Incline Best combat systems in JRPGs

[pakoito]

One of my main gripes with the genre is how many games look and feel the same mechanically, with little evolution from the original wizardry, where emphasis is put on the story or character development.

As a person who'd rather get a story from a book or a movie, and very little time to play videogames, I value a focus on pure gameplay.

What games have a great, challenging approach to combat, customization and progression? One of my favorites in Labyrinth of Touhou, even if some of the boss encounter design is whack the mechanics of character rotation and variable difficulty are quite appealing. Disgaea feels like all gameplay, with a plethora of systems to exploit in combat and numbers to crunch.

What other games show that level of care for party/army customization, and a combat system that's not a boiled down to a rotation of heal/damage/debuff?

 

[Wayward Son]

Trails in the Sky, one of the best rpg combat systems in general.

 

[Jacob]

Valkyria Chronicles

 

[Jacob]

Trails in the Sky, one of the best rpg combat systems in general.

Okay, seriously, this is just a basic JRPG combat system with an added positioning feature. The combat area itself is small and remains static throughout the game. Compared to an actual SRPG like FF Tactics, this is very simplistic. Even the over-the-top AoE moves aren't unique to Trails either, since Disgaea also have those.

 

[Hyperion]

The Last Remnant
Resonance of Fate
Grandia Xtreme
Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria
Vagrant Story - Or Parasite Eve if you only want 'true' turn based
Crimson Shroud (haven't played this one, but have heard nothing but good things - Yasumi Matsuno's swan song, and is pretty much D&D in a JRPG)

 

[Somberlain]

Trails in the Sky, one of the best rpg combat systems in general.

Okay, seriously, this is just a basic JRPG combat system with an added positioning feature. The combat area itself is small and remains static throughout the game. Compared to an actual SRPG like FF Tactics, this is very simplistic. Even the over-the-top AoE moves aren't unique to Trails either, since Disgaea also have those.

Turn bonuses and the ability to disrupt turn order with S-breaks also makes it different. Of course, dedicated tactics games are going to have the the most in-depth combat systems but as far as "normal" JRPGs go, Trails games have the best

Though it's mainly the late game encounter design in the games that puts them apart from most other games IMO.

 

[J1M]

How is octopath combat? Been considering that one, but wouldn't mind a sale first.

 

[mushaden]

Grandia II

 

[Hyperion]

How is octopath combat? Been considering that one, but wouldn't mind a sale first.

The best incarnation of the Bravely games by far. But, IDK if it's 'different' enough from the standard for OP is looking for.

 

[Suicidal]

What games have a great, challenging approach to combat, customization and progression? One of my favorites in Labyrinth of Touhou, even if some of the boss encounter design is whack the mechanics of character rotation and variable difficulty are quite appealing.

Since you liked LoT, try Genius of Sappheiros.

It's basically LoT but plays like a SNES era JRPG rather than a blobber. The combat is arguably even more complicated than in LoT. There's no formation fuckery and 12 char parties, but there are a lot more various status effects, ability types, battlefield element mechanic (eg. you keep spamming fire spells, battlefield becomes attuned to fire, fire spells become stronger, some fire spells gain new effects, water spells become weak and some lose their effects, fire-themed characters start regenerating health) and other shit.

There are some very interesting spells, like being able to complete disable healing and regeneration for both your party and the enemy, which is necessary in some of the boss fights.

Like LoT it's boss-oriented (lots of bosses, they're very complicated and need a strategy to beat) but there's also a lot of random encounters that will kick your ass if you're unprepared.

Less characters but each is more fleshed out and can be built in several ways. You can change and experiment with builds whenever you want.

Dozens of hours of high IQ challenging combat, have fun.

 

[Deflowerer]

Vagrant Story is probably my favorite single-character combat system.

WHERE IS THE FUCKING SEQUEL?!?!?!

 

[Viata]

Vagrant Story is probably my favorite single-character combat system.

WHERE IS THE FUCKING SEQUEL?!?!?!

Some years ago I wanted a remake of it, that was when Resident Evil remake was released and I thought devs could make great remakes. Now not even a sequel I want. Also, Yasumi Matsuno is not on Squenix anymore, so the sequel would suck.

 

[Somberlain]

If the Current Year Squeenix were to make a sequel/remake of one of their 90s classics, it would almost certainly be pure popamole trash

 

[Vorark]

I'm fond of the "press turn" system used in SMT Nocturne: you exploit your enemies weakness to gain turns and force them to skip theirs. Feels very dynamic for a turn based game.

 

[Viata]

If the Current Year Squeenix were to make a sequel/remake of one of their 90s classics, it would almost certainly be pure popamole trash

Exactly what is happening to FFVII remake.

 

[CryptRat]

- I think I can mention Liar Jeannie in Crucifix Kingdom if only because you probably haven't played it. You control two fixed characters + 2 summoned ones and you don't get XPs, only craft equipment. It's not that original but what makes it fun is that it's harder than average.

- As far as japanese indies are concerned, I also liked the original single character combat system of Helen's mysterious castle which is quite puzzlish, for better or worse, as well as the as well original single character combat system of Standstill girl which is less puzzlish. I'm not sure, these two last games share some similarities, like the need to sometimes guard instead of attacking, but they may not be hard enough and the combat system is more original than really complex since you control only one character.

- Breath of Fire : Dragon Quarter has APs, positioning and the dragon form resource however it's called. The combat is miles above average especially since it's also much harder than average. It's just an awesome game overall anyway.

- Final Fantasy : the 4 heroes of life uses a job system, has limited inventories, and uses an AP-based combat system very similar to the one of Paper Sorcerer, including the same terrible idea that you keep your remaining APs from one encounter to the next. Maybe it's worth a try if you played and enjoyed the latter although with a lot of random encounters it's not completely similar.

 

[Falksi]

Shadow Hearts: Covenant's ring system was good IMO. Things got too easy towards the arse end of the game, but overall it had a nice balance and the rings system + various character specialities kept things interesting.

Final Fantasy 5's job system was great, simply for the fact that there was so much variety.

Lost Odyssey had a nice balance & worked well with it's trigger system. Still a bit lacking, but good enough to stay engaging.

 

[Viata]

Shadow Hearts

If only the dev have not been disbanded, we could have Shadow Hearts 4.

 

[Delterius]

tactics ogre / final fantasy tactics

 

[Black Angel]

Disgaea feels like all gameplay, with a plethora of systems to exploit in combat and numbers to crunch.

What other games show that level of care for party/army customization, and a combat system that's not a boiled down to a rotation of heal/damage/debuff?

Haven't tried Disgaea, so I wouldn't know how much level of care, but if you want something different with a degree of party customization AND a combat system that's not boiled down to a rotation of heal/damage/buff, though sadly not a computer game (it's PS2-exclusive, as far as I know), I'd like to recommend Radiata Stories. For me, the bread n' butter of the real time, action-oriented combat system was pretty cool, because while to attack an enemy you only need to press a button repeatedly, every move is based on a combo that you can customize by yourself. It's been so long since my last playthrough, but I remember certain move will connect better when arranged in specific order, like a "Right Slash" followed by "Left Slash" will connect better than, say, "Right Slash" followed by a "Downward Slash". While only doing those might seem boring to you, don't worry, as you progress through the game you can unlock some party-oriented special moves that can be performed based on formation or something like that. My only regret is that in hundred of hours of my playthrough(s), I've never really tried the party-moves, and only these years later I realized I could've had much more fun using those.

Actually, I want to use this opportunity to ask: is there any other JRPGs like Radiata Stories, but on PC?

 

[Beastro]

FFVIIIs summoning minigame and magic draw system.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Vagrant Story, Romancing Saga series, Front Mission 3 and Etrian Odyssey series off the top of my head.

 

[Goi~Yaas~Dinn]

Are the Tales of games considered "RPG" enough? Because I thought a traditional jRPG stat system combined with real-time fighting game combat was pretty durn cool.

 

[pakoito]

Are the Tales of games considered "RPG" enough? Because I thought a traditional jRPG stat system combined with real-time fighting game combat was pretty durn cool.

And which one keep story and character development to a minimum, focusing on combat design instead?

 

[Shaewaroz]

Is Chrono Trigger too obvious? I think it's great - perhaps too few skills, but has a surprising amount of complexity (dual- and triple attacks, changing enemy positions, enemy attacks can alter party member positions (knock back, throw), multiple types of AoE effects, status effects elemental effects, objects in environment can be interacted during combat etc.)

It's a crime against humanity there are no competently made Chrono Trigger ROM hacks.