Gaming Which Is the Best RPG Battle-system?

[KAOS]

hi guys+girls i was just wondering wat do you think is the best RPG battle-system?? thinklong and hard because it relly important it judges wat RPG's you like. Personally i think .hack is da best.:D

[Shwa]

YAY for .hack!!!!!!!! I have # 1+3, but i need to get #2+4. Anyways, i'm still working on .hack''INfection still since Christmas, best RPG battle-system i've seen so far!

[NorykoAngelcry]

[color=darkred][SIZE=1]Well, it kind of depends. . I enjoy quite a bit of RPG battle-systems out there. . I am a big fan of some of the older RPGs out there though. .

For instance, I really enjoy:
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy Tactics
Suikoden series

Those are just a few. . I could go on for a while listing off games that I really enjoy. . but there isn't any real point in it. [/SIZE][/color]

[Zidane]

I like to stick with the simple kill monster-get XP-get enough XP for level up-Then repeat.

The way they did it in FF9,FF7 and the goldensun series, Though most RPG's use this sort of battle system i think it works well the most.

[James P. Galvatron]

I like Kingdom Hearts its a great game I used to like Dark Cloud, but betting the bosses and the levels became to frustrating so I gave up on it.

[Squall]

I like the system used in Grandia2, a menu-based battle system, that isn't just run up, attack, and run back via Final Fantasy, though I like that system as well. In my opinion, menu based systems are great, but they get boring when fighting a very tough boss with 50,000,000 Hp, where it just becomes a matter of time before something dies. I would like it if a few Final Fantasies had something besides a menu-based system, but I like them even if they don't.

[Magnum Apex]

[color=darkblue][font=trebuchet ms]The one in Final Fantasy X. The turn-based, player-switch system coupled with the innovative, open grid level-up system make for battles that are interesting and fun after the 200th time, somthing I can't say about most RPGs.[/color][/font]

[SephirothNIN]

Although FF7 is my favorite, and had my favorite limit break system (felt like super moves), I'd have to say FF6 had my favorite battle system. I liked how everyone had their own unique skill, but could also use magic and items and such. Hm...well I guess FF9 is kinda the same way...but its skills didn't vary as much, like how all of steiner's moves just did damage.

Another favorite is Suikoden 1 and 2's battle system. You simply put in the commands for your party of up to 6 people, and they played out in order of speed ala pre-ATB FF's. Not a lot of options, but it was still fun with combos and a giant party. Suikoden 3 doesn't go in there though heh, its buddy system and default attacking wasn't anywhere near the best.

[Purple Haze]

Id have to say Kingdom Hearts ore the .hack series. Those were great systems beacuse you don't have to wait for the monster to attack you then you hit him. It doesn't feel as boring and battle seem to go by quicker.

[Corey]

[color=003333][size=1]My all time favorite battle system is from the oldtime Phantasy Star games from the Genisis. They were simple turn-based, but depending on what attacks you select, the order of those attacks are switched up. I've tried to predict the order several times, but just can't.

My second favorites are the active time battles of FF7 and FF9. They force you to be quick witted and resourceful with your attacks and magics.

Chrono Trigger was great, too.[/size][/color]

[NorykoAngelcry]

[color=darkred][SIZE=1]Going in a little more detail (just a little) about some of the better RPG systems. . I love the active battle mode in most games. I usually start off a new game playing with active battle mode turned on. . I don't really know why. . I just like playing with a more difficult mode turned on. I thoroughly enjoy having a real challenge layed out before me ^_^ Some games seem too easy, even on a difficult difficulty setting and active battle mode. . but you get some games that make you sweat trying to keep everyone alive while having to worry about why your enemy is still smiling at you =) LOL [/SIZE][/color]

[Sir Kyle]

Hmm, that's a tough call. I've been through so many of them through the years on different games that it's all starting to meld together, but allow me to try to sift through the waste and pick my favorite.

I'd say my favorte so far has been the one used in Final Fantasy VII. It's quite simple, you throw the materia in the sockets, get attacks and such, and when you've been beaten to your "limit", you get to unleash your fury on your opponent in a multitude of ways. Simple, cut and dry, to the point and a very good compliment to a very good game.

I also enjoyed the Final Fantasy X system since it let you sit back and relax. It let you enjoy the game and not have to worry about glueing your eyes to the screen just so your characters didn't bite it hard. Which also brings up the point of X-2, pretty much dumping that CTB stuff and going for what seems to be the fasted the battle system out there right now. It's fast paced and tough to keep up with at first, but with practice, it's fun as hell to play.

So many good systems, I hope the developers of these games keep thinking of new ways to fight battles in each game they make. I never want to go play and game and say to myself, "Nice game, but I've seen this battle system before. Kinda lame and bland now, I suppose." I want to be dazzled everytime I put a new game it. Variety is the spice of life. And I like my life spicy, if not with a hint of lemon. ;)

[DeadSeraphim]

I will love, and will always love, the battle system of Final Fantasy 7. To me, nothing else comes close, except maybe Final Fantasy 10. Why do I love Final Fantasy 7's battle system? Why i'm glad you asked.

Firstly, FF7 was the first RPG i ever played. Period. As such it has left a... mark... on my stratedgy for every sequel after it (which, strangely enough, fails miserably in FF8 *curse magic system*). The dynamics of the sytem are so much different to every other game. in FF7 every spell has power ups. Which means it doesn't stop at BIO and become useless, t keeps going up to BIO3 and becomes incredibly useful. Also, how Limits are handled is also nice. Instead of having the option of using the limit, you HAVE to use it. Many gamers bemoaned the lack of ability to save a limit and attack instead. I obviously didn't, as I saw this as proper logic. You can't hold it in forever, and how are they supposed to attack with all that rage running through their heads? Summons in FF7 were fun too, with them not being too overused yet at the same time being there a powerful tool (though knights of the Round is overkill for anything lower than Sephiroth).

FF10 was a good battle system for different reasons. Turnbased was good, making it more reliant on stratedgy, while at the same time limits required some good reflexes. Aeons were over used though, but the emphasis on being able to tailor a character to your liking satisfied me. The first time I beat the game, noone knew hastega. Why? Because I set Tidus on the Auron path early on for strength, then onto Yuna's path with a frined sphere. That kind of custom-tailoring made the game great. Someone with skills in every class can have a rather long attack window though, which had the potential to be annoying. As for FFX-2 though... I can't comment as it isn't releaased here yet!!!

--EDIT--
Okay, I have now played FFX-2 and have to say it is awesome in battle system stakes. Like an anti-FFX battle system, it is so fast paced that you have to think on your feet.

[JCBaggee]

[color=red][size=1]Well, let me preface this by saying I haven't played a whole lot of RPGs. I'm limited to my PS1 and a few games on my comp (*cough* ya know what i mean >_>), so my opinions may be a bit skewed...

First off, I have to say I enjoyed the system from "The Legend of Dragoon". It was unique, and kept me interested in the battles. After a while, I get tired of hitting X over and over just to make a menu selection. But LoD changed that up. You had to keep tapping to hit an opponent multiple times. This means not only do you have a reason to pay more attention, but it also added depth to the battles. I also found the Dragoon Transformations to be a nice addition, as they weren't overly enforced. Sure, you could use them and get by, but a lot of the games battles were easier won without the Transformations. In fact, they were almost pointless, save for a few Boss battles.

Secondly, I liked Xenogears battle system. The command interface was unique, and it kept everything organized while being kept in a seperate area. The SP points was a nice touch too, allowing you to perform some truly amazing combos. The only downside to these battles were the Gear battles. Don't get me wrong...I loved the concept. But the factor of keeping an eye on your Fuel Gauge was just a little much for me, as I constantly had to charge up my gear to keep fighting.

But the best of all (and I'm really gonna be hated for this one) is one of the first PS1 RPGs, "The Granstream Saga". All battles took place in real time. You only had one character to worry about, and could change out your weapons, armor or spells quickly and easily. The commands were simple (Attack, Guard, Magic, Left/Right Sidestep) and the enemies were unique. Most poeple aren't going to agree with me on this, but I really enjoyed it, just like I did the rest of the game.

So, thats my two cents. Hopefully someone will know what I'm talking about ^_^;

--Chris[/color][/size]

[Darkness]

Well, I think I like the system from ffx the best so far.The whole switching in and out + the grid system has me sold. I like the system from ffx2 as well, but I feel that the whole game is lessened by the lack of playable characters. If I were to combine systems....it'd be ffx system with the option of making the battles atb and I'd throw in the combo system from legend of dragoon.

[Desbreko]

[color=indigo]Wow, I'm suprised no one has mentioned Chrono Cross before now. I think it has the most unique battle system I've ever had the pleasure of using, and it kept the battles interesting all the way until the very end fight. The actual combat and magic tied together wonderfully to create something that wasn't too slow or fast paced, and something that could be "tap the button until you win," for random encounters but also required more strategy for the tougher fights. (Though if you wanted to put more strategy into the lesser battles, you could use it to your advantage so that you'd come out of almost every fight with full HP).

The way the stamina worked was the main thing that required stategic use. Should you use all your stamina at once in attacking to power up your element level so that you could use a powerful element (magic) the next round, or should you conserve stamina and only use physical attacks or a weaker element in order to attack again sooner? Should you put elements lower on the grid so they can be used quicker but with less effect, or should you put them higher and have to wait longer to use them with more power? Should you start with strong attacks right off the bat and risk missing, or should you play it safe with lighter hits first to build up your hit% for a final, strong blow? There are just so many different ways of doing things with Chrono Cross' battle system, you can spend hours playing and never have a battle play out the same way twice.

The magic system was also brilliantly designed. At first it seemed a lot like the Materia system from FFVII, but as I played the game more I realized just how different it was. Only being able to use each element once per battle wasn't just some annoying thing they put in to make the game harder, it actually made you have to think about which elements you were equiping and where on the grid you were putting them. Though I will say that while the concept of the capture elements was a good idea, not getting the capture element back if they didn't work was annoying.

Overall, I'm not sure if Chrono Cross' battle system is my favorite, but it's definitely the one that stands out from all the rest that I've seen. And if it's not my absolute favorite, it'll either tie or come really close to it.[/color]

[Semjaza]

For me, Final Fantasy and "best battle system" can't even appear in the same sentence unless it involves "does not have".

Chrono Cross has an amazingly cool battle system. It's difficult to get used to at first, but once you mastered the field effects with magic it totally rocked. There were so many things you could mess around with.

Xenogears also had a pretty cool combat system, mostly because of the way it approached things. You had to press certain button combinations to pulll off various moves. There were quite a bit per character to unlock too. I think this really kept the game from getting [I]too [/I]dull... especially considering how slow paced it could be at times, in addition to the really high encounter rate.

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment also has an awesome system, I think. It's turn based, but there is just a massive amount of stuff your characters can do. You have standard melee attacks as well as ranged weapon attacks. Magic is used by calling upon your Persona (like a summon, sort of). The more you use them the stronger they get and the more magic they can use. Depending on what Persona attacks you used they'd also form combos.

It also has the very cool option of talking to your enemies. You can piss them off, befriend them, bribe them... all sorts of things. I wish more games did this.

Valkyrie Profile was also pretty cool. Overall, I'd say it was somewhat comparable to Xenogears's methods. The main difference was that each button on the PSX controller applied to one of your characters attacks. So X was one guy, Circle was another, etc. So there would be a lot of timing involved. For example there were some enemies who had soft bellies, so you could have one character hit them up in the air and another character hit them while they were in a daze.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is also a blast. I think it really picks up when you get all your weapon types. The game is very involving in battles, which just makes it very enjoyable. Timing is key, but there are also a lot of puzzle-ish elements involved.

Then, of course, there's stuff like Disgaea that's almost nothing but battles in the first place. I really love how that game is set up, especially with the Geo Panels. They're too complex for me to explain at 1:30 AM though lol.

Grandia is also awesome. as is Star Ocean. I'm looking forward to Star Ocean 3, Baten Kaitos and Tales of Symphonia in part because of their battle systems.

[Zidargh]

[font=verdana][color=navy]Like many others, Final Fantasy VII was my first RPG that I played all the way through so, unlike other games, it left a mark and I cherished it. I used to love the battle system to it, especially when I got to pretty high levels and after completing it I left it.

After about one year, I went back to the game, and even though I stuck with it all the way through, I found the battle system very tiresome and slow, a shame really. However, in the Final Fantasy series, I am enjoying Final Fantasy X-2's battle system; It's Fast Paced, More Intense, and More Realistic. There is also a number of different battle systems in that game during the minigames, for example, the Besaid Auroch's are being overworked in the Youth League, so you stick up for them and all of a sudden it is your task to carry out theirs which involves you running around with a gun, targeting fiends on the normal field maps, shooting them with different ammo types. It was quite different.

Overall, Final Fantasy Tactics has my favourite battle system, I haven't played Disgaea and therefore I can relate to this one the most. It was much more strategy-like, and it also added a sense of vulnerability to the characters as even at high levels, you may not be able to reach the enemies straight away, giving them a chance to challenge you. On this note though, Front Mission 3 has an amazing battle system, similar to Final Fantasy Tactics but in a much more different theme.

I hear Arc the Lad: Twilight of Spirits has a similar movement range in it's battle system so I'll have to check that out. There's lots of RPG's with unique battle systems, but FF's stray away from their boring turn-based system is welcomed by me.[/font][/color]

[Break]

[font=arial][size=2][color=#CC0000]I also think that Final Fantasy VII's battle system is very good - simple and easy to follow. FFX's was okay, I liked the way that no one actually gained "levels" but got stronger in different aspects. The sphere grid was awesome.

As you can tell, I'm not very informed in the RPG department ^^''[/size][/color][/font]

[inti]

[size=1]Well, I must say that my favourite battle system so far would have to be either the Kingdom Hearts one, or the FFX-2 one (I just got FFX-2, as it came out today. Go me!!).
The FFX-2 battle system is, as whomever said (can't remember who, probably more than one person), great as you have to think fast and know which attacks and spells to use against which enemies.
Now that I think about it, didn't KnightOfTheRose say that about FF7 and FF9? All of those systems are similar, but FFX-2 is faster (you don't have to wait so long for the attack/time bar thingy to go up)
As someone said, the lack of playable characters is annoying...
Which leads me on to Kingdom Hearts.
Although you have more than three playable characters, all (aside from the main three) are only available on their own respective levels. Certain abilities could be best used in other places, but what's fun is fun.
I think, skimming back over the other posts, that the Final Fantasy series has probably won over most RPG-gamers' hearts.
By now it should have. 13 games made in the numerically ordered series, and several others outside of it? That's like 17-19 games! No wonder the battle systems are better than most others!
Legend of Dragoon was great. The graphics couldn't have been worse though (they could, but as RPGs go...)
Someone mentioned FFVIII's magic system? I'd like to say that it completely ruined my perspective of upcoming FF games, until I tested FFIX. I think Square thought that FFVIII's system was the wrong way to go.
There's my rant. Ponder over it if you must.
Inti[/size]

[Shinken]

In my annoyingly humble opinion, I prefer the battle system from FFX, just like Darkness does. It gives one plenty of time to strategize (read: Study the game guide!). I personally like the FF7 overdrive system most of all, as it's simple and to-the-point.

[Guest Dark Taikobou]

I Have not played much RPG formated games. But the ones that i have played rocks!!!!!! The final fantasy and Chorno Cross Battle systems are 3 out in battle feild and attack on turn. those ones are a lot easier then the battle systems of Star Ocean 2. In Star Ocean all your allys will run out and attack at the first sight of battle. which gives you a better chance of dieing. The my most favorite would have to be Disgaea Hour of Darkness. Because it has a checkerboard type of fighting!!

[OtakuSennen]

[color=midnightblue]Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was the first Role Playing Game I ever got into to the slightest degree. Before that, all I really played was platformers and the occasional racing game, and I thought that SMRPG was the greatest game in existence. Oh, I was such a foolish seven-year-old child..

I did not know it at the time, considering I was a total newbie to RPGs and gaming in general, but Legend of the Seven Stars has a very generic, oftentimes overused Battle System- The turn based, go-first-if-you're-fastest system. SMRPG certainly pulled it off well enough, but nowadays I need something innovative, something more fresh in a battle system and new to keep me really interested.

Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga really fit my criteria. I had never played a game with such an intriguing yet simple Battle System before.. When I first heard about the concept I thought that it was [i]too[/i] simple, and really had no desire to buy Mario and Luigi. A week after it came out, however, my friend bought the game and would not stop talking it. At one point he "accidentally" left the cartridge at my house, and I ended up playing that game non-stop so that I would have it done by the time he realised he was missing the game.

It was a rather dull system at first, back when you could only jump, but once you got the [spoiler]fire and electricity[/spoiler] abilities things really got fun. Jumping to avoid enemies seemed like a rather stupid idea to me (outside of the realm of platformers), because it sounded rather easy, but every enemy has two or three different speeds or movements in which they attack, and the only way to tell what they are planning ahead of time is to watch every little detail of their movements. It's good, challenging stuff late in the game.

I haven't played many Real-Time RPGs, but the bits and pieces of the .hack games I have played were pretty fun and exciting. The high-octane thrills of an action/adventure game combined with the variety in attacks and techniques of various characters with traditional, turn-based RPGs makes for a fun experience.[/color]

[Zidargh]

[quote name='Dark Taikobou']I Have not played much RPG formated games. But the ones that i have played rocks!!!!!! The final fantasy and Chorno Cross Battle systems are 3 out in battle feild and attack on turn. those ones are a lot easier then the battle systems of Star Ocean 2. In Star Ocean all your allys will run out and attack at the first sight of battle. which gives you a better chance of dieing. The my most favorite would have to be Disgaea Hour of Darkness. Because it has a checkerboard type of fighting!![/quote]
Eh, you didn't have to let your characters run around and attack at the first sight of battle, that's what made this system so innovative. You actually had an AI menu for which the characters would be controlled, for example, it could be just the attackers who go on the front lines, and then the magic users stay back and use magic or heal but run if enemies approach them. This is just one example of the options in the menu, that's why the battle system worked so well. Strategy was very appropriate.

SO2 is one of my favourite RPG's out there as you can see.

[Dragonballzman]

I haven't played very many RPGs, but I enjoyed FF9's. Easy to get the hang of, nothing overly complex, yet at the same time having a good amount of depth to it. ^_^ [SIZE=1]I haven't played it in a long time though, so I can't remember exactly how it was, but I don't remember feeling that there was anything wrong with it. XD[/SIZE]

The Megaman Battle Network games have a pretty good battle system, personally. Instead of just standing there all turn, you have to move around and dodge attacks manually instead of just hoping your opponent attacks and a little bit of text saying "miss" appears. XD The Counter Hit system is proably my favourite addition to the system, where if you hit an enemy with a chip attack when they're in the middle of an attack sequence, you go into Full Synchro and your next attack does double damage. It works wonders when you're against bosses with lots of HP if you can keep the Full Synchro going by always attacking at the right time.

Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga's battle system is also very good. Timing is probably the most important part of it, especially with the 3 levels of Bros Attacks.