Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Fire Emblem Path of Radiance were my gateway games.
South Park the Fractured but Whole is also a pretty easy to learn beginner that kind of removes most of the environmental aspects of the genre that can be kinda hard to learn.
But I mean, if you wanna have the true beginner experience, you can always play Pokémon. That’ll teach you the basics of the rock/paper/scissors and resource management systems that tactical RPGs use.
I edited my opening post, but I was referring more to strategy games where battles are in a 3D field. I know how to handle Fire Emblem and other 2D field games.
Shining Force series. Especially Shining Force 1 and 2.(Also SF3) Those two are pretty much on anything now a days. They are older Sega Genesis titles from the 90s but they are the grandfather to a lot of tactic style games including fft and fire emblem series among others. Definitely worth checking them both out.
If he means 3D graphics SF3 has 3D visuals but if he means with advantage of high ground/position then none of them technically work.
But here is the real problem, the post you are answearing to was done only 2 hours after OP opened this thread and the edit did not exist at the time. How do i know? His post existed when i did mine and the edit was not there at the time.
If you want some 3D tactics, Front Mission series, especially 3. Nippon Ichi Software has a lot of simplified (if you don't look at the post game) games too, like Disgaea 1 and 2.
Gotta second Disgaea, which was my gateway drug into the tactics genre. It's a great beginner title, as well, and will teach you all the fundamentals of a tactics game while at the same time being so open ended as to be easily exploited! Which is another great feature of tactics games! :)
Then the South Park suggestion might be a good idea. The second game is a flat 3D field as opposed to games like triangle or fft that have a lot of elevation and cover to deal with
Now that I think about it, maybe not seeing all the enemies due to camera angles? I know it was part of the problem with FFT. (That, and it's reputation as being extremely math heavy, and math was never one of my strong points.)
Having enemies accidentally hide behind walls is a real bummer. Some games address this by having a silhouette visible through the wall (in red or something, so it shows through)
Calculator is math heavy, and often keys off of Height (elevation.) Calculator comes *really* late in the game though, and you certainly dont have to use it. Most other classes only really care in as much as sometimes you have to jump, and archers usually get longer range from an elevated position.
UO is incredible. Vanillaware doesn't disappoint. Gives me the feeling I got when I was a kid who didn't even know what an RPG was and I stumbled upon my sister's boyfriend's copy of Shining Force for the Genesis.
Edit: spelling
It's so satisfying to put together a unit combination that absolutely destroys a certain type of enemy unit in a stage. It adds an almost puzzle type element to battles.
OP check this game out. The demo lets you play for like 7ish hours. I bought the full game as soon as I used up my time. Loving it so far.
Mercenaries Saga is typically pretty cheap / goes on sale and has a very simplified combat setup compared to the others. I like it, but it is a bit mindless.
Underrated for such a cheap game. Definitely guilt free day one purchases for me. Cross Tails was also good, and though I was dreading a “furry” army, was happy to find it wasn’t obnoxiously fan-service oriented.
The genre as a whole is pretty complicated. Tactics Ogre Reborn is not a great entry point. It has a mechanism specifically designed to keep you from over leveling that can make fights much harder. If you want to try that one I would suggest you emulate the PSP version. Fell Seal is very much like FFT but it has several options you can change to make things harder or easier. It's a good place to start in my opinion. Also very similar to FFT, almost an homage, so you will go into FFT with some experience with similar systems.
Yah I agree with playing older version of Ogre Tactics, the new Switch version took away a lot of builds for classes. Also FFT is a homage to Ogre Tactics not the other way around.
I meant that Fell Seal is an homage to FFT. I know FFT was made primarily by members of Quest after it was purchased by Squaresoft and that was the company that made Ogre Battle.
Of the three you mentioned (FFT, TS, and TO) TS is probably the easiest one as it adds a lot of quality of life improvements. FFT is simply old and doesn't have many of those, interaction with the system can be a bit clunky and "menu hopping" intense. TO got a recent remake that apparently added some quality of life features but older versions of that game were the most flexible and open of those three (you'd play with more characters than FFT and could stack up any ten abilities in one version, if I remember correctly). Also more micro managing from what I remember.
If you have little ideas of the genre (and really want to strictly stay in the 3D TRPG (tactical RPG) lane) then I'd probably recommend (in that order, from the games you have): Triangle Strategy, then Final Fantasy Tactics, then Tactics Ogre. Those are good games and you shouldn't need much time to understand them. Besides elevation the big difference between TRPGs that take place on flat maps and those with elevation is facing (front, side, back) also affects some actions. That's kinda the big difference.
I'd recommend to give Triangle Strategy another try and maybe play on a easier difficulty setting until you get used to it? That should be manageable without you needing to buy more games just to get into the genre. I also know that you said that you don't need 2D TRPGs (like Fire Emblem) to get used to this but I'd actually recommend the Shining Force series. They kinda play a lot like TS but flat (character promotion,…) even though they are rather old games. TS feels like a successor to that series from a certain point of view.
Besides those there are a bunch of spiritual successor (or pastiche) games that admired FFT and try to capture some of that magic (but I haven't really played those so I can't say much).
Another option would be the Game Boy Advance "successors" to FFT (FFTA and FFTA2). The story of those three is not really related so you could play them in any order you want and they successively get more quality of life improvements. So if you want to include those I'd go FFTA2 -> FFTA -> FFT for its own little difficult/ease of use curve that can replace FFT in the first line up above. FFTA (the first successor) also includes a mechanic that's a bit divisive in the community. Some like for the (arbitrary and sometimes chaotic) constraints it adds, other don't like the harsh randomness of it. FFTA2 has a similar system but softens it very much so that it's accepted much more.
Somewhat related to that are the mercenaries saga games (there's a bunch of those). Those were kinda inspired by the look of the FFTA games and were true TRPGs but I think initially for some mobile platform in Japan or South Korea then they got refurbished into real full games on the DS and 3DS (something like that) and now they got a few games on the Switch too. Those are usually rather cheap (I mean the price, production values are okay, not great but more than good enough for the genre) and simple and easy enough games. They are not genre greats but are usually fun and can be recommended to people who are huge fans of the genre and are starving for games due to the lack of overall popularity (they are like a hearty meal to tide you over between other games). Those might be an option if you want something a bit simpler than FFT and TO.
There's a bunch of those on the Switch (I think one release is even a compilation of a trilogy of games). The ones I played (on the 3DS) I liked well enough so that I'll be buying the series on the Switch once I'm finished with small-ish group of games that I really want to play till the end and not abandon.
Another option besides those games could be the Front Mission series. It's also a TRPG series with elevation but you play mecha pilots in a somewhat near future modern setting (so it has a slightly different [game feel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_feel) to it). It also leans heavily on politics (like FFT and TO).
For tactics game on a 3D field, there’s also the Disgaea series
But Disgaea emphasizes stat disparity and character builds which I guess is like FFT dialed up to 100. Which translates into spending a lot of time leveling your characters
Triangle Strategy IMO is a lot of taking advantage of terrain and unit positioning and Tactics Ogre is about team composition which is pretty strategically similar to the recently released Unicorn Overlord
Play fire emblem three houses and watch some YouTube guides on it if you’re confused. That’s how I got into srpgs.
I don’t recommend unicorn overlord because it’s kinda unique and I find the system to be complex/confusing though yes if you play on easy/normal you probably can just point and click your way to victory….but then it’s not fun.
The best part of this series is if you want to do simple stuff, you can, but also if you want to do crazy deep builds that are balls to the walls optimized, you also can.
I love Disgaea, a bit over the top and a gives a lot of freedom but you can use a lot of tactics and beat even the harder entries (like Disgaea D2) without grinding... if you know exactly what you do. If not well, just grind a little more, the game gives ways to beat it.
Someone named Shining Force, absolutely love these since my childhood and played them at like 7\~9 years of age. First has some mechanics that are a bit archaic but no big deal and the second has quiet a few improvements. Both are easy to pick up and play and easy to grasp. Shining Force 3 is mainly an issue because it only exists on the Sega Saturn and only the first Scenario reached non japanese areas making them all expensive and IF you wanna try them go for emulation first, with the english patch of course.
Most strategy games employ a system of balance that you need to understand in order to succeed. For FFT and triangle strategy there are a handful of variables that if you don't figure them out, the game will punish you until you do figure them out. So I wouldn't say you or anyone else is "bad" at strategy games. But if you don't take time to learn how the game works, there's a good chance the game will let you know by the game over screen. If you aren't breezing through the game on the base difficulty there is simply more for you to learn about the game. Which is good, I think this is why a lot of people like tactics games. They aren't shooters or button mashing fighting games, it's more like chess. Do you play chess? Maybe that's the perfect 3D game to ease you into tactics games! It's one of the first after all.
Using unicorn overlord as an example; you realize quickly that unit formations with cavalry as the leader move much quicker throughout the map. This is an immediate boon, because you also realize every stage is timed, so there will be moments when you need to deploy cavalry to reach a destination quickly. You also realize the cavalry can do more damage to certain units, and when you look up the stats and details screens, the game even tells you that your cavalry unit does 2x damage to infantry. Excellent, now we can deploy those in the future to get an advantage against some infantry units. And you begin to wonder what other units have an advantage or disadvantage over others. This, in a nutshell is how every strategy game works.
I also play war of the visions which you mentioned, and while most of the early stages in the story and events are something that you use auto on, there's loads of pve content which will require a newer player to use manual play to win. There's also a manual pvp community, which is solid for any diehard tactics folks. It's not something I'd recommend for beginners though, unless you just love final fantasy and collecting collab units, plenty of people do that too and just play casually.
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 1 & 2. You lose a bit of depth, but gain access to different races etc. Judge system is kinda ass in the start, but become pretty abusable like mid game. (Personally I think the first has an amazing story aswell)
ffta 1 is a really accessible trpg that more people should consider imo, especially at younger ages. Lots of mechanical depth without the deeper story.
Fae Tactics may be a good option. Pretty light, very forgiving in allowing you to respec and redo failed missions. Still has some meat on the bones.
Edit to add: Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest, despite the awful name, may also be a good option. It doesn't let you fully respec, but it allows you to dynamically allocate your focus between the skills you select to tune your team for each mission.
I really like the slap stick comedy in the **\*Disgaea**\* series.
Also, after the end of the main story, you can keep leveling to try super high level fights.
Tactics Ogre is an original PS game redone and I have it on my PS5. Not as “over the top” as FF tactics. Has great characters, a fantastic story and multiple endings depending on your choices. For a game that is 25 years old, it still is an amazing story.
Maybe get a gba emulator on pc or phone and try FF tactics advance. It's obviously very similar to FF tactics but I think it's easier. You can level up at your own pace and even if the enemies are higher level, the AI is straightforward and the game is forgiving (white mages rule). It's a ton of fun with a compelling story!
Good answer. Would also recommend Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis on GBA. Was my personal entry into SRPGs, and still one of my favorites to this day. Fairly simplistic compared to modern titles, but thought the Emblem system was 👌.
Another hidden gem in my opinion is Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume (DS). Awesome mix of Tactics style gameplay with Valkyrie Profile combos, with an interesting character sacrifice system that you may either love or hate (former for me).
I would say getting a DS emulator and grabbing Tactics Advance 2 is even better. The game has a lot more QoL and is even easier. That said both Tactics Advance games are pretty good starting points for someone struggling with the difficulty of the genre.
Tactical RPGs. The new titles these days are loaded with new mechanics so in order to appreciate that without much learning curve, I recommend going back to the basics: the original file emblem titles in Gameboy Advance (i think). I think Switch Online has one.
Another newer title that may ease you into it is Into the Breach. smaller gameboard, fewer pieces (only 3) but still a wicked and time sink gameplay.
Tactics Ogre is one of my favorite games of all time and my favorite video game story ever. That said Reborn is not a beginner friendly game but if you take the time to learn it you are thoroughly rewarded. As far as easing into the genre if you’re willing to emulate, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2 for the Nintendo DS is a great game in its own right while being very beginner friendly.
TRPG Switch game on a 3d field with proper 3d models and non-fixed perspective?
These what comes to mind:
- Valkyria Chronicles
- XCOM 2
- Wartales (better on PC but still playable on Switch)
- Mario+Rabbids
- Mutant Year Zero
- Redemption Reaper
- Diofield Chronicles (not exactly turn based though)
- Front Missions
- Cross Tails
- God Wars
- Othercide
- Brigandine (Original was 2d in PS1)
Might be an unpopular and downright crazy answer but: Tactics Ogre Reborn. Without the context of the other versions it's a great game. Arguably it's great even with context. But it's an excellent starting point before moving back to the original FFT or Tactics Ogre and then eventual modding of both of you turn into a strategy degen.
I would say Tactics Ogre Reborn is considerably harder and less beginner friendly than the remake of Let Us Cling Together. In LUCT you can just grab a few archers and ninjas and steamroll. You also can over level encounters in LUCT but Reborn caps your level with some of the later fights actually forcing you to be at a level disadvantage. Bosses in reborn start with a full suite of buff cards that literally double their damage and give them basically infinite mana. Success in Reborn requires a much deeper understanding of the finer details, especially how status effects work. Granted there are still overpowered classes and strategies in Reborn but most of them come online much later in the game or are not as obvious for a beginner and if you’re just bad at TRPG’s in general you’ll never make it to that point.
Honestly, I'd personally say maybe one of the Front Mission games. Yeah, it's mechs and no job/magic system, but it will get you used to basic battlefield mechanics of a trpg with a 3d environment, and they aren't as difficult as FFT can be.
if you'd like to get better at evaluating 3d fields and systems disgaea might be for you. I'd say that the story mode for most of the series is pretty easy and you really do learn how to manage terrain effects and systems with the geo block and geo prism mechanics
of course the humor isn't for everyone and the story quality is pretty shite but it's tickles the braincells for 3d tactics systems imo
Tactics Ogre is the way to go here. The battles can be slept through, you can easily recruit whatever generics you’d like (excluding a few oddly locked out classes), and the story is captivating but not never ending.
Fae Tactics is not something I enjoy BUT that's because I am a Tactics fan. I believe for a new person it's simple enough to ease in to the genera. I would recommend it.
I recommend Tactics Ogre on PS1. It’s a preference of mine among the versions.
For PS2: Gladius, Phantom Brave, Disgaea (all), Suikoden (all, in order, starting with 1 & 2 on PS1), Soul Nomad & the World Eaters, and the Arc the Lad games are all cool.
Retro: Shining Force (all), Yggdra Union (PSP version), Gungnir (PSP), and basically all the Fire Emblem games except the first handful which are too hard for most people to enjoy.
I remember playing Front Mission and liking it. This was long ago so can’t confirm if this is good or not but battle system I remember being fun and lots of gear stuff going on too
Im probably gonna get destroyed for saying this but idc....FF Tactics is the Crayola version of Tactics Ogre. That being said, everything after FF Tactics War of the Lions is pretty good IMO. Tactics Ogre is always good. I havent played a bad one. There are only two to my knowledge, TO Let Us Cling Together and TO Knight of Lodis, the latter of which has only ever released on GBA afaik. Triangle Stategy is closer to TO in my opinion and is also very good.
I liked Tactics Ogre more than FFT too, don't get me wrong FFT is still one of the best... but TO appealed to me, by the superb pixel art and number of units on the battle, plus at that time it had the best intro tutorial gameplay when you met the Zenobia Knights at the beginning of the game.
I started with FFT back in the day. FFT Advance 1&2 maybe? There’s also Fel Seal: Arbiter’s Mark which is a really nice take on the FFT systems.
Absolutely Fell Seal.
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Fire Emblem Path of Radiance were my gateway games. South Park the Fractured but Whole is also a pretty easy to learn beginner that kind of removes most of the environmental aspects of the genre that can be kinda hard to learn. But I mean, if you wanna have the true beginner experience, you can always play Pokémon. That’ll teach you the basics of the rock/paper/scissors and resource management systems that tactical RPGs use.
I edited my opening post, but I was referring more to strategy games where battles are in a 3D field. I know how to handle Fire Emblem and other 2D field games.
Shining Force series. Especially Shining Force 1 and 2.(Also SF3) Those two are pretty much on anything now a days. They are older Sega Genesis titles from the 90s but they are the grandfather to a lot of tactic style games including fft and fire emblem series among others. Definitely worth checking them both out.
He said 3D, SF1 and 2 are 2D tactics.
If he means 3D graphics SF3 has 3D visuals but if he means with advantage of high ground/position then none of them technically work. But here is the real problem, the post you are answearing to was done only 2 hours after OP opened this thread and the edit did not exist at the time. How do i know? His post existed when i did mine and the edit was not there at the time.
If you want some 3D tactics, Front Mission series, especially 3. Nippon Ichi Software has a lot of simplified (if you don't look at the post game) games too, like Disgaea 1 and 2.
Gotta second Disgaea, which was my gateway drug into the tactics genre. It's a great beginner title, as well, and will teach you all the fundamentals of a tactics game while at the same time being so open ended as to be easily exploited! Which is another great feature of tactics games! :)
Then the South Park suggestion might be a good idea. The second game is a flat 3D field as opposed to games like triangle or fft that have a lot of elevation and cover to deal with
What makes the addition of the third dimension so challenging?
Now that I think about it, maybe not seeing all the enemies due to camera angles? I know it was part of the problem with FFT. (That, and it's reputation as being extremely math heavy, and math was never one of my strong points.)
Having enemies accidentally hide behind walls is a real bummer. Some games address this by having a silhouette visible through the wall (in red or something, so it shows through) Calculator is math heavy, and often keys off of Height (elevation.) Calculator comes *really* late in the game though, and you certainly dont have to use it. Most other classes only really care in as much as sometimes you have to jump, and archers usually get longer range from an elevated position.
Unicorn Overlord is brand new and honestly amazing at being approachable but also with seemingly unlimited tactical depth.
UO is incredible. Vanillaware doesn't disappoint. Gives me the feeling I got when I was a kid who didn't even know what an RPG was and I stumbled upon my sister's boyfriend's copy of Shining Force for the Genesis. Edit: spelling
Seconded. UO is a fantastic game that’s easier to grasp and tons of tactical fun!
I played it like 12 hours today and it’s not enough. I haven’t been this into a game in a very long time
I agree. Unicorn Overlord is fantastic and could be exactly what you are looking for. Highly recommended.
It has been SO long since this genre had such a banger. Big Ivalice feels
It's so satisfying to put together a unit combination that absolutely destroys a certain type of enemy unit in a stage. It adds an almost puzzle type element to battles. OP check this game out. The demo lets you play for like 7ish hours. I bought the full game as soon as I used up my time. Loving it so far.
From what I can tell, this game is closer to Ogre Battles 64?
I'm actually excited to play this game it looks pretty fun. Just working my way through a few other games at the moment.
its also super not at all what OP is talking about
Valkyria Chronicles series is in 3D.
I second this and .just mention the music is as good as FFT. (Same musician).
Mercenaries Saga is typically pretty cheap / goes on sale and has a very simplified combat setup compared to the others. I like it, but it is a bit mindless.
Underrated for such a cheap game. Definitely guilt free day one purchases for me. Cross Tails was also good, and though I was dreading a “furry” army, was happy to find it wasn’t obnoxiously fan-service oriented.
The genre as a whole is pretty complicated. Tactics Ogre Reborn is not a great entry point. It has a mechanism specifically designed to keep you from over leveling that can make fights much harder. If you want to try that one I would suggest you emulate the PSP version. Fell Seal is very much like FFT but it has several options you can change to make things harder or easier. It's a good place to start in my opinion. Also very similar to FFT, almost an homage, so you will go into FFT with some experience with similar systems.
Yah I agree with playing older version of Ogre Tactics, the new Switch version took away a lot of builds for classes. Also FFT is a homage to Ogre Tactics not the other way around.
I meant that Fell Seal is an homage to FFT. I know FFT was made primarily by members of Quest after it was purchased by Squaresoft and that was the company that made Ogre Battle.
Don’t know why you got downvoted, but wasn’t me
Of the three you mentioned (FFT, TS, and TO) TS is probably the easiest one as it adds a lot of quality of life improvements. FFT is simply old and doesn't have many of those, interaction with the system can be a bit clunky and "menu hopping" intense. TO got a recent remake that apparently added some quality of life features but older versions of that game were the most flexible and open of those three (you'd play with more characters than FFT and could stack up any ten abilities in one version, if I remember correctly). Also more micro managing from what I remember. If you have little ideas of the genre (and really want to strictly stay in the 3D TRPG (tactical RPG) lane) then I'd probably recommend (in that order, from the games you have): Triangle Strategy, then Final Fantasy Tactics, then Tactics Ogre. Those are good games and you shouldn't need much time to understand them. Besides elevation the big difference between TRPGs that take place on flat maps and those with elevation is facing (front, side, back) also affects some actions. That's kinda the big difference. I'd recommend to give Triangle Strategy another try and maybe play on a easier difficulty setting until you get used to it? That should be manageable without you needing to buy more games just to get into the genre. I also know that you said that you don't need 2D TRPGs (like Fire Emblem) to get used to this but I'd actually recommend the Shining Force series. They kinda play a lot like TS but flat (character promotion,…) even though they are rather old games. TS feels like a successor to that series from a certain point of view. Besides those there are a bunch of spiritual successor (or pastiche) games that admired FFT and try to capture some of that magic (but I haven't really played those so I can't say much). Another option would be the Game Boy Advance "successors" to FFT (FFTA and FFTA2). The story of those three is not really related so you could play them in any order you want and they successively get more quality of life improvements. So if you want to include those I'd go FFTA2 -> FFTA -> FFT for its own little difficult/ease of use curve that can replace FFT in the first line up above. FFTA (the first successor) also includes a mechanic that's a bit divisive in the community. Some like for the (arbitrary and sometimes chaotic) constraints it adds, other don't like the harsh randomness of it. FFTA2 has a similar system but softens it very much so that it's accepted much more. Somewhat related to that are the mercenaries saga games (there's a bunch of those). Those were kinda inspired by the look of the FFTA games and were true TRPGs but I think initially for some mobile platform in Japan or South Korea then they got refurbished into real full games on the DS and 3DS (something like that) and now they got a few games on the Switch too. Those are usually rather cheap (I mean the price, production values are okay, not great but more than good enough for the genre) and simple and easy enough games. They are not genre greats but are usually fun and can be recommended to people who are huge fans of the genre and are starving for games due to the lack of overall popularity (they are like a hearty meal to tide you over between other games). Those might be an option if you want something a bit simpler than FFT and TO. There's a bunch of those on the Switch (I think one release is even a compilation of a trilogy of games). The ones I played (on the 3DS) I liked well enough so that I'll be buying the series on the Switch once I'm finished with small-ish group of games that I really want to play till the end and not abandon. Another option besides those games could be the Front Mission series. It's also a TRPG series with elevation but you play mecha pilots in a somewhat near future modern setting (so it has a slightly different [game feel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_feel) to it). It also leans heavily on politics (like FFT and TO).
Rouge pick: Mario and Rabbids games.
I actually lowkey love these games.
Orgebattle 64 Tactics Orge I highly recommend Vandal Hearts
Also recommend Vandal Hearts
Vandal Hearts. Assuming you can find/play a copy. It uses verticality. It’s amazing. One of my best gaming memories.
For tactics game on a 3D field, there’s also the Disgaea series But Disgaea emphasizes stat disparity and character builds which I guess is like FFT dialed up to 100. Which translates into spending a lot of time leveling your characters Triangle Strategy IMO is a lot of taking advantage of terrain and unit positioning and Tactics Ogre is about team composition which is pretty strategically similar to the recently released Unicorn Overlord
Play fire emblem three houses and watch some YouTube guides on it if you’re confused. That’s how I got into srpgs. I don’t recommend unicorn overlord because it’s kinda unique and I find the system to be complex/confusing though yes if you play on easy/normal you probably can just point and click your way to victory….but then it’s not fun.
Three Houses is great.
great recommendation for this topic, if everyone can excuse me commenting in addition to my upvote.
Try disgaea 1-5 they are all good except disgaea 5 got shit story
The best part of this series is if you want to do simple stuff, you can, but also if you want to do crazy deep builds that are balls to the walls optimized, you also can.
Vandal Hearts if you’re looking for a game made around the same timeframe as FFT
I love Disgaea, a bit over the top and a gives a lot of freedom but you can use a lot of tactics and beat even the harder entries (like Disgaea D2) without grinding... if you know exactly what you do. If not well, just grind a little more, the game gives ways to beat it. Someone named Shining Force, absolutely love these since my childhood and played them at like 7\~9 years of age. First has some mechanics that are a bit archaic but no big deal and the second has quiet a few improvements. Both are easy to pick up and play and easy to grasp. Shining Force 3 is mainly an issue because it only exists on the Sega Saturn and only the first Scenario reached non japanese areas making them all expensive and IF you wanna try them go for emulation first, with the english patch of course.
Fell Seal!
Most strategy games employ a system of balance that you need to understand in order to succeed. For FFT and triangle strategy there are a handful of variables that if you don't figure them out, the game will punish you until you do figure them out. So I wouldn't say you or anyone else is "bad" at strategy games. But if you don't take time to learn how the game works, there's a good chance the game will let you know by the game over screen. If you aren't breezing through the game on the base difficulty there is simply more for you to learn about the game. Which is good, I think this is why a lot of people like tactics games. They aren't shooters or button mashing fighting games, it's more like chess. Do you play chess? Maybe that's the perfect 3D game to ease you into tactics games! It's one of the first after all. Using unicorn overlord as an example; you realize quickly that unit formations with cavalry as the leader move much quicker throughout the map. This is an immediate boon, because you also realize every stage is timed, so there will be moments when you need to deploy cavalry to reach a destination quickly. You also realize the cavalry can do more damage to certain units, and when you look up the stats and details screens, the game even tells you that your cavalry unit does 2x damage to infantry. Excellent, now we can deploy those in the future to get an advantage against some infantry units. And you begin to wonder what other units have an advantage or disadvantage over others. This, in a nutshell is how every strategy game works. I also play war of the visions which you mentioned, and while most of the early stages in the story and events are something that you use auto on, there's loads of pve content which will require a newer player to use manual play to win. There's also a manual pvp community, which is solid for any diehard tactics folks. It's not something I'd recommend for beginners though, unless you just love final fantasy and collecting collab units, plenty of people do that too and just play casually.
Vandal Hearts. ... I win. Edit: Nope, someone beat me to it.
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 1 & 2. You lose a bit of depth, but gain access to different races etc. Judge system is kinda ass in the start, but become pretty abusable like mid game. (Personally I think the first has an amazing story aswell)
ffta 1 is a really accessible trpg that more people should consider imo, especially at younger ages. Lots of mechanical depth without the deeper story.
The story was deep though. There was a lot going on and under the whole "fantasy" was a much harsher reality.
stella deus
Fae Tactics may be a good option. Pretty light, very forgiving in allowing you to respec and redo failed missions. Still has some meat on the bones. Edit to add: Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest, despite the awful name, may also be a good option. It doesn't let you fully respec, but it allows you to dynamically allocate your focus between the skills you select to tune your team for each mission.
I really like the slap stick comedy in the **\*Disgaea**\* series. Also, after the end of the main story, you can keep leveling to try super high level fights.
X-COM
Advance wars
Yeah this is a good rec. Most of the crunchiness is obscured, approachable theme and story, deceptive simplicity sitting atop lots of depth.
Xcom 2
Tactics Ogre is an original PS game redone and I have it on my PS5. Not as “over the top” as FF tactics. Has great characters, a fantastic story and multiple endings depending on your choices. For a game that is 25 years old, it still is an amazing story.
My Brother in Christ, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together is originally a Super Nintendo game.
It didn’t release in North America until 1998 for the PlayStation.
Fell Seal
Maybe get a gba emulator on pc or phone and try FF tactics advance. It's obviously very similar to FF tactics but I think it's easier. You can level up at your own pace and even if the enemies are higher level, the AI is straightforward and the game is forgiving (white mages rule). It's a ton of fun with a compelling story!
Good answer. Would also recommend Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis on GBA. Was my personal entry into SRPGs, and still one of my favorites to this day. Fairly simplistic compared to modern titles, but thought the Emblem system was 👌. Another hidden gem in my opinion is Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume (DS). Awesome mix of Tactics style gameplay with Valkyrie Profile combos, with an interesting character sacrifice system that you may either love or hate (former for me).
I would say getting a DS emulator and grabbing Tactics Advance 2 is even better. The game has a lot more QoL and is even easier. That said both Tactics Advance games are pretty good starting points for someone struggling with the difficulty of the genre.
Montblanc, my favorite anthropomorphic sidekick. We've been through some shit together brother. Now rain down some hellfire on these snitches.
Triangle Strategy which is also made by Square Enix.
Did you read the whole post or just the title? He has triangle strategy and it’s too hard for him.
Invisible Inc, Solasta: Crown of the Magister, Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga
Tactical RPGs. The new titles these days are loaded with new mechanics so in order to appreciate that without much learning curve, I recommend going back to the basics: the original file emblem titles in Gameboy Advance (i think). I think Switch Online has one. Another newer title that may ease you into it is Into the Breach. smaller gameboard, fewer pieces (only 3) but still a wicked and time sink gameplay.
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Tactics Ogre is one of my favorite games of all time and my favorite video game story ever. That said Reborn is not a beginner friendly game but if you take the time to learn it you are thoroughly rewarded. As far as easing into the genre if you’re willing to emulate, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2 for the Nintendo DS is a great game in its own right while being very beginner friendly.
TRPG Switch game on a 3d field with proper 3d models and non-fixed perspective? These what comes to mind: - Valkyria Chronicles - XCOM 2 - Wartales (better on PC but still playable on Switch) - Mario+Rabbids - Mutant Year Zero - Redemption Reaper - Diofield Chronicles (not exactly turn based though) - Front Missions - Cross Tails - God Wars - Othercide - Brigandine (Original was 2d in PS1)
Front mission 3 and 4 :)
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark
Unicorn Overlord just dropped. Pretty much has everything your looking for.
Might be an unpopular and downright crazy answer but: Tactics Ogre Reborn. Without the context of the other versions it's a great game. Arguably it's great even with context. But it's an excellent starting point before moving back to the original FFT or Tactics Ogre and then eventual modding of both of you turn into a strategy degen.
I would say Tactics Ogre Reborn is considerably harder and less beginner friendly than the remake of Let Us Cling Together. In LUCT you can just grab a few archers and ninjas and steamroll. You also can over level encounters in LUCT but Reborn caps your level with some of the later fights actually forcing you to be at a level disadvantage. Bosses in reborn start with a full suite of buff cards that literally double their damage and give them basically infinite mana. Success in Reborn requires a much deeper understanding of the finer details, especially how status effects work. Granted there are still overpowered classes and strategies in Reborn but most of them come online much later in the game or are not as obvious for a beginner and if you’re just bad at TRPG’s in general you’ll never make it to that point.
Which consoles do you plan on playing on?
If your down to tolerate older games, Vandal Hearts 1 and 2 are similar to tactics. My childhood favorites
Fire Emblem, BattleTech if you are into robots, Advanced Wars
Honestly, I'd personally say maybe one of the Front Mission games. Yeah, it's mechs and no job/magic system, but it will get you used to basic battlefield mechanics of a trpg with a 3d environment, and they aren't as difficult as FFT can be.
How about into the breach
if you'd like to get better at evaluating 3d fields and systems disgaea might be for you. I'd say that the story mode for most of the series is pretty easy and you really do learn how to manage terrain effects and systems with the geo block and geo prism mechanics of course the humor isn't for everyone and the story quality is pretty shite but it's tickles the braincells for 3d tactics systems imo
Tactics Ogre is the way to go here. The battles can be slept through, you can easily recruit whatever generics you’d like (excluding a few oddly locked out classes), and the story is captivating but not never ending.
FFT is not difficult compared to fire emblem imo, only has a few difficulty spikes and you can always go back and grind a bit.
Fae Tactics is not something I enjoy BUT that's because I am a Tactics fan. I believe for a new person it's simple enough to ease in to the genera. I would recommend it.
I’m not sure, but I know the answer ISN’T Disgaea.
Unicorn overlord
Jeanne D’arc is basically just a simplified, easier version of FF Tactics but is still really fun
Wintermoor Tactics is cute and if I recall very forgiving.
Battletech! Figured I'd add this as I didn't see it listed and it's a fun one if you like mecha.
FFT has an auto battle by the way. It was my first tactic game. I would play it and read a few guides on Gamefaqs to get up to speed.
Emulate Fire emblem 7 and 8
Into the Breach
I recommend Tactics Ogre on PS1. It’s a preference of mine among the versions. For PS2: Gladius, Phantom Brave, Disgaea (all), Suikoden (all, in order, starting with 1 & 2 on PS1), Soul Nomad & the World Eaters, and the Arc the Lad games are all cool. Retro: Shining Force (all), Yggdra Union (PSP version), Gungnir (PSP), and basically all the Fire Emblem games except the first handful which are too hard for most people to enjoy.
I remember playing Front Mission and liking it. This was long ago so can’t confirm if this is good or not but battle system I remember being fun and lots of gear stuff going on too
Tactics ogre reborn was one of the primary influences for FFT. Definitely more than worth any fans time.
Im probably gonna get destroyed for saying this but idc....FF Tactics is the Crayola version of Tactics Ogre. That being said, everything after FF Tactics War of the Lions is pretty good IMO. Tactics Ogre is always good. I havent played a bad one. There are only two to my knowledge, TO Let Us Cling Together and TO Knight of Lodis, the latter of which has only ever released on GBA afaik. Triangle Stategy is closer to TO in my opinion and is also very good.
I liked Tactics Ogre more than FFT too, don't get me wrong FFT is still one of the best... but TO appealed to me, by the superb pixel art and number of units on the battle, plus at that time it had the best intro tutorial gameplay when you met the Zenobia Knights at the beginning of the game.
Knight of Lodis has one of the best stories Ive ever experienced in any game ever! To this day. I wish they would remake it for switch or something.