RPGs have come a long way since they started as pen-and-paper games or text-based adventures. The genre has evolved in video games from turn-based RPGs like Dragon Quest to more involved action RPGs like Dark Souls. One of the more critical-thinking sub-genres of RPGs is the tactical ones. A typical standard of the genre is the grid-based maps.
Characters have a range and they can move within an allotment of squares on their turn. Attacks also adhere to the grid space and it's all different between games. The grid creates a sort of dynamic Chess experience if it were multiplied by a hundred. These games are some of the best the genre has to offer and sadly, some are hard to play on modern hardware and yet they remain classics.
8 Metal Gear Acid 2
Metal Gear Acid 2 looks and plays like nothing fans were used to at the time on PSP. The first game was a card-based RPG but it used the same muted color pallet as the console games. Metal Gear Acid 2 was a tactical card RPG too but the visuals were changed to cel-shading. The game even came with a set of VR giggles, via a simple cardboard setup, to experience the trippy aesthetic fully. Both of these games deserve modern ports but especially this second entry.
7 Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor was released first as a DS game and then as a 3DS title. The game follows similar themes to the mainline Shin Megami Tenseiand Persona games wherein a young group of teens suddenly get the power to summon demons. Characters move on a grid, but when players engage with an enemy, things should look more familiar. The encounter becomes turn-based and still uses the elemental weakness system too. This spinoff also got a sequel, but a third entry has never been produced.
6 Front Mission 4
Front Mission 4 puts players in the hands of a ragtag group of mech pilots in a conflict that threatens the world. In this series, mechs are known as Wanzers, and all conflicts are primarily fought with them. This tactical RPG allows players to customize their Wanzers to make them stronger via new parts like arms to increase HP and accuracy and weapons to increase damage.
Pilots can level up and this process can unlock skills to help them pilot their Wanzers more effectively. Front Mission 4 may be the best entry in the series to start with but it is admittedly not so easy to get a PS2 out these days.
5 Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together is an old tactical RPG that keeps getting ports and remastered updates despite its niche stature. It began as a game on the SNES in Japan but Western fans weren’t able to play it officially until the PS1. The latest version, Tactics Ogre: Reborn, makes the game accessible on today’s modern consoles like the Switch. It is the predecessor to Final Fantasy Tactics complete with a political story of intrigue and a class system that begs for experimentation. It’s great that Square Enix keeps bringing this entry back but a new game would also be fun to see.
4 Triangle Strategy
Triangle Strategy, on the subject of Square Enix, was their attempt at creating a spiritual successor to both Final Fantasy Tactics and the Ogre Battle franchises. In this story, the nations of the world fought over salt which may seem silly but salt truly was a commodity once upon a time. The gameplay should look familiar to tactical RPG fans as heroes and villains were placed on opposing sides of a grid-based map. Instead of allowing players to customize their characters with classes, characters came with pre-set classes with specific uses. For example, one character can build ladders which would be useful on maps with high cliffs or deep gorges.
3 Disgaea: Hour Of Darkness
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is the first game in the series and it was unlike any tactical RPG before it. The game was set in the underworld wherein a young Prince, Laharl, was struggling with keeping his subjects in line. The most unique thing about the gameplay was the ability to level up gear via dungeons.
The sequels have been good too, but nothing has topped the original. It’s funny, bizarre, has tons of content, and most importantly, it will test the skill of even the best hardcore strategy fans out there.
2 Fire Emblem Awakening
Fire Emblem Awakening changed the series forever thanks to the addition of Casual Mode. This series made a name for itself because of how brutally difficult it was thanks to permadeath. Casual Mode offered players the opportunity to keep units after death, thus reducing the struggle. This was the first game Casual Mode was implemented in the West but its debut first hit Japan via Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem. Without this change, this series could have remained an obscure one in Nintendo’s archives and recent entries like Fire Emblem Engage may have never happened.
1 Final Fantasy Tactics
Tactical RPG fans probably saw this coming but Final Fantasy Tactics is still the game to beat. There are so many great things about this that still feel forward-thinking as a 90s game. It was, and probably still is, the darkest story in the franchise thanks to the heavy influences of politics and religion. It may not have exploding skulls like a Mortal Kombat game, but the themes are certainly mature. Besides the engrossing story, the gameplay remains as addictive as ever thanks to the countless number of Jobs. Even weird ones like Calculator could be useful in battle.