I started playing Disgaea 1 for my Discord server’s game of the month. I bounced off of this game all the way back at release. Now, I’ve given it a fair shake and it’s already feeling like another one of those I would actually have liked back in the day. My experience with this genre is still pretty limited; I’ve played Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre: LUCT along with a couple of the newer Fire Emblem games.

What do you think are the must-play strategy JRPGs?

  • @[email protected]English
    3•3 days ago

    Have you played all of the FFT games?

    There’s the original playstation one and the re-release war of the lions (which are fundamentally the same game)

    There’s also the gameboy advance title FFT:A and FFT:A2 for the DS.

    Easy enough to run an emulator to play them and they play well.

    • @[email protected]OPEnglish
      1•3 days ago

      Yes, I quite liked FFTA2. I just wish the pace of battle was a tick faster. I’ve also heard there’s a romhack for the first FFTA’s laws that I’ve been meaning to check out.

  • @De_NarmEnglish
    2•3 days ago

    Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor - Overclocked and its sequel are simply stellar games. They are easily some of my favorite games overall although they are not classic SRPGs. They are a hybrid of tactical gameplay and the usual SMT battle system. Still, I cannot recommend them enough.

  • @[email protected]English
    4•4 days ago

    My experience with tactical RPGs is also pretty limited, but I remember watching a playthrough of Vandal Hearts some years ago and thinking that some of the combat scenarios it presented were rather interesting. I’ve forgotten more-or-less the entire plot at this point, but still remember those encounters. Not sure I’d put that as a “must play” exactly – I never did – but it’s worth taking a look at, at least, if you’re interested in game design.

    Valkyria Chronicles was also pretty interesting. I watched a playthrough of that as well as playing about half of it myself afterwards. It’s got an unusual mix of real time control when moving characters around the map, time paused aiming, and other mechanics. If you haven’t seen it already, that one is definitely worth checking out.

    • @[email protected]OPEnglish
      3•4 days ago

      Oh, I forgot about Valkyria Chronicles! I have a tendency to just randomly pick up games Hitoshi Sakimoto has scored. I didn’t finish it though. I think it’s fairly popular?

  • @[email protected]English
    2•4 days ago

    If you’re into old stuff, I’d recommend Shining Force on the Sega Genesis. This was one of the earliest strategy RPGs in the west (at least on console).

    There might’ve been earlier ones, but this came out in the West only 2~3 years after the original Fire Emblem came out in Japan (exclusively).

    This was made by the company that would go on to make the Golden Sun games (not SRPGs, but more cult classic JRPGs)!