Best RPG Battle Systems

[Laddy]

Wizardry, Grandia, FFX, FFXII, and Persona 3/4 all have sexy battle systems.

What are your choices?

[Hollycat]

Persona 3 and 4 are the best basic turn based, beating out pokemon and the first 3 ff games. FFX was pretty good. X2 had the best ATB easily. Crisis core and every kh from bbs on had awesome battle systems as well.

[Shauna]

Grandia and that style of battles are awesome. Another one I enjoyed was the system in Eternal Sonata, it is just sort of Star Ocean-y but I found the light/shadow thing a pretty cool addition which added another layer of button mashing.

[Bolivar]

VII was my favorite implementation of ATB in the series. Never played ten two.

Valkyria Chronicles was a breakthrough.

I really admire the simplicity and balance of the Dragon Quest games.

[Spuuky]

Are you counting SRPGs/TRPGs?

I always prefer turn-based systems. If I want my twitch skills or action skills to be tested, I'll play a shooter or platformer or whatever. Turn-based battle systems are just more fun for me in RPGs, with the exception of games that are single-character games basically designed around interacting with the world, like Gothic or Skyrim or whatever.

I certainly appreciate the clean austerity of Dragon Quest.

[Bolivar]

I feel the exact same way. I'm willing to overlook this for Oblivion and Skyrim because I had so much fun playing them but when i play an RPG I'm looking for some RPG game play. Control over my party, turns, all that.

[Pete for President]

Dark Souls. So much depth, so many thrills.

[Karifean]

Out of the few I've played, Final Fantasy X-2 wins hands down.

[Del Murder]

Best active turn-based: Final Fantasy X-2 or Chrono Trigger
Best passive turn-based: Final Fantasy X
Best action: Vagrant Story or Secret of Mana
Best tactical: Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre

[Vyk]

Legaia

[NeoCracker]

Persona 4 wins out on turn based for me, though 3 is pretty damn close at second.

As far as SRPG's go you don't really get better then Devil Survivor.

[Mirage]

Star Ocean 3. Tales of Something. FF13-2.

[Flaming Ice]

Maybe not the best but I liked Arc Rise Fantasia's battle system...you get a certain amount of points to spend and you can attack however many times you want with the same character (so you can take full advantage of healing and weaknesses)

Actually last remnant wasn't too bad either, you got to create teams of combatants (the only problem is that it slowed the game down considerably).

[Skyblade]

Persona 4 wins out on turn based for me, though 3 is pretty damn close at second.

As far as SRPG's go you don't really get better then Devil Survivor.

Eh, it's a bit of a toss up between 3 and 4 to me. 3 does have a few advantages. First, you had a reason to not perform an All-Out-Attack (since doing so would un-stun the enemies, while in 4, you had to hit them all with weaknesses twice, which was way more difficult), which added some tactical choice. Second, it had three types of physical attacks, which really helped the physical game (and made Margaret a lot harder than she was in P4).

I think each has aspects of the best system, but that combining them could make one better than either.



Chrono Trigger has the best ATB system. Better than VII, better than X-2. If nothing else than for combo attacks, and the importance it gave to timing.

[Madame Adequate]

Star Ocean 2, Legaia, FFVII, FFX, Vandal Hearts, Suikoden, Morrowind, Chrono Cross, Wild Arms, Grandia, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain.