Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Mega-threads and Guides The Turn-Based/Real Time with Pause topic

I like both styles of gameplay but I really feel that turn-based gameplay is a better fit for Fifth Edition. Compared to D&D2E, the tactical options and turn rulesets are quite a bit more complex (at least RAW). Of course I have a great deal of nostalgic fondness for the RtwP combat of the Infinity engine games, but those systems were designed with the technological limitations of the time in mind, not to mention that style of combat worked really well with D&D2E.

Also, it's worth noting that the reigning king of PC gaming was Diablo at the time of Baldur's Gate 1's release. Diablo was rock and roll compared to the stodgy, slow, elevator music of the old Gold Box AD&D titles of the late eighties and early nineties, and every publisher under the sun was trying to recreate it's thunder. The infinity engine was the compromise that was devised by Bioware and Black Isle (who were responsible for the turn-based Fall-Out series), and it was simply amazing for its time.

However, turn-based tactical gameplay is at a great point right now (X-COM, DOS, Wasteland, etc...) and creating a D&D game with turn-based combat seems like a no-brainer. I'll admit that the gameplay is much slower, however, I prioritize a plethora of tactical options over the speed of gameplay (within reason). It's all about the implementation, and so far, I think it feels fine.