Finding good Strategy/RPG games

[GryffonDurime]

I'm home for the summer, I have no car due to reasons, and I'm bored beyond all reason. I've just finished playing Final Fantasy tactics for a second time 'round, and I'm jonesing terribly for suggestions.

Can anyone recommend any good, classic RPGs or strategy games in the same vein as FFT? I just don't even know any good titles to look for. Mainly, though, I have an intense dislike of games with a slow, slow beginning. With that in mind, does anyone have any favorites?

[Nerd-o-rama]

I enjoyed Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, and I hear the other ones (for gameboys, or imports for the SNES) are also good.

Front Missions 3 and 4 are also on my list of good ideas.

I give it 1-2 posts before someone says "Disgaea, dood!" I've only played one chapter of it, but it was fun.

The Super Robot Wars franchise is not the best strategy game ever made, but with the awesomeness of its concept, it doesn't have to play perfectly.

[Poison_Fish]

System System, what's your System?

That and nerd covered a few of the good ones that pop into my head. Tactics Ogre is pretty fun as well, but that's more GBA.

[GryffonDurime]

System System, what's your System?

That and nerd covered a few of the good ones that pop into my head. Tactics Ogre is pretty fun as well, but that's more GBA.

Systems I've got to work with:
SNES (We've actually got a respectable homegrown video game shop that has quite a collection)
GBA
DS
PS
PS2
Computer

[Cainen]

Jagged Alliance 2, X-COM: UFO Defense, UFO: Alien Invasion... all a different spin on SRPGs, though technically they're a totally different aspect of them.

Tactics Ogre is very similar to FFT, though.

[Blayze]

Jagged Alliance 2, definitely. Heroes of Might and Magic 2/3... And I don't care, I'm suggesting Planescape: Torment. Just because. :P

[Xefas]

I give it 1-2 posts before someone says "Disgaea, dood!"

I'm the 5th post after you, but yeah.

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness for PS2. It's similar to FFT. You've got humanoid characters who learn skills from weapons if they're non-casters and by leveling up if they're casters. Plus there's an apprenticeship system, wherein you can pair up two character and have one learn skills from the other. Also, there are monster characters who learn abilities by level.

You create new characters by using build points (I forget the actual name) that you gain after every battle. You can create any monster type that you've previously defeated and any humanoid class that you've met the prerequisites for (for instance, if you have a Level 5 Fighter and a Level 5 Warrior you can create Rogues). The more build points you invest in a new character, the stronger they'll become.

Also, you can reincarnate old characters into new bodies. This brings their level down to 1, but allows you to start them off with far greater stat growth and base stats. This isn't really necessary, but if you like tweaking things like this, it's available.

You may also make game-wide changes via a system called the Dark Assembly. Basically, you come before a big congress of demons, submit a proposal (such as "Make All the Enemies Weaker!"), and then bribe/muscle the politicians into passing the bill.

Oh, and if you want to, you can level up your items as well. Weapons, Armor, Accessories, even Expendables. You do this by going into the "Item World". You travel into the item, where it randomly generates a number of dungeons depending upon the strength of the item. By traveling through the item's essence, and subjugating the inhabitants within it, you gain increased mastery over it.

The game has a fun story, with the final boss being about level 90. You won't need to do any sort of level grinding throughout the entire game to be able to beat him by the time you get to him. However, if you want to, there is side content going all the way up to level 6,000. The level cap itself goes to 9,999.

There are also multiple endings.

The voice acting isn't too bad, either. But, I also like that it gives you the option to run it in Japanese with English subtitles.

[Kizara]

Heros 3 and 5 are the best, unquestionably. If you like the campaigns there's a decent RPG element to it, if you don't care for them (like me), its simply a great TBS game.

[Drascin]

Thanks for saving me the effort of writing all that, Xefas :smallbiggrin:.

Anyway, you explained the mechanics well, but there's something I should warn the OP about Disgaea - Disgaea is FUN. The main characters are childish, there's brutal amounts of parody, lampshade hangings outta the wazoo, no fourth wall ("How do you know he wasn't the true overlord?" "When you kill an Overlord, you become one, idiot! And I looked at my character sheet and my title hasn't changed to 'Overlord' yet!"), and general silliness all around (prinnies, dood!). So it's not only deep mechanically, but you'll be laughing your ass off while you advance through the story.

Great game, great game :smallbiggrin:

[Tengu]

The voice acting isn't too bad, either. But, I also like that it gives you the option to run it in Japanese with English subtitles.

You can do that? How?

And I must say, so far all the titles named in this thread are great games I'd recommend myself.

[Xefas]

You can do that? How?

And I must say, so far all the titles named in this thread are great games I'd recommend myself.

I don't have the game on me at the moment, but I believe there's something in the options/setting/system/whatever menu about it.

[black dragoon]

Darn, I'm into RTs's(?) myself so there s little I can personally offer in that grouping. Mabye the re-vamp of FFT but, I don't know what it's for or where you could find it. Beyond that Breath of Fire mabye for the PS1, mabye.

[Tengu]

Let's try this, then.

Ah, and I haven't played any incarnation of Front Mission, Fire Emblem or Tactics Ogre (unless you count Ogre Battle for SNES). Though heard they're fun.

Which reminds me! You should also play Disciples 2. It's like a more RPG version of Heroes of Might and Magic (you have 3-6 characters per group, all of whom gain levels and can get better classes) with great graphics and atmosphere. Slightly manga-ish and taking place in a rather grimdark world.

[Blayze]

Heros 3 and 5 are the best, unquestionably. If you like the campaigns there's a decent RPG element to it, if you don't care for them (like me), its simply a great TBS game.

I prefer Heroes 3 over Heroes 5 myself, partially because I prefer the old skill system. It was a lot simpler. Took me a while to find a chart for 5 before I could understand it and find what I wanted.

[Winterwind]

X-Com: Ufo Defense (in most of the world known as Ufo: Enemy Unknown) is a truly great game indeed, and available for free at Abandonia (http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/38/UFO+-+Enemy+Unknown.html).

Another great turn-based strategy game in a fantasy setting with RPG elements is The Battle For Wesnoth, likewise available for free here (http://www.wesnoth.org/).

[mentatzarkon]

Don't forget about the old school Master of Magic. That game is still a fantastically good time to play...and after that you can bust on Age of Wonders, probably Shadow Magic is the easiest one to find nowadays. Otherwise, you might check out the civilization games for a time suck of epic proportions.

[Tengu]

Thanks for reminding me about Age of Wonders 2! This game is, just as the name suggests, wonderful.

[Rogue 7]

For the DS, I'll recommed Advance Wars. I'm currently playing through Days of Ruin (Dark Conflict in Europe, I think), and it's quite good, fun, and tactically complex. Fr'instance, in a recent mission I had to destroy this massive laser-thing that would hit all of my units in range for half damage. Its only weak point was defended pretty strongly, with me having only one approach from the South. An air attack would be suicidal due to the missiles, laser-thingy, fighters, and expense of bombers. So I had to position my front in a way that I could bait his units into attacking me and have a chance to send out suicide units to kill his and open a position from which my missiles could strike the laser's weak point without opposition. Unfortunately, his rockets interfered with this plan and I was forced to make runs on the structure with tanks until a bomber had a clear shot and took off something like 3/4 of its health in one blow.

[black dragoon]

I also suggest Civ. Also let's see I had another one. crap I lost it...:smallannoyed:
Catan? no...
uh...let's see...
I give up that's gonna bug me now.:smallannoyed:

[Oregano]

I suggest Makai Kingdom, another Nippon Ichi game, great fun. I'd also suggest Hoshigami, really good, was for PS1 and I believe it'sbeen remade for the DS and it's got a great recruitment system.

I used to have a Heroes of Might and Magic game called the Search for the Dragonbone staff, great game, I'd recommend it anytime, was for the PS2.

[Om]

Crusader Kings

[mentatzarkon]

Criminy, how could I even forget the Suikoden series! I haven't played any of the ones for PS2, but Suikoden I and II are both total champions.

[Tengu]

I don't have the game on me at the moment, but I believe there's something in the options/setting/system/whatever menu about it.

Okay, either you're thinking about Disgaea 2, this option is not implemented in the European editions, or I fail at searching.

[black dragoon]

Would Fallout Fall in this category That's what I was trying to remember. the First was excellent, the second not so much and now I've gotta wait till the fall for number three:smallmad:

[mentatzarkon]

O heck yes, I loved all of those games, with the possible exception of Fallout Tactics. It was fun, but lacked all but the rudiments of a story.

[Prophaniti]

Definitely recommend Heroes of Might and Magic 3 and 5, Battle for Wesnoth, and X-Com: UFO Defense. All solid strategy games that are a lot of fun to play and very addicting. Same goes for Masters of Magic and the entire Civilisation series (with special emphasis on 2 and 4). Just reading this thread is making me miss some of these games badly... I'll have to see if I can dig them up again.

[Triaxx]

Fallout Tactics is supposed to be good. Really, I don't need a story to kill things.

As an RPG, the Icewind Dale series isn't good. As SRPG's, the games are fantastic.

[Cristo Meyers]

PC: Sins of a Solar Empire: Real Time space strategy, but slow enough pacing that it may as well be Turn Based. I haven't checked in on it in a while, though, but I remember losing entire afternoons to it without even realizing it and the last game to do that to me was X-Com: UFO Defense (yeah, I'm USian, wanna make something of it? :smalltongue:)

DS: Luminous Arc: Seems to be a bit of an acquired taste, but a decent Final Fantasy Tactics clone. Very anime, my avatar is one of the characters, for example. I found it to be pretty easy, but it's a good way to kill some time.

[Neftren]

Heroes of Might and Magic (III and V)
Battle for Wesnoth
Civilization (III is Realistic, IV is a bit Cartoony)

Baldur's Gate is good if you like to have small party RPG/Strategy

[DrizztFan24]

Starcraft: Brood Wars is a good strategy game. You can even still find plenty of people playing online after all of these years.

[Cristo Meyers]

Starcraft: Brood Wars is a good strategy game. You can even still find plenty of people playing online after all of these years.

Not sure how much luck you'll have finding the game itself though. I haven't been seeing it much anymore.

[Tengu]

While most of the games people are suggesting are good...



Can anyone recommend any good, classic RPGs or strategy games in the same vein as FFT?

Read the OP.

[Winterwind]

Starcraft: Brood Wars is a good strategy game. You can even still find plenty of people playing online after all of these years.Understatement of the year. :smallbiggrin:
However, it doesn't really have many RPG elements, as opposed to the OP's request. WarCraft 3 would fulfill this parameter better, but still isn't in the vein of FFT at all.
(Which is not to say that I wouldn't recommend it nevertheless, no matter the conditions :smallwink:)


Not sure how much luck you'll have finding the game itself though. I haven't been seeing it much anymore.It's not that difficult. Amazon.com, for instance, still has it.

[Kd7sov]

Two words: Golden Sun.

And its sequel, of course.

I don't know if you're familiar with the livejournalist Limyaael (http://limyaael.livejournal.com/), but she's written a large number of "rants" criticizing the problems she sees in fantasy books and fanfiction. One of them, on Quests and Their Conventions (http://limyaael.livejournal.com/144001.html), had such suggestions as "good reasons not to tell your heroes the whole truth about their quests" (in this case, the only being who knows the whole truth has a vested interest in the status quo) and "if evil attacks along the way, have them fail for some reason other than evil's sheer incompetence" (they underestimate the power of the good guys and their own limitations). In fact, although half of the suggestions deal with the objects of quests, and are thus not applicable to Golden Sun, the other half are quite nicely avoided.

Aside from that, the games have nice graphics, including battle scenes in which the camera pans around; "magic" that's rather more versatile than in, for instance, Final Fantasy; and utterly gripping villains.

Sure, it falls to about half of the Grand List of Console Role-Playing Game Clichés (http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html), but nobody's perfect.

[Burley]

FFTAdvance? It's not as good as FFT, but it's still fun, in my opinion.

Please, don't hit me.:eek:

[Triaxx]

FFTA? If I have to manipulate a randomly generated ruleset, it's not strategy. It's poker.

[mentatzarkon]

Another series that I'd highly recommend in this vein is Warlords. I've played most of them (1-4) and Warlords Battlecry 1 and 2. They use a fantasy world more or less the same as Might & Magic (read LOTR). Units gain levels and can be taken with you from map to map. Warlords 1-4 are turn based strategy games while the battlecry games are RTS.

Battlecry has heroes and city development ala Warcraft III. However, if you can't get in to RTS games, these are not for you. But if you can, then I'd also check out the Kohan games.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Wesnoth has been mentioned before, and it's somewhat similar to FFT. In a few ways. It's a lot more wargame-ish, but the combat is nice, fluid, and there's the element of leveling up your units. Plus the game is open-source.

[Xefas]

FFTA? If I have to manipulate a randomly generated ruleset, it's not strategy. It's poker.

You mean the law cards? Yeah. It's much better with a cheating device so you can remove those damn things.

The game is freakishly easy (with or without the laws; the laws just get in the way mostly, not really add to the challenge), and you're essentially playing the least suave, least magnificent, least intelligent villain ever. "Everyone's finally happy! There's a perfect world where everyone has fun all day and no one dies for real! But...I'd rather just have my brother be an antisocial cripple for the rest of his life, so lets go on an incredibly long and convoluted journey to ruin everything for everyone for no other reason than because I'm a little &^%$."

That's Marche. I hate Marche. I hate Marche so much. I wish he were real so I could hate him to death.

[Tengu]

Is he more hateful than Kefka? That'd be quite an accomplishment.

[Fri]

I made a similar thread a couple of month (or is it years?) ago.

Try Silent storm if by "in the vein of FFT" you mean a turn based strategy game with element of rpg (skills and level ups and equipment and such). It's good, eventhough the Panzerklein really messed up the balance. The expansion pack sequel is even better. In PC.

For more fantasy RPG strategy thingie, try Shining Force Series. It's the original jrpg strategy game. One of my most favourite game. The story isn't that good, basically there's an ancient evil rising and you must fight it, but hey, it was Sega Genesis. The Second Game is better, but nostalgia made me love the first game more.

It's in the Genesis, so kinda hard to find/play now, but you could always find it at the 'net, and there's a remake of the first game.

Front Mission 3 is amazing. JUST PLAY THE THIRD ONE. It's in PSX. Front Mission 2 was decent, but it's in the snes.

Hmm... There was Hoshigami: Running Blue Earth that's basically almost a rip off of FFT. A PSX game.

There's that Saiyuki game about the journey to the west in PSX, quite decent (no, it's not based on anime or anything, it's based directly on the original legend).

[Xefas]

Is he more hateful than Kefka? That'd be quite an accomplishment.

Well, if I understand Kefka correctly, he was a nihilist, and wanted to destroy everything until there was nothing.

Marche wants to destroy a perfect version of everything and fill it with crap. That crap is the Real World.

Take that as you will.

If you haven't played FFTA and are okay with spoilers, here's a brief summary.

Marche, Doned, Ritz, and Mewt are all friends. Doned is Marche's brother; he's crippled from the waist down, constantly sick, and a complete shut-in. Mewt's mother has died, and his father is a jobless loser with no friends. Mewt is also a loser who gets the crap beaten out of him every day at school. Ritz has a weird birth defect that makes her hair look old and gray, so she gets constantly made fun of. Marche is totally normal with nothing wrong with him at all, and is reasonably well liked.

One day, Mewt finds a magic book. Using it, he creates a world in which his mother is alive, his father is an important judicial leader, Doned is healed, Ritz no longer has the defect, no one can die for real anymore, and everyone spends all day every day adventuring and having fun.

Marche, himself, becomes the leader of a guild of adventurers (arguably the most powerful).

So, what does he do? He combs the entire world looking for these mythical tears in the fabric of reality so he can use them to turn the world back to normal.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this new world. There is no catch. No twist. No price. Nothing. It's just that good.

And yet...

[Kd7sov]

If you haven't played FFTA and are okay with spoilers, here's a brief summary.

Marche, Doned, Ritz, and Mewt are all friends. Doned is Marche's brother; he's crippled from the waist down, constantly sick, and a complete shut-in. Mewt's mother has died, and his father is a jobless loser with no friends. Mewt is also a loser who gets the crap beaten out of him every day at school. Ritz has a weird birth defect that makes her hair look old and gray, so she gets constantly made fun of. Marche is totally normal with nothing wrong with him at all, and is reasonably well liked.

One day, Mewt finds a magic book. Using it, he creates a world in which his mother is alive, his father is an important judicial leader, Doned is healed, Ritz no longer has the defect, no one can die for real anymore, and everyone spends all day every day adventuring and having fun.

Marche, himself, becomes the leader of a guild of adventurers (arguably the most powerful).

So, what does he do? He combs the entire world looking for these mythical tears in the fabric of reality so he can use them to turn the world back to normal.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this new world. There is no catch. No twist. No price. Nothing. It's just that good.

And yet...

Point of order:You say that "no one can die for real". There are, however, two or three spots where they can.