Top 10 Innovative Turn Based Battle Systems in RPGs

[Music] we all know the turn-based battle system input command wait for time gauge to fill input command wait for time gauge to fill it's pretty boring if there's nothing else to do and can make battles seem like a slog fortunately many other game developers had the same thoughts and wanted to spice things up a bit with new and exciting elements to keep the battle interesting now there are a few spoilers in the form of boss fights and revealing move lists with the number one spot showing off the final boss but you'll have some time to know pout before I guess to that cool let's start this list [Music] number 10 Super Mario RPG legend of the seven stars at first glance the battle system for super mario RPG seems fairly basic you got your attacks specials items and defense or run away the difficult options for an RPG battle but it has a twists that later games would adopt the conditional turn-based battle system used in Mario RPG emphasizes the use of timed attacks with normal attacks if you press the button at a right time you will score a critical hit sound familiar there were also the special attacks that had various timed hits such as Mario's super jump holding Y for Jettas beam or doing circles with the d-pad for Mallos snowy attack something that's an absolute nightmare on a keyboard certain special moves asked for certain timings spicing up the otherwise standard looking battle [Music] number nine Chrono Trigger [Music] magic and special moves are cool and all but what if you combined them with the characters in your party that was the major thing that Chrono Trigger did for players and it was genius not many games have been able to pull off triggers simple yet satisfying battle system they've tried but in my mind none have displayed it better than this game once you learn new moves and are prepared with the right people at the end of the battle you'll receive a notification of duel tech or even triple Tech's that you can time and dole out on your enemy of choice another neat aspect of chrono triggers battle system is the active mode where time still continues even though you're in the menu trying to decide on a move it adds a bit more intensity to it [Music] [Applause] number eight parasite eve when I had first played parasite eve I was wowed by the battle system it was technically turn-based as it had a charging meter before you could make your next attack as you waited for your turn you had the freedom to move about dodging attacks from enemies and positioning yourself up close for a powerful shot you still had special moves you could perform healing spells and so forth which made for a very strange but rewarding battle with each encounter of course I Oslo run could frustrate most gamers as the attacks are often much quicker than her so you'd have to study enemy patterns to get the best chance at defeating tough enemies number 7 Valkyria Chronicles [Music] leveling up from parasite Eve's battle system methods the Valkyria Chronicles series went a step further and had you running into position lobbing grenades at enemies disabling tanks all with the number of characters selected for your special mission on the strategic map you may use a number of medals to control a specific character or tank on the battlefield using them multiple times if you would like but repeat use incurred less movement per turn each character depending on usually their class had a set amount of movement and choice of weapon making a kind of balancing act depending on the objective of the mission sometimes it's kept from point A to B and man snipers are horrible at moving fast unlike scout characters who could rock it up the map with ease once you expend all your medals it's the enemy's turn who does the same as you selecting specific units to run here and there shoot certain characters or Ram a tank through a wall the system is fun it's heavily strategic and can be enjoyable or painstakingly punishing [Music] number six Wild Arms for [Music] that things like solid battle the Wild Arms games before for head stuck to the traditional turn-based battle systems but then this game decided to shake some things up introducing the hex system or the hyper evolved cross fire sequence a battlefield where seven hexagons appear holding one or multiple characters or enemies in each hex characters can freely move between hexes joining allies if they so choose they can't however enter a hex with an enemy in it there are both benefits and drawbacks and having allies in the same hex if you use a healing item on the hex everyone in it gets healed but if an enemy attacks a hex everyone in it gets attacked at once there are also status ailments that can affect the hex such as poison where everyone in the hex will suffer from it unless they move out of it also during certain battles certain hexes will have a color highlighting it this affects the type of magic use in the hex or might coat your attack with a certain element an example is one highlighted in blue will enhance all water magic and so on and so forth the heck system was a hit-and-miss for most fans but you have to admit it did shake up the usual turn-based system with another layer of planning which I always enjoy having [Music] number five Grandia I fell in love with this battle system the moment I understood everything that was going on on that tiny little bar in Grandia you can see how the battle will unfold by the time bar at the bottom right corner which shows your characters and the enemy's charge time that determines turn order the more speed you have the faster the picture will hit the little mark where you need to enter your course of action shown as the column or command point once you've determined what you want to do the picture will move across and hit the act or action part of the bar and you'll perform whatever command you entered if you're charging up a powerful spell your picture will move slower than say someone who's doing a simple melee attack in this time enemies and characters can cancel a command with certain moves knowing whatever the enemy is going to cast and sending them far back on the time gauge this simple technique can save your party from certain doom and give you enough time to recover if you are badly hurt the tide of battle can be completely changed if you plan and time your commands and actions perfectly preventing the enemy from ever touching you at times of course it could be frustrating as hell when it's performed against you cancelling your super powerful move and making you wait again to hopefully pull it off number four valkyrie profile to my side my noble i'm area oh we may be in trouble [Music] most turn-based RPGs don't utilize all of the buttons on the face of the controller except valkyrie profile in battle you have four characters each assigned to a corresponding button on the playstation controller so X or cross circle triangle and square during battle when you press one of the buttons the character assigned to it will go out and attack using a certain set of moves or spell type attacks you can go crazy and mash the buttons and have your party rushed at the enemy but you have a limited amount of action time to gain the most out of your attacks you must coordinate your moves juggling enemies in the air and landing all of your hits to unlock your special moves you can then use multiple special moves if enough hits were accumulated and in your turn with a devastatingly high number that will wipe out most bosses you have to know your character's attack patterns and experiment to determine the best combo to achieve a newer game indivisible takes on this battle system which makes me smile a little inside as there aren't many if any that have replicated this complex battle system number three legend of legaia ever wondered what a fighting game and an RPG battle system would look like well have a look at legend of legaia the turn-based battle system where you input directions and create combos with certain combinations with this you can perform multiple moves at once often linking them together to form a long chain of pain say one move was up down left if your next move started with left that's linking my friend which freed up more space to input more fighting commands each move would be unlocked by experimenting with different directions and we're finding hints throughout the world but that's not as fun there are different levels of moves as well ranging from ones that require high action points to simpler ones that need less you could also charge each round expanding your input meter and allowing for a long-winded beat down on your enemy but that's a few sacrifice to full rounds of charging and I will say this game is insanely punishing if you're not careful number two undertale [Music] even when you get used to under Tales battle system each new boss throws a wrench in the gears and makes you rethink how you play you take the form of a small red heart as you fight or pacify enemies along the way you're contained in a small box where you must dodge oncoming object thrown at you stop in place for certain attacks to avoid or take on a new form and endure a whole new slew of attacks these are often the bosses one has you tethered to three spider threads where you must dodge by going up or down while another gives you a tiny shield in which to block oncoming projectiles it's not just that the battle system is new and interesting it's the fact that it changes throughout the game and makes you adapt in order to progress while it can be difficult at times especially if you choose to physically fight enemies the bragging rights are well-earned if you do manage to complete it [Applause] here are a few games that are worth mentioning that didn't quite make the list that's what we're looking for [Music] number one are too delicate to melody of metabolic ah holy mother of yes this turn-based system is the mother of all interesting battle systems and with nothing else resembling it which is understandable seeing as the battle system is heavily tied in with the world the game is based in battle formation comprises of two Vanguard's the fighters and supporters the ray V tails you can release an insane amount of hurt with their song magic in battle you have a number of different options regarding your Vanguard all of which are assigned to the directional pad up increases harmonics which brings your Vanguard and ray V tail more in sync and unlocks higher tiers of magic left triggers the first percentage to increase for spells down helps with sync with the two ray V tails in order to trigger to all songs insanely powerful spells that wipe most boss fights right recovers any HP lost by the ray V tails who can be hit if the Vanguard failed to protect them when an enemy attacks you have to time the hits with the square button to avoid damage to the ray V tails fail it too often and they'll fall and you're stuck without any spells to unleash upon the enemies making the battle extremely difficult to finish while many see it as a complicated mash of stats and gauges once you get through just a few fights it becomes much easier to understand and manipulate it to your whims there is nothing more satisfying than unleashing a nuclear beam on your enemy and watching those numbers rack up [Music] [Music]

Channel: MyraSlokov

Views: 8,779

Rating: 4.8543048 out of 5

Keywords: Battle, Turn-based, System, RPG, JRPG, role-playing games, games, Video Games, Innovative, fight, Top 10, Top Ten, 10, ten, Improvement, Super Mario, Chrono Trigger, Parasite Eve, Valkyria Chronicles, Wild ARMs 4, Grandia, Valkyrie Profile, Legend of Legaia, Undertale, Legend of Dragoon, Xcom, Resonance of Fate, End of Eternity, Xenogears, Ar tonelico, Ar tonelico 2, Ar tonelico ii, Metafalica, Romancing SaGa 3, SaGa, Xtreme, Final Fantasy 8

Id: wQbI_rtYNrk

Length: 14min 10sec (850 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 01 2019