"Good" combat

[woootbm]

I've played a number of RPG Maker games and so far the best ones have had zero combat. This is because the ones I played WITH combat didn't do much with it and made their game's more grindy than strategic so combat felt like a chore that simply padded out the game's length. What I'd like to ask is for some recommendations of RPG Maker games (preferably VX Ace, if possible) that have GOOD combat. That is, stuff that stands out as feeling really strategic and involves a lot of moment to moment decision making.

Also, please keep any recommendations restricted to the following:

1. Turn-based combat. No real-time stuff.

2. No grids or other manner of movement tiles in combat.

3. Focus on the game design itself. Flashy animations and pretty UI's are great, but that's not what I'm asking about (although they are a major plus).

Specific, I know. Call me a traditionalist.

Oh, and it doesn't matter if the recommendation is free or not. Just so long as it is still available from a legit source 

 

[Shaz]

I've moved this thread to General Discussion (since you are not discussing a mechanic but just after game recommendations). Please be sure to post your threads in the correct forum next time. Thank you.

 

[Vox Novus]

To plug myself You could try my IGMC 2015 game I designed it to be just that, so far I've got nothing but complements on the battle system.

http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/311#.Vd0jdH0_zkc

Myself aside; I'd recommend these from what I've tried first hand:

Last years IGMC winner Remnants of Isolation (ACE):

http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/33155-remnants-of-isolation/

A popular game on the forums-Legionwood Tale of the Two swords (VX):

http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/1029-legionwood-tale-of-the-two-swords/

Another popular game on the forums-Star Stealing Prince(VX):

http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/295-star-stealing-prince/?hl=%2Bstar+%2Bstealing+%2Bprince

This is assuming by turn based you meant something far more akin to traditional turn based or ATB.

 

[Kes]

I think Star Stealing prince is an interesting game, but I wouldn't myself put it forward as a great example of strategic battles.

 

[Vox Novus]

@Ksjp17 Yeah maybe it is in some spots then in others it isn't as much (also nice job of discreetly plugging all your games with your sig   oh just thought of this one

http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/6016-nc-17-wine-roses/

 

[woootbm]

@Shaz

Sorry about that. I guess I figured the topic could turn into talk of the nitty gritty of combat? I'm still bumbling around it seems ^_^;;

@Vox Novus

Thanks! I actually have two of those five in my backlog already. This helps me with priority! I might try yours first, though

Still happy to hear more. Especially if people have a one or two line explanation of what's good about it, too. I'll reply here later on with my musings as well.

 

[Reavenator]

Aetherion's battle system was pretty interesting.

http://rpgmaker.net/games/3410/

It's like an ATB system, except that you choose actions first, and then a charge bar fills, and you can make the bar recede by attacking the enemy, some attacks being better at it than others.

 

[Kalin]

I'm curious why you don't want grid-based systems, since that's probably the simplest why to make combat more strategic.

Without grids, the most strategic combat RPGs I can think of are non-RM games like MARDEK and Epic Battle Fantasy (skip the first 2). Both of those mainly focus on elemental resistance/weakness.

 

[Luiishu535]

I personally consider both of my games pretty strategic-ish if you know what you're doing (both of them are in my signature, although only one of them is finished so far). Grinding is certainly not a necessity if you think before you press. A rule of thumb for the game(s); every turn counts (at least for the most part) and make one wrong move and you might meet the Game Over screen.

Speaking of strategy, here's a small, but interesting thing I've done with my recent game. A regular elemental skill, like "Fire", will not only be used to deal fire elemental damage and roast enemies weak to that, it can also lower the attack of the enemy. It is a single, small change, but also a door of possibilities that opens so much. A third thing would also be that certain elemental skills are fundamentally stronger than others. A fourth thing would be that those skills cost different amounts of MP. Different speeds of casting the skill would be nr. five and so on...

When it gets to the bottom line; all the little things DO matter. 

 

[woootbm]

@Kalin

Well, I didn't want my first post to be too long, so I skipped this detail. First of all, I've played plenty turn-based games that use positioning in order to make the combat more strategic (hello, XCOM) so I don't really need more examples of that. I've also played some without positioning that were very tasty in their depth. But basically I want to see what RPG Maker can do when used well. Because for my game I'm not going the route of ripping everything out and replacing it with a million scripts. That's just too ambitious right now and I'm trying to stay grounded

@luiishu535

"Every turn counts" is indeed a good rule of thumb! If you don't mind me asking, which one of the two is "finished?" In my free time I tend to avoid betas and early access or what-have-you. Unless you want QA. QA is what I do  BD

 

[Matseb2611]

Here are some I thought had fun and strategic battles:

Eremidia Dungeon: Skyward Temple

Northwall (this one's still in development, though late stages)

Qui Domi (this one is also still in development)

Thought I'd also put in one of mine:

Harbingers of Woe (I made this one specifically with difficult, strategic battles in mind; if you like the battles in this one, you might like some of my commercial games too).

 

[Luiishu535]

@Woootbm: Castle Oblivion 3 is the finished one. It's by all means not a perfect game, being my first game too, but I do feel that the game provides a fun challenge. The other game, Castle Oblivion: Remake, will be much better overall. It has a 1-2 hour long demo available. If you're interested in beta testing the game, then I'd be happy to sing you up.

 

[woootbm]

@luiishu535

Sure, sign me up!

@Matseb2611

I've actually played Atonement: Scourge of Time already  BD  It may have had the best combat of all the RPG Maker games I've played thus far (I haven't had time to tackle the things on this list yet  ). Although I did have a few issues with it. I'm pretty much never satisfied, though. I even complain about my favorite games, heh.

I appreciate all the recommends, guys. I'm pretty full up now, but I can always use more