I still think that Saito's videos from Solasta are an excellent case study in the fact that having the game check with you absolutely does not slow the gameplay down at all, and in facts speeds overall combat up and makes it feel snappier and more engaging as a whole. They're a direct, demonstrated and tangible disproof to the claim that being asked for each action would slow down the game... it doesn't, not any more than you, the player, want it to...
I agree that it doesnt slow down combats. It has always been a non sense argument for those against a proper reaction system. I.E being able to counter a fireball is less turn/ressources consuming than healing your entire party...
But it's also true that it break the flow of ennemies turns with pauses. I truly love Solasta but it is not known for his dynamic turn based combats. The animations trigger with a delay, the movements are very rigid... and then there are more or less popup depending your characters classes.
I could totally hear that Larian wants to create more dynamic combats. In my opinion it would be a good thing for the whole turn based genre if Larian succed at creating "dynamic" turn based combats. IMO they've already done a good job.
But on top of that, what would happen with popup with the new Swarm AI ? 5 popups at the same time for an AOO ? A huge popup with 5 targets ? Not the biggest issue I guess...
But what would happen in a game that is totally unable to manage a real pause ? (and that dont want at all to deal with pause for multiplayer purpose).
What in multiplayer when someone has to click yes/no ? Will the second player see every ennemies moving in place until the first player click the popup ? (Like in solasta) Will the second be able to "break" the game and engage the ennemies frozen by popup with a hidden character or an arrow ?
I may be wrong but the popup solution raise many questions that could not be (easily) solved with how the game currently works. At least some things could feel even wierder than now imho.
