Strat RPGs

[Liquid Blue]

Tactics Ogre
Shining Force 2
FFT


Top 3 off the top of my head.

EDIT: Bilbo is right, Fire Emblem kicks ass. Haven't tried the sequel yet though.

[Bilbo]

I liked fire emblem for GBA.

[SpiderMage]

I liked fire emblem for GBA.

Fire Emblem was pretty good, never finished it though. And by Lord did the suped up Knight with that huge axe on your side kick serious ass, he couldn't move worth a damn but he hit HARD!

[Zloy]

Shining Force 1/2 is the best TRPG, it's battle system is fun and challenging, and it also has overhead walk/talk part which lets you rest from fighting all the time and interact with the world more. Genesis version though for Shining 1, GBA remake is way too easy (that card character&his area attacks + hero's bolt magic make last battles ridiculous).

[Stabwound]

Has anyone played the Arc the Lad series for PSX? There are 3 games in the series for PSX, and they were all released in English in one package called the Arc the Lad Collection in 2001.

The games are "strategy" type games like FFT etc. The series is most comparable to Shining Force, as all of the games besides Arc 1 let you wander around the towns, buy from shops, sleep at inns, etc. The new game in the series for PS2, Arc the Lad: End of Darkness isn't an SRPG at all, though, and most people think it sucks.

The great thing about the games is the battle system. It's set out on a flat grid (up until Arc 3 that is) that's again a lot like Shining Force. The great thing is that it's a lot faster and more fun. Instead of picking a square, clicking on it, and your character moving there, the game just shows where a character can move on his turn, and you can move your character anywhere it allows you, using the d-pad. To attack an enemy you just press X to attack, or Circle to use a skill. It's really slick.

Arc 1 is a pretty short game, and doesn't feature much of an overworld map at all. The map system is a bit like FF Tactics in that you just pick a place to on a map. The game will only take you about 9 hours at the most on your first play through. There is an optional bonus dungeon that is 50 floors that takes a long time to finish. You have to fight your way down 50 floors/battles, kill a very hard boss, and then go back UP the 50 floors again. Anyway, this game really should have just been the beginning of Arc 2. Which brings me to:

Arc 2. The best game in the series, and definately one of the best S-RPGs ever. It takes all of the parts of Arc 1 and improves them. This time you have the Shining Force-esque town system, where you can walk around the towns etc. It also has a world map that is a lot like Chrono Trigger's if you've ever played that. In the game, you can take tons of missions to get money and fame. You can capture almost any monster in the game and make it a permanent member of your party. The awesome thing is that it comes with a disc called the Arc the Lad Monster Arena that lets you use your captured monsters in a bunch of arena battles to win prizes and items you can't get anywhere else. It really adds a lot to the game.

You also get experience for using different kinds of weapons. For example, you can equip Arc with a spear and you will only get spear experience, or a sword and get sword experience. Different weapons have different ranges and damages. There level limit is also something crazy like 200 if I remember right.

Oh yeah, you can also use your saved game from Arc 1 and transfer it over to Arc 2 and keep all of your items, experience levels, etc. There are some items in that you can ONLY get from Arc 1, so it really pays to play through the first game before the second.

Anyway, yeah, I think I've rambled on enough about Arc the Lad. Check it yout if you can find it, but good luck because it's out of print. Your best bet would probably be to download it, if you can.

[Liquid Blue]

I've been playing Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits off and on for awhile now, and I'm at the last boss. Battle system is ok, not really strategic, and the story had potential but fell on it's face. I'd give it a general " meh" , but I do hear good things about the PSX games. Twilight of the Spirits sort of turned out to be mediocre, and I don't know if I want to beat it now- the last boss is one of those " it takes 3 hours to beat me because your attacks do very little damage" type RPG bosses.

[Jason]

i own and have played entirely through the box set of the arc the lad series

fucking amazing

[Broly]

Twilight Spirits was actually a great game, your way to harsh on games liquid.

Jason, Arc the lad series was great from working designs, now go buy the Lunar series, imo thats the best RPG series from Working Designs. :P

Stab, the arc 4 game series isn't out of print. You just need to contact Working Designs to buy it from them by shipment or off their site.

[Liquid Blue]

I'm way to harsh on games because I don't like how one game that had potential ended up story-wise? The battle system was pretty generic to begin with, but the story actually interested me for most of the game. Near the end it just seemed to fall on it's face, the plot (or shall I say certain ideas, things they could have done or elaborated on) never went anywhere. I know I haven't beaten the game, but there are still a few things that happened that turned me off from the story.

[Buja X]

Anyone else played the Dynasty Tactics series?

I've played it. It would always take me so long for a battle cuz I would always try to combo stuff to death. Get like 9 hits on one guy. Would always piss me off if one guy moved out of place. Always fun to keep doing the moves even though there are no more troops left :P

[Nickname]

Tactics Ogre
Shining Force 2
FFT


Top 3 off the top of my head.

EDIT: Bilbo is right, Fire Emblem kicks ass. Haven't tried the sequel yet though.

played SF2 to death, i own FFT but not tactics ogre...but it's not free now is it?

[Stabwound]

You can download Tactics Ogre and play it on an emulator... the entire CD is like 30mb.

You can probably find a torrent or even find it on Kazaa or something.

[Bilbo]

Out of the Fire Emblems my favourite was Rekka no Ken.

The Arc the Lad games would have been better if I wasn't pained from watching the anime. Oh how horrible.

Ps. Never play FFTA if you liked FFT.