Turn-Based Strategy RPGs: An Appreciation

[RestEerie]

The S.RPG genre is always one of my favorites and most rewarding comfort food in terms of gaming.

On the PC front, i can always rely on the good old reliable Heroes Of the Might & Magic series to satisfy my turned based S.RPG itch......with HOMM3 being one of my top 10 GOAT!

A pity that the HOMM series seemingly 'died' with the last HOMM7.


Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy is also one of my favs with its killer artwork and streamlined resource gathering gameplay (though it seems to be a really niche series in terms of outreach)

The Disciples series seems to have died too with 3 and its developers going under.


On the console front, turned base S.RPG were seeming more popular but also a different type of beasts altogether. there's your Shining Forces, Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblems, Langrissers, etc..but my favourite, and one that i think that's seriously being undermentioned is Dragon Force by Sega releasing exclusively on the Sega Saturn.

The 1st Dragon Force remains one of the largest (and longest) games one can buy for their saturn with 8 campaigns for each of the 8 main kingdoms/protagonists...(with each campaign being so large, the saturn internal memory doesn't even have the capacity to store more than one save game, you'll definitely need an external Memory card for it).
The series' last entry was Dragon Force 2, only for the sega saturn in japan and never reaching the western shores.


Any other some of the S.RPG (that's not the usual suspects) that you can recommend? Are there any new S.RPGs (that's not fire emblem) being released in the horizon?

 

[thetrin]

I'm a big fan of Fire Emblem and FF Tactics, but by far the best SRPG I've ever played is Tactics Ogre. From the story to the mechanics, it's everything I want out of an SRPG.

 

[danowat]

One of the most underrated (recent) SRPG's is probably Children of Zodiarcs.

 

[RestEerie]

I'm a big fan of Fire Emblem and FF Tactics, but by far the best SRPG I've ever played is Tactics Ogre. From the story to the mechanics, it's everything I want out of an SRPG.

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man..i forgot about this too though i can never get really into it.

Only tried out the first one (Ogre Battle) and the battle system is very different from what i am used to.

I like the tone and atmosphere of the series though.

Was there ever a 3rd entry?

 

[daninthemix]

The only series I ever liked was Shining Force, as it was essentially a standard J-RPG - with the world map, the exploration, the towns, just with an S-RPG combat system.

All the others I've tried send me to sleep.

 

[peekaboo]

man..i forgot about this too though i can never get really into it.

Only tried out the first one (Ogre Battle) and the battle system is very different from what i am used to.

I like the tone and atmosphere of the series though.

Was there ever a 3rd entry?

Click to shrink...

Ogre Battle's battle system is totally different from Tactics Ogre. If you like FFT you'll love Tactics Ogre. The PSP version cleans up a lot of the stuff that was a bit archaic about the original (plus it's portable). One of my favourite games ever!

 

[RoyalJL]

The series' last entry was Dragon Force 2, only for the sega saturn in japan and never reaching the western shores.

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If anyone wants to play Dragon Force 2, exist a very nice fan translation, and a physical copy is relatively cheap.

 

[sir_crocodile]

My absolute fave SRPGS:

1) Shining Force 3 S1-S3 (Saturn)
- The gold standard of the genre. Came out as 3 full fat standalone games, with your save shared between them (each disc has its own set of heroes, and the sets sometimes meet in the games - you can sometimes see the same stuff occur twice but from the perspective of a different protagonist, which was very cool. Moving to the actual battles, characters helping an adjacent one on the grid in battle in some way could result in a better relationship, giving them benefits such as resistances or stat gains when next to each other. Different terrains gives movement penalties/defence bonuses. Each weapon type has its own set of special attacks that randomly hit (like crits) that must be learnt, with some exclusive to certain special weapons. There are terrain advantages too.

And then there are the tombs. I love these, they're almost like a minigame with even more strategy - some maps have tombs in them, and if you have previously gotten a map to that tomb, you have a decision to make as to whether to split some characters off to get the treasure, which makes the main fight more satisfying as you have to make an assessment as to who you can spare for however long the tomb takes to clear without losing the level. And you have to work out whether those characters can even catch the thieves to make them spit it out(your characters cannot unlock the treasure chests so you must wait for the thieves to get them first), AND that they won't kill them before they drop every item (thieves will drop one item per attack, even if a killing blow is launched).

Patches for the untranslated JP scenarios 2 & 3 are available here:

http://sf3trans.shiningforcecentral.com

There's also a patch for US/UK Scenario 1 (which had it's ending changed as they knew S2 & S3 would never come out west, this restores the original ending).

2) UFO : Enemy Unknown (also known as XCOM : Ufo Defence) (PC/PSX)
Even 25 years later this is widely considered one of the greatest PC games ever made. Superb tactical battles with a great base/research system. Super atmospheric, terror missions with chrysallids are indeed terrifying.

Nightmare fuel from a mod:

3) Vandal Hearts (PSX)
- One of the "quickest" srpgs ever, in that type weakness is REALLY strong, so you can be wiped out (or vice versa) very quickly given your tactics. Also it has possibly the most imaginative scenarios in the genre - there are so many different and creative goals, it's really very impressive. For instance there's a battle against a sand ant whose hidden body is so large you have to walk up a sand dune that is created around it to attack its head. All the while, its arms will attack you, and while they are individually weak, new ones will appear every round. The thing that makes this battle so cool is that every round, the sand ant head will move, and with it, so will the sand dune! So the topology of the map changes every round:



4) Mysteria : Realms of Lore - also known as Riglord Saga and Blazing Heroes (Saturn)
Looks very ugly, but has super satisfying rock hard battles, cool skills and lets you challenge scenarios at your own pace

Would also recommend Vanguard Bandits (Mech SRPG with TONS of branching - PSX) and Rondo of Swords (Has a really cool system where you have to run through enemies to hurt them, so you can hit multiple enemies with one character in one turn. It's fairly unique afaik - DS). Saiyuuki on the PSX was pretty fun, though it was kind of simple. Some of the Front Mission games are fun too. Also Growlanser : Wayfarer of Time on the PSP, which has a pretty cool active SRPG battle system and lots of branching. Very waifu heavy though

 

[RestEerie]

If anyone wants to play Dragon Force 2, exist a very nice fan translation, and a physical copy is relatively cheap.

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have you played it yet? Is it as good as the first one?

the first one is always regrettably not mentioned within the ranks of all-time S.RPG greats because it's not as prolific as FF Tactics. But it should be!

 

[RestEerie]

4) Mysteria : Realms of Lore (Also known as Riglord Saga and Blazing Heroes (Saturn)
Looks very ugly, but has super satisfying rock hard battles.

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i'm glad you love this but i tried this and can't get over how visually ugly it is...even in 1996 when my tolerance for pixelated textures and low framerate is high. Can't speak much of the gameplay as i can't stomach the butt ugly graphics and low low low framerate

 

[texhnolyze]

One of my favorite sub-genres. It's simply timeless, as you can play the classics or modern ones, and they still feel similar.

One of the most underrated (recent) SRPG's is probably Children of Zodiarcs.

Click to shrink...

There's also Fell Seal.

 

[bulletyen]

I've always appreciated them, but I've since run out of patience to play any. Stuff like Disgaea made me realize the genre was too hardcore for me. I prefer simpler games these days. The most I can take is Valkyria Chronicles, which is simple enough and has other attractive trappings besides the strategy itself.

It is sad to see when a strategy game foregoes it roots however, such is the case with the Shining series and now, Sakura Wars.

 

[Strings]

man..i forgot about this too though i can never get really into it.

Only tried out the first one (Ogre Battle) and the battle system is very different from what i am used to.

I like the tone and atmosphere of the series though.

Was there ever a 3rd entry?

Click to shrink...

Tactics Ogre is way different than Ogre Battle (it's what Matsuno made directly before FFT, and very similar, with some differences). There was a pretty good entry on GBA too, called Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis (though Matsuno wasn't involved in it).

On PC, I'd suggest King's Bounty for HoMM fans. There's 3 or 4 of them and they're all crazy addictive and good.

SRPGs are by far my favourite genre.

A franchise I really love (along with the company who made it) is Summon Night. Unfortunately only 5 and 6 were brought over to the West, but those are still great. The defunct dev, Flight-Plan, also made a bunch of awesome PS1 and PS2 SRPGs like Dragon Shadow Spell and the Black/matrix series, but again, only Eternal Poison was brought over (also a very cool game).

 

[sir_crocodile]

i'm glad you love this but i tried this and can't get over how visually ugly it is...even in 1996 when my tolerance for pixelated textures and low framerate is high. Can't speak much of the gameplay as i can't stomach the butt ugly graphics and low low low framerate

Click to shrink...

Hahaha. I didn't have much money to spend on games back then, so I had to bear with it. And I'm very glad I did.

Also I forgot to mention Growlanser : Wayfarer of Time on the PSP, which has a pretty cool active SRPG battle system. Very waifu heavy though

 

[Devilgunman]

I've been waiting for a new Front Mission. Instead we got a shitshow aka Left Alive.

 

[sir_crocodile]

I've always appreciated them, but I've since run out of patience to play any. Stuff like Disgaea made me realize the genre was too hardcore for me. I prefer simpler games these days. The most I can take is Valkyria Chronicles, which is simple enough and has other attractive trappings besides the strategy itself.

It is sad to see when a strategy game foregoes it roots however, such is the case with the Shining series and now, Sakura Wars.

Click to shrink...

It might just be that you don't like a specific type of SRPG? Ones that insist on you creating your own characters and being very deep into jobs and stats, like Disgaea, FFT and Tactics Ogre really aren't my cup of tea either (though I gut through the Disgaea games as the story is often fun).

I'd say try Vandal Hearts on the PSX, that's totally in the other direction and one of my faves.

 

[RestEerie]

Forgot to add in Wachenroder. A late Japanese-only sega saturn title. I was on a japanese saturn game spree back in 1998-2000 and holding the fort and refusing to fall to the 'dark side' of the playstation then (the irony now that i owned more playstation platform than any systems...PS2/3/P/Vita/TV/4/4Pro owner here). As such, i bought almost every last sega saturn games that peak my interest, even those in japanese with no translation.

Wachenroder is like a steampunk version of FF Tactics. Can't say it's one of the best but i like the artwork and it tied me through the 'tough' times when i was the only seemingly sega saturn fortholder :P

Wachenröder – Hardcore Gaming 101

www.hardcoregaming101.net

 

[RestEerie]

I've been waiting for a new Front Mission. Instead we got a shitshow aka Left Alive.

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fuck...why do we have to remind me of that?

 

[RoyalJL]

have you played it yet? Is it as good as the first one?

the first one is always regrettably not mentioned within the ranks of all-time S.RPG greats because it's not as prolific as FF Tactics. But it should be!

Click to shrink...

I only played for 1-2 hours testing if it works. It's in my (infinite) backlog of games.

I hope to return to the Saturn soonish to play the fan translations of Dragon Force 2 and Shining Force 3 (1-3).

2) UFO : Enemy Unknown (also known as XCOM : Ufo Defence) (PC/PSX)
Even 23 years later this is widely considered one of greatest PC games ever made. Superb tactical battles with a great base/research system. Super atmospheric, terror missions with chrysallids are indeed terrifying.

Click to shrink...

From the same creator of the original UFO/XCOM: Rebelstar (GBA)

It's more linear than UFO/XCOM, instead of having a global map with events, you have around 20 missions. Also the reaction mechanics on enemy turns are better. And it's portable :)

 

[anderedna]

My favorite sub-genre. I like how I could think carefully what to do next, taking my time before executing the moves (and yeah, load back the last save if the result is not to my liking :p)

I started liking this sub-genre after truly playing Disgaea (PS2). Since then, I've played all mainline series of that game.
Some of the SRPG thet I've played and enjoyed: Disgaea series, Valkyria Chronicle series, FF Tactics series, Trails of series, XCOM2 (thanks PS+), Children of Zodiarcs and many more. I even enjoyed Natural Doctorine.

One of my favorite sub-genres. It's simply timeless, as you can play the classics or modern ones, and they still feel similar.


There's also Fell Seal.

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Thanks for the recommendation. I enjoyed CoZ and plat it last week. Now I've put that game in my PSN wishlist. Will buy once I've cleared some of my backlog.

 

[Deltadan]

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin was pretty cool

Had an awesome map editor and multiplayer which I thought was pretty novel at the time.

 

[Cecil]

I do hope that everyone here have played Jagged Alliance 2? One of the absolute gems in the genre.

• Build and maintain a squad of mercenaries, to liberate the fictive country of Arulco
• Freedom to go where you want on the map. Very non-linear structure in the whole game.
• Different combat styles and personalities for the mercs.
• The first merc is completely custom made by you.
• Lots of optional (and sometimes weird quests)
• Toggle for including or removing optional scifi content.
• Destructive enviroments
• Crafting
• And it's pretty damn funny as well.

https://www.gog.com/game/jagged_alliance_2

 

[RestEerie]

I do hope that everyone here have played Jagged Alliance 2? One of the absolute gems in the genre.

• Build and maintain a squad of mercenaries, to liberate the fictive country of Arulco
• Freedom to go where you want on the map. Very non-linear structure in the whole game.
• Different combat styles and personalities for the mercs.
• The first merc is completely custom made by you.
• Lots of optional (and sometimes weird quests)
• Toggle for including or removing optional scifi content.
• Destructive enviroments
• Crafting
• And it's pretty damn funny as well.

https://www.gog.com/game/jagged_alliance_2

Click to shrink...

good recommendations.

The replies made me reinstall Heroes of Might & Magic 3 on all old laptop..

gonna have a blast tonight.

 

[werezompire]

Wild Arms XF is really good. Like FFT with more interesting gameplay scenarios & weirder jobs. Also only $10 on the US PSN.

 

[WinniethePimp]

Mario vs Rabbids: Kingdom Battle.

You can thank me later.

 

[Strings]

Wild Arms XF is really good. Like FFT with more interesting gameplay scenarios & weirder jobs. Also only $10 on the US PSN.

Click to shrink...

While I don't like XF nearly as much as you and a couple of other posters do, I can't wait for the next Media.Vision SRPG. They've contributed a ton to Valkyria Chronicles 3 and 4, FE: Fates, Summon Night 6, etc. Outside of their Shining Force in the style of Valkyria Chronicles game (Shining Blade, which sounds like a dream come true but was terrible in practice, mostly due to poor balancing), they've kind of knocked it out of the park in terms of SRPG gameplay.

 

[Alexandros]

The genre of the gods!

 

[Pellaidh]

SRPGs are one of my favourite genres, and I'm really enjoying the fact that they seem pretty popular these days. But one of the biggest things I'm still missing in the genre is good multiplayer support. The only game I can think of that even has it is Blood Bowl.

In terms of recommendations, for western games, I've always liked the Age of Wonders franchise much more than Heroes of Might and Magic, despite it's relative obscurity. With Shadow Magic being the best of the bunch.

For Japanese games, Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time has already been mentioned and is my favorite one, although it's real time so not strictly turn based. Vantage Master is also another great obscure recommendation. It's basically Advance Wars except made by Falcom, with way more interesting units and maps, and with a way higher level of difficulty. And it's also free now, although I'm not sure how it runs on modern PCs.

Sting also made some good games (and sadly also a bunch of crap). Yggdra Union is a great take on traditional SRPGs, while Knights in the Nightmare is a super crazy blend of SRPGs and bullet hell shmups that works way better than you'd think is possible.

In terms of under the radar upcoming releases, I'm keeping an eye on Fae Tactics. It looks pretty ugly in the screenshots, but it's from the developer of Valdis Story, which was way better than it looked at first glance.

 

[Strings]

Sting also made some good games (and sadly also a bunch of crap). Yggdra Union is a great take on traditional SRPGs, while Knights in the Nightmare is a super crazy blend of SRPGs and bullet hell shmups that works way better than you'd think is possible.

Click to shrink...

Not really a fan of Yggdra Union or Knights in the Nightmare, but Gungnir on PSP was super enjoyable, mostly because it dialed back a ton of their eccentricities.

Bit of a shame Sting couldn't afford to keep the Dept. Heaven games going. They were doing some real crazy shit with them.

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

I was a fan of the genre. My favorites are Heroes of Might & Magic 3, Jeanne D'Arc, Disgaea 2 and Final Fantasy Tactics.

But nowadays these games feel to slow to play for me. Everything seems to take forever and I hate to fuck up and replay whole missions. I vastly prefer more action-based RPGs nowadays. It doesn't have to be true action gameplay, but something like Final Fantasy 12 or Xenoblade Chronices where the battles feel fast and fluid.

 

[Deleted member 249]

OP, would you say Valkyria Chronicles counts? I've found that to be a great, underrated SRPG series.

 

[RestEerie]

In terms of recommendations, for western games, I've always liked the Age of Wonders franchise much more than Heroes of Might and Magic, despite it's relative obscurity. With Shadow Magic being the best of the bunch.

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I have shadow magic physical but can never get into it for whatever reason. The HOMM series remains my fav pc srpg followed by disciple 2.

 

[RestEerie]

OP, would you say Valkyria Chronicles counts? I've found that to be a great, underrated SRPG series.

Click to shrink...

V.chronicles definitely counts.

I like it until the game balance starts to get whacked out of order.

The latter part is impossible (to me at least)

 

[Deleted member 249]

V.chronicles definitely counts.

I like it until the game balance starts to get whacked out of order.

The latter part is impossible (to me at least)

Click to shrink...

The balance is definitely lacking, and the games rely too much on singular map gimmicks that are easy to sidestep once you know of them. I suppose my enjoyment of them is steeped in their great blending of genres.

 

[Strings]

The balance is definitely lacking, and the games rely too much on singular map gimmicks that are easy to sidestep once you know of them. I suppose my enjoyment of them is steeped in their great blending of genres.

Click to shrink...

It's a bit of a shame we haven't seen more games try and use those systems :( There's Mordheim, which I was incredibly hyped for pre-release, but kind of screwed the pooch when it came to clarity (the maps are confusing and a bit boring to move around), Natural Doctrine (which is just abysmal), Shining Blade, Codename STEAM, and not much else.

 

[Fudo Myo]

Great thread, OP. Embarrassingly, I own most of the games mentioned in this thread, old and new, and have never really played any of them. I have a lot of classics on my Vita -- I think I'll try Tactics Ogre on the train home tonight.

 

[julian]

V.chronicles definitely counts.

I like it until the game balance starts to get whacked out of order.

The latter part is impossible (to me at least)

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Sure, but that'd be like dismissing Dragon Force cause you can cheese fleeing armies.

 

[F4raday]

Man, I wish they made more games like the ones mentioned above and that devs in general would use more turn-based mechanics. Even though it gained in popularity lately, I still feel that this is a severely underrepresented genre.

I get that there a lot of people prefer games to be immersive and not "gamey", but it's the exactly this gamey aspect of turn based games that makes them so compelling for me (though being a board game geek probably has something to do with that too ;)).

One of the most underrated (recent) SRPG's is probably Children of Zodiarcs.

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It's on sale right now on Steam and it's dirt cheap.

 

[bulletyen]

It might just be that you don't like a specific type of SRPG? Ones that insist on you creating your own characters and being very deep into jobs and stats, like Disgaea, FFT and Tactics Ogre really aren't my cup of tea either (though I gut through the Disgaea games as the story is often fun).

I'd say try Vandal Hearts on the PSX, that's totally in the other direction and one of my faves.

Click to shrink...

Thanks for the recommendation. I might give it a go sometime. Is it on the PSN for PS3/4?

 

[sir_crocodile]

Thanks for the recommendation. I might give it a go sometime. Is it on the PSN for PS3/4?

Click to shrink...

I'm not sure, I ripped my psx version and just emulate it these days.

If you're looking on PSN though, make sure you don't get the AWFUL "Vandal Hearts : Flames of Judgment". It was a sequel in name only not made by the original team. I know for sure THAT turd was on PSN at one point.

 

[dred]

It's been one of my favorite genres since I first booted up Fire Emblem on the GBA as a naive kid. FE is my favorite series in the genre because I feel it has the best mechanics, balance, and progression. I also love Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre, with Let Us Cling Together being my favorite of that style.

I feel like the genre deserves more love from big developers and publishers these days, especially with the success of modern Fire Emblem. Still waiting on Square to make a new SRPG in the Octopath Traveler engine...

 

[mckinleytl]

I just want Shining Force to return to it's former glory. It's the second game that I ever beat myself when I was a kid. It's also the first game that I ever played again to beat a second time.

 

[Deleted member 49438]

On the PC front, i can always rely on the good old reliable Heroes Of the Might & Magic series to satisfy my turned based S.RPG itch......with HOMM3 being one of my top 10 GOAT!

A pity that the HOMM series seemingly 'died' with the last HOMM7.

Click to shrink...

HoMM 3 Complete Edition is one of my favorite games of all time. Tons of content between the multitude of campaigns & all of the single scenario options. I grew up playing hotseat multiplayer at my friend's house until he (his parents) got it for me for my birthday. My brother & my Dad would go on to play for years to come. I still come back to it every year or so.

SRPGs are great. The love only grew from there when I got my GBA & discovered the glory of Fire Emblem, which has grown to become my favorite franchise. Not to mention other games like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

As for more recent entries I have to give a shoutout to the Banner Saga Trilogy. Beautiful hand drawn art work to go with extremely good tactical combat. Even growing your characters & building out their "strength" stat vs "shield break" stat ends up being a strategic decision.

 

[Hambulance]

Disciples 2 is awesome, love the atmosphere.

 

[Artdayne]

Do the Divinity Original Sin games somehow not fit into this genre or is there some other reason they haven't been mentioned yet?

 

[RestEerie]

Disciples 2 is awesome, love the atmosphere.

Click to shrink...

Finally found another comrade..

The art of disciples 2 is killer, isnt it..

 

[RestEerie]

Do the Divinity Original Sin games somehow not fit into this genre or is there some other reason they haven't been mentioned yet?

Click to shrink...

They are not really strategy RPG...

 

[Deleted member 11413]

My absolute fave SRPGS:

1) Shining Force 3 S1-S3 (Saturn)
- The gold standard of the genre. Came out as 3 full fat standalone games, with your save shared between them (each disc has its own set of heroes, and the sets sometimes meet in the games - you can sometimes see the same stuff occur twice but from the perspective of a different protagonist, which was very cool. Moving to the actual battles, characters helping an adjacent one on the grid in battle in some way could result in a better relationship, giving them benefits such as resistances or stat gains when next to each other. Different terrains gives movement penalties/defence bonuses. Each weapon type has its own set of special attacks that randomly hit (like crits) that must be learnt, with some exclusive to certain special weapons. There are terrain advantages too.

And then there are the tombs. I love these, they're almost like a minigame with even more strategy - some maps have tombs in them, and if you have previously gotten a map to that tomb, you have a decision to make as to whether to split some characters off to get the treasure, which makes the main fight more satisfying as you have to make an assessment as to who you can spare for however long the tomb takes to clear without losing the level. And you have to work out whether those characters can even catch the thieves to make them spit it out(your characters cannot unlock the treasure chests so you must wait for the thieves to get them first), AND that they won't kill them before they drop every item (thieves will drop one item per attack, even if a killing blow is launched).

Patches for the untranslated JP scenarios 2 & 3 are available here:

http://sf3trans.shiningforcecentral.com

There's also a patch for US/UK Scenario 1 (which had it's ending changed as they knew S2 & S3 would never come out west, this restores the original ending).

2) UFO : Enemy Unknown (also known as XCOM : Ufo Defence) (PC/PSX)
Even 25 years later this is widely considered one of the greatest PC games ever made. Superb tactical battles with a great base/research system. Super atmospheric, terror missions with chrysallids are indeed terrifying.

Nightmare fuel from a mod:

3) Vandal Hearts (PSX)
- One of the "quickest" srpgs ever, in that type weakness is REALLY strong, so you can be wiped out (or vice versa) very quickly given your tactics. Also it has possibly the most imaginative scenarios in the genre - there are so many different and creative goals, it's really very impressive. For instance there's a battle against a sand ant whose hidden body is so large you have to walk up a sand dune that is created around it to attack its head. All the while, its arms will attack you, and while they are individually weak, new ones will appear every round. The thing that makes this battle so cool is that every round, the sand ant head will move, and with it, so will the sand dune! So the topology of the map changes every round:



4) Mysteria : Realms of Lore - also known as Riglord Saga and Blazing Heroes (Saturn)
Looks very ugly, but has super satisfying rock hard battles, cool skills and lets you challenge scenarios at your own pace

Would also recommend Vanguard Bandits (Mech SRPG with TONS of branching - PSX) and Rondo of Swords (Has a really cool system where you have to run through enemies to hurt them, so you can hit multiple enemies with one character in one turn. It's fairly unique afaik - DS). Saiyuuki on the PSX was pretty fun, though it was kind of simple. Some of the Front Mission games are fun too. Also Growlanser : Wayfarer of Time on the PSP, which has a pretty cool active SRPG battle system and lots of branching. Very waifu heavy though

Click to shrink...

I'll second Vandal Hearts, it's a damn good game.

SRPG is my favorite genre by far. So many amazing games.

 

[Deleted member 11413]

Thanks for the recommendation. I might give it a go sometime. Is it on the PSN for PS3/4?

Click to shrink...

It's not on PSN.

 

[WascallyWabbit]

Anyone got any recommendations for these on iOS? I enjoyed the hell out of FF tactics on it but don't feel like there's been a whole lot of other games out there