Your Best Tactical RPG (for real, the best ones )

[Darth Canoli]

So, i think i played the best ones and there is a huge lack of Tactical RPG, specially on the PC platform.

To give you some hints, here's the list of those i played and enjoyed the most :

UFO (anything as good and up to date would be amazing )
Shining Force 1 & 2 (i know it was on megadrive and the story was childish and then, the console UI and shit, still, that was something )
Incubation (very light on the character development for my taste and no exploration, still, the battle part was great )
King's Bounty series (only downside is battles tend to be longer and longer until they take 1h +, it really sucks )
HoMM 2/3 (even if the tactical part was a bit light, i played most of the late ones, was just getting worse and worse )
Warbanners, recently, very good but no exploration and light on characters development
Fantasy general, awesome but light on character development, althought, the research part, a bit like x-com and the magic part made if amazing

Those i played and were good but lacked some mojo :
- Silent storm
- JA 2 (i hated this one for some reason )
- Fallout tactics (i played when it was just realeased or maybe waw still a demo and buggy, hated it )
- Fire emblem series (good overall but lacks the originality of the shining force series, units are generic )

I'm not going to put them all and my memory is lacking so here's what i'm searching for if it even exists, either some amazing tactical battle with RPG elements or the real deal with in-depth character development and good tactical battle with a story and if there is some exploration, that would be amazing.
And also as less 3D as possible, am i asking for something that doesn't even exist ?

 

[Strange Fellow]

Temple of Elemental Evil.

 

[LordofSyn]

I would recommend Templar Battleforce and Heroes of Steel by the Trese Brothers. If you have not played them before, you will find some great challenge and engrossing story.

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[Mustawd]

I would recommend Templar Battleforce and Heroes of Steel by the Trese Brothers. If you have not played them before, you will find some great challenge and engrossing story.

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If you’re gonna play HoS, play it on a tablet. The PC version wasnt the best port because the UI needs some tweaks tocmake it more KB friendly. But the devs are great all around. I had fun with the demo on my ipad.

 

[PorkBarrellGuy]

I would give FO:T another try, OP. It's really pretty good all things considered - inherits a lot of nice stuff from JA2. To me FO:T's only massive failing is on the lore front and even being the massive Fallout lorefaggot that I am I still enjoy FO:T

 

[LordofSyn]

If you’re gonna play HoS, play it on a tablet. The PC version wasnt the best port because the UI needs some tweaks tocmake it more KB friendly. But the devs are great all around. I had fun with the demo on my ipad.

While I might agree...the hovers more than make up for the minor KB issues. Regardless, it is a superb game and a steal with how much content you get for what you pay for. My favourite Indie dev team of all time.

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[Lonely Vazdru]

I wonder how this will inevitably turn out. "What is a RPG ?" or "What does tactical mean ?" ? Or both ?

 

[Kem0sabe]

Final fantasy tactics, perfect blend of story, characters, combat and class development.

Tactics ogre, as good if not better than Final Fantasy tactics.

 

[Zanzoken]

Battle Brothers

 

[Citizen]

King's Bounty series (only downside is battles tend to be longer and longer until they take 1h +, it really sucks )
HoMM 2/3 (even if the tactical part was a bit light, i played most of the late ones, was just getting worse and worse )

Nu Kings Bounty combat is the same as heroes 1-3, a straight copy. How did you find one lighter that the other? Also 1 hour battles in KB?

If you enjoyed these games you would probably like other 'turn-based strategies with rpg elements': Master of Magic, Age of Wonders and AoW: Shadow Magic.

 

[luj1]

ToEE, FOT, JA2...

 

[Deuce Traveler]

SSI's Gold Box games based on D&D and Buck Rogers tabletop systems.

 

[Gregz]

JA2

 

[Ventidius]

Of the more recent ones, Mordheim is among the best of the bunch.

 

[Ninjerk]

If you hated JA2, then you don't like tactical games.

 

[aweigh]

i mean... ToEE i guess?

wait, does knights of the chalice count? if toee counts then so does KotC, and if both count then the best ever is Knights of the chalice.

oh and FFT, vandal hearts 2, shining force 2 and front mission 4 and ogre battle and tactics ogre.

 

[laclongquan]

Fallout Tactics Brotherhood of Steel with either of the newest mods. They change the gameplay pacing quite a bit though not at the level of 1.13 done to JA2. At least try the Equilibrium~ The original bugs are almost gone, even burst bug.

As for UFO series, have you tried UFO UFO:Extraterrestrials yet? Pretty good~

UFO Afterlight and UFO Aftershock is the apex of that series, in my book.

 

[PorkBarrellGuy]

I love the death anims in FO:T, they're immensely satisfying. I mean, that's a pretty minor reason to play it, but still.

 

[octavius]

Disciples of Steel (better combat than the Gold Box games IMO)
Nahlakh and Natuk (ditto)
OpenXcom (slightly better combat than JA2 IMO)
Age of Wonders (certainly superior to the HoMM games (and most CRPGS) in the tactical combat department)

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

RPGs belonging to the tactical subgenre: Pool of Radiance, Champions of Krynn (the Gold Box system worked best for low-level play)
Squad-based tactics games with heavy RPG elements: Jagged Alliance 2
Squad-based tactics games with light RPG elements: X-Com
Strategy games with tactical battles and RPG elements: Heroes of Might & Magic II

 

[Overboard]

7,62 high calibre.

 

[D_F_N]

^^^^

Brigade E5
7.62 High Calibre
Men Of Prey

Hands down the best tactical games with rpg elements made till this day. And it is all because of the magnificent SPM mechanincs stuffed with ridiculous details.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Thanks for your suggestions, please don't stop

Also, i can't make spoilers tags to work (for the huge pic, sorry for that, any hint ? )

Strange Fellow luj1 aweigh :ToEE, i played it long ago, in my memory, is a BG 2 clone, probably good, to me, it's a RPG, not really a T-RPG where you have dozens of units, is there some good mods for this one ?

Templar Battleforce : tried it, until the 3rd battle or so, good but i don't know, first, i don't like the character development, then, something in the battle seems wrong like ennemies popping out of nowere and inflicting no damage to your units

mustawd. LordofSyn Heroes of Steel : tried it too, interesting but eventually, i think i remember it as extremely repetitive with not interesting loot, i didn't go very far, only had one tabletop, it's gone and i think it's my last one as i don't use wifi and there's none you can plug to internet as far as i know

That Damn Dog laclongquan Fallout Tactics : i'll keep this one in mind, didn't try the mods, maybe it's worth giving it another shot.

Circuit octavius AoW checked on gog, looks like Lords of Magic but turn based, i kind of liked lords of magic even with its odd battle system, i will keep that one in mind.

Kem0sabe FFT and Tactics Ogre tried both, i had an emulation phase when 3D started to invade our screens, probably a reaction ;-)

Zanzoken Battle Brothers [spoilers]

[/spoilers] well, as the spoilers might clue you in, hated this one, generic units, generic missions, not interesting story, what's there to like, oh, you don't like your units, fine because they all die anyway ;-)

Gregz Zed Duke of Banville Ninjerk (your nickname fits your perfectly ninj ) Jagged Alliance 2 : tried this one with all my heart thinking it could fill the gap left by Ennemy unknown (way later though), is there some mods drastically enhancing this thing ? Bacause in my memory, i could get past the terrible graphics (UFO wasn't particularly beautiful either) but the UI was terrible

Disciples of Steel : ouch, looks like the first king's bounty, not sure i have the strength to try this one.

laclongquan UFO Extraterritorial ? not a single hit on my search engine, tried afterlight and aftershock, don't remember which one does what, though, tried them when they were released.

Ventidius Mordheim : almost tried it, was discouraged by all the steam haters, well, i think this one would be tough for my old computer, couldn't run Hardwest properly and Original Sin 2 is barely playable anyway.

octavius Nahlakh and Natuk ouch ! My hatred for too much 3D matches my hatred for over-pixalated oldies (or new ones, as it is a trend for hipsters to release such games ), i don't think i can stomach this one ;-)

Open X-COM i think i tried both x-com fanmade games on early stages, is this one released ? Good enough ? Is there some mods ?

 

[Swampy_Merkin]

I honestly don't know how you can hate JA2 and be a tactics fan. It's literally the best.

Nonetheless:

FFT-advance I think is better than the original (perfectly good gba emus out there).
Fire Emblems are fun and get more involved as you progress.
Advance Wars is great so long as you go for the optimal S rank win rather than just winning.
Tactics Ogre lets you grind with your own team until infinity, so it's fucking garbage. Seriously...why do people like this game?
Disgaea is also utter shit for the same reason.


Battle Academy 1 & 2 if you want some lite WWII tactics action.

Warhammer 40k: Sanctus Reach if you like that flavor and want a modern game that is still supported/gets new factions occasionally.

Blood Bowl (either 1 or 2) is nice if you want a kind of sports-themed fantasy tactics rugby-ish thingy.

And yeah...ToEE is some damned fine D&D slopfest.

 

[wyes gull]

I'm assuming you played Silent Storm: Sentinels and you should if you haven't, as it's far more polished than the original. There's also Hammer & Sickle on the same engine if you liked those, although it's a bit of a mess. There's also Night Watch but it's pretty terrible.

Also, get your Saturn emulation going. You have all 3 episodes of Shining Force 3 in english as well as Dragon Force and fan-translated Dragon Force 2.