Orthodox JRPGs With Mobile Unit Battle Systems

[pierrot]

Not sure how to qualify these, but I was thinking about this last night: There are a few RPGs that have similar battle systems, where the player characters actually move around a two dimensional field to attack enemies. The examples I came up with were Mouryou Senki Madara on the Famicom (maybe Madara 2, also) Emerald Dragon (at least on the PC Engine, and PC 98) Dark Half for the Super Famicom, and I believe Live a Live's battle system is also like this.

I didn't care a whole lot for how Dark Half used its system, but it's an interesting style that I don't think has ever made it into something that was released in the US. I'm a bit curious if there are other games with this style of battle system that I'm overlooking.

[Exhuminator]

If I'm understanding you correctly, I think these might fit:

I might be completely misunderstanding you though.

[BoneSnapDeez]

So, you're thinking of turn-based "JRPGs" with character positioning, right? Not strategy RPGs (where almost all feature such positioning) or action-RPGs (where a handful do transport you to a separate screen for battle)? And I assume it needs to be more complex than backrow/frontrow?

You hit the ones I'd think of..... Treasure Hunter G also comes to mind, combat isn't really "grand" or complex enough to fall into strategy RPG territory I'd say. Feels like a JRPG with grid movement during battle.

[Exhuminator]

So, you're thinking of turn-based "JRPGs" with character positioning, right?

Oh! Oh okay, if that's the case, this is my favorite ever with that kind of battle system:

[pepharytheworm]

Sounds like PoPoLoCrois and Return to PoPoLoCrois would count.

The PS1 version of Rhadsody


Also games like Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage, Quest 64 and Brian's Journey might count.

[pierrot]

Yeah, those are largely what I was getting at. The PoPoLoCRoIS Monogatari(s) are good ones. I didn't remember the battle systems having that style. (I also just realized that PoPoRoGue is meant to be a portmanteau of "PoPoLoCRoIS," and "Rogue," which makes so much more sense.)

[Sarge]

For a more modern example, there's Enchanted Arms on 360.



Evolution and its sequel does something similar on Dreamcast. It's also available on Gamecube as Evolution Worlds.



Oh, right! Both Wild ARMs 4 and 5 do this as well, but with a hex-based system. WA4 is decent, but I absolutely loved WA5. One of the best late-gen PS2 RPGs for sure.



Energy Breaker might sort-of count, too. It leans a bit more into SRPG territory, though, but is broken up more into discrete battles between RPG-like exploration.

[Exhuminator]

To explain a bit more about Koudelka:

Your battles happen on a grid, you position your characters for strategic advantage versus enemy placement, and then battles commence in a traditional turn based fashion.


You can do some default positioning settings in the menu.


When you move on the battlefield, this is what it looks like.


And during battle you've got your turn based stuff that's menu driven.

Koudelka is a really cool game, once you get used to its languid battle speed anyway.


If the hotlinked images don't show blame Mobygames.

[pierrot]

I played quite a bit of both Evolutions back in 2000/2001, but as I recall, the characters don't move to a new location to attack. Also, I don't feel like the progression of their stories/gameplay are really of an "orthodox" nature.

That Wild Arms screen is nuts, though. What is even happening there?

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.


EDIT (again): Okay, this is tough, because Emerald Dragon doesn't exactly fit in line with that either. I didn't want the criteria to be too broad, and overlap too much with SRPGs, but I don't know if there's really a good way to demarcate a separation between gameplay styles. At any rate, I like the examples that have been given so far.

[Sarge]

I think there are some elemental bonuses or something going on with the tiles. Let me see if I can't pull up a shot that's zoomed out a bit.



Yeah, I had to refresh myself, each tile gives a boost to elemental damage and a reduction thereof. If you're on a fire tile, you do double damage with fire and take half damage from fire, but do half water and take double water damage. Same with the other colored tiles.

Regular battles are on a 7-hex grid, but boss battles change things up a little bit with some custom layouts.

So the deal is, you can group all your characters in a single tile, which has the drawback of having an enemy's attack hit everyone, but it also means any buffs or items will target your whole team as well. It's an interesting risk-reward with the system.