Posted by Heuristic Park on September 29, 2000 at 15:30:30:
In Reply to: Phased-turn in ranged combat posted by Karla on September 29, 2000 at 14:27:04:
When any character performs an action, the time-phasing is automatically invoked - the same is true for a monster - if there are no monsters around, then the time-phasing is immediately discontinued, to allow you to heal etc. as in real-time without having to go through all your party members or wait for your character to become "ready" again. When a monster attacks or performs an action, time-phasing is invoked for that monster.
The time-phasing "advances" when a character takes an action, or moves a certain distance which is considered an action. You can usually move a small amount (relative to your character's overall SPEED) and note that the monsters are still in time-phase mode - when you move, the time-phase advances accordingly, so any monsters who could attack at the new point in time depending upon how far you move and how fast your character is would be able to do so, which would once again start their time-phase cycle over. If you continue moving, the time-phase clock will advance as if you were playing real time until you stop moving, which is also advancing time so that the monsters can attack once more.
The time-phase system related to movement is necessary, because it wouldn't be fair to let you move around while the monsters were "stuck" in their time-phase mode. The faster your characters become, the more they will be able to move relative to the monsters without advancing time to allow them to attack again. You will note that as your characters progress, they will get more and more attacks against lesser monsters, although to you it could seem the monsters are just getting to attack less and less. The system has been well balanced, but it does require a tactical decision on your part when you think it better to move (as when a flamestrike is headed your way) as opposed to staying in one place preserving perfect time-phase (turn-base) advancement one character at a time. Some monsters deliberately attack at range to force you to advance to engage them, which of course, advances time for them. These monsters can be tougher encounters.
This Adaptive Time-Phasing method allows gamers who prefer "real-time" action to play accordingly without the need to "toggle" real-time on/off, and also allows those who prefer the turn-base method to likewise play one character at a time without having to worry about getting overwhelmed just because they stopped to think about strategy. Whereas it might certainly be to your advantage to allow you to move out of the way of magic spells, etc. freely while the monsters remain in the time-phase, it wouldn't be balanced combat, as any monsters in time-phase who have attacked you are unable to dodge your spells.
Ranged combat (spells, bows&arrows, etc.) progresses in the psuedo-real-time to allow you to keep toasting monsters before they reach you. Once they do, and take a whack at you, time-phase is invoked as described above.