SaGa Scarlet Grace's combat is also consistently fantastic, and may just be my favorite turn-based battle system of all time at this point. Each turn your party has access to a set number of BP - Battle Points - and these points are used whenever a party member acts using a Tech. Different actions have different BP costs - generally, the stronger the Tech, the more expensive the BP requirement. As you continue to use a Tech, it will level up, which both makes it a little stronger as well as reduces the BP cost for the action. Different party formations come with their own buffs and debuffs, and can also change how many BP your party starts with, how and when they get more (most formations will award you 1 extra BP per turn into the encounter), how many BP you'll have access to at max power, and more.
The BP system is already interesting enough on its own, but it really shines once you've got multiple enemies on the screen and have to contend with taking advantage of United Attacks and the Timeline system.
Much like many other turn-based RPGs these days, characters and enemies attack based on turn order. However, Scarlet Grace puts a bit of a wrinkle in things with United Attacks. If you kill an enemy that's wedged between two of your party members on the timeline, then assuming they still die between those party members, you'll activate a United Attack between them. Each party member that's now connected together due to vanquishing the enemy will band together for an attack and all get their go at another enemy on the Timeline. If you're especially lucky, they'll kill another enemy wedged between two party members which will, in turn, activate another United Attack anew.
You want to go for United Attacks, with few exceptions, whenever you can. Not only does it deal a nice chunk of damage to enemies, but every party member that ended up participating in the United Attack gets a reduced BP cost for their Techs in the next turn. The strength of the discount depends on their skill level with their chosen weapon, but some ultra-powerful Techs can only really be used after reducing a character's BP costs - they're simply more expensive than your max BP allotment. The game's combat is at its best when you're quelling an enemy's counter/interrupt with a ranged attack, setting up a chain of United Attacks, and either finishing on a United Attack or an ultra-powerful Tech that essentially nukes the battlefield clean.
There's a lot more to the battle system that makes this easier said than done. Like I just mentioned, Counters and Interrupts are something that players will have to contend with. Both your characters (depending on their class, and whichever Techs they've Sparked from their weapon of choice) and enemies can use these, and they can spell trouble if you want to manage an encounter as cleanly as possible. Most of these counters/interrupts can be Quelled with a ranged attack to the enemy readying the Tech in question - any enemy readying one of these will have three question marks above their icon on the timeline, making it easy to tell when you'll have to consider quelling them.
Of course, with the Timeline system being as it is, and how Interrupts and Counters can adjust positions on the timeline, it might be useful for players to consider using these Techs for themselves. Then you have Techs with special attributes like Confusion, Stun, Paralyze, Poison, Sleep, and Provoke. Scarlet Grace is one of those scant few RPGs where each of these attributes actively feels like they have their place, and stuff like Poison particularly can be a great method of melting a bulky boss' HP since it deals damage as a percentage and not a flat number.
