Turn-Based RPGs

I think I enjoy the customization of tactical games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, and more recently I've enjoyed the difficulty of the Trails series, and beating all of the super bosses on harder modes.

For me since I'm an oldie, My favorite type of RPG's are what was originaly called an RPGback in the late 90's early noughties, the golden oldies. That"s why I like Graphic Novels. Not really into the fighting stuff. By golden oldies I mean stuff like. All the Myst series, Reah, Rama, Betrayal in Antara, Obsidian, Lighthouse, The Journeyman project 1-3, Cardonia, Morphius, Douglass Adams -Starship titanic, all the zorks, Tekwar, Timelapse . Baldours gate. I liked all the stuff that had puzzles and thing that you had to work out to proceed through the play of the game. This is also why I keep A PC with windows 98SE on it to play these oldies when I feel like it.

One thing I love is the advancement/progression that comes packaged with a lot of RPGs. Things like Final Fantasy X sphere grid is literally platinum standard for interesting choices and paths that you can grow characters along for instance.

I’m more of an ARPG person (like Dark Souls and Dragon Dogma) but from the turn based RPG games I like (Pokémon, Earthbound and Mario & Luigi games) I like specific aspects like: •Having multiple options for strategies/Attacks/ builds (Like all the Pokémon attacks and Ness PK moves). •Having a sense of goal, like imagining how my characters will look at the end of the game (Like knowing what stats I’ll have, armor, skills, etc.) •Sense of mastery (Getting better at the game). •Feeling like I’m progressing (Even if I get lost, I know I’m not stuck cause at least I’m leveling up). •I don’t personally mind the story but I do value the world building a lot cause I love seeing weird enemy designs.

One thing I love about them is the strategy involved in the combat. Since you can take your time planning things out with the turned base, you can set up really great combos and it feels good being able to plan it all out rather than just reactively button mashing sometimes. Sometimes the slower pace is refreshing.

yessssss!!!!lol i love all of these!!!!! lol XD

Chrono trigger as an example had a really basic but absolutely awesome battle system. Combos added layers to it that really made gameplay its own unique experience and I loved finding ways to amp up damage. Story was great but as a kid I kinda didnt really get it as I do now as an adult.

I tend to enjoy those types of games mario+Rabbids and kingdom hearts being two games that I like that are like that

I found ffx, epic battle fantasy and knights of pen and paper one of the best i played. I was so excited that you made some pen and paper in EA. I actually really liked the style and wanted to ask if you could make an own game out of it. Also the humor that came with the personality of the characters playing pen and paper in the game. I thought you have enough to do, so i didn't ask, but now that you ask.. i'd really love a game in chester/harold pnp style

Are you intending it to be like Final Fantasy type of turn based game, maybe have it be mostly action packed piece with couple plot twists to keep the player guessing what happens next, so there's gonna be a story -> will it have romance/slice of life stuff, 'spicy' or not, how's the levelling up gonna affect you, what do you gain, will you have items and/or weapons? Lots of stuff to consider ^^;

Damn, so much feedback already. I'm going to keep mine short. This is really about a game feature of a adult rpg game which I never saw with any other adult game. In the game there was a case where with certain monsters, you could have erotic scenes of sex. That's not the unique thing btw, can find more than one of those with patreon. What was unique was that you got stat bonuses to your character by becoming the monster's 'follower'. So like say your str and cha would increase with the first three interactions. It was a unique game mechanic I didn't see before.

That is a rather big question for me as I am a big fan of this genre of games really. Ff tactics and pokemon where the first type of games I played of this genre, and over the years I enjoyed more of them. Ff titles gave a lot of diversity with all the options and different/ evolved battle systems they got with each new title. Pokemon for example is indeed just that as you said "smack until you die". But for other games I have played, u have enjoyed battle ideas and combos. Like my fav game of the genre so far is the breath if fire 3. The title had a simple yet nice story, that divertedwith comedy as an anime, to seriousness of the weight the story provided. Then, its battle system with well done visuals, and my most fav part, it's dragon tf mechanic, where you tf into dragons. And the tf was not the only good part. They did give each combo meaning as to be able to think and adapt to each scenario accordingly And that is not all. To give you another example, another turn base game I enjoyed with no visuals over the hero team, other than the menu screen was the persona q2, a game that had your team go inside dungeons and fight enemies, but your battle screen only show you the enemies all the time. You did saw animations for the battles, like spells and attacks, but not the ocs all the time. Still it was a nice game for me ^^. Another similar game, that has less story, but fun battle system was puzzle dragon z (3ds game). Similar to persona q2 the battles where the same, but the fight was different as you didn't choose attacks, but you used to move orbs, to combos like tetris, to make as many combos possible and let your team go full out attack, then with each battle, and combo, you filled special skills bars to use unique skills of your team before battle or after battle too. Personly, after all these games I have played, I am certain that a turn based rpg, can be a great success if it has both a good and fun to explore battle system, but also a good story to back it up too. ff titles had this success for this reason really. And also, if you ask me, from all the works you have done so far, i bet you can make a great deal of a fun small rpg. The vn story telling style is also really big on these games too, and i believe you have some good experience in this department already ;3

I personally love the story to most all RPGs that I've played. I tend to self-insert a lot onto the protagonist/a party member in the party so that's fun. But I love turn based combat because of the strategy that comes with it: the planning your moves in correct order, looking at what you can take in terms of damage or preparing to tank damage and thinking ahead to how to mitigate that, and then changing up your whole strategy when something goes awry and pressured decisions. As far as outside of battle, I love the idea of taking am active part in like decision making that has implications in the greater story, whether that be like some kind of karma system or like decisions that can alter the story in one way or another. This aspect is more why I self insert cause I enjoy playing the game like as if I was put in that situation and seeing how it would play out.

I like Grove alot. It has a good story and puzzles to figure out. Not only have chests to find but also my favorite. Public nudity lol

Hope I'm not too late the party on this! I've seen a few people mention Persona and SMT and the press turn system is HUGELY lucrative to spice up combat. Additionally, having the option to negotiate with foes is INCREDIBLY fun! It makes more role playing options! I also saw mention of Bravely Default, which in addition to being able to mix up classes and abilities, you also have the brave/default system which deals with a point system to let you take extra turns. In both game systems, making sure the enemies can do something similar is what makes the system *interesting* and keeps players on their toes. Octopath Traveler and Final Fantasy xiii also play with this idea of exposing enemies weaknesses to build a gauge, and after its filled, they are 'staggered' where they take more damage or are stunned. All that is to say, if you want to make take turn and avoid beating each other with stick syndrome, I recommend developing mechanics that can reward players for exposing weaknesses or that can gamble to speed up combat.

True turn based games have always been appealing because they allow you time to think and strategise. If the enemy is relying on some kind of attack pattern or status abuse, you have time to plan out your countermeasures. The more tools in your party members' belts, the more fun. Bonus points when there's flexibility in the characters' skill development.

Take a look at Bastard Bonds, done by Captaingerbear! That was honestly one of the best turn based RPGs I have ever played.

I love the classic turn-based battles. That's why I enjoyed so much the RP sessions in Harold's route. But I also like special gimmicks in battles like team attacks, where the heroes combine their abilities. Or like in Undertale the possibility to solve battles peacefully and maybe even recruit side charakters. If you ever plan to create an actual RPG with the EA characters you definitely have my support ; )

Turn base games huh? Well I have played quite a few over the years and you need to have a good story as well combat mechanics to make it work. So with that in mind Crono Trigger, Tales Of - games, some of the Final Fantasy games, Golden Sun, Octopath Traveler, Chained Echo, and the Disgaea games.

I don't play many RPG's, but my favorites are the SMT & Persona series. The story is the main draw, but I played through games with weaker stories like SMT V because the Press Turn battle system they use in that game is rather simple on the surface (exploit elemental weaknesses so you get more actions on your turn, and have a team that blocks the enemy's attacks so they have less actions on their's) but has a lot of depth once you really get into it (when to buff your characters attack/defense/speed skills, what demons can you fuse to make to get past a particular boss, etc.). Certainly doesn't hurt that the visuals are often stylish, but snappy and brief enough to not overstay their welcome when you've seen that attack animation 2,000 times (or in the case of SMT V, you can just skip them altogether). Persona also smartly connects the social sim aspect of its gameplay - the part I'm most motivated to play because I'm usually story and characters first - and tie it into the battle parts by making personas stronger and your party members perform additional skills to help out in battle.

I mean the classic, Final Fantasy (1-10). Having to balance attacking and defending and curing was also so fun to me. Having certain character specialize at something so each character isn’t just narratively unique but the way you use them is too. To me, this is the most iconic and loved turn based rpg.

Both Dungeons and Dragons and Divinity Original Sin (2) are fantastic examples of ways to make combat more than just hit each other til someone dies. There's strategy and tactics involved, its made much more complicated through the use of environment, tons of magic spell options to do any number of things, the equality of it between both sides largely being able to use all of the above. The story is the most important part but having options and not having an obvious winner or having multiple good choices in moves during combat should make things more interesting.

Honestly, my favorite has been Bravely Default. I like RPGs where each character isn't "type-cast" and stuck within a specific role, but can perform any role or job. The combination of talents from different jobs (like a Knight with two-handed that can also enchant their blade using Spell Sword magic) appeals to me much more than the aforementioned "Press A to be bored for a few rounds." It also lets me chose the characters I want vs. "I have to have a healer so this garbage boi has to come with me." I do prefer a good story and interesting characters over good mechanics though. A game with great mechanics, but garbage characters, just isn't fun. A bland story basically just turns it into a random number simulator with pictures.

I actually dislike most fights on RPGs speacially JRPGs because of the grind, it anoys me to fight over and over the same type of combat, and usually the same strategies, even thought I love the story, so I usually cheat to make me powerful so I can basicly skip battles, the only one I kinda enjoyed was Divinity Original Sin 2 but it was mostly because of the elements interactions the game have, that's why I never went o find a guide because I wanted to find it by myself.

Some of them can be easy enough that you really don't have to, but I like the ones that can force you to strategize a bit. And especially the ones that have a unique spin. One example is elemental interactivity or technical damage, like freezing then shattering something or putting it to sleep and then using psychic attacks. The Persona series is one example, but Divinity Original Sin 2 is another great one (that one has surface interactions too). I also really like turn based games where you have to take positioning into account, since that adds an entire other layer to combat. It can be a flat plane (like the South Park games 3x3 grid) or an open area with height advantages (like Divinity OS2 or the X-Com Series). Neither is nessecarily better, but I tend to like ones that include height advantages. And especially ones that allow for environmental interactions.

I think that the primary draw for JRPG's is the storytelling, but that the combat can still be enjoyable in its own right. The most interesting turn based systems are the ones which give you lots of strategic options and generally avoid letting combat turn into a mindless slugfest. They also interact with other game systems as much as possible in order to make the combat not feel like repetitive padding. I'd say that one of the best systems along those guidelines is the Press Turn system for Shin Megami Tensei and Persona.

The issue I have with them is they lack ability to challenge the player without resorting to grindy, repetitive tasks or scripted 1 shot mechanics you have to use specific starts to get around. Octopath Traveler introduced an interesting new mechanic that encouraged scanning enemies, but that wore thin after a while because of the grind.

The Persona games. You can literally summon gods, and demons to fight for you. It also rewards you for getting closer to your allies.

The Fire Emblem games have recently become firm favourites of mine. Three Houses was a bit... in depth to jump right into, but the latest one, Engage, is fairly easy to get.

I would say my favorite series is Dragon Quest and I love how you can gain skills based on the points you invest in a character's aptitude. I also like the job system from previous iterations like 6 and 7.

Depending on the game, I do enjoy it for the story (depending on how much I’ve been paying attention haha), but I also enjoy the strategic aspect of them. Like when I keep up steady attacks, healing opportunities, when I should defend, when I have a chance to use a specials/skills, etc.

If you’re looking at making turned based combat more interesting, tactical rpgs like final fantasy tactics or fire emblem are great because they introduce a whole battlefield you have to navigate through instead of the Pokémon style of just standing there spamming the “A” button. Megaman battle network is also great because you have to worry about positioning in that game but don’t have to worry about creating an entire massive battle map. One of my favorite turn based battle systems is in “Child of Light”. Instead of taking turns, everyone is placed on a timeline. Every ability has a casting speed and faster abilities will travel faster on the timeline. There’s also an interruption window. If you hit a character while their icon is on a certain part of the time line, their ability gets interrupted and they get knocked backwards on the timeline. Also every single boss has an interruption effect. For example, one boss stuns your entire party if you ever interrupt their ability cast. That makes it so that you have to weigh the risk vs. reward of interrupting a boss every time you fight one.

For me, specifically I play turn based games for a better story than whatever schlock the current market is trying to sell, but I get a very special thrill of it when the gameplay actually makes combat more tactical than just "press attack until the enemy is dead." Stuff like chained echoes, and lost odyssey, and the like. (Although I do still play dragon quest and final fantasy etc.)

Suikoden and Suikoden 2 Collecting every one of the 108 stars of destiny (those were individuals to join your rebellion) Leveling up your headquarters Mini games within your outpost Lore

I enjoy a good story, and also fun twists on the typical turn-based RPG. Pokemon introduced catching critters, then Golden Sun took some of this and made a mix and match thing where your role and powers change depending on which critters you use

Make it an SRPG if you want it turn based UwU

OwO in turned based combat that lets you make your own teams, it's great to see the different synergy or type coverages you can make with your team!! Depending on the type of characters too it also allows for different types of play styles, like having a tanky stall team that could ramp up in damage and then stomp any enemy, or just a simple brute force team with all damage. That on top of having a story that lets you connect and get to know the characters in your story makes it fun to invest more into who you want into your party and more bwehe.

I love classics like Final Fantasy ( VI preferably ), or Legend of Dragoon, or even Wild Arms.

I love reading the story in RPGs and also the quests giving you some sort of a guide of what to do and have some sort of progression. Also love the various classes that I'm able to play with.

I know I almost always play for the story/character development first and the gameplay second. For example, I really wanted to get into Octopath Traveler, but the lack of interconnectedness in the plot and overall hohum intro made me drop the game quickly despite enjoying what little of the combat I tried. Compare that to Omori, which had a fantastic story first and worked to give good gameplay second (really enjoyed the combat and mechanics, but definitely not the crunchiest in complexity compared to other RPGs.)

Games like Dragon Quest and Persona at least have turn based systems that allow you to strategize in time without worry of being demolished instantly for simply thinking out your next move. Comparatively, games like Eternal Sonata bring up a challenge with their battle system. Because as it evolves through the story, it changes from allowing you to fight without loss of time to enforcing you to think on your feet while the clock counts down on your turn.

I just started the opera of legends of hero’s and it’s amazing because of the story. I’m at the Cold steel saga, but you should start with Trails in the sky. It’s slow at first, but the payoff is so good.

Epic battle fantasy is a pretty good one! Etrian Odyssey is also a pretty solid on with cool maps and features.

Large skill trees that give plenty of customization for game play is the go to for me.

The pacing coupled with the amazing story. I like turn based RPGs when they have a super interesting story, but I also like customization. It just feels great when you build the team up and with enough patience, you can become the strongest force in the whole game.

I play a lot for the story but in terms of combat and gameplay, I love the Golden Sun games. There were a lot of choices and the way you have to do builds with the djinn system is really cool. Essentially your classes are determined by how you spread around little equippable monsters. But because there's a finite amount you have to build carefully. You can't just put fire on everyone for example. So someone may get a more powerful class while someone else is pushed into a utility role our of necessity. It also affects how you solve some puzzles too which is fun. They're some of the best GBA games I've ever played and are in my list of best turn based RPGs.

I have played some a bit, but they're not my cup of tea. Too slow for me. If the game has more to offer though, like other gameplay elements and a good story, I can tolerate it though

My 2 favorite games, Persona 5 Royal and EarthBound, are both JRPGs that have a unique style and play differently. P5R has a lot of different mechanics like baton passing to other party members to increase attack or heal sp, or having different combinations of personas with different abilities that you can pass down to other personas through executions (persona fusions). EarthBound is cool too in that there’s wacky mechanics, like a praying mechanic that can have random effects (both positive and negative) on your party and the opponents. They also play with the idea that your party attacks with psychic powers by having a party member who doesn’t have psychic abilities, but as a trade off has physical attacks that never miss, and uses limited inventory space to store hard-hitting items. That aside, the story, music, and visuals are stellar for both games. Sorry for the long message lol

A good class system is always fun octopath 1 & 2 have been my favorite turn base recently. Fun battle system and silly character interactions

The strategy, intricate class systems, overworks puzzles that incorporate abilities or powers from the characters, the story is the biggest part though no amount of gameplay can make up for a bad story

A good battle system really makes the game stand out (like undertale, or small ontop, two diff genres/age ratings) but a good story is what keeps me/players playing/loving it. Sure the battle system can be the same/be a little stale, but a good story will keep them (Atleast me) hooked onto the Rpg, Like I gotta know how it ends/what decision I choose will affect it… it’s so addicting kinda

The ability to take your time and strategize, I suppose. Frantic action rpgs are fun too, but sometimes it's nice to slow down and plan it out. A strong story is key for ALL RPGs though either way, I think.

Final Fanatsys 7, 8, 9, & 10 are in my opinion the Gold Standard of turn based combat games!