It can be difficult to create a sense of action in turn-based combat. Frequently it involves everyone standing around staring forward with dead eyes as single unit chops away at another. It comes with the nature of the genre and is so commonplace that people generally accept it. The focus is instead on the acting character’s animations, attack effects or camera work that deliver a sense of impact.
There have been games that go out of their way to attempt to break this formula. The original Suikoden allows two or more characters to act at once, as long no character conflicts with another. Depending on how you structure your attack order, it will happen more or less often. This feels like a half step though since frequently the standard single strike happens anyway. I only saw it consistently if I optimized an attack pattern with a repeating group of foes.
Another approach, which lead to more consistent results, is in Skies of Arcadia. While each character takes their own turn, those in the background re-position themselves, swipe at enemies and dodge strikes. None of these actions amount to any actual damage. It’s all a performance to increase the intensity of the scene as the active character acts. This result in making even the most visually boring moves, like casting a buff on yourself, more exciting. There’s a sense of chaos as everyone scurries about all at once. The more combatants on the battlefield, the more effective it becomes.
Skies of Arcadia, in general, pays a ton of attention to flashy details in combat. Actually, so much that it can get in the way of gameplay. Since its release, I haven’t personally seen many turn-based games that try to create a similar feeling. I was surprised when looking at The Last Remnant, which goes out of its way to portray a more battlefield-like setting, that the inactive party members just idle about.
Recently I was pleasantly surprised when Intelligent Systems unveiled Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Initially, it looks like the typical top down affair the series is known for. Dropping the camera down into battlefield though shows that each combatant is surrounded by a platoon of soldiers.
The main conflict happening between the named characters is the usual trading of blows the series is known for. But the clashes in the background paint the battle at a much larger scale. Outside of battles, there’s an option for a more behind-the-back view which renders all the soldiers at once.
Do they matter or have any impact on what’s happening? As far as I can tell, no. All the menus basically looks like the standard stuff. However it no longer feels like a conflict of individuals, which I think offers a window for a different style of story telling in Fire Emblem.
I’m happy to see Fire Emblem’s presentation finally go beyond what they’ve been doing since the series began, although I hope for more. Even Skies of Arcadia has everyone freeze up in between turns when assigning actions. I would love to see a more active portrayal of conflict while giving orders. Based off what’s in the E3 2018 trailer, I’ll probably have to wait longer for something like that.
Comments