I'm trying to figure out alternative combat schemes for a first-person game. The thing is, as a solo dev, having real-time 1st person combat is untenable due to amount of assets required, unless you go 3D or sprites pre-baked from 3D. It's still a lot more asset work, than let's say, using a separate battle mode, where you can get away with much less. Betrayal at Krondor and Albion are some precedents I'm looking at. Free 1st person exploration, but separate grid based battle screens.