Virgin Territory and 3D Combat

I'm forty hours into Suikoden 3, and in virgin territory. I've gone further than the point where I stopped the first time around. I quit in Thomas' chapter two. I have now completed everyone's chapter two, and have started in on Geddoe's third chapter. The story is shifting gears and the major players are learning truths that are causing more questions. I'd say I'm hooked now. Great depth of story and characterization. Makes me wonder just what was going on the first time around. Was it really just the timing of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and me being burned out on the genre that allowed me to miss the point the first time? I don't know. I'll have to consider that one a bit.

The first two games were in 2D. Which meant the combat was in 2D.  This allowed for one of, if not the fastest RPG combat system. They created the illusion of everyone attacking at once. It's essentially the 2D precursor to the same illusion being used by Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. There would be a couple characters jumping out to attack, and as they're falling back into place, two others are leaping to attack, and as they fall back, the archer fires and the spellcaster lets the magic go. The enemies attacked the same way. This greatly sped up the combat. In moving to 3D, certain issues arise. Mainly the concept of spatial relation and how that would apply to combat. You can't have people jumping through each other in a 3D combat engine. They shouldn't be able to leap through other enemies to reach a specific enemy. 2D allows you to cheat this way. 3D doesn't. What this results in is characters having to move around the battlefield and position themselves correctly. This slows down the pace of the battles from the previous games considerably. They had to deal with magic in the same way. It now has a blast radius. Characters caught within it will be hit. Enemies and friends alike. For certain magic anyway. It does add more of a strategy element in considering who is attacking which enemy, and how, from where, and when. More depth, slower battles. Fair trade? Good or bad? Unavoidable, I'd say. 

I think next time I'll cover missing pieces to the puzzle.