Best Strategy RPGs Of All Time Rated

Thanks to eToychest for its round-up of the favorite console strategy RPGs of all time. The piece argues: "a strategy RPG is (generally) a console game in which battles take place over a grid", and highlights include Vandal Hearts ("This is where everyone interested in the genre should start"), the Tactics Ogre series ("the replay value here is unmatched, due to multiple endings in each game"), and Disgaea/La Pucelle Tactics both on the top spot ("If you don't know why these two titles are sharing number 1, go play them.")

Missing Option: Star Ocean 2 :)

[Roman_(ajvvs)]

I had a quick look through the list and none of them I've played. I HAVE played Star Ocean 2, and I can tell you, the battles in this game blow me away to this day.

I've never seen spells which actually warp the battlefield. There's nothing like casting "Explode!" and seeing the floor expand in real time to accomodate this massive globe of fire that fills up the screen. I could write a whole article on the crazy effects and combo's you could perform with each of your characters. It may not be the best one, but it's certainly the most underrated strategic RPG game I know. I'm dying to see the Director's cut of 'Until the End of Time'... </geek>

Re:No shining force?

[mausmalone]

Also, I'm suprised to see Final Fantasy Tactics Advance in there. They note it's a poor game. I would say it's main flaws are it is almost impossible to die, and it feels cheap (almost no sprite isn't used multiple times with different colour schemes, including the main character).

Dispite all this, it's still a pretty fun game, and definitely a good pick up for on-the-road strategy. It's at least enough to tide one over until Atlus decides to start GBA development.

also... ditto on Shining Force. One of my favorite series, and definitely one of the first well-known console strategy RPG's.

PC strategy?

[CoolGuySteve]

They made some good selections (yay Vandal Hearts), I'll have to check out the PS2 ones. But what about some strategy games on the PC? There must be tons but the only one I can think of at the moment is Fallout Tactics. Any suggestions?

Aside from that, the main reason Fallout is the only PC RPG that I really liked is because the battles were well-done strategy instead of mindless mouse clicking. Most PC RPGs nowadays, if they're not yet another Diablo clone, try and incorporate some real time/multiplayer aspect and usually fail. Even Arcanum managed to ruin itself. LAME.

What are some good traditional RPGs with strategic combat? If they even exist that is.

It looks like I gotta try ogre tactics

[hsoft]

Because FFT is really one of the best games I've played. Ever. I liked shining forces serie, but not as much as FFT. Have anyone tried the Teleport (Time mage job) ability with an archer (Go to hot archer spot instantly) or monk( archer killer :))? that rocks. I heard about disgea a lot, but I don't think I'll buy a PS2 anytime soon. Back to FFT. The translation is quite mediocre, but if you ignore that fact, the storyline is very interesting (If you can remember all the major characters names, there are a lot...)!.

Tactics Schmactics --- I want my BATTLE

[trippcook]

The only thing that bugs me about the current success of SRPGs, a genre I've always enjoyed, is that I fear that a great series has gone by the wayside --- OGRE BATTLE. Ogre Battle 64 was, to me, the perfect SRPG. True, you had less direct control over your combat, but exploration was a hoot and having a HUGE army to manage is right up my alley. Ogre Battle 64 is the only reason my N64 hasn't been sold or junked at this point.

Does anyone have any info about Ogre Battle? Are there any more OB games planned, or is Atlus going with Tactics Ogre and Disgaea type games in the near future?

Console Only? Too bad...

[WinnipegDragon]

I hate to see a list like this restricted to consoles only, since it means the best strategy RPG of all time is left off the list: Master of Magic.

By all things holy, it's a fine game. In fact, even though it's never been on a console, it's so damn good it should still be on the list, just out of reverence.

Phantasy Star

[superpulpsicle]

Best RPG of all time is still Phantasy Star 2 for Sega Genesis. Though I don't know if that classifies itself as strategy RPG.

What a crappy list.

[Pluvius]

Final Fantasy Tactics, one of the most overrated games of the Playstation era, is #2.
Dynasty Tactics is good, and I'm a big Koei fanboy, but I don't think even I would rate it #3.
Ogre Battle is better than Tactics Ogre, seeing as how Tactics Ogre is just an earlier version of FFT.
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance shouldn't be on the list.
No Shining Force, Langrisser, or Dark Wizard.
No PC games (Jagged Alliance 2 should at least be in the top three, and there are several great RPG/RTS fusions out there right now).

Well, at least he mentioned Front Mission 3, which is like FFT but good.

Rob

Re:I thought FF Tactics was very overrated.

[KeeperS]

Sorry, but I'm going to have to disagree on just about every one of your points.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say it runs like a dog. There's a couple of seconds of load time each time a map is loaded, but since you can easily spend 15-30 minutes on one map, that's not very significant. I guess this is a valid complaint, but it seems like a very trivial issue to me. Once things are initially loaded, there's no interruption or slowdown.

The graphics aren't state of the art, but they certainly hold up to time better than similar things from that era. Look at FF7. Other than the FMV, it looks terrible. While FF7 had great graphics (for a console game) when it was released, the low polygon characters just don't stand up to time. FFT's sprites, at least to me, still look rather fresh. Maybe it's because there's not a whole lot more you can do to a sprite now that hadn't already been done.

I'm also not sure what you mean when you say that it cheats. Does the AI follow the same rules you do? Absolutely. Everything down to chances to hit and the way damage is calculated is the same for both the player and the computer. There are a few situations where you're put at a disadvantage, but that's why it's called Final Fantasy Tactics. I can't think of any time the game cheats.

If you don't stick to the right character upgrade paths, you're screwed? That one's a laugh. I guess you've never heard of the Straight Character Challenge. It's a well-known challenge where you're only allowed to use one class in the game for all your units, and you're not allowed to use abilities of any kind that aren't learned in that class. The Straight Character Challenge has been completed using every single class. I think that's a pretty good indication that you CAN develop your character any way you want and still win. In general, abilities are more important than levels in FFT, but you should be okay with any skillset if it's used right. Oh yeah, and since I forgot to mention it, the Straight Character Challenge also has level caps, so it's not like those battles were won simply by overpowering the computer.

That gets me to my next point... lots of boring leveling? You don't need to level in FFT. Ever. As I said above, abilities are far more important than levels. Just about any reasonable combination of abilities will let you play through the game minimal leveling or no leveling at all. If you really think about what you're doing (Final Fantasy Tactics, remember?) you can easily beat the game below level 20.

I can think of many legitimate flaws in FFT, like the steep learning curve, iffy translation, and unbalanced abilities, but most of your complaints don't seem valid.