Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Suggestions and Feedback Real time with pause mode gameplay

This is a feature request for future D:OS3

Please create optional real time with pause mode like in old school infinity engine games.

Please dont make it "optional". It should be either turn based or real time.

D:OS3 will be turn based by default.

Optional real time with pause gameplay would be for those who prefer this style more.

Why? I never really understand this "I don't care for it so nobody else should have it either" sort of thing.

Im not against making the new game real time. Im against making it an option.
Why?
Because i rather have one finished combat system, than 2 half finished or dumbed down ones.

It's not an especially compelling argument IMHO: the same could be said about any feature or content that one doesn't personally care for and I've even seen it used to promote much shorter/smaller games. And fwiw the inclusion of "dumbed down" doesn't really win hearts and minds: it's perhaps the most over-used argument I've seen in feedback to game design, irrespective of what (if anything) was changed.

Can't have them both without having a whole new layer of balancing to be considered, and very likely make combat overly easy if played with pauses. For the dumbed down argument, people keep using that for World of Warcraft too. Little do they realize, it's more complicated now than it was back in Vanilla. Difference is, now we're played it for many years and have gotten good at it, and understand what it is.

No one did then, because its format hadn't existed before.

I believe all critisism needs a counter argument, a suggestion in some sort of form. And then we can debate the suggestion and iterate on it, until perhaps it becomes something fruitful. For example, the combat could be turned into something alike Dragon Age: Inquisition - But even if that'd be worked out and play perfectly in a Divinity game, it'd be far from the type of game we know DOS games to be like - And I'd bet you half the playerbase would have a negative view on changing the format so much.

I personally would really like to see the turn based combat just within a full 3D-based world played in 3rd person, where instead of an AP bar you have an energy bar depleted by movement and action, or something of that kind. It'd be my first iteration of an idea to have "real time" but also turn based. But that spawns the question of party management, etc.

My point is, I could keep iterating and following up on new considerations after another, and ultimately I don't think it could or should be done for a Divinity game. Perhaps a new IP? Sure. In either regard, in most game design you should decide on one approach and stick with it. The moment you start wanting to have everything, it becomes a Jack of all trades, master of none type of situation.

From my perspective as a programmer, it seems that the balancing should be possible at a more core level and its presentation can perhaps be adjusted to taste. But that is perhaps rather simplistic as I have no experience of games programming not any particular desire to involve myself in such; but it's normally a fairly sound approach. My main gripe is that the argument is often used to criticise inclusion other elements of the game which make it actually saleable such as graphics quality, voice acting and so on. I guess my opinion is that, ultimately, if somebody wants something that plays like a board game, play a board game.

But on a slightly less snarky note than has recently been my wont (!) I think that the current engine certainly seems capable of doing what you suggest. Although it's always impossible to predict the future, I wouldn't be surprised if it (or its descendants) are employed both in the successor to Original Sin II as well as Divinity 2, which I would like to think would be another fully-interactive third-person game.

Here is how could work:

When combat starts, every actor in the combat can move freely and take actions (not waiting for turns).
But, what was one TURN before now can be one ROUND.
In this one round, player can do everything based on how many action points he has.
When he runs out of action points, character starts his idle mode animation and waits for next round.

And that would be the true for every enemy AI as well. Combat will be much more dynamic,

Player can pause the gameplay to plan for other characters what to do.

Mechanics designed for turn-based gameplay don't work for real-time gameplay.

Gameplay designed for dropping AoE's on targets and combining them definitely doesn't work for real-time.

It requires two entirely different fully fleshed-out mechanics and combat systems.

I was doing brute-force thinking how to adapt TB gameplay into real-time. There are maybe other ways.
Pillars of Eternity II introduced turn based gameplay. So, there could be a reverse mechanics too, from TB to realtime.



It could work and it would be more challenging becuase positioning of the characters are in realtime and it requires more of a player's skill to aniticipate the next enemy action and movement in space when enemy is changing position.



Maybe yes.
My brute force thinking just removed waiting for next turn requirement in TB mode. And when player deplets all action points, he goes into idle animation till next turn which doesn't lasts long becuase every actor pawn in the game is doing the same simultaneously.

Definitely yes. Original Sin's combat mechanics are heavily weighted in favour of taking your time and carefully planning your every move. Damage dealt is high. It is not suited for chaotic clusterf---ks.

Just removing the requirement to wait for the next turn is not going to work at all. Especially since there is no friendly AI worth a damn in the game. Enemies would all move at once while players would be crippled by being forced to frantically micromanage all characters at once.