BioWare Q&A

RPG Codex was able to track down BioWare's David Gaider for a quick Q&A about the company's previous games and his personal role-playing game interests. A little something to start you off:
Q: Turn-based vs real-time, your thoughts? Disclaimer: I'm not asking if Bioware would ever make a TB game or which system is better. I'm asking for your own opinion, preferences, even bias - anything goes.

A: I enjoy a good turn-based combat system. (Temple of Elemental Evil) did it very well, I thought, and I remember the first (X-Com) game being one of my all-time faves (though it's not an RPG, of course). I remember when (X-Com: Apocalypse) came out, however, and it was going from turn-based to pauseable real-time combat and the fans of the series were in an uproar me included enough so that the developers put in a way to optionally use the old turn-based system instead. Much to my surprise I actually found that I enjoyed the real-time combat more. It was faster, and so long as I could still pause and give orders I still felt I had the ability to oversee and control everything that I wanted to. When I played (Baldur's Gate) (which was before I started at Bioware), I found I really enjoyed the pauseable real-time combat there, too, even if it could get a bit hectic during large combats. Full real-time, however, the kind where you can't give orders while paused that stuff I just have no time for. It's the main reason I don't play most RTS games.