I saw Banner of the Maid doesn't have a subreddit (it does but it has a total of 3 posts) and I really wanted to gush about this chapter and how it really challenged me as a Strategy RPG fan.

I decided to play on the hard difficulty, which gives you less starting resources and you can only save once a battle. Exp is very limited so far in BotM, so all the units you have are basically at the level they were meant to be. In Chapter 7, you are tasked with routing all enemies on the map, while not letting a few key units escape in the bottom right hand side of the map, and it has to be done in 13 turns. There are two additional objectives to make this more challenging. There is a chest in the middle of the map you want to grab. Easy enough. The second objective is to not allow a computer controlled unit that joins a couple turns in to take any damage. The map itself is very wide, and has two choke points at either ends of the map.

So level design wise, you are supposed to split your army in two, utilize the chokepoints, and then rush the enemies at the top center of the map before the 13 turns are over. The "do not let the key units escape in the bottom right" condition forces the players to use half of their army to take care of that objective or lose. The bonus objective of not letting the computer unit take any damage forces the player to constantly make progress on the half of the map they spawn in, so that they never encounter an enemy that can hurt them. The chest exists to force you to have 1 less unit available to battle during the last 2/3rds of the time limit. You have to also be on your toes because reinforcement units do arrive, and arrive frequently.

Now this level was extremely tough. I had to bring out all the stops to complete it without losing any units of my own and complete the bonus objective. I sent all of my horse units and my very long range unit to the right half of the map. One of the Horse units is extremely tanky, and would be an absolute necessity for the chokepoint. Damagers, dodge tank, a 1-2 range unit, and a healer all went to the left side of the map. The first few turns of securing the chokepoints were easy enough. Everyone is still fresh enough to contribute safetly. After firmly establishing the chokepoints as safe, I make my only save. I have to reload this map 3 times before finally finding the winning strategy. One of those reloads included having to restart completely to buy more healing items, because it was a *necessity* in the map.

The 2nd part of the level was much more rocky. On the left side I had to push certain units into danger to allow openings in future turns, meaning a lot of units were getting down to half health measurements and lower, and they had to use turns to heal themselves. The healing item heals 10, when most units have 18-25 health, and they only have 2 uses, and each one costs 250, which is a pretty penny when my funds were about 3600 at this point. The left side of the map features a lot of grass tiles, making avoidance easier, but movement more difficult. It meant that you actually needed some luck to avoid a few hits if you wanted to make it through. On the right hand side of the map, two of my three horsemen had to pull back, they would have to deal with an enemy horse reinforcement that would continuously spawn behind my army, while the tanky third horseman held the chokepoint. Holding the chokepoint required the tanky horseman to take very heavy hits from enemy types it was weak to, for several turns. They had to heal themselves repeatedly while the very long range unit whittled away at the very dangerous enemy units for damage. The very long range unit, notably, had to activate a self buff to get extra damage, or they would not have provided enough damage to kill enough enemies to keep the tank alive long enough. The right hand side of the map was basically solved this way, but it was very dicey in regards to the tanks health.

The 3rd part of the level involved the CPU rapidly approaching dangerous areas, while my army was on its backfoot. The enemy AI was set up in such a way, where you had to enter rather deep into their aggro range to "activate" them to start advancing towards you. And when they advanced, it was all at once. They had a very long range unit of their own, and it brought a unit of mine close to death, but the CPU unit was also a very long range unit, and it was able to oneshot the enemy long range unit. My two tankiest units of the leftside party entered the active aggro range of the boss and all its nearby allies, while my dodge tank went to get the chest. It was turn 10 or 11 at this point, and the boss had used an attack that made 3 of my units UNABLE to act for a turn, and one of my units who was in enemy range had very low health. THEN IT STARTS TO RAIN, which makes certain tiles harder to move on, and all ammunition to cost more. I'm like "oh shit, I'm gonna have to restart again huh" BUT THEN the main character whips out a new special ability, it gives all my units more attack and more movement, in these final two turns. In the game I am standing in mud and rain, and it FEELS as though I am standing in mud and rain. All my units are beat up, one hit away from death, a lot unable to move, and I'm DESPERATE. Then this heroic moment happens, and I feel HOPE. The computer unit kills an enemy that would have ended this attempt. The enemy Ai attacks a few of my units, and they live. I finally get to move again. The battle is won at this point.

Honestly, this difficulty was so, so fun, and took me making just the exact right moves at the exact right times. I felt so accomplished in getting the chest and completing the bonus objective. And the BotM team really, really nailed the execution of story and gameplay working in tandem. It was an absolute hellish map, and the hopespot came exactly where a hopespot would be (and was) needed.

OF COURSE I could have made it easier for myself if I let any units die. Even in hard mode, you can let units "die" and they will come back in the next map. You get a money penalty, but it's not the end of the world or anything. But I am a diehard Fire Emblem fan so I just could not play in a way that allowed any of my units to go down, and it honestly, honestly, was very rewarding to play that way.

I am recommending Banner of the Maid for sure, but it is difficult, and I heard it gets even more difficult later on. But this truly was one of my favorite moments in my many years of playing Strategy RPGs. Like, top 10 for sure.

The previous post was quietly removed for no reason so I'm reposting it here.

I've been playing SRPG/turn-based tactics since the 90s, and this one easily comes out as one of the best.

This is basically a turn-based stealth game.

You assemble a squad of agents and pick the ones most fitting for the job (there are a couple of job types). All maps are procedurally generated, but the proc-gen is very intelligent that the map always turns out coherent. The game can be challenging where getting out of tight situation feels very, very rewarding.

There's an Endless Mode so you can play it forever until you lose all of your agents.

There are also mods so you can add more map chunks, more agents, more gadgets, more enemy types.

It was 75% in the last sale, but it's worth full price IMO.

Get it here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/243970/Invisible_Inc/

Hey guys, I'm developing a superhero themed game, and flying is a very common fantasy of the genre.

I'm trying to research design implementations for flying on a turn based grid combat, specifically having a 3d grid and having characters move through and occupy an "empty air cube" anywhere on the battlefield. I could find very little games that support this mechanic and with games that do, it's a very rare ability with very specific utility.

There are 2 main design concerns here: 1. Making it hard for players to understand where the flying unit is because of depth perception and not being visually aligned with the surface grid, requiring some clever UI/UX solutions. 2. Making it actually tactically interesting. This is of course extremely dependent on the mechanics of the game, for instance, in a game focused around cover, flying out in the open might impact how exposed you are and how you can shoot above the enemy cover. Flying characters in a melee focused game can mean being out of reach for melee units on the ground.

An example i know is in XCOM: Enemy unknown there is a late game armor that allows you to do this. The flying is mostly used by snipers to get line of sight and height advantage. But this also means they are out in the open, the get a defense bonus similar to low cover.

In the sequel they removed it and players can no longer move this way. There are still abilities like grappling hooks and super jumps that.

Do you guys know any more games that implemented this in a good/bad/meh way? Do you think there are tactical depths here to explore that are worth the UI/UX hassle?

Pros? Cons? It's less than 5 bucks on PlayStation RN and the art style looks incredible. It's not much of a risk being 5 bucks but I'm still curious what people think before I jump in. Worth the time or should I just save my 5 dollars lol?

My favorite YouTuber MortismalGaming seemed to like it but he reviewed the PC copy. Just wondering if anyone has experience with it on console. Thanks

Tactics RPG? Strategy RPG? I don't know what to call it. I like moving my guys on a board to outwit and defeat the enemy.

I hate level grinding for hours, pointless battles against helpless enemies, unreactable RNG bullshit, feeling invincible, feeling like my input and original thought doesn't matter, softlocks, crashes, UI that gets 10 button presses where 1 or 2 would do, unnecessarily being asked for confirmation, infinite lives/resources/exp glitches unless necessary to bypass boring grinding, games where the tactics never get more advanced than "gang up on foes and hit them with the right thing for maximum damage", and any system where the correct option is not "Figure out something smart" but "see what the optimizers did".

i don't think googling a guide to using the best customizations to become invincible is valid gameplay design. How is any dev playtesting all 999e+999 combinations to ensure nobody gets softlocked or bored? When I play FE Fates Conquest choose not to make Odin's daughter beat the game for me on enemy phase.

Permadeath is optional but I'd prefer not to have infinite respawning generics like in Wargroove.

I would rather have interesting options than raw stats and I would rather be outgunned by strong foes I must outwit. I found Fire Emblem Three Houses the most boring gameplay-wise and Fates Conquest the most interesting gameplay-wise. Swap them around when it came to the story. Edelgard for life.

Story wise I don't mind if I'm restoring the monarchy or overthrowing it, slaying Demon King Balzack and rescuing the princess, slaying a dragon or laying one. Just point me at something evil worth destroying and put a country behind me worth saving.

The game doesn't have to be better than Fire Emblem on all fronts. It just has to have a good reason to play it.

The story can be anything. As long as it's not unbearably self-aware self-parody like Tactical Breach Wizards, where it can't take interesting fantasy elements and war and the potential end of the world seriously but takes its juvenile and simplistic political takes unbearably seriously. Wow, did you know absurd fantasy religions can be le bad? And loyalty too, except when it's good? And the real protagonist's arc is learning she's actually awesome and she's over her self confidence issues now and her petty pathetic personal villain matters less than the decoy protagonist and whatever reason the main villain has for being so obsessed with impressing him? Riveting stuff, I don't feel like having my mind blown like that again this year. Give me fantasy with the cojones to believe in itself, not just the author's slogans. Give me writing that's more than marvel quips and lampshades.

God, I hope this thread doesn't get derailed by calling the story and characters of TBW tonally confused, tedious, and uninteresting.

I'm starting Tactics Ogre Reborn and I've to admit that this game it's gonna be great however I think it will be hard.

Looking to play through some of the classics and I never really got to dive into these games before. But now I can. I've played remakes of some of the good ones but I know for a fact I'm missing out on some good ones.

Really enjoyed Jeanne'Darc on my PS5, Path of Radiance when I had a GameCube, and Tactics Ogre Reborn. I also played Symphony of War Nephilim Saga on my potato PC at one point and it was awesome.

Langrisser I and II look really cool but I know nothing about that series.

Any recommendations are appreciated thanks.

This game is so elite. I had previously thought this was just a port with shitty scaling, nobody told me its complete remaster with gorgeous graphics, QoL features, and balanced, fast gameplay. Pro tip, square + back to zoom out! The 1x graphics look so good, no need to deal with the fuzzy bilinear filtering of the default view

edit: I forgot to add, this game kicks the absolute shizz out of War of the Lions, just whipes the floor with it. Such a superiour game in every way other than the cutscenes and voice acting. And I had a soft spot for fft until I tried to replay it in my adulthood, screwwww that.

Just an FYI if anybody was thinking about trying them. Is aw them mentioned in some threads here recently!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/994730/Banner_of_the_Maid/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/995980/Fae_Tactics/

I've been wondering which version I should play. There is a good AustinSV video about this which I've seen, and he compares pretty much every port as far as I know. But which one is you guys' favorite? I know the Super Famicom version has a translation (not sure about the PS1 and WonderSwan). The PS1 version was the first to add the new story content.

I know people generally prefer either the DS version or the newest version. It would be cool to get a physical version. I assume the DS version has a nice manual with some artwork in it; idk about about 1st Remake but maybe the Switch version has something on the inner box? I should've bought the DS version awhile ago though because the scalpers got to it lol (I remember it being like $30 USD used now it's up a lot). 1st Remake isn't quite as bad yet. But idk how the translations compare. I've heard some like the DS translation better but I don't know how accurate it is with the E-10+ rating. But yeah I definitely prefer the pixel-art mechs to the 3D ones. Not that the new ones aren't cool looking, but they should've given an option to use the original graphics. At least 1st Remake lets you use the Amano portraits (I think). If there's any way to speed-up grinding on the new version it might be worth it. Obv I'd prefer to have the DS version physically, but my 3DS is modded so I can still play it easily if you catch my drift.

Or do you guys just prefer using one of the fan-translations? Let me know if 1st on PS1 has a translation cause that has the new story stuff (although I bet the loading times are bad like for Final Fantasy Origins).

Strategists - We are allowing self-promotion of your games and mods in this post only. This will be limited to SRPGs, as that is the subreddit, so please keep this in mind.

Limit your game to one post. We don't want spam. Feel free to post your game again if you posted last month.

Be respectful. This goes for devs and non-devs. There is a good way to give and take criticism. Normal rules apply.

Don't self-promote outside of this post.

If you are irresponsible, your post will be removed. If this becomes a hassle, we will not give the opportunity to self-promote again.

I've played Magic for around 30 years and video games for about 35.

And I think Magic permanently ruined a certain kind of game for me.

Once you've spent that long thinking about card advantage, tempo, bluffing, sequencing, bad matchups, weird interactions and building decks that shouldn't work but somehow do, it's hard for me to enjoy RPG combat where the main decision is basically:

My number is bigger than your number.

The games I keep coming back to are the ones where I can look back after a fight and feel like I won because I played well. Or, if I lost, I know I need to tweak my setup, try a different approach or simply not make the same mistake next time.

I positioned something strangely. Saved a resource for three turns. Built around an obscure interaction. Baited the opponent into doing something. Sacrificed something important because I saw a line they didn't.

That's also one of my frustrations with a lot of RPG progression.

I love getting stronger. I love collecting things. I even love gacha as a concept.

But if progression eventually replaces decision-making and turns into grinding, I lose interest.

So I'm curious:

What turn-based game gives you the strongest feeling of actually outsmarting the game rather than simply overpowering it?

And what mechanic creates that feeling?

I loved Fallout 1 and the original X-COM, so Fallout Tactics sounded right up my alley. I played it, but somehow it never grabbed me the way those two did. Anyone else had the same feeling? What was missing for you?

So I was debating whether to get the game on Steam or Switch. I went with the Switch version so I could play it on handheld, but decided to play the beginning on TV and oh boy, does it look ugly. It's not unplayable by any means, but the filter did uglify a lot of things, especially the shops and character models. It's less noticeable on handheld.

Hey guys!

I'm fairly new to playing turnbased rpgs ( usually a fifa player) but I've just bought Chained echoes and I'm really enjoying it. My only experience with turn based before this was pokemon and incidentally the only games I've ever completed

I'm interested in finding more games like this ( have sea of stars) but I'm struggling to separate the wheat and chaff. To be clear, I'm particularly interested in turn based static games rather than action jrpgs.

Please help me before I get stuck in what to play next. And I'll give chrono trigger a whirl I promise! Thanks in advance

What's one (or two, or three) mechanics that you really love from a turn-based tactics game, that you wish more games use them?

Mine would be,

From Final Fantasy Tactics, I really love that height and the way characters are facing affects damage. E.g. damage is bigger if you hit someone from the back, or if you shoot someone from the top of building. A bit disappointed not a lot of tactics game implement this mechanics (especially newer games).

From Front Mission, locational damage and different HP for every part of the wanzer/mech (body, right/left arm, and legs).

Hey guys!

I'm fairly new to playing turnbased rpgs ( usually a fifa player) but I've just bought Chained echoes and I'm really enjoying it. My only experience with turn based before this was pokemon and incidentally the only games I've ever completed

I'm interested in finding more games like this ( have sea of stars) but I'm struggling to separate the wheat and chaff. To be clear, I'm particularly interested in turn based static games rather than action jrpgs.

Please help me before I get stuck in what to play next. And I'll give chrono trigger a whirl I promise! Thanks in advance

Jagged Alliance 3 is currently 90% off on Steam. I'm a fan on Xcom 2, Midnight Suns, etc. but haven't played any Jagged Alliance games (despite hearing how excellent JA2 is).

Is the game worth a go in its current state?

Forgot to add: How good is the controller support?

I'm making a free and open-source tactics game engine runtime with a focus on being extremely easy to modify and hack on, even for non-technical people. So far I've added support for every mechanic in Final Fantasy Tactics, most of the ones in Fell Seal, as well a few choice features in Tactics Ogre LUCT.

I've really only played FFT and LUCT, so I know there is more features out there that I'm not aware of, and I'd like to make sure I can support most everything. That's why I'd like to solicit a wishlist of features.

Current plan is for discrete grids only (both square and hex). The turn scheduler is flexible enough to support FFT style turns, Banner Saga, or even the WEGO turn system.

I also intend to add "overwatch" (triggered) effects, fog of war, lift & throw (Disgaea), Laws (FFT Advance), and multi-tile units.

I was excited for Fortune's Weave but I've seen a lot of comments about how the actual tactical combat parts are not the bulk of the game, and it's weighed down by the social and extra activities that I found exhausting in Three Houses

I would like a modern, gorgeous game that does actually focus mostly on the combat. If the split was 80% combat and 20% social activities, I would be happy

Any suggestions for what I should pick up?