Turn-Based or Free Battles?

I'd like some opinions on whether you think turn-based battles or free battles (like Warcraft 3) would be better for an RPG Campaign. There are some advantages to the turn-based system we have in mind, but there are also disadvantages. For instance, the further back you are from the enemy, the less damage you do, thus the less damage you take. Melee units are allowed to move freely on a grid-like system to attack the enemies. But the major drawback is the time it takes to defeat enemies. With the free battle system, it might take 2-3 hits to kill an enemy, depending on your strength. Let me know what your opinions are; We'd like to produce a campaign everyone will like.

I have palyed many RPGs like FF and I think turn based combats are kinda repetitive and boring. :\

yes but i also found that your charater constantly going back and forth and no true differnce in normal free battle gets boring to.. mix it up alittle maybe? some are free some are turn.. i found a few games like that..

DUELS are turn base while the rest are free base

might help some expectly if it becomes hero vs hero.. wow click your hero and watch him and hte other exchange hits for like 20-30 mins

I'd like to see an ATB style combat system.

I'd say turn based just for the sake of originality.

DeSty

I woudln't bother forcing WC3 to a turn based system. If you are going to do that you might as well do a flash scripting project. It'll probably be easier too. There's no point in breaking every convention in WC3 just for the sake of it. You should be working to enhance the game system, not make it bend over backwards.

I agree with th15, the system of watcraft supports Free Battle.

Couldn't you do a slight combination between the two? A good example would be in FF8. It was basically a turned based system, but you have a bar that allows you to attack when it fills up. Once the bar fills up you can attack, but you do not have to. This allows hero's with bars that fill faster to attack faster than other heroes, so its basically a free style fighting system, but you have to wait your turn. Um.. kinda hard to explain. Play FF8 and you'll see what I mean.

continous turn based systems are basically the worse of both worlds; the boredom of waiting for your turn and not having enough time to make intelligent decisions.

Its also the best of both worlds:
Having to take turns so nobody gets too much of an advantage
Not having to wait til your turn to attack.

Even though they don't seem as if they should belong together, they are both used in the FF8 style battle system.

You may be right, it may be much worse, but FF8 is my personal favorite of the entire Final Fantasy series, and it also uses my favorite battle system.

You must be kidding? Atleast you didn't choose X-2. FF8's storyline was atleast ok, that's all I think it had going for it. It also sported the worst battle system out of any FF imo...

FF10 =P that better?

Thanks for your input, everyone. I see that the majority of you favor the free battle system. This does influence our decision somewhat. If you have another suggestion, please post on The Tolkien Legacy (Soon to be Champions of Valen`Gard) Forum. Thanks again.

i like turn based. i still play those old Hexagon games that u wait 4 hours for your turn :p

Turn-based battles can get a little boring, especially for generic enemies.

What would be good would be realtime battles with basic enemies, but for boss/anti-hero enemies use turn-based.