/vr/ - Retro Games

>>7260807
Mainline-ish? Yoshi's Island.
Extended franchise? Probably one of the Superstar Saga games

you're overthinking it, just make the basic commands like attack/guard fun to use
judging the distance between you and the enemy, the time it will take for the attack to go off and then canceling an enemy's big move with a regular attack in Grandia games feels satisfying, so does moving out of an enemy's way before it can reach you and canceling its move with a different character
Timed button presses in SMRPG for different weapon animations and guarding against enemy attacks with different attack animations is a simple and satisfying way to keep a player engaged
I guess you could have more rules that prevent the player from turning his brain off during battles even if he has grinded, like EXP only going to the character that dealt the killing blow to an enemy (Ultima 3 had this), so your weak mage can't just sit in the back doing nothing and get EXP
no automatic retargeting was also a staple in NES RPGs

having a buttload of situational skills doesn't automatically make combat fun