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Are there any good tactical combat focused console RPGs?

laclongquan

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I think Front Mission 3 is about the most tactical of the lot. I havent played FM4 and 5 so I can not say for them.

You can block bottleneck, dominate the high ground, sniping from afar with both missile and bullets, fight CQB up close...
 

Hyperion

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Vandal Hearts
The 7th Saga
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (Be sure to play the SNES version, not the 3DS ARPG remake)
Earthbound
Chrono Cross - Has a bad reputation, I always felt this game was highly underappreciated, though the magic system is highly broken.
Grandia Xtreme - You wanna experience the best combat the Grandia series has to offer, this is the game you play. It's a storyfag's nightmare, but a combatfag's dream come true.
Valkyrie Profile 1/2 - At first glance it looks like a button masher, and can degenerate to it at times, but there is quite a bit of strategy involved in breaking enemy body parts for certain items.
Legend of Legaia and its sequel Legaia: Duel Saga
Arc the Lad 1, then 2 - 2 is the only complete game of the series. 1 was made as a complete set up for 2, the only reason I recommend you play it first. 3 was trash, Twilight of the Spirits had some good moments, but going back and forth between 2 teams was jarring, and it just felt rushed, and too short.
Suikoden - I'll get some shit for this because I know 2 is loved, but imo, the order should go 3 > 2 > 1 > 5 > 4 > Tactics >>>>>>>>>>>>Tierkreis
 

Cosmo

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I think Front Mission 3 is about the most tactical of the lot. I havent played FM4 and 5 so I can not say for them.

You can block bottleneck, dominate the high ground, sniping from afar with both missile and bullets, fight CQB up close...

On the other hand it's way too easy (still love it though).
 
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Rahdulan

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Suikoden - I'll get some shit for this because I know 2 is loved, but imo, the order should go 3 > 2 > 1 > 5 > 4 > Tactics >>>>>>>>>>>>Tierkreis

Standing apart from some of your other recommendations I think Suikoden Tactics is underrated as hell. It's in a category of its own and supplements otherwise disappointing Suikoden 4 for a better overall package. On a related note, PS1 in general kinda suffered from "Final Fantasy Tactics is KING, also check out Tactics Ogre" mindset as far as SRPGs go.
 

Lostpleb

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Eternal Poison. There is a short story going on in the background, but it is mostly a game about Combat where you exploit the weaknesses of demons to capture them, and improve your chosen little squad of adventurers as they are on their way to discovering what is going on in a sealed, underground dungeon.
 

SCO

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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
This series is a amusing timewaster a lot like lemmings. I mean... it's sort of 'like' tactical combat, if you stretch the definition to breaking point. Terrible waifu infection, but then that's normal.
 
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I think Front Mission 3 is about the most tactical of the lot. I havent played FM4 and 5 so I can not say for them.

You can block bottleneck, dominate the high ground, sniping from afar with both missile and bullets, fight CQB up close...

4 and 5 only improved on the previous installments. If you have a PS2 still or can emulate, I highly recommend playing them.
 
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aweigh

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i also think Suiko 3 is a better game than 1 and 2.

tried playing 4 but the first 2 hours were mind-numbingly boring and the characters all sucked ass so i stopped.

i'm gonna download an iso of suiko tactics and play that; been hankering for something jap to play recently.
 

ColCol

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Started Treasure Hunter G since it was on my list and was recommended here. Seems pretty good/unique rpg for the time. Action points that allow for a large amount of actions per turn, plus difficulty and character abilities combine to give the game the right amount of tactical depth. The only main problem is that the games suffers from typical jrpg systems and story (the ability system is also strange).
 

Krraloth

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If you can emulate the Sega Saturn do try Mystaria: The Realms of Lore (eu) or Blazing Heroes (na). Forgettable story but some sweet tactical battles and an optional dungeon that I remember being pretty hard (I was 12 at the time tho). Stella Deus: The gate of Infinity for ps2 is kinda okay too.
 

Deleted Member 16721

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i also think Suiko 3 is a better game than 1 and 2.

tried playing 4 but the first 2 hours were mind-numbingly boring and the characters all sucked ass so i stopped.

i'm gonna download an iso of suiko tactics and play that; been hankering for something jap to play recently.

Suikoden 3 is one of my favorite RPGs ever. Great game. I think 1 is also really good. I wasn't feeling 2 all that much but I didn't play it until years later.

Suikoden 1 back in the day was one of those rare games. I got lucky when I found it along with RPGs like Brigandine, Tactics Ogre, etc. Gamestop was also the shit back then.
 

Deleted Member 16721

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Suikoden 3 isn't really a go-to game for the combat system, although it's not the worst and has some good ideas. It has the usual Suikoden thing that is tons of combo attacks that you have to discover yourself, i.e. certain characters have affinity and can combine and do special attacks. Also has the turn-based war game, aka the strategy portion of the game. Pretty cool. In terms of story it has one of the best systems as well, the innovative Tri-Story system. It lets you play any of the 3 (or 4) main characters stories in whatever order you choose. Each character has 3 chapters or so, and then later there are more chapters to the main story. Basically, the story is also cool because you can experience similar events from the other main characters' perspectives. So while it opens the door for slight spoilers here and there by chance of how you choose to play the order of chapters, it also means that you get 3 or 4 different sides to the story. It works well because often they are conflicting, or there are twists that make you see things a totally different way. Neat story system thing that was never really done by other RPG developers that I'm aware of.

If a game took Suikoden 3 as a basis and focused on adding heavier combat challenge, it would really be something. There are challenging fights in the game and you will die occasionally, but overall I think that is probably the weakest part of a very strong game overall. 108 recruitable characters, many of which who can fight in combat, have unique skills, personalities, etc. Lots of combo attacks to discover, loot to equip, magical runes to embed in your characters, etc. etc. Emulate the game with PCSX2 and play it in 4K. Worth a playthrough or 3, you'll love it.
 

Deleted Member 16721

Guest
Suikoden 3 isn't really a go-to game for the combat system, although it's not the worst and has some good ideas. It has the usual Suikoden thing that is tons of combo attacks that you have to discover yourself, i.e. certain characters have affinity and can combine and do special attacks. Also has the turn-based war game, aka the strategy portion of the game. Pretty cool. In terms of story it has one of the best systems as well, the innovative Tri-Story system. It lets you play any of the 3 (or 4) main characters stories in whatever order you choose. Each character has 3 chapters or so, and then later there are more chapters to the main story. Basically, the story is also cool because you can experience similar events from the other main characters' perspectives. So while it opens the door for slight spoilers here and there by chance of how you choose to play the order of chapters, it also means that you get 3 or 4 different sides to the story. It works well because often they are conflicting, or there are twists that make you see things a totally different way. Neat story system thing that was never really done by other RPG developers that I'm aware of.

If a game took Suikoden 3 as a basis and focused on adding heavier combat challenge, it would really be something. There are challenging fights in the game and you will die occasionally, but overall I think that is probably the weakest part of a very strong game overall. 108 recruitable characters, many of which who can fight in combat, have unique skills, personalities, etc. Lots of combo attacks to discover, loot to equip, magical runes to embed in your characters, etc. etc. Emulate the game with PCSX2 and play it in 4K. Worth a playthrough or 3, you'll love it.

Dang, didn't even mention the Dual system, which is a rock-paper-scissors type battle between 2 characters. Those can be challenging as well. Then there are the turn-based wargame strategy sections that are also cool. Expand those 2 things as well and wow, you'd have a crazy RPG right there.
 

Hyperion

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Can't believe I forgot this little underrated gem on the SNES (think it was on Genesis too?). It was based off the War of the Roses, quite unusual for Koei's usual focus on Romance of the Three Kingdoms, or Feudal Japan.



Gonna disagree with you on Suikoden III though, Fluent. I thought the main combat system was the best in the series. Pairing characters up made things a little more interesting, and tactical. You could only use 3 Runes per turn, instead of unleashing a fusillade of your best attacks to take things out immediately. Plus, depending on a character's title, they could swap spots with their partner who was about to be attacked and take a hit for them. Multiple swings and continual attack (and movement playing a role in terms of turn length) were great additions that for some reason didn't remain for future titles.

S3 also had the series' best rendition of Strategy battles. War in S1 and S2 felt like shallow copies of Gemfire. S3 made you level, and customize most of your characters, or you would get absolutely steamrolled in the late-game war battles. Finally, S3 had Geddoe. Not even Viktor could touch Geddoe's badassery.
 
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aweigh

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hyperion, i already recommended it!

...although I wrote its name wrong: I wrote "Firegem". :D

still, good job on providing the video evidence to this game's greatness.

Gemfire is to this day one of the best strategy rpg (NOT "srpg") i have ever played. It blew my tender mind when I played it as a child on my NES.

seriously, this game is... a real gem.
 

Deleted Member 16721

Guest
Can't believe I forgot this little underrated gem on the SNES (think it was on Genesis too?). It was based off the War of the Roses, quite unusual for Koei's usual focus on Romance of the Three Kingdoms, or Feudal Japan.



Gonna disagree with you on Suikoden III though, Fluent. I thought the main combat system was the best in the series. Pairing characters up made things a little more interesting, and tactical. You could only use 3 Runes per turn, instead of unleashing a fusillade of your best attacks to take things out immediately. Plus, depending on a character's title, they could swap spots with their partner who was about to be attacked and take a hit for them. Multiple swings and continual attack (and movement playing a role in terms of turn length) were great additions that for some reason didn't remain for future titles.

S3 also had the series' best rendition of Strategy battles. War in S1 and S2 felt like shallow copies of Gemfire. S3 made you level, and customize most of your characters, or you would get absolutely steamrolled in the late-game war battles. Finally, S3 had Geddoe. Not even Viktor could touch Geddoe's badassery.


Cool KOEI game. Didn't understand them at all as a kid but now they are very interesting to play for me.

I actually agree that Suikoden III's various combat systems are the best in the series, or at least, my favorite. But what I'm basically saying is that I wish there was a higher degree of challenge to the combat overall. Not that the other games in the series were particularly hard or anything, I just would have liked to have seen more challenge or a higher difficulty setting or something. But I do agree with everything you said. Although I did like the Duals and Wargame Strategy sections of the first Suikoden a lot as well, too. You could get steamrolled in those battles too, including the Duels if you hadn't leveled up the person who was going to be dueling. I thought it was so cool as a kid when I discovered that mechanic and saved the life of a character by leveling him up before the duel. Characters could permanently die in the first Suikoden game in various ways, which was also interesting. You could even kill off some characters for good, which I didn't really see the point of at the time since otherwise you can just add them to your group. The strategy wars in the first Suikoden also varied based on how leveled your characters were and how many you had recruited total. When you had all 108 characters + high levels for all (as I did, grinding away on my PS1 and loving every minute of it :P), your wars were won easily to say the least. :)

Loved the "gotta find 'em all!" element to recruiting characters in that entire series as well. Suikoden 1 & 2 did it in a slick way, since they were 2D/overhead perspectives, they would hide some characters in certain spots, such as a tricky place for you to get the camera to reach, or behind something in the background, etc. Very cool idea for the 2D engine they were using. Also loved in the first game and to an extent the 3rd of trying all sorts of different characters together to find the affinity/combo attacks. It would be so sick if the game offered some sort of mega-dungeons or something where you could grind tougher enemies and what not, while exploring a really cool dungeon. Suikoden 3 lacked a bit in dungeons overall, but it did add a neat feature in which you could visit the same dungeons in various chapters or whenever you had the opportunity to explore the entire map, and they would have different, tougher enemies in them, a new/tougher boss and possibly another chest with dope loot to plunder.

Really wish they made a new Suikoden game. Suikoden Tactics seems very interesting as well, but Suikoden was dope, man.

Edit - And again forgot to mention a crazy element of those games, the base building. Recruit NPCs, shopkeepers, fortune tellers, etc., and your home base would develop based on who you recruited. It would get larger, new areas would be added, new mini-games, shops, etc. etc. Whoever came up with the ideas behind that game is a genius. No other RPGs back then were really doing anything like that that I had played up to that point.
 
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Hyperion

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hyperion, i already recommended it!

...although I wrote its name wrong: I wrote "Firegem". :D

still, good job on providing the video evidence to this game's greatness.

Gemfire is to this day one of the best strategy rpg (NOT "srpg") i have ever played. It blew my tender mind when I played it as a child on my NES.

seriously, this game is... a real gem.
Gotta miss that early 90's boxart, too. Think it even came with a folded map of the world.
21519-gemfire-snes-front-cover.jpg


Really wish they made a new Suikoden game
Those Pachinko machines are a goldmine. Got a buddy that works in a casino, every so often Konami has a big convention about their slot machines and the future of gambling. They're pretty much done with serious game development barring a miracle.
 
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aweigh

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i prefer losing my money on blackjack meself.

fond memories of trying to impress a girl and ending up blowing 600 bucks while high on coke back in the day playing blackjack.

twas a common enough sight that the croupier knew that the sign for "hit me!" was me grinding my teeth :D
 

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