Why good turn-based combat beats flashy auto-battle

There's a trend in mobile RPGs to let you auto-battle everything, and I get the appeal on a long grind. But the more I play, the more I think auto-battle is a quiet admission that the combat isn't fun enough to play by hand.

Compare that to something like Emberfall Chronicle, where positioning and skill timing matter. I almost never reached for auto there because the fights were the reward, not a chore between cutscenes. When a system is well designed, you want to engage with it.

My rule of thumb now when I review an RPG: how often did I feel like turning auto-battle on? The fewer times, the better the combat usually is. A good fight should make you lean in, not check your phone for messages.

That said, auto-battle for repeating easy fights is fine. The problem is when it becomes the main way you experience the whole game.