Skip to main content

Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Should Torment Numenera be turn-based or real-time with pause?

It's gone down to a vote.

InXile isn't sure whether gameplay in Kickstarter champion Torment: Tides of Numenera should be turn-based or real-time with pause. So it's gone down to a vote.

Only backers can vote, all 74,405 of them, and voting closes in December.

'Real-time with pause' combat is what BioWare used in Neverwinter Nights and what Black Isle used in Planescape: Torment. If you don't pause the combat to issue commands, it unfolds in real-time. This can speed everything up, particularly when you're wading through easy enemies.

But turn-based combat is "more thoughtful", inXile wrote, and it's truer to the tabletop origins of role-playing games (remember, Torment is based on a new tabletop RPG called Numenera). Plus, inXile's turn-based combat system in Wasteland 2 can be modified and reused in Torment.

There's a post discussing both systems, as well as Torment's alignment system (which sounds rather good), on the game's website.

Watch on YouTube