of bullet hell attacks while solving puzzles
to spare your opponents, but you probably knew that already. Why does it matter, though? Because it’s STORYTELLING THROUGH GAMEPLAY! That’s my, uh, my second thing I wanna talk
about… Because of their “less-involved” nature,
turn-based games have the unique ability to merge storytelling more intimately with gameplay,
without having to worry about players missing important conversations or background details
in the middle of a heated action sequence. Lines of dialogue and mini-cutscenes can be
inserted between turns without interrupting the flow of battle, which helps to keep things
interconnected. Undertale fully utilizes this idea by making
battles feel like conversations, especially since killing your opponent isn’t the only
option. Characters will express disappointment or
anger if you attempt to fight back, and any range of emotions from happiness to utter
confusion as you stubbornly search for ways to spare them. It’s not an example of “cutscene into
gameplay into cutscene” - the battles themselves are some of the most memorable setpieces in
the entire game. Aw, I fuckin’ love video games- I apologize that this isn’t the first nor
the last time I will be mentioning Persona 5, but I have to mention Persona 5. However, to explain why I think turn-based
games can tell a clearer story, I need to compare it to its canon spinoff, Persona 5
Strikers. Persona is really good at building atmosphere
during fights, and using the very nature of turn-based battles to put tremendous bosses
on display, weave character dialogue into combat, and help the player take things at
their own pace while still maintaining a signature style, but Strikers is something of a sensory
overload. Despite being a real-time action game, which
some players would consider to be less “outdated” than a turn-based one, it’s much more difficult
to pay attention to any storytelling while focused on the game’s hectic combat. Boss fights are an auditory mess, as any back-and-forth
dialogue is drowned out by aggressive tunes and five billion sound effects going off at
the same time. I’d love to hear this villain’s tragic
monologue, but… let me just show you. The back-and-forth nature of turn-based combat
also contributes to unique storylines for each player outside of any overarching plotlines. To give credit where credit is due, this is
the area where Pokémon shines. Forging a bond with the lovable characters
in your party has always been a staple of the series’ appeal, and fans who grew up
with the games no doubt have countless memories of the silly names they gave to members of
their team, or the stress associated with phases of the journey like Victory Road. As a kid, getting to choose a starter felt
like receiving a partner that was truly “mine,” and designing a team of six from hundreds
of options gave me a unique sense of freedom that other games didn’t really have. Nuzlockes and challenge runs are incredibly
popular within the community because they force players to use Pokémon they might usually
neglect while also strengthening the bonds forged with each of them in the event of a
close victory or untimely demise. There are plenty of ways to make someone feel
overpowered or helpless during a game, but there's something special about altering the
items and systems players become accustomed to during an RPG. If you expect your gear to be equipped, your
skills to be usable, heck, even the buttons in your menu to work, then what does it feel
like when they don’t? As you go on wacky and whimsical dream adventures
in Omori, combat functions… “normally.” But in the waking world, when you find yourself
alone in the dark, attacking is pointless. Your only option is to attempt to calm down
as the grotesque, distorted images of Sunny’s childhood fears slowly close in. The final encounter then incorporates these
“skills” while simultaneously playing with a simple menu option. An unavoidable loss - while not presented
as such - sends you to a game over screen, and whether or not you choose to continue
determines the ending you receive. These “changes to the formula” don’t
have to be insurmountable challenges, though. They can work in the opposite way, like how
Persona games end by handing the player a unique god-killing move to bolster their sense
of finality. Or, you could be Undertale again, where Sans
can deal damage through the menu itself if you aren’t efficient enough at navigating,
challenging the comfort that comes with a “less interactive” genre. And since I was able to end this section on
another tangent about Undertale, let’s talk about interactivity! There are two types of interactivity that
I consider integral to engaging turn-based design. Most games don’t have both, but having neither
can often lead to a dropped title far before the credits roll. The first is more direct, more mechanical
- it’s how it feels to “menu.” Just like how a car feels to drive, or a weapon
feels to wield, the efficiency of controlling a turn-based RPG is integral to immersing
the player in the game’s world. It’s like the concept of using hotkeys in
editing or increasing your words per minute on a keyboard. Getting closer to “moving at the speed of
thought” is a feature that often goes unconsidered until you realize just how rewarding it feels
to speed through memorized layouts and find exactly what you need - or, on the flip side,
how aggravating it can be to wait for long animations and sift through hundreds of items. This idea of menuing includes battle speed
as well. There’s nothing wrong with older games or
smaller indie titles having moving PNGs or simple animations, but there’s a reason
Pokemon is again responsible for one of the most infamous examples of slow combat. Waiting for a Blissey’s health bar to drain
is physically painful, nor is it interactive in any sense of the word. Sit back, we’re gonna be here for a little
while. Uh, play any good games recently? I’ve been playing Return of the Obra Dinn. That one’s pretty cool. But you know what IS interactive? Pressing buttons AFTER you press the menu
buttons! While many turn-based games often reward methodical
decision-making and a comprehensive understanding of their mechanics, sometimes it’s just
fun to press more buttons! I know, I know, plenty of them are just glorified
quick-time events - but they’re good glorified quick-time events! Some of the best examples are found in Paper
Mario and the Mario & Luigi series: perfectly timing jumps, hammer swings and combo attacks
adds that sense of participation that many players are searching for when they play a
video game. They aren’t just there to watch characters
fight, they want to BE the characters and do the fighting themselves. and in Ring Fit, you gotta do the exercising
yourself- Like a Dragon is also really good at making
combat feel dynamic. Since each character has to physically approach
their target, other enemies can occasionally get extra damage in or cancel your hits. You can also deal AOE damage based on positioning
and quickly follow up on downed enemies with a stronger attack, which rewards active play
and fast menuing. Mix all of this in with simple QTEs for attacks
and perfect guards, and the turn-based nature of the game fades into the background as you
watch Ichiban kill a man by dancing really hard. that guy’s fuckin’ dead- While not strictly adhering to the fundamentals,
Ni No Kuni mixes turn-based attacks with an element of active movement, allowing you to
switch between characters and run around the battlefield. And while the Final Fantasy 7 Remake would
generally be considered a real-time action game, it takes inspiration from the original
FF7’s Active Time Battle system to space out the use of powerful items and abilities. Undertale just says fuck it and adds minigames
INTO its bullet hell system which is already INSIDE a turn-based RPG! Can we get an “Undertale Mentions” counter? Four? I mean, that’s not THAT bad. Ok, what if I say Deltarune? Alright, cool. But this video isn’t over yet, as there’s
one more piece of the puzzle that can really solidify a turn-based game in the hearts of
its players… and if you’ve seen any of my videos before, you already know I’m gonna
talk about music. And I’m not even sorry about it! Whether you’re on a vast adventure through
the open plains, exploring dark caverns or slashing through hundreds of demons, there
are lots of ways audio can come into play, from ambient music to voice lines to sound
effects. In the case of competitive shooters or other
multiplayer games, you might be consumed by voice chat, or choose to listen to music outside
of the game itself. But when it comes to turn-based RPGs, especially
during intense moments where you’re considering your next move or conducting impressive amounts
of menuing, there isn’t much else going on in terms of audio. Music takes center stage. You need themes that are repeatable, loopable,
and don’t make me wanna blow my brains out after hearing the first five seconds for the
five hundredth time-able, and damn, do these games deliver. You’ve got incredible symphonic rock! Dubstep! Uh… Touhou? Jazz-no i can’t do that one i can’t Hip-hop with completely unintelligible English! Turn-based RPGs hit it out of the park so
consistently that even though they may not feature any “active” combat, their battle
music can still get you hyped up to beat the shit out of anything from a level one slime
to a towering final boss! For fans of any given series, the songs paired
with memorable battles can evoke any number of strong emotions upon a later listen. Hey Pokémon fans! *Cynthia’s theme plays* Unfortunately, not every game is perfect,
and not every battle in a turn-based RPG is created equal. Boss fights can have me on the edge of my
seat, but even in many of my favorite titles, I might just be fishin’ for a teeny bit
more XP or finishing up a low-level side quest. That’s why music is so important! Quiet, dynamic soundscapes and sweeping orchestral
tunes can work for exploration-oriented experiences, but the only way to improve turn-based combat
from a music standpoint is to make a track go so hard that simply pressing the attack
button in the menu becomes a challenge. Then I won’t even notice that I’m not
actually a teenager piloting a giant mech. But even with all that being said, I’m not
trying to say people are WRONG for disliking turn-based combat… it’s not for everyone! There are obviously things to criticize certain
RPGs for, but there’s also something frustrating about constantly hearing the argument that
the combat needs to be “fixed,” rather than the idea that it can be an engaging design
choice on its own! Games have come a long way since the days
of copious grinding and random encounters, and at the end of the day, this video is just
a way for me to talk about cool games that I like. Even though I adore action games that can
keep me on my toes, I don’t need every game to push me to my physical limits to feel immersed,
and the trade-off from skill to strategy is often a welcome one. There’s a real sense of enjoyment in being
able to relax while playing a game. To lean back in the chair rather than hunch
forward toward the monitor. You know what I mean, don’t act like you
never go shrimp mode when shit hits the fan. Plus, while JRPGs can get a bad rep for being
convoluted, they’re also home to some of my favorite stories and characters in all
of gaming, and diving into an expansive world and its mechanical systems for 30+ hours while
listening to absolute jams is pretty fun sometimes. That’s about it, though! If you have any personal favorites or neat
examples I didn’t get around to, feel free to leave them in the comments - I always love
finding new games to talk about. Please consider subscribing if you enjoyed
the video, and if you’d like to help support my channel, I have a Patreon linked in the
description. It really helps me out, and I’m showing
it here on the screen, and I’m honestly just trying to decide between my last two
moves here… I COULDN’T HELP BUT NOTICE YOU HAVEN’T
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