Best Combat System in an RPG

[Pete for President]

I think Valkyria Chronicles and Vagrant Story deserve a mention.

[Slothy]

You're right. They do deserve mentions.

[Vyk]

I do love the gameplay in Valkyria Chronicles. But that difficulty spike with the giant tank... Totally killed my momentum with the game. I need to go back through it. Not too many games like it out there

[Slothy]

Which giant tank? There are a few.

[Del Murder]

Final Fantasy Tactics is my favorite overall. I'd play 100 games with that tactical grid system, and the jobs and had much more variety than other similar series like Fire Emblem.

X-2 was the best ATB. Chrono Trigger almost beats it.

Xenoblade Chronicles is the best of the modern action-turn-based hybrids where you control one character with the others in AI.

[Fynn]

Hard to pick one favorite, but Grandia II had a pretty unique one that was later copied in Child of Light (which was lauded for it). It was pretty great, what with managing a turn order in real time.

[Wolf Kanno]

Nocturne definitely has one of my favourite battle-systems and I do appreciate the defensive aspect of it ,- but I feel that the execution in practice could have been a lot better. Enemies getting extra turns just to cast instant death spells is a total pisstake IMO.

Yeah, but by the time those types become more consistent, you should have protection from instant death magic. Let's face it, SMT is the Turn-Based RPG version of Dark Souls where you're constantly evolving your party to deal with each new creative way the game tries to kill you with.

[Yellow_Magic]

Yeah, but by the time those types become more consistent, you should have protection from instant death magic. Let's face it, SMT is the Turn-Based RPG version of Dark Souls where you're constantly evolving your party to deal with each new creative way the game tries to kill you with.

Ahahaha, okay, agreed...

[Pete for President]

Hard to pick one favorite, but Grandia II had a pretty unique one that was later copied in Child of Light (which was lauded for it). It was pretty great, what with managing a turn order in real time.

I really liked Child of Light's battle system. I could easily nominate that one in this thread. Never played Grandia II though

[Fynn]

Hard to pick one favorite, but Grandia II had a pretty unique one that was later copied in Child of Light (which was lauded for it). It was pretty great, what with managing a turn order in real time.

I really liked Child of Light's battle system. I could easily nominate that one in this thread. Never played Grandia II though

It's actually more robust. Not only do you get four party members per battle, but you also get two basic types of attacks - one that just hits hard, while the other is weaker but sets back the enemy on the action bar. You should check it out! I think it was actually rereleased on Steam recently.

[Shauna]

All the Grandia games have some iteration of that battle system. Both Grandia and Grandia II are worth your time.

[Pete for President]

Hard to pick one favorite, but Grandia II had a pretty unique one that was later copied in Child of Light (which was lauded for it). It was pretty great, what with managing a turn order in real time.

I really liked Child of Light's battle system. I could easily nominate that one in this thread. Never played Grandia II though

I gave this a little more thought and I think what I liked most about Child of Light's battle system was that all characters, enemies and bosses are susceptible to all status effects. I don't think I've seen a more honest battle system anywhere.

Hard to pick one favorite, but Grandia II had a pretty unique one that was later copied in Child of Light (which was lauded for it). It was pretty great, what with managing a turn order in real time.

I really liked Child of Light's battle system. I could easily nominate that one in this thread. Never played Grandia II though

It's actually more robust. Not only do you get four party members per battle, but you also get two basic types of attacks - one that just hits hard, while the other is weaker but sets back the enemy on the action bar. You should check it out! I think it was actually rereleased on Steam recently.

All the Grandia games have some iteration of that battle system. Both Grandia and Grandia II are worth your time.

Thanks, I'll check out Grandia! I do need more single player experiences to draw me away from the time-sink that is Dota 2

[Zanmato]

I love CTB in FFX and this is my most favourite system.
This is the best variant of turn-based combat system so far.

[Depression Moon]

I might have to go with Final Fantasy XII or X-2, but Valkyrie Profile is up there too and now Indivisible is taking that Valkyrie battle system. I'm very interested to see what the end result will end up being.

[Forsaken Lover]

Why people be sayin' Trigger but not Cross? I really liked Cross' system. It's a lot more unique than CT.

Speaking of which, I think I'm gonna be a special snowflake and say Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean. I hear the sequel is even better but I didn't like the changes it made to the battle system.

But yeah, there's a lot of really cool elements to Bk's combat. I wasn't even good at some of it but it's still really addictive.