Turn Based Battle

A study of turn-based menu battle mechanics in games.

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Mechanical Variant #2 Environment

The player can use the characters to take advantage of the specific environments they encounter with enemies. 

If their is an object or piece of nature that looks like it could be used, use it! For example: if there is a chunk of ice hanging above the enemy, find a way to knock it down onto them to inflict extra damage than a regular attack. 

Also if an enemy is knocked out and have an item and/or weapon on them, the only thing stopping the player from using them could be another enemy. 

Not only would this add an extra element to turn based combat, it is more realistic. In a real fight, you would use your environment to your advantage if you were able to. 

Environments could also cause buffs or debuffs depending on specific locations and character/enemy strengths/weakness. 

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Mechanical Variant #1: Stamina

Instead of each character of a party being able to execute an action at once, only one character can be given a command per turn. 

What would stop the player from choosing the strongest character to attack each turn would be stamina. Each character can only be used x amount of times before running out of steam, leaving the player having to give another character a command instead. 

X would be determined by the level of said character, their health and their strengths. Strength would be the ability the individual is best at, it would require less stamina for a warrior to attack than a mage, etc. 

The opponent would follow a similar process. 

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Turn-Based Battle Spotlight: Bravely Default

Bravely Default is a recent turn-based JRPG with a unique menu battle system known as "Brave or Default". Players can choose to "Default" which allows the character to gain defence and collect a Brave Point (BP) which allows them an extra game action for their next turn if they decide to spend it. 

However players can also choose to "Brave" even if they do not have any BP but they will be sacrificing their possible next turn actions if they choose to do so, depending on how much they are in the negative. 

When "Bravely Second" is initiated, the player is allowed to freeze time and select game actions before their actual turn begins. This is done through Sleep Points (SP) which are limited and can be gained through hours spent with the 3DS in sleep mode while the game is running or through micro transactions. 

Both these systems bring a lot more strategical thinking to menu turn based combat. 

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Turn-Based Battle Spotlight: Eternal Sonata

Eternal Sonata is an underappreciated game due to its cheesy plot line and puppet like character animations. However it had a very unique and interesting battle system hybrid of turn based and real time combat. 

You play as serval different characters all with various special combat abilities, some of which can only be used in light and some in dark, being situational on which type of attack is best to use. The combat area normally consisting of areas that have both patches of light and darkness for the player to utilize. This is an interesting mechanic that makes the player carefully decide how and where to attack the opponent. 

The player also has limited time to move, heal and/or attack before their turn is over and the limitations increase as the game progresses making it more challenging by giving the player less and less time to decide their movements. 

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Extra Credit: Comparison of Western & Japanese RPGs (Is Menu Based Combat Unengaging?)

Extra Credit argues that Menu Based combat is the reason JRPGs have declined in quality and popularity because with technology advancements there is a lot more to offer to players that other regions have been providing. 

Although I agree with a lot in the video shown above, I do disagree with menu based combat being unengaging. Otherwise how would Pokemon still be extremely popular to this day? 

I'd like to argue that the style of menu based combat is underestimated and more than just a niche market to the nostalgic gamers. This type of combat system is all about isolating various complex actions so that they can be represented as more distinct, simplistic, and diverse commands which allows far more depth in said actions like adding elements, quick casting, charging times and varying mana costs. It also allows the player to give each character more complex commands with ease. It provides more options which in turn allows more strategical thinking. It is also less stressful than real-time combat. 

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Top 10 JRPGS that are not from Square Enix. 

Check out some solid JRPGS that may of flew underneath the radar. 

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Timeline of Turn-Based RPGs

(Focusing on JRPG Menu Based Combat) 

Wizardry by Sir-Tech (1981) Inspired the Menu System

Dragon Quest by Enix (1986) Inspired the format for future console RPGs

Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei by Atlus (1987) Opened up the menu system to genres outside medieval fantasy. 

Phantasy Star by Sega (1987) Magic Point (MP) System

Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord by Sega (1987) Open World

Final Fantasy by Square (1987) Custom character creation, assign character classes to different party members. 

Dragon Quest III by Enix (1988) Ability to change party's character classes throughout the game. 

Final Fantasy II by Square (1988) Activity-based progression. (Increasing individual skills of the character rather than gaining general experience points) 

Wizardry VI by Sir-Tech (1990) Took inspiration of class changing from Dragon Quest III. 

Final Fantasy III by Square (1990) Introduced the Job System with advanced classes. 

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light by Nintendo (1990) Set template for the Tactical Roleplaying Genre 

Final Fantasy Adventure by Square (1991) Introduced the option to kill innocent townsfolk. 

Final Fantasy IV by Square (1991) Introduced the "Active Time Battle" system which was a hybrid between turn-based and real-time combat. 

Secret of Mana by Square (1993) Introduced multiplayer co-op. 

Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium by Sega (1993) Introduced pre-programmable macros to set up Party AI attacks. 

Chrono Trigger by Square (1995) Considered revolutionary for its time and raised the standards for the RPG genre with its non-linear gameplay and combo attacks in the battle system.  

Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue by Game Freak & Nintendo (1996) Huge success worldwide, influenced western game design. 

Final Fantasy VII by Square (1997) Introduced 3D graphics to the genre, huge success. 

Phantasy Star Online by Sega (2000) Ambitious goal to introduce online gaming to consoles, leading to bigger MMORPGs like Final Fantasy XI

Final Fantasy X by Square (2001) Conditional Turn-Based Battle System

Eternal Sonata by Namco Bandai & tri-Crescendo (2007) Unique, conditional timed hybrid of turn-based and real time combat. 

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor by Atlus (2009) Hybrid of traditional JRPG and tactics. 

Bravely Default by Square Enix (2012) Modern & Unique take on traditional menu based combat. (The Brave & Default system) 

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What is Turn-Based Battle?

If you have played any of the main Final Fantasy games, then you have played a turn-based battle RPG. Some other classics being Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger and even Pokemon. So what is turn-based battle? 

In turn-based games, the game flow is separated into turns. Typically within a menu system, the player is given time to think (sometimes limited) before deciding on an game action to inflict on the opponent or to help the party, this generally leads to smarter decisions being made. Once each player/party has hard their turn, that round is over and is followed by the next round.  

Image Source: Final Fantasy 6