jdsgn: I think I would have been happier with RTwP too, but I do not care that much for combat. I am more interested in atmosphere and story telling.
I guess the main reason why inXile so happily accepted TB is because it was convenient since WL2 had TB combat too.
sear: Wasteland 2 doesn't have much to do with it as, given the differences between technology (even though both games use Unity), they will have very different combat systems in the end indeed. In fact, since we're using much of Obsidian's tech from Pillars of Eternity, it'd be much easier for us to stick with RTwP. We didn't pick turn-based combat because it's "easier" to do.
Rather, turn-based combat gives us the opportunity to introduce far more complex encounters than what would generally be manageable in real-time - such as introducing conversations, non-combat actions, environment interaction, and so on that would be extremely chaotic and difficult to process. It also lets us be more faithful to the Numenera ruleset, which is of course also turn-based.
That's not to say it couldn't be done in real time, but as Torment is generally a very thoughtful, slower-paced game with complicated scenarios and characters, we wanted encounters (or Crises as they're known internally) to match that. Our goal is to have no filler combat, and a limited number of Crisis scenarios throughout the game, and turn-based is more in line with that for us.
Ultimately, TTON isn't a direct sequel to PST - it's built in the same foundations, but has entirely different characters, setting, and it explores different (but familiar) themes and ideas. We absolutely intend to make a game that fans of the original PST will enjoy, and we hope that a different (and, in our opinion, more appropriate to our vision) combat system won't change that for fans of RTwP.
Wow, thanks for the detailed reply! It even makes me feel a bit proud that a real inXile dev participates in a thread I have opened... : D
After seeing Wasteland 2 (though I did not yet have a chance to play it), I do not have any concerns that players of the original PS:T could dislike T:ToN... And the 'first glimpse' video makes for some very high hopes!
Is there any chance we'll get to see a video example of a crisis in the near future? I am excited about this kind of thing, but cannot really imagine how it can be implemented.