This is less of a question regarding Game Design than it is a question regarding good games. What are some _good_ turn based RPG''s? I never really got into this genre that much, but I remember about 5 years ago playing Shining Force (I think) on Game Gear pretty much nonstop ''till I beat it. I also vaguely remember a badass game for the original NES, but I was too young to really remember it now.

Ohh, and Super Mario RPG. A fantastic game for SNES.

I remember Shining Force being more of a strategy game than an actual RPG. But if you like that kind of games, here are some that I liked:

Shining Force I & II (Genesis)
Warsong (Genesis)
Vandal Hearts (PlayStation)
Fire Emblem -excellent!- (GBA)
Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis (GBA)
Final Fantasy Tactics (GBA)

I know I forgot some good ones, but it''s not a bad beginning


"Senri no michi mo ippo kara (A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step...)"

Talking about RPG''s you have to mostly think about computers, not consoles.
A great one is Might & Magic 3 (outdated now, but was great at its time).



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Breath of fire series is good

I love Chrono Trigger from Squaresoft, a nice SNES Game

Listing out favorite games is nice and all, but how about we also point out the things that made them great.

For instance, MarioRPG''s Turns were in a predictable order that wasn''t immediately revealed to you, so after a few rounds on a hard boss, you figured out the pattern and could make the best usage of your FP (which was a shared resource interestingly enough). Plus the active trigger on all of the attacks gave it some good reflex skills to the player.

Ok, so how about a different question (that inmate already started answering ) ...

What makes a good turn-based battle system?

For me at least, an important thing is to have multiple avatars that all contribute to the fight. This requires much more strategy then just having one character that uses his/her best skill all the time.

It is also important for the enemy AI to support this theme. If the enemy uses good teamwork or locates weaknesses in your own party, then it is necessary to devise new strategies mid-fight.

Of course, the main reason I made this thread was that I cannot remember how the good games implemented their battle system, and I need inspiration for my own project.

The Fallout series had a very good turn based system. How it worked was each character had a number of action points each turn. With to use to perform diffrent combinations of actions and each action had a action point cost. So for instance it cost 4 AP to fire your pistol and a fast character might have 8 AP, So they could Fire twice, take 4 steps and fire, take two steps fire and retreat two steps, whatever they wanted. Remaining action points where added to the characters armor class making them harder to hit next round.



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Writer, Programer, Cook, I''m a Jack of all Trades
Current Design project
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Ok, this is taking it back a bit but I don''t play many console games...

The Bard''s Tale series (for the Amiga) is, and probably always will be, my favorite turn-based RPG. There was just something about these games. The player chose what each player in the party wanted to do (attack, defend, cast a spell, etc) and the results of the round scrolled as text across a scroll. It read almost like a story.

Gimli swings at orc chieftan hitting for 14 point of damage....
and killing it!

and so on...

Dated and simplistic I know, but it worked for me. It felt like a pen-and-paper RPG.

Marcus