So basically the idea is this: movement is turn-based, but when you take an action, say shoot at an enemy, you are taken to a realtime view where you have to aim with the mouse and click to shoot, complete with the gun sights waving about like is standard in FPS games nowadays. Time to complete the realtime event is limited.
Now the trick is 50% of the damage is based on your roleplaying stats and chance (think X-Com), 50% how skillfully you perform the aiming and shooting part, basically what part of the enemy you hit.
I came up with this as a solution to the frustration of X-COM games of having that 95% chance of hitting an enemy and still missing, this would mitigate that somewhat. The mechanic is somewhat different though since it’s based on how much damage you inflict instead of missing completely or hitting, or critically hitting (X-com has critical hits, right? It’s been a while).
You could apply this to blocking with a shield, or swinging a sword or shooting with a bow or whatever.
One variation is where the stats don’t matter, only the skill based realtime part, whether you score a headshot for example. I would call this Pause-with-realtime as opposed to realtime-with-pause.
Has anyone explored a mechanic like this or are there existing games that use a similar model?
One potential caveat I see with this is that it seems unnatural if you completely miss during the realtime event and still deal damage.
I don’t think it’s exactly as you described, but Valkyria Chronicles is known for integrating both game mechanics well. Either way, your game would probably be compared to it.
If you mean the 1997 PC game, it does not work this way, I just watched a gameplay video. It is strictly turn-based, has a nice almost fps view on defensive mode though.
Another reason the mechanic I described might fail is that it might simply be boring. Worth a test though?
Ah, I have completely missed this game. I saw a Steam ad for it a while ago, but for some reason I don’t like the anime aesthetic at all so I skipped it. Maybe I’ll give it a chance.
I don’t like the anime style either, but one of my friends pointed it out, since I’m a fan of both XCOM and Advance Wars, and he was a big fan of Company of Heroes. Valkyria seems to be a mix of all of that. I’ve known about it all these years, tried to play it, but could not bring myself to do so just because of the anime. One day I will have to work through it for market research for my own game though.
You should validate first, if mixing two types of gameplays is a good idea and when.
Certain combinations may work for some.
But in general, If I play relaxed turn based game, I want to play it that way all the way.
Civ, Final Fantasy.
If I want fast paced game than I choose one.
Doom, Forza, Zero-K
Well, saying that, many RPG games a bit mix of these however.
You walk through a world, explore things quietly, do quests, then get into fights in real time.
WoW, Witcher
Yet Rome Total War for example, also allowed to play campaign on the map in turn based fashion. But then player could enter into involved real time battles.
I think there’s value in your overall point, but I’ll point out that most RPGs made in the last 15 years have been a mix of “turn-based” and “realtime” gameplay, including Final Fantasy since the fourth game in the series (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, not 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15) and many western RPGs like Fallout with VATS or Bioware’s real-time-with-pause. Mixing real time and not-real time gameplay is pretty common for that genre at least.
(I realize you mentioned Witcher 3, just pointing out that it’s a bit more ubiquitous than just that game)
I watch anime, but somehow the artstyle of this game has no appeal to me either. I think I talked about it with @frosted a couple of times and I was always planning to check it out. Now I got the 4th part in the Humble Choice subscription, but haven’t played it yet. If you want to buy it there as well, here’s a referral link: https://www.humblebundle.com/subscription?refc=OytHur
