Turn Based Games - Why Are They Still Here?

I understand the origins of turn based games. There was an era when your PC or game console had far less memory and CPU horse power than your pocket calculator, let alone your cell phone or some Happy Meal toy with a little game embedded.

Now, consoles are super computers. At least, by the definition of a super computer while I was growing up. There's a physics lab that uses Playstation 3s. That's a lot of power to compute all manners of events simultaneously. Regardless, decisions to make games turn based are still made. Why's that?

First, what exactly do I mean by Turn Based? The flow of the game is broken up into phases the player can discern or "turns." There's of flexibility as to when turns can occur and how much happens within a turn. Chess what I'd refer to as a rigid turn based system. You and the other player each alternate. There's no way that your opponent can move twice in a row; all players get an equal number of turns throughout the game up until a winner is declared.

I remember Final Fantasy Tactics considering itself a "semi-real time" strategy game. Really, what this game does is shuffle turns about, making them depend on the in-game characters' relative speeds. If character A is twice as speedy as character B, A gets twice the number of turns as B in a given time frame.

Simplicity.
This has to be the biggest strength of making gameplay turn based. It's a sweeping generalization, which I'll break down.

 One Thing at a Time.
By definition, turn based is a sequence of well defined phases of gameplay as mentioned before. In a sequence, the next item doesn't start until the in-progress item has finished. Think of it as series vs parallel processing. The player can devote all of their attention to what goes on in this particular turn. Not to say that what will happen in the turn isn't necessarily going to be complicated, but by focusing the player on a certain phase, the game's "signal to noise ratio" goes up.

  Allows for Strategic Thinking
I did not want to paint myself into the corner by saying that Turn Based is inherently more strategic than any other play style, but a lot of turn based games I enjoy make it easier to assess information and make decisions based on the long term of the battle than a real time strategy game.

 Pace Control
The player has it. My friend's sister sticks to RPGs with turn based combat. Why? She's got 2 crazy children that could wreak havoc at the drop of a dime. Hitting a "pause" button doesn't enter her mind when junior is sticking his fingers precariously close to a wall socket. While this is a very extreme case for the benefits of a turn based system, allowing more player control of how fast the game progresses certainly has its benefits.

 Ease of Prototyping
At least, in theory, it's easier to do a paper game based off, say, Final Fantasy 7 than it would be, Star Craft. Punch some buttons to calculate who goes first then start dishing out the damage. This is more of a development related issue, as I doubt that the masses out there will go forth and create a Final Fantasy 7 board game.

So, what are the weaknesses to Turn Based gaming? Pretty much, everything I mentioned before. As in, what makes turn based gaming strong can also be spun into a weakness. I haven't had a turn based game really engage me much these days, I've been gorging myself on realtime games such as shooters and RPGs with real time combat like replaying the previously abandoned Ys Origin.

Number, not Skill Driven
This has to be my biggest qualm of a lot of turn based games. I have a reasonable set of reflexes. When a monster charges at me and I see an opening to get away, I'll go for it. However, with most turn based games, this sort of thing gets determined for me by my character's agility or some other type of statistic. There are some games that mix things up like Eternal Sonata and give you chances to block and counter attack real time while the rest of the gameplay is turn based which works.

I'll have more on this, my thoughts about turn based gaming still feel a bit disorganized for my tastes.