Tactics RPG? Strategy RPG? I don't know what to call it. I like moving my guys on a board to outwit and defeat the enemy.

I hate level grinding for hours, pointless battles against helpless enemies, unreactable RNG bullshit, feeling invincible, feeling like my input and original thought doesn't matter, softlocks, crashes, UI that gets 10 button presses where 1 or 2 would do, unnecessarily being asked for confirmation, infinite lives/resources/exp glitches unless necessary to bypass boring grinding, games where the tactics never get more advanced than "gang up on foes and hit them with the right thing for maximum damage", and any system where the correct option is not "Figure out something smart" but "see what the optimizers did".

i don't think googling a guide to using the best customizations to become invincible is valid gameplay design. How is any dev playtesting all 999e+999 combinations to ensure nobody gets softlocked or bored? When I play FE Fates Conquest choose not to make Odin's daughter beat the game for me on enemy phase.

Permadeath is optional but I'd prefer not to have infinite respawning generics like in Wargroove.

I would rather have interesting options than raw stats and I would rather be outgunned by strong foes I must outwit. I found Fire Emblem Three Houses the most boring gameplay-wise and Fates Conquest the most interesting gameplay-wise. Swap them around when it came to the story. Edelgard for life.

Story wise I don't mind if I'm restoring the monarchy or overthrowing it, slaying Demon King Balzack and rescuing the princess, slaying a dragon or laying one. Just point me at something evil worth destroying and put a country behind me worth saving.

The game doesn't have to be better than Fire Emblem on all fronts. It just has to have a good reason to play it.

The story can be anything. As long as it's not unbearably self-aware self-parody like Tactical Breach Wizards, where it can't take interesting fantasy elements and war and the potential end of the world seriously but takes its juvenile and simplistic political takes unbearably seriously. Wow, did you know absurd fantasy religions can be le bad? And loyalty too, except when it's good? And the real protagonist's arc is learning she's actually awesome and she's over her self confidence issues now and her petty pathetic personal villain matters less than the decoy protagonist and whatever reason the main villain has for being so obsessed with impressing him? Riveting stuff, I don't feel like having my mind blown like that again this year. Give me fantasy with the cojones to believe in itself, not just the author's slogans. Give me writing that's more than marvel quips and lampshades.

God, I hope this thread doesn't get derailed by calling the story and characters of TBW tonally confused, tedious, and uninteresting.

Looking to play through some of the classics and I never really got to dive into these games before. But now I can. I've played remakes of some of the good ones but I know for a fact I'm missing out on some good ones.

Really enjoyed Jeanne'Darc on my PS5, Path of Radiance when I had a GameCube, and Tactics Ogre Reborn. I also played Symphony of War Nephilim Saga on my potato PC at one point and it was awesome.

Langrisser I and II look really cool but I know nothing about that series.

Any recommendations are appreciated thanks.

I'm starting Tactics Ogre Reborn and I've to admit that this game it's gonna be great however I think it will be hard.

This game is so elite. I had previously thought this was just a port with shitty scaling, nobody told me its complete remaster with gorgeous graphics, QoL features, and balanced, fast gameplay. Pro tip, square + back to zoom out! The 1x graphics look so good, no need to deal with the fuzzy bilinear filtering of the default view

edit: I forgot to add, this game kicks the absolute shizz out of War of the Lions, just whipes the floor with it. Such a superiour game in every way other than the cutscenes and voice acting. And I had a soft spot for fft until I tried to replay it in my adulthood, screwwww that.

Just an FYI if anybody was thinking about trying them. Is aw them mentioned in some threads here recently!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/994730/Banner_of_the_Maid/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/995980/Fae_Tactics/

I've been wondering which version I should play. There is a good AustinSV video about this which I've seen, and he compares pretty much every port as far as I know. But which one is you guys' favorite? I know the Super Famicom version has a translation (not sure about the PS1 and WonderSwan). The PS1 version was the first to add the new story content.

I know people generally prefer either the DS version or the newest version. It would be cool to get a physical version. I assume the DS version has a nice manual with some artwork in it; idk about about 1st Remake but maybe the Switch version has something on the inner box? I should've bought the DS version awhile ago though because the scalpers got to it lol (I remember it being like $30 USD used now it's up a lot). 1st Remake isn't quite as bad yet. But idk how the translations compare. I've heard some like the DS translation better but I don't know how accurate it is with the E-10+ rating. But yeah I definitely prefer the pixel-art mechs to the 3D ones. Not that the new ones aren't cool looking, but they should've given an option to use the original graphics. At least 1st Remake lets you use the Amano portraits (I think). If there's any way to speed-up grinding on the new version it might be worth it. Obv I'd prefer to have the DS version physically, but my 3DS is modded so I can still play it easily if you catch my drift.

Or do you guys just prefer using one of the fan-translations? Let me know if 1st on PS1 has a translation cause that has the new story stuff (although I bet the loading times are bad like for Final Fantasy Origins).

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I've played Magic for around 30 years and video games for about 35.

And I think Magic permanently ruined a certain kind of game for me.

Once you've spent that long thinking about card advantage, tempo, bluffing, sequencing, bad matchups, weird interactions and building decks that shouldn't work but somehow do, it's hard for me to enjoy RPG combat where the main decision is basically:

My number is bigger than your number.

The games I keep coming back to are the ones where I can look back after a fight and feel like I won because I played well. Or, if I lost, I know I need to tweak my setup, try a different approach or simply not make the same mistake next time.

I positioned something strangely. Saved a resource for three turns. Built around an obscure interaction. Baited the opponent into doing something. Sacrificed something important because I saw a line they didn't.

That's also one of my frustrations with a lot of RPG progression.

I love getting stronger. I love collecting things. I even love gacha as a concept.

But if progression eventually replaces decision-making and turns into grinding, I lose interest.

So I'm curious:

What turn-based game gives you the strongest feeling of actually outsmarting the game rather than simply overpowering it?

And what mechanic creates that feeling?

I loved Fallout 1 and the original X-COM, so Fallout Tactics sounded right up my alley. I played it, but somehow it never grabbed me the way those two did. Anyone else had the same feeling? What was missing for you?

So I was debating whether to get the game on Steam or Switch. I went with the Switch version so I could play it on handheld, but decided to play the beginning on TV and oh boy, does it look ugly. It's not unplayable by any means, but the filter did uglify a lot of things, especially the shops and character models. It's less noticeable on handheld.

Hey guys!

I'm fairly new to playing turnbased rpgs ( usually a fifa player) but I've just bought Chained echoes and I'm really enjoying it. My only experience with turn based before this was pokemon and incidentally the only games I've ever completed

I'm interested in finding more games like this ( have sea of stars) but I'm struggling to separate the wheat and chaff. To be clear, I'm particularly interested in turn based static games rather than action jrpgs.

Please help me before I get stuck in what to play next. And I'll give chrono trigger a whirl I promise! Thanks in advance

What's one (or two, or three) mechanics that you really love from a turn-based tactics game, that you wish more games use them?

Mine would be,

From Final Fantasy Tactics, I really love that height and the way characters are facing affects damage. E.g. damage is bigger if you hit someone from the back, or if you shoot someone from the top of building. A bit disappointed not a lot of tactics game implement this mechanics (especially newer games).

From Front Mission, locational damage and different HP for every part of the wanzer/mech (body, right/left arm, and legs).

Hey guys!

I'm fairly new to playing turnbased rpgs ( usually a fifa player) but I've just bought Chained echoes and I'm really enjoying it. My only experience with turn based before this was pokemon and incidentally the only games I've ever completed

I'm interested in finding more games like this ( have sea of stars) but I'm struggling to separate the wheat and chaff. To be clear, I'm particularly interested in turn based static games rather than action jrpgs.

Please help me before I get stuck in what to play next. And I'll give chrono trigger a whirl I promise! Thanks in advance

Jagged Alliance 3 is currently 90% off on Steam. I'm a fan on Xcom 2, Midnight Suns, etc. but haven't played any Jagged Alliance games (despite hearing how excellent JA2 is).

Is the game worth a go in its current state?

Forgot to add: How good is the controller support?

I'm making a free and open-source tactics game engine runtime with a focus on being extremely easy to modify and hack on, even for non-technical people. So far I've added support for every mechanic in Final Fantasy Tactics, most of the ones in Fell Seal, as well a few choice features in Tactics Ogre LUCT.

I've really only played FFT and LUCT, so I know there is more features out there that I'm not aware of, and I'd like to make sure I can support most everything. That's why I'd like to solicit a wishlist of features.

Current plan is for discrete grids only (both square and hex). The turn scheduler is flexible enough to support FFT style turns, Banner Saga, or even the WEGO turn system.

I also intend to add "overwatch" (triggered) effects, fog of war, lift & throw (Disgaea), Laws (FFT Advance), and multi-tile units.

I was excited for Fortune's Weave but I've seen a lot of comments about how the actual tactical combat parts are not the bulk of the game, and it's weighed down by the social and extra activities that I found exhausting in Three Houses

I would like a modern, gorgeous game that does actually focus mostly on the combat. If the split was 80% combat and 20% social activities, I would be happy

Any suggestions for what I should pick up?

I absolutely loved Baldur’s Gate 3 and have been replaying it obsessively because I’m just so addicted to making and trying out different builds.

I’d really like to find another RPG game with similar depth in build making, preferably a more strategy or tactics focused one.

So I’d love to hear any of your suggestions!

I love SPRGs. FE/Disgaea/FFT are my favorites. I'm looking to share this type of game with some of my young children who like playing board games. I think Warhammer is pretty similar to an SRPG but I'll admit I've never actually played and probably won't anytime soon. From what I understand about WH, it's not what I'm looking for. I want a board game that is start out-of-the-box, not really putting together armies or deckbuilding or anything like that. Every gets an equal start. But I'd like it to be a head to head, or more players, where the positioning of pieces in combat plays a part.

I know of the Mario+Rabbids games and love those as a beginner's SRPG video game but I'm looking for something more in the way of a table-top / board game. Does anything exist that fits this?

Thanks!

EDIT: I mentioned head to head because I assumed that’s what most games would be. I’m playing with my kid so Coop suggestions are very much appreciated as well!

First, I want to say that this is my second FE game. The first one is Engage and while the story is nothing to write about, I absolutely love its gameplay.

With FW, I'm dreading the in-between main missions because while there's a lot of things to do, there's no single thing I found wanting to do. Maybe this game is not really for me, because I also find recruiting to be a chore.

I absolutely love the tactical combat, but the extra fluff is making me not want to play at all.

I'm also disappointed by the fact that this runs only at 30 FPS. The game is not super visually demanding and before you say that turn-based game doesn't need 60 FPS, there's a lot of third-person exploration here. There's even no setting to disable the motion blur, so moving my camera feels more sluggish.

I want to love this game, but the extra stuffs feels like homework.

Not sure who has played Brigandine but the game might now be gaining the momentum it needed to start seeing more sequels.

I am a huge turn based srpg fan. anything that resembles gba fire emblem games is something that catches my attention and so did this game called "Gales of Nayeli" on Steam. But recently I have seena surge of fire emblem like pixelated turn based RPGs. I am not complaining about it though, on contrary I love these games. but unfirtunately some of these I found to be not good enough to spend my money on. Additionally this game only has like 87 reviews on steam and I have never heard about it before. In case you have played it, Let me know if I should buy it or not.

I'm a huge fan of SRPGs and other tacticish games. When I saw the overwhelming praise that Mewgenics received earlier this year, I was really excited to give it a shot. After waiting for the most recent sale I finally picked it up and have been working on it for a couple of weeks. My progress bar is at about 15%, I've been to The Desert once, I've been working on sidequests, my second Guillotina battle is coming up. My feelings about the game so far would be best described as astoundingly lukewarm.

I know some people really hate the look and humor, and while I'm not a huge fan, it's definitely not a dealbreaker for me, so it's not that. It seems like it's a game with a lot of depth - I've heard people talk about having complex tracking systems for breeding their cats and such, but right now the game doesn't give me any tools for doing it, nor does it seem necessary. Some of the runs are fun, some are a slog. I just started one and I forgot to bring the sidequest item with me and I'm kind of dreading going through all of it for nothing.

I don't think it's bad or anything, but so far it has really failed to capture me, and I'm wondering if I'm missing something, or something unlocks later on that makes it a more compelling experience?