What's a good modern JRPG with traditional FF-style turn-based combat?

[Outmind]

I'm writing here in hope of some good recommendations after my recent stint with FFXV. The game isn't only horrendously optimized for PC, it also has some of the most bland and boring combat I've recently come across. I got to the second tomb and just gave up due to how boring the game is.

So that got me thinking about turn-based games and whether there's been any noteworthy one in the last 5ish years. And no, Octopath was too bland in spite of looking good, ditto for Dragon Quest XI. Come to think of it, I gave up on Ni No Kuni after a while too.... Too picky? Possibly.

I liked Persona 5 as well as the Disgea games. Fell Seal is alright, but I'm not looking for tactical RPGs at this time. I would, however, appreciate something with an in-depth character development system.

Any and all recommendations are appreciated.

 

[CryptRat]

Paper Sorcerer has very fun combat, you build your party but I can't rememver if there's any character development at all.

Trash fights are trash (and fast) in Labyrinth of Touhou 1 & 2 but party building, character developpement and boss fights are very good.

 

[Anonona]

If you have a 3DS, or you emulate, Bravely Default is good. Fun and fast combat system thanks to the Bravely/Default mechanics, great character customization thanks to its job system that allows you to combine a class and sub-class with passive skills from any other classes, beautiful music and art direction, and cute graphics. A warning though, the last quarter of the game shits the bed despite the bosses being pretty good, still worth a play through in my opinion. If you are a mad man and want a strange RPG that doesn't explain shit but has tons of customization and good combat, give The Last Remnant a spin. Not really new, but not too old.

I also heard that Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout was good, but hadn't have the chance to play it. If you don't mind a old game from the ps2 era, Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne may be of your liking, specially if you liked Persona 5. Both combat system have a lot of similitude, and Nocturne allows you to customize your team of demons and your main character as you see fit. Outstanding combat system and surprisingly challenging.

 

[Alpan]

Though not a JRPG (it's Chinese), why not have a look at Tale of Wuxia? Roxor reviewed it, and he specifically singles out the character development as excellent.

 

[eric__s]

Check out the SaGa: Scarlet Grace: Ambitions thread. Pretty much everyone agrees it's one of the best RPGs in decades. Huge, open world with tons of choices and exploration, and one of the best and most strategic battle systems of all time. It might be my favorite game of all time. You need to play it.

 

[Reinhardt]

Legend of Heroes.

 

[Outmind]

These sound like some solid picks, thanks guys!

 

[Damned Registrations]

Trash fights are trash (and fast) in Labyrinth of Touhou 1 & 2 but party building, character developpement and boss fights are very good.

Will second this recommendation. If you want good turn based combat, this is where it's at. Lots of options, good difficulty, unique systems and fast pace.

 

[Miner 2049er]

If you like Disgaea, there is: Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk. A unique dungeon crawler Disgaea style from Nippon Ichi.

I second SaGa: Scarlet Grace: Ambitions. Really one of the best combat systems ever.

Talking about Saga Games, I can't recommend enough: The Alliance Alive HD remaster. Just recently released for the PC. Most fun I had with a RPG in years.

You can't go wrong with Trails of Cold Steel 1+2 (and 3 in a few weeks, yay !). Master class in world buildiing with a combat system just a tad short of greatness.

 

[HoboForEternity]

trails series:
a huge series with really good writing (even the worst in the series is above average in JRPG standards) with huge, detailed worldbuilding with multiple arcs. it kinda works like marvel's the avenger where each arcs can be individual story arc take place in different country in the continent, yet still connected by penultimate overarching story about continent wide conspiracy and the mysterious ancient civilization technology. the world is filled with interesting characters, factions, nations that are believeable, somewhat realistic also fantastic. it currently have 8 games, which of 7 you can play right now.

start with the sky series:





by the time you finished sky, the fan translation of crossbell arc should be available in high quality, at leas zero:

https://geofront.esterior.net/

the AO is also available with ok translation quality that should be alot more playable than the leaked zero fan translation

then move to cold steel saga




then cold steel 3 releases later this month

https://store.steampowered.com/app/991270/The_Legend_of_Heroes_Trails_of_Cold_Steel_III/

 

[Outmind]

If you are a mad man and want a strange RPG that doesn't explain shit but has tons of customization and good combat, give The Last Remnant a spin

I played TLR when it came out and fired it back up a few weeks ago. Literally stopped playing it three days ago because it kept restarting the PC for some reason. That's a true oddball of an rpg. I've never played one that encourages you to grind and then punishes you for it... Also, I don't like the heavy reliance on AI and lack of player agency in combat. That being said, it was fun and kept me going. Too bad about the PC issues though.

Though not a JRPG (it's Chinese), why not have a look at Tale of Wuxia? Roxor reviewed it, and he specifically singles out the character development as excellent.

Oh yeah, I saw that review a while back and was intrigued by the notion that stuff like tea drinking outside of combat has an impact on your battlefield performance.

 

[Reinhardt]

I've never played one that encourages you to grind and then punishes you for it...

In Last Remnant you don't grind in usual meaning of the word - fighting lots of small battles. Instead you link as many enemies as you can possibly win and fight one big battle.

 

[Ysaye]

I think the thing for me about the Trails combat is it adds the following interest to the normal JRPG formula:

• Positioning - positioning is important as many skills (known as Crafts) and Spells (known as Arts) are spatial in nature. Some of these actually reposition your opponents, which means that you may use something to increase the scope of something you are going to do further down the line;
• Links - characters that are linked can do an extra attack with the secondary attack. After doing a certain number they can be used for a stronger attack (but you re start the count of links), or in the most recent CS3, you can use them to use Brave orders, which increase stats or give special bonuses.
• Crafts and S Crafts / Breaks - After doing and/or taking a certain amount of damage, you can use Crafts, or a S Craft (Break) attack that can be fitted in anywhere in the turn order and much stronger than any other attack that character will do generally; the meter however is reset at zero if you use an S Craft. Breaks are very handy in speeding up the game (you could say use your breaks on all your characters), although Crafts are also useful as they can often be used to do all sorts of things such as setting an opponent's place in the turn queue back, increasing defence or attack, or just doing more damage.
• Arts - Arts are spells, and unlike normal JRPGs, not only do they spend arts points, but they also take time in the turn queue to cast. In that sense you have to be doubly strategic about their use, as there is no point in gearing up for an AoE spell if no one will be standing there by the time you cast it, or leaving yourself open to have the spell cancelled in the meantime anyway. On the other hand, these spells are often more powerful than a lot of other things you can do, so if you can get them off...
• Roaming enemies - Because enemies are seen on the floor, you can also avoid combat if you are sick of it, and there are mechanisms in the later games that are used to actively avoid grinding, so success or failure is often more dependent on your knowledge of the system and your gear.

 

[aweigh]

Hard to recommend you something since from reading your post it seems like our tastes are very antagonistic.

You disliked Nino No Kuni and DQ 11, but I loved them. You liked Persona 5 and Disgaea but I think they are the definition of mediocre.

Anyway, like I say to almost any JRPG newbie, go play:

- Xenogears (PSX)
- Earthbound (SNES game), Final Fantasy Tactics (PSX)
- Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PSX)
- SMT 3: Nocturne (PS2) and SMT: Strange Journey (Nintendo DS)
- SMT: Digital Devil Saga duology (PS2)
- Suikoden 2 (PSX) and Suikoden 3 (PS2)
- Vagrant Story (PSX)
- Vandal Hearts (PSX)
- Lunar: Silver Star Story (PSX)
- Dragon Quest 3 (SNES), Dragon Quest 5 (PS2 remake with the fan-made English patch applied), Dragon Quest 7 (PSX original preferable but I understand if you just feel like playing the modern remake on 3DS)
- Shining Force 2 (SEGA Genesis)
- Phantasy Star 4 (SEGA Genesis)
- Final Fantasy 4 (SNES), Final Fantasy 6 (SNES), Final Fantasy 10 (PC/Steam), Final Fantasy 12 (PC/Steam)
- Super Mario RPG (SNES)
- Saga Frontier (PSX)
- Chrono Trigger (SNES)
- Elminage: Gothic (PC/Steam)
- Elminage: Original (PC/Steam)
- Shadowrun (SEGA Genesis)
- Soulblazer (SNES) and Illusion of Gaia (SNES)
- Valkyrie Profile (PSX)
- Kartia: Word Of Fate (PSX)
- Breath Of Fire 2 (SNES), Breath Of Fire 3 (PSX) and Breath Of Fire 5 (PS2)
- Wizardry 1-5 (PSX with English enabled through the in-game menu options) and/or Wiz 1-3 and 5 on (SNES)

I'll think up more later. Those are all JRPGs that I played and enjoyed and would recommend to another JRPG lover; obviously there is no guarantee that you will like any of these.

 

[Lagole Gon]

traditional FF-style turn-based combat

I'm gonna be that guy and say that FF menu-based is not turn-based.

(except FF1, 2, 3 and one of the later ones?)

 

[Nathaniel3W]

I'm gonna be that guy and say that FF menu-based is not turn-based.

(except FF1, 2, 3 and one of the later ones?)

The early Final Fantasies and FFX were actually turn-based. The so-called ATB system was definitely not turn-based. I don't remember if you could turn off the action meter while you were taking your turn, but even if you could, that's only the Final Fantasy version of RTwP.

 

[Damned Registrations]

To be fair, ATB has some weird jank regarding certain actions pausing the clock and taking turns for animation to play that makes it somewhere between turb based and RTwP. Also, FFX wasn't the old school turn based where everyone gets one action per round, but rather actions took a certain amount of time so you could do multiple fast actions while someone else did a single slow one. Which is the best kind of system imo.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

With ATB you usually can pick between "active mode" (clock always ticking) and "wait mode" (actions are still being queued but no one does anything until you're done fiddling in the menu) in the config screen.

 

[Outmind]

Hard to recommend you something since from reading your post it seems like our tastes are very antagonistic.

You disliked Nino No Kuni and DQ 11, but I loved them. You liked Persona 5 and Disgaea but I think they are the definition of mediocre.

Anyway, like I say to almost any JRPG newbie, go play:

- Xenogears (PSX)
- Earthbound (SNES game), Final Fantasy Tactics (PSX)
- Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PSX)
- SMT 3: Nocturne (PS2) and SMT: Strange Journey (Nintendo DS)
- SMT: Digital Devil Saga duology (PS2)
- Suikoden 2 (PSX) and Suikoden 3 (PS2)
- Vagrant Story (PSX)
- Vandal Hearts (PSX)
- Lunar: Silver Star Story (PSX)
- Dragon Quest 3 (SNES), Dragon Quest 5 (PS2 remake with the fan-made English patch applied), Dragon Quest 7 (PSX original preferable but I understand if you just feel like playing the modern remake on 3DS)
- Shining Force 2 (SEGA Genesis)
- Phantasy Star 4 (SEGA Genesis)
- Final Fantasy 4 (SNES), Final Fantasy 6 (SNES), Final Fantasy 10 (PC/Steam), Final Fantasy 12 (PC/Steam)
- Super Mario RPG (SNES)
- Saga Frontier (PSX)
- Chrono Trigger (SNES)
- Elminage: Gothic (PC/Steam)
- Elminage: Original (PC/Steam)
- Shadowrun (SEGA Genesis)
- Soulblazer (SNES) and Illusion of Gaia (SNES)
- Valkyrie Profile (PSX)
- Kartia: Word Of Fate (PSX)
- Breath Of Fire 2 (SNES), Breath Of Fire 3 (PSX) and Breath Of Fire 5 (PS2)
- Wizardry 1-5 (PSX with English enabled through the in-game menu options) and/or Wiz 1-3 and 5 on (SNES)

I'll think up more later. Those are all JRPGs that I played and enjoyed and would recommend to another JRPG lover; obviously there is no guarantee that you will like any of these.

My, that's a lot of RPGs, some of which I've played and thoroughly enjoyed but didn't mention here since they are older.

Both Ni No Kuni and DQ11 felt a bit too childish for me, and the latter had an uninspired combat system with few real options, at least up until the part where you get the juggler guy as that's as far as I got.

I loved SMT Nocturne and played the first Digital Devil along with Strange journey to a lesser extent.

FFX was great, FFXII less so. What, no love for FFIX? I liked tactics and ADORED FFTA and A2. Those are honestly some of the best tactical RPGs ever IMO because of the job system alone.

I played one Shining Force maybe 15 years ago, idk which one it was... Had a character named Zuika in it if that helps. It was OK.

Anyway, that's a comprehensive list I'll need to revisit in the future. For now, I'm playing Trails in the Sky. It's OK I guess, the main characters are a bit goofy though.

 

[aweigh]

DQ is archtypical in its storytelling, not childish. Only childish tryhards think DQ is childish

 

[GhostCow]

Lost Odyssey for the Xbox 360 is decent if you haven't played it. It's about as oldschool Final Fantasy as you can get from anything to come out in the last 15 years that I can think of. It even had Nobuo Uematsu as the composer.