Track this topic | Email this topic | Print this topic

FF Tactics for PSP was a great remedy to help my Tactics addition (especially since the PS console is not portable).

But in terms of other turn-based strategy games, the newest one for me, "Zatikon", has AWESOME mechanics:

Zatikon

"Zatikon" kind of plays like a D&D battle but retains a lot of the action-oriented elements of FF Tactics. Unit combinations are where it's at, in terms of strategy. Selecting your units pre-battle to complement each other is key, especially knowing their move/attack ranges, etc.

It's free, so I'd definitely check it out: www.zatikon.com

This post has been edited by jurassicmarc on 17th December 2009 23:46

Zatikon also has online COOP play which is awesome, and a chat browser so you can coordinate with your teammate.

There is a game called Ogre Tactics,
and it is the predecessor (I believe)
of this game. I'm surprised that there is no section
on it on this site. It's really awesome, and in my opinion
actually superior to FFT. In OT your character actually
has the opportunity to become hero or villain, completely
changing the nature of the story in two directions and allows
the use of more characters per battle and in the party. It also
allows you to battle in a practice mode where your party fights
each other, which works as a two player mode. Where you and a friend can do battle
with each other. Really awesome game. It doesn't look quite as good tho with regard
to detail.

I always enjoyed Fire Emblem. Very frustrating game, however. Much less forgiving than Tactics. I know they made random manga/anime into tactics game, too. Yu Yu Hakusho Dark Tournament is a good example. I don't think the game is fantastic, but it might be worth playing if you're a fan of the series.

--------------------

"A little tight, but the price was right" - Locke
"Oh, what a Fuddy Duddy" - Relm
"..." - Shadow
"I'm a General, not some love starved twit" - Celes
"Although Edgar showers his attention on the ladies, most are smart enough to pay him no attention. Oh! King Edgar!" - Figaro Castle Inn Attendant

Quote (Hercules Isadore @ 11th February 2010 21:53)

There is a game called Ogre Tactics,
and it is the predecessor (I believe)
of this game. I'm surprised that there is no section
on it on this site.

The Tactics Ogre series does predate FFT, but I don't think any version was released outside of Japan until after FFT's success. It's not a Square Enix game, though, and as such would probably never show up on this site.

I have heard good things about it, but by the time it was readily available in English, my time to play a game like this was pretty badly diminished, which appears to be a shame.

--------------------

"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

My favorite tactical RPG games that aren't named FF Tactics are Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword (just Fire Emblem in the U.S.) for the GBA, Growlanser Generations for the PS2, and the first two Disgaea games, which are for the PS2 and PSP. Each of them is worth looking up, but Growlanser is really hard to find.

Fire Emblem, like mentioned above, is pretty unforgiving, but FE7 is a little easier than some other games in the series. As long as you follow the rules of Fire Emblem (1. Be ****ing Careful, 2. Think the **** Ahead, and 3. Level the **** Up) then you'll do alright.

Growlanser Generations are the 2nd and 3rd games in the Growlanser series, and the only games in the series that I've played. They dominated my playtime for months when they came out, and if you're into anime-inspired characters and very involved, political storylines, then it's a very good game.

The Disgaea series is just ridiculous. You can level up characters to level 9,999, you can level up weapons and items as well as characters, there are dozens of character classes with six tiers each, and you can eventually deal damage well into the billions. The plots of all three Disgaea games are also completely rife with humor and surprisingly touching at times. Definitely worth playing, especially the first game in the series.

--------------------

this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

You might want to try Saiyuki: Journey West for the PS1, especially if you happen to like the Monkey King at all.

Obscure, but still possible to find on eBay or possibly an ISO file on a ROM site.

--------------------

HSUP B TCELES

Vandal Hearts anyone? The copies aren't so expensive on Ebay and personally it ranks just as high as FFT in my books. It's more scripted meaning you have less options, but it's great, really mature story, really gruesome and bloody.

Hmm one of these days i'l have to find someone who can borrow me fft for psp.

Or i could replay the fft advance with its colourfull character and weird laws.



--------------------

We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

I highly recommend the Ogre Battle/Tactics Ogre games, from MOTBQ to Gaiden. Personally, OB64 and TO are my faves, and well worth the scratch y'pay (although TO goes for $80+ nowadays). And since Growlanser Generations was mentioned, I'll second that -- it's got a half-RTS, half-turn-based battle system that's enjoyably involving. Just don't run in terror from the voice acting!

--------------------

It's gonna be a glorious day
I feel my luck can change

Growlanser Generations, Tactics Ogre, Phantom Brave and Vandal Hearts are all great suggestions. I also suggest Soul Nomad and the World Eaters, which is in the same vein as Disgaea.

That's really all I can come up with, aside from mentioning that the Tactics Ogre team is the one responsible for FFT ( Square bought them out you see, which is why they are so alike in gameplay and story).

Edit

I forgot to mention the Spectral Force series, which is also a fun playthrough, though hard to come by in America

This post has been edited by Nytecrawla on 4th March 2010 16:05

--------------------

This is a webcomic and gaming blog where I rant about nonsense. Enjoy.

I was a soldier, now I just play one in video games.

Speaking of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, it's the mention that's most immediately obvious in my mind. Although the characters never have secondary skill sets or innately swappable abilities, the core gameplay is essentially the same, at least when it comes to how battle is conducted and how classes are unlocked. Unlike FFT, there's a Geo-Panel system which can drastically alter the course of some battles by giving particular squares special rules on certain maps in a very manipulatable fashion. If you liked item hunts in F.F.T. Disgaea has so much more to offer in this direction, as there are hundreds of ranks of weapons, armor, ect. Any class can steal, since the ability is actually linked to an item that breaks once successfully used, although the thief class generally has much higher chances in exchange for somewhat paltry statistics.

To help make up for the lack of extremely flexible skill/class combinations allowed by FFT's job system, there are a lot more training considerations to fill in the void. There are a zillion things to bolster to absurdly high proportions using remarkably different methodologies: characters, weapons, weapon proficiency, skill proficiency, too much to effectively list really. Speaking of which, the level cap should be a rather familiar number: 9999. Thankfully by default the main quest doesn't go to levels beyond what you might find in a normal RPG. However, to extend gameplay, you can use political propositions to strengthen enemies or open up side quests and there are also procedurally generated dungeons with up to 100 floors. Like Chrono Trigger there are multiple conditional endings and a new game plus mode too. Overall it really helps to fill that certain void left by the lack of further challenges most other RPG-styled games have once you've resolved the conflict. If you like complex damage algorithms or are easily impressed by big numbers, that's quite a plus, especially since you can deal millions of damage points with a properly equipped and built character. Adding to the game's flexibilities, skills aren't necessarily based upon the class either, as all but a few tech-based sets are linked to the weapons as opposed to the unit and magical spells can be uplinked from character to character creator in some sort of bizarre reverse mentorship program. Do keep in mind that different classes are inclined to use certain weapons, so while you still have a bit of leeway, units of the same class will still act a fair bit more identically than those raised under the rules of F.F.T. Also, since you're probably fairly worried about it by now, deaths are a bit more forgiving in Disgaea as they'd naturally have to be to facilitate the tweaking of all of these aspects: everybody can be revived post-battle and while you cannot revive characters mid-fight, you can have up to twice as many on the field at once.

In comparison to F.F.T. Disgaea's story and atmosphere is on a much lighter, brighter, more endearing and comedic note on the whole. At the same time it can still take itself seriously at times as well for moments of empathy and inspiration. Do note that while there are some elements of aspiration, conspiracies, betrayals, class segregation and mystery at various points in Disgaea's plot, it isn't quite the grim, dark, thought provokingly complex interwoven tapestry F.F.T. provides. Both stories are great for more or less entirely different reasons and I for one welcome the contrast as being rather complimentary, as they satiate rather polar needs. A fun versus sustenance contrast.

Graphically, they're fairly identical in the basic precepts of style: Both games appear to use a semi-rotatable three quarters perspective map, overlaid with 2D character sprites. However since Disgaea has the advantage of being for the PS2 as opposed to the PS1, it naturally has many advantages in refinement and colorfulness, although perhaps not by quite as much as you'd think. At least still for what it is, its done to rather nice bar setting standards. I'd say exceptional even, except few people actually bother with the 2D imagery these days to compare and most of those are outside the TBS genre.

When I sought it out it was a rather scarce game. However rather conveniently for anybody wishing to try Disgaea out for a spin, it was rereleased for both major modern handheld platforms: The Nintendo D.S. as under the title Disgaea D.S. and the Playstation Portable under the title Disagea: Afternoon of Darkness. I hear complaints that the sound took some rather hard hits on its trip to the portable systems, yet there's also a fair bit of additional content in each if you don't particularly care. This pretty much marks yet another similarity to F.F.T. and Square in general for that matter, albeit one more so on the marketing level than anything you'd notice in-game in this case. Don't forget to check out AmaCoN when making your purchasing decision: for both the original title and the D.S. version the prices look rather nifty even for a new copy. The PSP version goes for a relatively average price as well. Keep in mind that pendent on the desired version, the game sells at a base rate of 20-30 dollars directly from Nippon Ichi's official shop Rosenqueen(named aptly after the Rosen Queen Trading Co. store you find in Disgaea by the way, it's very much their most popular game).
______________________________________
I'd recommend other TBS games if I knew of many, yet I really don't as the genre seems a bit short-handed for notable titles. The only other one I've really played for any length of time is The Battle for Wesnoth which is rather markably different really. Little to no character customization, no 'true' ranged attacks, no area of effect spells, very little leveling up and rather seemingly simple single layered maps that consist of varying types of terrain. Instead most of the fun comes directly from a rather large variety of tactical situations the game induces. Decisions are mostly based upon restricting the opponent's movements, optimizing your own, utilizing defensively strong terrain, attacking during the proper point in the day/night cycle and utilizing the proper units for proper jobs. The game is rather dicey since the defences are largely based upon evasion percentages, which can be frustrating when something that should work doesn't and makes it hard to plan turns in advanced. At the same time this factor gives shape to a large variety of unusual puzzle-like circumstances to work your way through and gives the player a variety of risk/reward type considerations since no plays are guaranteed to work with absolute consistency. It's not a game for everybody but the stable versions are rather polished and its free, both to download the game itself and to play on the multiplayer server. Speaking of the multiplayer, it's really the bit I love about it best, since there's a huge emphasis upon providing fair playing circumstances for everybody: the various factions are meticulously balanced for strength on the forums and the online matches usually start completely from scratch. M.P. games are also a bit of a time drain though, since everybody spends so much time mulling over their options but that's part of the fun. It's certainly not a game for everybody but those who like it tend to love it. Nothing to lose for giving it a shot. Do note that there's not much in the way of story in Wesnoth though, the tales in the campaigns aren't entirely bland yet at the same time the scripting system is rather inhibitive; most of the flavor actually comes from unit mythos and descriptions of the scenarios you're thrust into. The single player campaign known as Under the Burning Suns is a rather exceptional example of what Wesnoth is capable of, yet at the same time it has an unusually strong atmospheric weighting and hence won't teach you how to play the game very effectively as such, so I can't necessarily recommend diving into it headfirst, as much as I want to.

This post has been edited by Tonepoet on 6th March 2010 13:41

--------------------

Role reversal at its finest.

"Fairly" similar would be Advance Wars.

It has almost the same battle system as Fire Emblem (however in some maps you can deploy as many units as you want). The only difference is that you cannot level up units.

Other less known games would include the original Summon Night series (and with this I exclude the GBA ones) for the PSX and PS2.

They have a similar gameplay style, turn-based and strategy RPG elements. However, unlike FFT, when a character dies you cannot resurrect them for the rest of a fight and they won't gain any experience, but you can use them later in the game. Each character has a specific job and set of skills, including some in which you create "Gems" that are used to summon monsters (be it like when summoning an esper or sometimes summoning a permanent usable unit). Very colorful, focuses a lot on the story, and includes multiple endings.

the most similar to FFT is The Holy Sword on PC: same jobs, same buttle tactics, but i had many crushs during the game.