There is a refrain that I hear often on gaming sites: “turn-based combat in RPGs is dead.”  As anyone who has been paying attention knows, it is a favorite hobby of games journalists and bloggers to proclaim the death of this, that, or the other.  For instance, adventure gaming has been declared dead on more occasions than I can count, and yet seems to be enjoying quite a resurgence at the moment; episodic Monkey Island games, some fantastic-looking titles like Machinarium, and a host of others are popping up for download on a weekly basis.

So why the eulogies for turn-based (TB) combat?  The general consensus seems to be that TB combat is simply too boring in this new world of HD graphics and multiplayer FPSes. People want speed and twitch gaming, the writers say, and turn-based is just too slow and old-fashioned to keep people interested.

This is a pretty shallow way of thinking, I’d argue.  Yes, turn-based combat is by definition slower than real-time, but that does not automatically make it boring.  Boredom is in the eye of the beholder, and for those used to speed and action, turn-based systems must feel like a long walk through a muddy swamp.  But depth and choice can be exciting, and TB systems can usually offer those in spades.

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This past weekend, my wife and I packed up all of our belongings into a series of increasingly heavy boxes, paid some dudes to carry it all down the four flights of stairs from our current apartment and load it into a truck, and unload it all into our new home.  As I sat on the floor of our new living room, surrounded by half-unpacked boxes, trying to figure out where to a particular lamp was, I looked around at the strange new walls that surrounded me and realized, “This is my home now.”

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With the end of the year in sight, one cannot help but give in to tradition and present some kind of look back on all that has gone on over the last twelve months.  2008 was a year that hit some really high highs, and some really low lows, and I’m not just talking about in gaming.  Fortunately, we’re only here to talk about the games, so that makes things a little easier.  With that in mind, let’s see what our Spectacle Rock team thought about the year that was…

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1. The Impossibility of the Internet

I did not think I would ever play Mother 3, but I did. The window for a real release by Nintendo had come and gone several years ago and every time I checked on the fan translation efforts, they were either mired in drama or seemed hopelessly far away from completion. I had made my peace with it, was content simply to imagine what it might be– the way I had a fever dream once when I was a little kid about playing Super Mario Bros. 3 years before it was released, with mutated Tryclydes and Shyguys that would chase you through mazes.

But — all things are possible given the Internet and enough time, and so I’ve played Mother 3. I am curiously happy about this, the same way I would be if I ever got to experience zero gravity. There are some things you simply don’t expect to ever do.

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