Luke and Win, KotoR is turn based, and an RPG, but the fight animation happens in real time--it is nothing like final fantasy. There are also several minigames. Pazzack is a card game that is basically Sabaac with out the Ryn face cards, there is a swoop racing track on at least three worlds, and you can shoot down Sith fighters when escaping from the Leviathan, (think ancient Star Destroyer). As far as leveling-up goes, you can let the computer do the whole thing with a tap of a button. Or you can customize your character. You can even Auto-upgrade your stats, and separatley choose for yourself which Forcepowers you get.
The combat itself is sort of hard to describe in few words. When you first encounter an enemy, the game pauses and lets you decide to run or fight, but there is no swithcing from movement to battle engine. You can give your three people up to four commands for a total of twelve before unpausing the game, and they will excecute them on their own, You can pause the action at anytime during a fight to survey the area, switch who you're controling, and give them commans. But you never have to pause the game, it is just helpful. There is a hotbar at the bottom left of the screen that allows you to pick special actions, such as critical strike, throw grenade, or Force powers, or use drugs and medpacks.
That is all I can think of right now. I don't want to spoil any of the plot for you.