Current Events > What are some neat or interesting JRPG battle mechanics?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've been playing Yakuza Like a Dragon a lot, and I'm enjoying the combat, but this is my first JRPG in... 10 years at least, so I don't have much to compare it to.

What are some neat ways games have built on or gone beyond the usual HP/MP for special attacks setup?

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I liked the FFXIII system after it became more than just spamming auto attacks, but that takes like ten hours

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Wild Arms 3 moved to a Force ability system. Can't say I was a fan of it.

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This may be contentious but I loved the stage/audience system in Paper Mario 2

I like FFXs turn system.

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The World Ends With You had a ton of weird/unique mechanics.

From fashion trends determining bonuses depending on what you were wearing, in what area you had been wearing it, and how long you had been wearing it.

The pin system was unique and still hasn't been replicated. Mostly functional too(Mostly)

Then you got the non-combat systems like food digestion raising stats and being able to adjust your level alongside difficulty on the fly to increase drop rates.


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Antifar posted...

What are some neat ways games have built on or gone beyond the usual HP/MP for special attacks setup?

Not new by any stretch of the imagination but SaGa has long had a separate LP meter that determines whether you live or die. the HP meter can go to zero and you can keep fighting. LP has a chance of being damaged if your HP is damaged.

Some newer Final Fantasy games are changing up how you deal damage by adding a kind of Break Gauge that also takes damage and if it maxes out then for a short duration damage dealt to HP is dramatically increased.

Breath of Fire V has a separate meter based on how often you utilize the dragon transformation. If it ever fills up, it's game over.

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I thought Earthbound's "Health ticks away" mechanic was interesting

When you get hit, the damage isn't instant. Your health rolls down. Which means if you're quick enough you can heal what in other games would be lethal damage.

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FF7 Remake is how JRPGs should handle combat going forward tbh.

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The hell ever happened to Legaia?

Grandia has a neat system where you and the enemies move along an action bar that shows when everyone will input a command and then act, if you hit them at the right time with a certain type of attack or technique you can cancel their action and they can do the same to you.

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Only Disagea I've played is 2, but I loved how every weapon/armor in the game has its own dungeon that you can enter to level up that item.

And yes Battle Network is amazing. It'd be a solid action RPG in its own right, but it also has the chip system which is every bit as versatile as most card games and allows you to play however you want once you have enough chips to mix and match decks. There's a ton of stuff to look at and collect but it never feels overwhelming because of how slowly the map opens up.

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Octopath Traveler's 'break' system was great.

Resonance of Fate has a very unique battle system that's unlike anything else. It's based on positioning your three characters to form triangles, among other things. The gun upgrade system was also pretty unique.

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Radiant historia had a nice battle system

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Bravely Default. You can store up your turns (brave points) by defending with a maximum of four. You can then use multiple actions in one turn, a process called "brave", 4 actions is the maximum. You can use brave even if you have no BP and go into negative BP but you can't do anything in following turns until the negative BP comes back one per turn. There are skills where you can do stuff like give an ally more BP at the cost of your own. The stronger skills use multiple BP and you can't use them if you go below -4.
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uwnim posted...

Radiant historia had a nice battle system

It has a great battle system and then throws the whole thing out the window with a final boss that takes up the whole zone.

At least the optional superboss was fun.

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The hell ever happened to Legaia?

it's in jail for abuse of player time.

legend of legaia is what happens when some noob game designer thinks more buttons/more inputs is better. and then some asswipe comes along, points at that designer's screen, and says 'hey, the player never has to waste turns in order to be at max strength. fix that.' the spirit command is born.

like to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation.
'our testers aren't using the defend command.'
'huh. what do we do? add survival rounds?'
'no, that'd be too interesting.'
'how about we make it so they do slightly more damage the round after?'
'...keep going.'
'we'll have the players wondering if they would be better off if they just attacked both rounds instead.'
'oooh!'
'yeah, this will make the more neurotic among them do it every time.'
'also our testers keep using the auto command. i noticed it actually inputs useful commands, and break arts.'
'oh, shit. okay, i'll make it do random ones so nobody ever uses it.'
'good. players want a 60-hour game. it doesn't matter how we get there. *laughs in game dev*'
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I enjoyed Legend of Dragoon's addition system to attack.

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Fluttershy posted...

So... tell us how you really feel about it.

I've always liked Chrono Trigger's Dual and Triple Tech mechanic. Sure, it kinda falters in the late game, but combining the abilities of individual characters for new effects is pretty fun.

I like the Grandia series' battle system. Basically all allies and enemies have icons that travel along a timeline until they get about 3/4 of the way through it, at the COM mark. At that point, the player/enemy gets to choose what they want to do with their turn. Then the icon will continue through the last 1/4 of the bar until it reaches the ACT mark, at which point the command will be executed. The speed at which they move through the last 1/4 of the bar depends on what they're trying to do, with more powerful spells and skills taking a longer time. While their in this state, they're vulnerable to a status effect called "Cancel". If you get hit by a critical hit or certain skills and items, your command can get cancelled, and you essentially lose your turn. This mechanic applies to ALL combatants in the game, including your party, random enemies, and even bosses. Because of this, it's actually possible to do some boss fights without ever letting them complete a turn (if you're good enough).

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Lightning Returns' "final stagger break" opens a timed window for inflicting maximum damage.

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Though I very much dislike the game, Baiten Kaitos had some interesting gameplay mechanics with the cards.

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I liked The Last Remnant's battle system even if there was RNG involved. It is like in between a turn-based JRPG and an RTS because you are controlling squads rather than individual units. Nothing like it ever since.

GiftedACIII posted...

Bravely Default. You can store up your turns (brave points) by defending with a maximum of four. You can then use multiple actions in one turn, a process called "brave", 4 actions is the maximum. You can use brave even if you have no BP and go into negative BP but you can't do anything in following turns until the negative BP comes back one per turn. There are skills where you can do stuff like give an ally more BP at the cost of your own. The stronger skills use multiple BP and you can't use them if you go below -4.

came in to say this. BD has some story issues but the gameplay is flawless.

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Zeeak4444 posted...

came in to say this. BD has some story issues but the gameplay is flawless.

BD2 new turn system is raw ass. I hope they change it before it's released.

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Ultimately it's not all bizarre, but it boggles my mind how the equipment skill learning in ff9 didn't get more popular.

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EnvoyOfTheLight posted...

Ultimately it's not all bizarre, but it boggles my mind how the equipment skill learning in ff9 didn't get more popular.

It was the system used in FFTA / FFTA2.

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Tyranthraxus posted...

It was the system used in FFTA / FFTA2.

It wasn't really popular there either.

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne/Persona 5 (and maybe in other games in the series; idk) -

you can recruit your enemies depending on how you answer them, and if you have them fighting for you/are your Persona, if you talk to a similar monster, they will often leave the battle.

this is for regular enemies, though, and not bosses or mini-bosses.

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FFVII Remake's is the perfect blend of turn-based and action.

Nier: Automata plays like Bayonetta and it's awesome.

Persona 5 is the perfect turn-based game, in my opinion.

Resonance of Fate had one of the most interesting blends of turn-based tactics and real-time engagement.

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MC_BatCommander posted...

Grandia has a neat system where you and the enemies move along an action bar that shows when everyone will input a command and then act, if you hit them at the right time with a certain type of attack or technique you can cancel their action and they can do the same to you.

Child of Light does something similar. Adds an element of strategy behind just spamming commands.