Many role-playing games have a familiar, turn-based combat system. Your options are usually riffs on one of four actions: attack, defend, use magic, or use an item. Even with that very basic template, you’re usually in for a pretty fun time saving the world with a group of pals. But if it’s not snappy and satisfying, or if battles drag on too long, you’re probably bouncing off that game.
A rare few RPGs manage to elevate this simple format into an experience worth savoring over the course of dozens of hours. Below, you’ll find five such games. Some of these JRPG battle systems have stood the test of time because they’re remarkably well-balanced, while others are just a ton of fun to break. Either way, they’re keeping players coming back year after year for good reason.
5
Chrono Trigger (1995)
I’m sometimes disappointed when an RPG only lets me have three party members, because it doesn’t allow for much variation in team composition. Chrono Trigger is a fantastic exception to that rule, as the game’s double- and triple-tech abilities are powerful skills that are a direct reflection of your party’s composition and each individual character’s unique traits. Fighting a boss that’s weak against ice or water? Get Crono, Marle, and Frog out there. Need to focus on physical attacks instead of magic? You’ll want Robo and Ayla in the mix. Striking a satisfying balance between real-time action and turn-based strategy, Chrono Trigger was out here doing what the FF7 Remake trilogy was doing in the 2020s all the way back in 1995.
4
Final Fantasy Tactics (1997)
Getting a job has never been more fun than in Final Fantasy Tactics. There are 33 different jobs in Square Enix’s grid-based strategy RPG, and any character is free to become a master in any one of them. (Pretty much, anyway.) Want to be a white mage who’s also handy with an axe? Or a swordsman with an arsenal of spells that speed up and slow down time? You can have those kind of oddball combinations in Final Fantasy Tactics. Heck, you can do that with the same character from one battle to the next.
But with all that fluidity comes the expectation that you’ll use it to your advantage in any given situation. Fights are punishingly tough, and you’ll need to bring a precisely built squad into every plot-relevant fight, even in the slightly gentler Ivalice Chronicles remake that came out last year.
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