Hmmm my spoiler tags were meant to contain only additional information, in case people wanted to see more about each. I intended for the non-spoilered descriptions to be fully descriptive. But I can see how it's not great formatting... Here is the list in a different format, with color organizing instead of spoiler boxes
1.) Automatic Use of 1st Eligible Reaction - i.e., BG3's current implementation. Most reactions are toggles (e.g., AoO, Riposte). Hellish rebuke has to be pre-cast on your turn, but isn't cast against a specific enemy target. Pros: simple, quick Cons: huge loss in control over your characters, potential waste of resources and/or suboptimal use of your reaction
2.) A Preaction system where you cast reactions on your turn, selecting eligible targets and conditions for activating. E.g., Uncanny Dodge could be manually set to only activate if you take >10 damage. Shield, AoO, Counterspell could be cast only against certain enemies, and Counterspell could be set to only activate for level X+ spells Pros: more, although still not perfect, control over your character Cons: potentially unwieldy and tedious. The UI would have to be very good, and you'd still probably spend a lot of time fiddling with reaction triggers often. The game still uses reactions automatically.
2-alternate.) Preset DAO-like Tactics Reaction System, where you set up reaction conditions prior to combat, and they're automatically used if/when applicable. During combat, you could still turn reactions are on vs off and make changes to the system, but the specific conditions are largely a set-and-forget. E.g., Counterspell is set to react to level X spells, possibly specific spells. AoO is set to go off only if enemy running away has <X AC; Uncanny Dodge only activates for >X damage. Importantly, all of these options come with defaults Pros: more control over your characters Cons: still not perfect control over your character. Potentially overwhelming to players, and its ease of use would strongly depend on the UI.
3.) Prompt-me System, where the game slows and/or pauses when you have an available reaction(s). (Possibly this was never actually suggested, and I misunderstood a version of #2 as this) You then have the option of using an applicable reaction(s) or not. This is the closest representation of PnP Reactions. See @The Composer's suggestions earlier ITT. Pros: Full control over character Cons: The game would stop (or just slow down briefly) every time any character could take a reaction.
4.) "Pause To React" Reaction System. You can pause the game at any point to activate a reaction in response to some incoming enemy action. Pros: Full control over your characters Cons: This seems difficult to implement and possibly frustrating to use. It is similar to a full-game pause which Larian seems reluctant to implement. Also, there'd have to be enough time to react to all circumstances, and to make that happen it seems to me that gameplay/animations/enemy actions would have to be slowed. - It adds a real-time element to a TB game.
5.) Reaction Overhaul such that all reactions are cast during your turn, and their effects are appropriately changed to reflect this. E.g., BG3's implementation of Cutting Words was changed into an ability that subtracts the BI die from ALL rolls an enemy makes in the next turn, instead of from one specific roll of the player's choice. It has lost the power of being able to negate one specific attack in exchange for the *chance* to affect multiple opponent rolls. Pros: Everything is cast during character's turns, and abilities now have appropriate power levels for the risk of lost resources/wasted reaction. Cons: Requires Larian to rework every ability that uses your reaction, and it's unclear how certain abilities like AoO and Counterspell can be appropriately reworked. - It also makes reactions less impactful, turning powerful "use at a critical moment to negate the enemy's action" abilities into more diffuse "apply a debuff to the enemy" type abilities.
Obviously, these solutions could be mixed or matched where appropriate. The 3-way "Prompt Me / Automatic Use / Off" system is a mix of #1 and #3. BG3's system is already a mix of #1 and #5, where they've only made modifications to *some* abilities like Cutting Words.
Originally Posted by Tuco
That aside, maybe I missed something but it seems to me that any "QTE" proposal we have read so far was meant as a cosmetic variation of 3 rather than an in-real time system. Most of them usually boil down to "make it look like a QTE, but pause the game without the time limits if someone doesn't react quickly".
That is not how I've understood the "pause to react" system (which might be a better name than "QTE"). I understood it as you *only* take reactions If and When you pause the game to activate one, in response to some incoming enemy action. If I've misunderstood, and what was actually being suggested was a slow-down leading into a full pause - I like that much more.
Last edited by mrfuji3; 28/07/2205:34 AM. Reason: Added an alternate preset system
