Pause.

Any actions that would be real time should be real time though of course - potion drinking, drawing/sheathing, and changing armor shouldn't be possible in combat.

Real time, because it would be awesome to be browsing your inventory in a clearing and have a dragon swoop down and eat your ass from behind.



Hope you realize that was sarcasm.

If you are worried about the time it takes to quaff a potion, or draw a sword, why not have all that happen in real time after you exit the menu? Would be even nicer if one of your attributes (i.e; dexterity / speed) determined how swiftly you could do these actions in real time.

Pause, I don't consider RPGs to be pure action games.

Pause for simplicity and the fact that other games have tried it and failed :biggrin:

The menu with options, save, load etc should pause. However if you bring up the inventory it should keep going. But that would require a slightly better macro system in order to chug pots etc

Definitely. People scream for immersion but when its something that will make the game harder they back down REALLLLL quick.

pause

There's a pause button for that (esc or start, depending on the system). I would hoever prefer it to be real-time, I think it would make fights that little bit more dangerous knowing you can't just freeze the action to pop a bunch of potions before going back in.

I think it's a given that this won't be happening, however I would like to see it made easier to do it via mods (now that I think about it, I'm not sure they ever got it working properly in Oblivion, but I know they tried).

That's just my two cents. I don't think they will, or even that they necessarily should, but I'd like it.

EDIT: Just thought I'd add that I'd like it if all gameplay elements were done in real-time. Conversations, etc. I think it could create some very interesting effects.

Only if it's optional. then yes.

Pausing for menus turns the game into god-mode. Hit tab and consume 7 potions, go back to fighting, repeat as necessary.

I do not want real time menus. While I might want to sit in a tavern and read a book in-game in real time, I do not want to be inspecting my new loot in a dungeon only to get attacked by a zombie while I'm doing that.

Half-Life weapon System.

That's what a real time menu would feel like, but 10 times worse.

The weapon switch system was the ONLY thing I hated about Half-Life 2.

I chose "Other" - by not voting at all.

I want some menus to be real-time, and others to not be. For example, often while performing Alchemy I also want to pass the time. The Alchemy UI should be real-time, or at least it should be optional in some way. For the inventory menu, especially during combat, I wouldn't want real-time UI.

Perhaps the following suggestion is a reasonable compromise, although it might be somewhat confusing to players:

When an enemy is nearby, the UI pauses the game; otherwise, the UI is real-time.

Pause, while I flip through my eye-candy iPod-ripoff "flow display" inventory... :rolleyes:

PAUSE!

One thing that really aggravates me in Demon's Souls is that there is no "real" pause. So, you must continue on until it is safe, or pull up the menus whilst being attacked. It may take a little away from the realism, but it is definitely worth it. When I need a break, I want to be able to take one. Not wait another half-hour until I MIGHT be safe.

I will need the game to- Stop, criminal scum!

Inventory needs to be paused. I'd prefer not to have stuff swoop down on me while I'm trying to decide what to drop in my inventory to make room, swapping out gear sets, etc. However, certain minigames like lockpicking should be real-time (like Bioshock 2's hacking system), it doesn't make a lot of sense that the bad guys just freeze as you go around ransacking their stuff.

Also:

That's why there's a potion limit.

Pause. If there is an animation for getting and drinking the potion, that would be fine. But not during the decision process where it can take a minute to do what is normally done in a fraction of a second. A 1 second paralyze/animation for each item you equip is far better than the minute spent on looking for items - items that would normally be readied but listed alphabetically (please for the love of god let there be category headings) in the game.

I do agree with you. I never thought of the mini games being real time. That is actually a good idea, and it would make it a little harder to accomplish what you are trying to do.

No. With games like this and stuff like Dragon Age theres just too many(needless IMO, but thats a whole other discussion) potions/scrolls/spells/weapons/armor for anyone to feasibly hotkey everything they need on the fly. And I play MMOs as a Healer and Tank mains, so I know all about hotkeys.

I couldn't agree more! That is exactly why the game NEEDS to pause during menu searching and such. I do like the idea of the game continuing during mini games like lock-picking though....

Everything is optional when Bethesda is involved. (See signature)

Pausing is crucial. I often pause for like 1 minute for every 5 seconds of action in a critical battle. The game would change radically if we weren't allowed to pause. Not saying it's bad, it's just not Elder Scrolls. Plus it would pave the way for multiplayer. :hubbahubba:

I don't see any reason why it should pause while in inventory (but then, I'm used to the game just happily running along while I'm checking my map, inventory, or other stuff in games like ArmA 2 ...). Game menus (Save / Load / RAGEQUIT!!!!!111!) are a different matter, of course.