Easy SRPGs?

General and high profile video game topics.
DaHeckIzDat
Posts: 1992
Joined: April 9th, 2015, 1:41 pm

Easy SRPGs?

Postby DaHeckIzDat » October 17th, 2018, 12:55 am

I really want to get into strategy RPGs like Final Fantasy Tactics but the learning curve is kicking my butt! Maybe I need an easier one to learn the ropes with, then try the more challenging ones like FFT and Tactics Ogre. Any suggestions?

User avatar
ptdebate
Posts: 1072
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 8:39 pm

Re: Easy SRPGs?

Postby ptdebate » October 17th, 2018, 9:44 am

I'd recommend Fire Emblem: Awakening for the 3DS. Although FE is typically a more challenging series, the recent ones have multiple difficulty levels so they are more accessible.

Agreed on FFT. The game is absolutely decimating me right now. Gotta git gud.

David
Posts: 191
Joined: April 20th, 2015, 3:10 am

Re: Easy SRPGs?

Postby David » October 17th, 2018, 10:26 am

It’s not traditional, but Valkyria Chronicles on PS3 or the remastered version on PS4 is an incredible game. I have a hard time gettinto into SRPGs, but I fell in live with that one. After you select your units, you enter third person mode and move your character around instead of everything taking place on a grid.

User avatar
Retro STrife
Posts: 2520
Joined: August 3rd, 2015, 7:40 pm

Re: Easy SRPGs?

Postby Retro STrife » October 17th, 2018, 10:27 am

I've always heard people say that FFT is a hard game, but I don't get that. It is challenging, but I think the secret to success is a lot of grinding by replaying battles to get your levels up. You'll lose here and there, and it sucks to lose 30 minutes into a battle and have to start over, but generally it's not too difficult once you get the hang of things. I also don't find the job system to be that complex - it's about on par with other Final Fantasy games. And this is coming from someone who is very adverse to playing hard games (..no Dark Souls for me).

I'd recommend learning FFT by grinding and replaying battles for a few hours, rather than spending 40 hours with an inferior tactics game just to learn the ropes. I've mentioned before, FFT is possibly my favorite game of all time (def top 3) and has one of the best stories in any RPG I've ever played.. Maybe the best story in any game I've ever played, but I'll hold off on saying that. Either way, I'd hate to see you miss out on it by getting sidetracked with lesser options.

Alucard1191
Posts: 476
Joined: November 16th, 2016, 12:55 pm

Re: Easy SRPGs?

Postby Alucard1191 » October 17th, 2018, 10:58 am

The fact that FFT requires you to grind before you even get to the 4th battle at Dorter Trade city (Summoners when you're lucky if you have 1 knight? Not even remotely fair.) makes it really hard.

And the game is for the most part hard. When you've been playing it off and on for 2 decades now it isn't as hard, but the game ranks pretty high on the SRPG difficulty meter.

As for some easy but fun ones:

I would recommend Shining Force 1+2 on the genesis, and Vandal Hearts on the playstation. They're all pretty bright and colorful fun games that aren't that hard on the difficulty. And the blood rain in Vandal Hearts when you kill something is hilarious.

User avatar
ptdebate
Posts: 1072
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 8:39 pm

Re: Easy SRPGs?

Postby ptdebate » October 17th, 2018, 11:40 am

Retro STrife wrote:I've always heard people say that FFT is a hard game, but I don't get that. It is challenging, but I think the secret to success is a lot of grinding by replaying battles to get your levels up. You'll lose here and there, and it sucks to lose 30 minutes into a battle and have to start over, but generally it's not too difficult once you get the hang of things. I also don't find the job system to be that complex - it's about on par with other Final Fantasy games. And this is coming from someone who is very adverse to playing hard games (..no Dark Souls for me).


That must be my problem. I heard once that Matsuno games tend to punish grinding, so I assumed the game wanted me to avoid it. Now that I know this I'll probably be good. The battle I'm referencing is the Gallows. There are so many units!

DaHeckIzDat
Posts: 1992
Joined: April 9th, 2015, 1:41 pm

Re: Easy SRPGs?

Postby DaHeckIzDat » October 17th, 2018, 11:58 am

I was told to avoid grinding in FFT because the enemies level with you, essentially making leveling up at all pointless.

User avatar
velcrozombie
Posts: 610
Joined: April 12th, 2015, 3:37 pm

Re: Easy SRPGs?

Postby velcrozombie » October 17th, 2018, 12:14 pm

ptdebate wrote:
Retro STrife wrote:I've always heard people say that FFT is a hard game, but I don't get that. It is challenging, but I think the secret to success is a lot of grinding by replaying battles to get your levels up. You'll lose here and there, and it sucks to lose 30 minutes into a battle and have to start over, but generally it's not too difficult once you get the hang of things. I also don't find the job system to be that complex - it's about on par with other Final Fantasy games. And this is coming from someone who is very adverse to playing hard games (..no Dark Souls for me).


That must be my problem. I heard once that Matsuno games tend to punish grinding, so I assumed the game wanted me to avoid it. Now that I know this I'll probably be good. The battle I'm referencing is the Gallows. There are so many units!


To be fair, the game does punish excessive grinding - it just doesn't do it right away. You can level up to your heart's content in the first three chapters to gain an advantage on your enemies (at least during the story battles - random monster battles still level up with you), but during the fourth chapter (the last and longest chapter) you will have to fight some pretty ridiculous random battles from time to time as a result of having an over-leveled party. It's been a while since I've beaten the game so the specifics on how much leveling you can get away with aren't well-known to me (or whether it affects the story battles in the fourth chapter or just the random battles) but I've played through the game at different levels and I do remember the final chapter turning everything up a notch from time to time instead of merely staying in lockstep with you.

User avatar
ptdebate
Posts: 1072
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 8:39 pm

Re: Easy SRPGs?

Postby ptdebate » October 17th, 2018, 2:38 pm

DaHeckIzDat wrote:I was told to avoid grinding in FFT because the enemies level with you, essentially making leveling up at all pointless.



Remember though that in Tactics the biggest reason for leveling up is gaining new abilities through JP (Job Points). A black mage with Firaga is going to categorically outclass a black mage with only Fire, and is separate from the question of stat scaling.

User avatar
Retro STrife
Posts: 2520
Joined: August 3rd, 2015, 7:40 pm

Re: Easy SRPGs?

Postby Retro STrife » October 17th, 2018, 3:12 pm

DaHeckIzDat wrote:I was told to avoid grinding in FFT because the enemies level with you, essentially making leveling up at all pointless.


Nope, or "sorta", but I think this is a common misunderstanding with the game. Here's how it works to my recollection... For random battles, the enemies do level up with you - consistent with your highest level characters in the battle. For story battles, the enemies levels don't level up with you - their levels are fixed.

So you get the best of both worlds... For random battles, the enemies will match your levels, which means that you can always consistently level up your high level characters throughout the whole game, and your lower level characters will level up very easily because they are fighting better opponents. Then, for story battles, your grinding pays off because the enemies levels are fixed and should be a few levels lower than yours. After getting to a good level, then it's just about making a balanced squad and learning good abilities - and then the game is much easier. I like to focus my team on strong physical attacks, so knights and monks are my main guys early on, with a black mage and an archer for some long range (but weaker) attacks, and then of course someone to heal and revive people. I always make sure to avoid losing characters - stock up on Phoenix Downs early on.

I've always felt that most people that find FFT to be super hard are just going from each story battle to the next, without any level grinding or learning abilities. Doing it that way, you'll always be in a tough fight with the opponent. Morale of the story: Stick with FFT and don't sell yourself short - you're not bad at it; you just have to change up your approach.


Return to “Video Games General”