Best RPG Battle Systems

Georg Prime · 10-02-2006, 09:16 AM

All games have a variety of battle systems, but theres always a few that you really enjoy and that really stick out. Here are a few of my favs..
1. Chrono Cross
2. Chrono Trigger
3. Xenogears
4. Star Ocean series
5. "Tactics" games

of course Final Fantasy's battle system is always classic, but which game in the series?

Malahk Musashi · 10-02-2006, 09:59 AM

I gotta say that Xenogears had one of the most innovative battle systems in RPG history. Not only did the hand-to-hand battles have a strong action element (even if reminiscent of MK3's dial-a-combo), but the gear battles added that extra oomph that would have been lost had their only been hand-to-hand.

As far as other games go, Suikoden had a pretty nifty battle system... kinda makes me think that Square snagged it for FFX-2. Considering when it came out, Suikoden has one of the most interesting ways of presenting a battle for it's time.

Georg Prime · 10-02-2006, 10:41 AM

aaahh..a suikoden fan! That is one battle system that definitely needs recognition as well. I almost was gonna start another thread dedicated to the Suikoden series. I LOVE the suikoden series, though i have only played 1 and 2 thus far. 2 remains one of my all time favorite RPGs. I've been meaning to pickup 3 for awhile, but it's such a hard game to find. Now of course there's a IV and V! I've heard that the later games in the series aren't as good though..maybe because it's creator, director, and writer Yoshitaka Murayama left konami?

But yea the variety of battles in the game were great: You had the big war campaigns, the one on one battles, and of course the team based combat.

10-03-2006, 06:17 PM

Personally, I liked the Star Ocean battle system...
Mainly because it was different from other ones and I just seemed to like it...

Georg Prime · 10-03-2006, 06:22 PM

Yea, definitely had to put Star Ocean on my list. Though the Tale's games battle systems are somewhat similar (You'll notice my explanation in my Star Ocean vs. Tales thread

).

Having battles in real time like that make things so much more intense which i really liked. The only problem that i've had (ESPECIALLY with the first two games) is the somewhat retarded AI of your computer controlled teammates. Sometimes i just found myself stratching my head and thinking, "What the hell are those idiots doing?" It was so bad in 2, that i had to alter all the strategies of my teammates during the final boss battle and even though my main character was Claude i played as Rena during the battle because the CPU was doing a horrible job healing.

I can't decide which one i like better though: the old school 2D one featured in the first two games, or the brand spanking new 3D version in Till the End of Time

Malahk Musashi · 10-03-2006, 06:41 PM

When it's just Fayt in the battles, Star Ocean is a blast... it's when you get those retarded-ass cohorts that the game starts to suck. Apparently, the "Conserve MP" strategy means "use up all your goddamned MP until you have around 10-15 left, and, since this enemy damages MP, die very quickly". It's things like that which make Star Ocean's system very unsatisfying for me. At least in the Tales series, when you select "Conserve MP", THEY CONSERVE MP... and thankfully, you don't DIE when you run out of MP.

Georg Prime · 10-03-2006, 06:46 PM

HAHA you're so right..now adayz i find myself having to be the healer just to keep those idiots alive.

And it's funny because it took me SO LONG to figure out that you can die from losing all your MP...whenever my allies would die with plenty of HP left, I'd always scratch my head and be like, "WTF?" It's crazy, because they are at a high enough level that they shouldn't die so easy..most of the time i can let them die and just finish off the enemies with just Fayt. I mean honestly it's so easy to just run around..swoop in with a special and repeat process. Same thing with 2..claude was my one man army. Though him and Ashton were a deadly duo..

That certainly was a interesting addition to the game being able to die from MP damage for killing certain bosses this way was a lot easier.. though mostly i just found it annoying

Angantyr · 10-03-2006, 07:14 PM

I am going to say FFV is probably be my favourite as I can't comment on the on on III yet and it was prior to X-2, But the dress sphere system was probably the only thing that kept me playing it till I eventually gave up. The sphere grid on X was also quite good though it took forever to complete the damn thing it was worth it for the monster arena.

Other than that sometimes the simple hack and slash like Baldurs Gate

A is quite fun to play though I wouldn't say amoungst the best but I don't really like the battle system for Kingdom Hearts to be honest. Actually I have my own unique system but until I can either be bothered to try make it with RPG Maker or I get a chance to join a game company it will remain nothing more than a secret in my mind.

Georg Prime · 10-03-2006, 07:22 PM

V's job system was great..though I kinda liked the job system with FF Tactics better. And yea i can't wait to try III for DS..the original game with the job system.

Simple hack and slash CAN be fun though I think it gets old. I've played and mastered Diablo 2, Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2, and Champions of Norrath. I haven't really been playing many since then though.

I used to love playing Diablo 2 back in the day on my 56k modem, it was slow as hell but I used a trainer so my guy was invincible with basically the best armor and weapons possible. People would get pissed when i kicked the shit out of them online

Georg Prime · 10-06-2006, 03:38 PM

Yea i do like the Fire Emblem's series a lot but at the same time there are a lot of games with very similar battle systems (including langrisser/warsong, ogre battle, shining force, and a very obscure snes rpg, Feda: Emblem of Justice). Of course there is also intelligent system's OTHER rpg series nintendo wars and advance wars.

I guess it just didn't stand out as much to me, though the permanent death thing has always been a staple of the series. As well as it's "triangle system".

I don't have a gamecube so i haven't played some of those titles I've read a lot about Baten Kaitos and its sequel and they both look like great games. I'm not sure what my feeling is on the whole "card-type" battle system though..

And i do love the Tales series battle systems though I havent played Symphonia yet.

As for Resident Evil 4..i don't think you can really classify the game as an RPG. Definitely fits more into the action/adventure genre I'd say.

geordanuk · 10-06-2006, 03:44 PM

hmm i really love Tactics gameplay i felt more in control of the game than i did the other battle styles

Georg Prime · 10-06-2006, 07:21 PM

Not sure what's with all the quotes here?

Trust me i am very familiar with the series and i'm well aware when the games came out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ?? (????)

Came out way before other mentioned, in NES era.
.

..And no it didn't come out WAY before all the games mentioned. The original Warsong was released for the Sega Master System (NES Era), the same time as the first Fire Emblem game. The original shining force was released maybe a year after the first fire emblem game. And the nintendo/famicom wars titles were released YEARS before the first fire emblem game. The fact of the matter is that the fire emblem series is more or less the little brother of the nintendo /famicom wars games.

Quote:

So, you can oddly include Resident Evil 4 to this list, technically.

Not sure how you come to that conclusion..the topic thread is RPG battle systems?

and sure the Phantasy Series is alright..not sure what that has to do with anything though?