Orthodox JRPGs With Mobile Unit Battle Systems

[Sarge]

If you want Grandia taken to another extreme, try giving the later Growlanser games a shot. They almost get into RTS territory with their actions and battle system. Might tilt too far into SRPG territory, though.

[MrPopo]

The way Wild Arms works is the battle starts with a grid of hexes. Random battles are a simple circular grid (one in the middle surrounded by six other hexes) but boss battles might have a more interesting layout. You can move from one hex to an adjacent hex not occupied by an enemy. So you can stack friendly units in a single hex. When you take an action you take that action against the entire hex. So if you have two party members in one hex a healing spell will heal both, but they will also both be attacked by the enemy. Finally, the colored stuff are an elemental status. Essentially anyone in that hex is assumed to be of that element, so you'd deal damage of that element and take increased damage from the opposite element.

[MrPopo]

EDIT: Actually, I think I might back peddle a little bit, in that I'm not sure I meant to bring in games where the actual location that the character moves to is chosen; rather, a target is chosen, and the characters move along the field to reach the target enemy. With that in mind, the Grandia series might be more characteristic of the evolution of what I'm trying to delineate.

I Am Setsuna does something like this. Like CT's battle system enemies will move around according to their AI. When you take actions time freezes and you'll move to engage. Some actions end with you returning to your start, others will permanently change your position. And both allied and enemy attacks can move the targets around. Since the game has a CT-esque system of attacks having areas of effect utilizing these is important.

[pierrot]

That (I Am Setsuna) sounds a bit like the battle system in Suikoden III. I'm not sure that either would exactly fit, but again, I'm much less confident in what I might set for the boundaries now.

[isiolia]

Hm, would Valkyrie Profile 2's system count? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pdNw8tb2tc


While not a JRPG, and certainly more modern, Transistor's combat system might interest you as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neAEEsKoc44