Tactical RPGs

[Anonymous No.1082078]

I've been thinking about playing the Shining Force games, but they always look really childish, what with the story book openings and art style. Are they worth my time? What is the combat and the story like?

Anyway, general TRPG thread?

[Anonymous No.1082179]

OK.

[Anonymous No.1082183]

they are worth your time most definitely.
only played the first one mind you

[Anonymous No.1082227]

>>1082078
Shining Force games have very simplistic gameplay (not very tactical for a TRPG, but VERY tedious). You move characters one at a time across the map and various characters have different weapons and movement. Damage is basically attack - defense (no counterattacks, doubling and critical hits seem to be somewhat random) and some characters can use magic to deal (relatively) fixed damage. The main problem is that the battles are very slow and the games lack the notable map design and character/enemy balancing that are crucial to TRPGs.
The story is childish (well I remember Shining Force 1 was just basic, but Shining Force 2 is preschool level at best and appears to go out of its way to be immature).
And the characters are flat, etc. But the art style doesn't bother me at all; it looks nicely animated. Though I vaguely remember being unable to turn off battle animations which made battles even more tedious...

That said, I enjoyed Shining Force 1 as a kid.

[Anonymous No.1082236]

Shining Force 2 is pretty good overall.And seriously every TRPG on consoles looks childish because animu characters.If that does bother you play pc trpg like Silent Storm,HoMM or Jagged Alliance

[Anonymous No.1082248]

>>1082236
>every

(sage for non-retro)

[Anonymous No.1082254]

If you think SF2 is "too childish", you can still give SF3 a shot.
Slightly darker tone, and full of political intrigue.
The battle system is also a little more complex, featuring skills, character supports, and weapon triangles.

[Anonymous No.1082260]

>>1082078
>Black healthbar
Cheats. Playable character HP is capped at 200 because of how HP works for higher numbers.

[Anonymous No.1082287]

>>1082236

Thanks for this, recently I've been checking out old RTS and I think I simply don't like the genre.

It completely went over my head that I could look into TBS for PC games as well.

[Anonymous No.1082314]

>>1082254
But then you have to deal with shitty 3d graphics.

[Anonymous No.1082325]

>>1082254
What about CD?

[Anonymous No.1082336]

>>1082078

I've played the first shining force for the first time as an adult and enjoyed it... although i don't play games for the story so I can't really comment on that. It was just the typical evil threatens the land and its up to you and your team of heroes to stop it.

Play it, but play it on an emulator so you can frame skip during the battles as they would be frustratingly slow otherwise.

Also, you might want to check out Shining in the Darkness and Shining the Holy Ark, they are my favourite Shining games. You've probably heard of them but they are 1st person dungeon crawler rpgs, they have more puzzle solving elements.

[Anonymous No.1082357]

>>1082314
This is /vr/, you should be used to them already.

[Anonymous No.1082542]

I actually think tactical RPGs allow for better stories than regular RPGs, since the fighting is part of the story, rather than something just stuck on at the last moment. You can blend actions and branching paths much easier into the gameplay than most RPGs where you get a option box pop up.

Like an option to save one of two people can be done without even leaving the battle screen. You actually have to take your troops to protect one, leaving the other unattended. Or you could save both through skill-full gameplay.

[Anonymous No.1082549]

What's Tactics Ogre like?

[Anonymous No.1082563]

>>1082549
I'm wondering the same thing. What is the best version of the Ogre series? I was thinking of trying out the N64 version.

[Anonymous No.1082569]

>>1082325
Shining Force CD is vastly improved remakes of both of the Shining Force titles for the Game Gear. Only one of em was ever released in the US, The Sword of Hajya. So it is an awesome addition to anyone's collection. Also fun to emulate.

I recommend you emulate it however, unless you are willing to spend over 90 dollars on a physical copy.

But I highly suggest you play the original Shining Force first. It is very fun, and can be quite challenging on some stages. Not to mention more playable characters than you can shake a stick at.

Shining Force II is actually a lot of fun because unlike previous games, you actually get to fight regular enemy encounters when traversing between towns, good for level grinding, if you're into that sort of thing.

[Anonymous No.1082601]

>>1082563
There's 5 Ogre games in the series.
Chronologically,
>Tactics Ogre - The Knight of Lodis (GBA)
>Ogre Battle- Prince of Zenobia (NeoGeo Pocket)
>Ogre Battle - March of the Black Queen (SNES, PS1)
>Tactics Ogre - Let Us Cling Together (SNES, PS1, PSP)
>Ogre Battle 64 - Person of Lordly Caliber (N64)

KoL is a sidestory prequel to Tactics Ogre explaining the backstory of Lanselot Tartaros, PoZ is a sidestory prequel to OB that starts before and then runs concurrently to that game and details what Tristan was doing before the player encounters him. OB is the first game in the series in real-world chronology and sets up some plot elements carried into the other two main games. TO and OB64 take place at more or less the same time in different parts of the world.

In terms of enjoyment you can really play the games in any order. TO and OB64 feature characters from OB and it's kind of cool if you're familiar with them but each game is pretty much self-contained.

I'm a fan of LUCT (the PSP version) and 64.