Fine Tuning the Shark: The Do’s and Don’ts of Strategy RPGs

On the evolutionary tree of role-playing games strategy RPGs (SRPGs) are akin to the shark, consistent in design and functional in practice with the ability to tear you apart if you’re not careful. First, the easy to understand, board game-like principles lure you in. However, before you can get away the various upgrade, equipment and party systems pull your attention in a myriad of directions while the difficulty ramps up forcing you to face enemies with HPs approaching the size of the national debt. While not for every gamer, strategy RPGs have found their niche with legendary titles such as Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Disgaea. Even the older or lesser-known titles, such as Shining Forces, Vandal Hearts, Gladius and Stella Deus provide conventions that have impacted the genre. The best SRPGs possess mechanics that move the genre forward, though even these cling to some outmoded vestiges that hearken back to earlier games. So here is a wish list of DO’s and DON’Ts that preserve the entertaining aspects of SRPGs without bogging down with the extraneous elements that often turn people away from this amazingly deep genre.

(Vandal Hearts) YAAAAAAARGH!

DO: Make sure battles are meaningful.

At their core, SRPGs are a series of increasingly difficult battles. This is a basic tenant of the genre, but each battle should matter to the overall story and move the plot forward. Nothing is worse then to have finished a major story-related battle only to be dropped into a stage where you are fighting a bunch of bandits that ambushed you for no apparent reason. The structure of SRPGs allows each stage to serve as a crescendo of action in the story. Don’t diminish the pacing by watering it down with random encounters against nameless antagonists simply to pad out the game’s playtime. I know I’m going to have to beat up bad guys, but make sure I have a compelling reason.

DON’T: Force me to grind between each battle.

Each encounter should provide enough enemies that most of your characters have the opportunity to level up. Having to spend an hour replaying old levels in order to beef up your characters kills your momentum. As long as I make sound choices in battle, let me level up so I can advance through the story. The original Vandal Hearts provided an excellent level up system that allowed players to progress through the story, without getting bogged down with grinding.

Disgaea PS2 Box Art

DO: Provide optional side missions for those who love to level.

While grinding can be tedious, for some people leveling up to create god-like characters that can defeat bosses with a single hit is the primary draw of SRPGs. For those players who enjoy the grind, have sub-levels that don’t impact the main story, but provide experience and tangible benefits. Disgaea had an almost infinitely deep system where each item, whether weapon, armor or accessory, could be entered and played as a series of levels. This simultaneously helps build up your characters and increases the attributes of your weapons. This option allowed dedicated fans to max out their characters equipment and levels.

DON’T: Tell the same story every other SRPG already has.

Starting off as the inexperienced or disgraced soldier who rebels against the army he once pledged his life to is the same recycled plot that underpins nearly all of the early games of this genre, even the great ones. Give the audience something new. The reason that Nippon Ichi revitalized, and monopolized, the SRPG genre in the PS2 era was that its Disgaea series told a new story. Gone were the super serious fights between rebels and empires and instead we had devils fighting spacemen while homicidal penguins waited to explode. Keep the audience guessing and you’ll always have them coming back for more.

DO: Have a way for my healer to level up.

Too many SRPGs treat their healers (or clerics, white mages, etc.) like unwanted children in a department store, left to fend for themselves without any helping hands. A healer is there to cast protective and restorative magic, not wail on baddies. Having to stop everything and grind your healer to their next level brings plot progression to a crawl. Stella Deus, while cliché in many respects, had a fantastic experience system. In it any action you took, whether attacking, casting magic or using an item gained your characters experience. So throughout the game my healer was one of my highest-level characters. This system should be the rule rather than the exception.

FF: Tactics Class Selection

DON’T: Make cookie cutter characters.

One of the biggest pitfalls that some SRPGs stumble into is having characters that are little more than palette swaps of each other. No one likes to strategize using an army of clones, no matter how leveled up with cool abilities and weapons. Each of the main characters in the story needs to have their own strengths and weaknesses. Both Disgaea and Stella Deus have a wide array of characters that each play differently and feel unique, e.g., in Disgaea the long range attacks of Captain Gordon contrast nicely with the high HP and close quarters tactics of Thursday. Additional characters you can recruit shouldn’t be “dumbed down” versions of the main characters; they should have their own function within the game. If I add a subsidiary character to my party they should bring something new to the table and broaden the spectrum of actions my party can take.

DO: Keep the landscape interesting.

If I want to move armies around on a flat board I’ll go play Risk. Give players some variety in how each level is laid out. Two options are to add three-dimensions to the terrain or introduce spaces that have special effects. Thankfully most modern SRPGs have adopted one of these two alternatives. Adding height to the typical two-dimensional boards, as seen in Final Fantasy Tactics and Stella Deus, adds depth. It allows archers and mages to gain the high ground and rain down death on their opponents or for melee fighters to crowd against cliffs to stay out of the eyeline of cagey snipers. Disgaea instead uses specialized GeoPanels that add both positive and negative effects to certain places on the map. A seemingly innocuous board can be a deathtrap with some squares not allowing you to attack or doubling the damage you receive. Although this same system can help you effortlessly glide through encounters by healing your characters or preventing you from taking damage. Along with these specialized panels Disgaea includes crystals that can be destroyed to nullify GeoPanel effects and a scout class that can manipulate the spaces, providing additional strategy.

Gladius on the GC

DON’T: Limit character selection for any battle.

SRPGs are about building an army in any way the player desires. Do not force a player to only be able to use the main characters in certain levels. An example is in Gladius, where a specific story-related battle forces you to use only the main protagonist and his crew, without any secondary characters. So, if you fell into the habit of using your secondary characters to handle most of the threats in the stages preceding this encounter, as I did, you were screwed. Your underleveled primary characters ended up getting handled by this surprise assault. Offering up an endless variety of character combinations and strategy options, only to stymie your creativity during select moments is a cruel trick that can ruin an otherwise enjoyable experience.

Overall, SRPGs are about a player having an endless parade of options at their disposal. Should I attack the final boss with an army of healers? Sure go for it. Should I powerlevel my characters so that enemies can’t deal a single point of damage? Why not? Can I take my highest-level character and pit them against an entire levels-worth of enemies? Sure.

Choice is the key to the SRPG.  This genre should provide a sandbox for armchair generals to create devastating armies, while enjoying an engaging tale. While SRPGs may be the sharks of RPGs, even sharks evolve once and a while.

Did I miss any key points? Add some of your own DOs and DON’Ts in the Comments section below.