If you hated the turn-based combat so much that it kept you from finishing D:OS 1, I have to wonder why you backed the kickstarter for D:OS 2.
Apparently it didn't ruin XCOM, so I suspect there's also another option? Although the XCOM solution (all units on a team have their turn simultaneously) certainly wouldn't work for D:OS.
Personally, I'm not a fan of round-based systems, where everyone has one turn per round and initiative simply determines the order. Generally, the importance of initiative is overplayed. High initiative simply means getting a free turn at the beginning of battle (and for this you just need to be one initiative faster than the enemy -- anything more or less is a waste). This has limited usefulness. The trade-off of having that
one extra move is that unless you give every one of your characters a high initiative, it just means missing out on the opportunity to move your team simultaneously so you can coordinate your attack. What matters is that you attack together and that you attack in the
right order (so that warriors get buffed before they attack). And of course, investing in initiative takes points away from other stats.
With an ATB-style system (which I am not suggesting for D:OS2), high initiative means getting extra turns on a regular basis, so it provides a stronger payback for high initiative characters.
