Best RPGs That Reinvented Tactical Combat

Tactical RPGs began with easy grid-based combat. It was a straightforward genre to grasp for anyone who had played Chess, Checkers, or every other sort of board game on the market. Click on a unit, move them inside their tile spaces, after which attack enemies in the event that they are nearby.

One great early example is the primary Fire Emblem game on the Famicom, which was the NES equivalent in Japan. The genre has come a good distance because the NES. Tactical RPGs still use grid-based combat, but even that has evolved over time. Let’s rank the best innovations in tactical RPG combat based on how revolutionary the concepts are, no matter if anyone else copied the concept afterwards.

Card-Based Stealth

Metal Gear reinvented the stealth genre on the NES. Its much later spinoff, Metal Gear Acid, combined grid-based tactics, card collecting, and stealth into one in all the strangest games on the PSP. Players could collect cards and move Snake and his partner across the mission maps with them.

Cards could also keep them hidden from view, attack enemies, grant item-based boosts, and so forth. While strange and hard to get used to, the stealth did work for a tactical game. Nobody has thought to mix these three solid genres again outside of the Metal Gear Acid sequel, which is a shame, but there have been other tactical stealth games since.

Front Mission

Mech RPG Origins

Front Mission on the SNES was one in all the primary great mech-based RPGs, on top of being a superb tactical game. Western fans didn’t get to experience a Front Mission game until the third principal entry on the PS1, they usually would not see this original game specifically until it received a DS port in 2007. What sets this game apart is that players can customize the mech, or Wanzer, of every key party member, from different legs to weapons.

In battle, players will move and attack on a grid-based map, but it surely’s not nearly destroying one other mech to win. Mech parts shall be randomly targeted, and it should affect combat in the event that they’re destroyed. For instance, a unit cannot attack if its arm is blown up. Sadly, this series hasn’t reached the heights of infamy as big as something like Final Fantasy Tactics, but it surely definitely has its fans.

Disgaea: Hour Of Darkness

Pass Party Members Around Like Candy

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness may appear like one other common grid-based tactical PS2 RPG, but it surely is so way more than that. Strategy here is more involved, as players must worry concerning the terrain, which might have different effects, like boosting defenses or lowering attack power. Stranger still, characters can pick up allies or enemies and toss them across the map.

Attaccking characters will be assisted by any allies around them, and attacks are bombastic like anime cutscenes. Also, equipment will be leveled up in separate dimensions. There’s loads to unpack with all of the Disgaea games and Nippon Ichi Software, or NIS, leaned hard into their quirky tactics and haven’t stopped innovating since.

The Banner Saga

An Episodic Journey

The Banner Saga began in 2014, and over the course of three episodes, ended its epic journey in 2018. The Banner Saga took inspiration from Norse mythology for its setting, specializing in a bunch of individuals and mystical beings attempting to outrun a malevolent force. It may well be likened to Final Fantasy Tactics and its grid-based maps, with easy combat and somewhat little bit of The Oregon Trail thrown in for good measure.

Each move in battle feels more significant than the last due to permadeath. The Banner Saga didn’t invent permadeath, but it surely definitely modified how players approach combat, as character deaths affect the story. It’s a tactical RPG that demands more patience than the rest.

Project X Zone

Tactical Fighters

Project X Zone is an enormous crossover RPG that blends characters from Bandai Namco, Capcom, and Sega franchises. Most units are available in pairs, like Chris and Jill from the Resident Evil games, they usually all move across a grid-based map. When combat is engaged, each character can perform several moves, which is able to tick down some extent system.

Players can construct combos, just like a fighting game, which makes each encounter fun and unique. It’s a shame the 2 games on 3DS still haven’t been ported elsewhere. Technically, Project X Zone was built on the template of Namco x Capcom, a PS2 game that never left Japan, but Project X Zone is a more refined experience.

Unicorn Overlord

Taking Tactics Into The Open-World

The wonderful thing about Vanillaware is that they’re seemingly never satisfied with making the identical RPG over and another time. Unicorn Overlord is their tackle a tactical RPG, melded a bit with an RTS. During battle, characters will be assigned to maneuver on the map mechanically.

Once they reach an enemy, combat will play out mechanically as well, but players can prep their squads to perform in certain ways. The overworld is a notable innovation, because it offers an open-world experience outside of battle, albeit on a smaller scale. Players can search for materials, engage in side quests, or fight random enemies, which is able to then prompt a tactical battle.

Valkyria Chronicles

Where Are The Copycats?

Valkyria Chronicles could be the best RPG innovation on the PS3, tactical or otherwise. Players can put together their team of class-based characters who fall into typical military units like medics, tank destroyers, and snipers. Each unit has a meter, they usually can run across the battlefield in any direction, so long as they’ve enough juice within the tank, so to talk.

Enemies can fire freely as characters move around, and time stops every time players decide to aim their weapon at an enemy unit. The 4 principal games all follow this gameplay style, and it makes players feel like they’re truly in a war zone, which adds to the stress. It’s almost unfathomable that more tactical RPGs have not copied even a portion of this technique.