There are great JRPGs throughout the years, but they have not always been supported by the best battle systems.
10 Incredibly Janky Games We All Loved Anyway
The phrase ‘warts and all’ springs to mind.
Let’s check out a handful of JRPGs that are great but lack a good battle system to back up everything else good about it.
10Final Fantasy 9
All Great, Besides the Fighting
Final Fantasy 9
Final Fantasy 9is known asone of the best games in the series. It has this reputation due to its incredible art style, great storytelling, and gripping characters.
However, it did not get this reputation due to the combat system. It was a step back in many respects from Final Fantasy 8, and it seemed like something that was immediately remedied in the next installment.
It’s so underwhelming because of how plain it is. The game itself is a throwback to the games of old, but it contains less complexity than Final Fantasy 6.
All of the interactivity in the limit breaks from FFVIII is gone. There is nothing nearly as engaging as the Materia system from 7, and even the summons feel lackluster compared to previous titles.
It just felt old at a time when the gaming industry was growing to considerable new heights. In many ways, Final Fantasy 9’s combat system failed to evolve, and it makes appreciating the rest of the game hard at times.
9Tales of Berseria
Baffling Mechanics
Tales of Berseria
Tales of Berseriais a great game that brought the Tales seriesback from the abyss in a big way, but there is one big problem with it.
The combat, while fun at times, is based upon a crystal-acquiring system. See, these fuel what Artes you may do during a fight, which is great, but guess what?
When those crystals run out, essentially, you’re helpless. The game has no basic attack to fill in the space between.
This leaves combat feeling like an incredibly awkward dance of using your Artes and then running around like an idiot.
Its a shame because the story is awesome, Velvet is one of the series' best protagonists and the party is pretty great too.
Unfortunately, you’re fighting so much of the time, and the combat issues stand out all the more in boss fights.
They fixed this with the next title, Tales of Arise, which added basic attacks to make up the space between Artes, as well as a dodge button, which made everything flow so much better.
8Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake
Ancient in the Wrong Ways
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2Dremake is a great throwback to a long-bygone era, and the updated visuals, along with the improved quality of life improvements, make the game a joy to play through.
However, something they missed the mark on is the battle system. First, you don’t even see the action happening on screen; instead, you get a quick little slash or spell animation instead of seeing the combat happen.
Then, you’re not even given full control over your characters. You just select to fight and then determine the tactics of each of your party and watch it unfold.
It’s woefully boring, lacks player interaction, and plays out like a far, far less interesting version of what Unicorn Overlord did with the same concept.
The game should have completely improved the combat from the original, but somehow left it untouched.
7Vagrant Story
What am I looking at Here?
Vagrant Storyis one of the best single-entry JRPGs out there, and at a time when everything was fantasy and whimsy, we instead got a dark, gothic story that showed offsome great writing, great world-building, and great characters.
The one thing holding it back from being a massive success, though, was an incredibly awkward combat system that mixed real-time with pause, and it just never clicked.
It doesn’t help that the tutorial is relatively unhelpful, and the execution of the limb-based combat system feels off no matter how much you engage with it.
The introduction of real-time combat into a JRPG had been done before already and far better. Square Enix wanted to take a big swing here, but they definitely missed in this regard.
Everything else is so good in the game that I still heavily recommend it to any JRPG fan, but for many, that combat is going to be a hurdle that is tough to overcome.
6Final Fantasy 12
Sit Back and Watch
Final Fantasy 12
Final Fantasy 12came after Square Enix delved into the MMORPG world, and it shows. The game is one of the most mature in Square Enix’s catalog and arguably has its best cast.
The world is also amazing to explore, the villains engaging and interesting in their motives and the twists are some of the best in the series too.
One area the game screwed up, though, was the combat. We’d grown accustomed to being able to control the pace of battle for years now with the series, and all of a sudden, that control was wrestled away.
Instead, we got a real-time combat system that involved auto-attacking and the dreaded (depending on preference) Gambit system.
This lets you essentially set up the game to play itself. Some people loved this, but a lot of people didn’t, as it took away any need to even touch the controller.
Add to this the Quickening attacks, which, while cool, will repeat over and over and over again during the course of a single battle, and you’ve got a combat system that wears thin very quickly and doesn’t change all that much over the next 60 hours.
5Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Reading Tutorials is Not Fun
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Xenoblade Chronicles 2is an epic game that helped bring the JRPG out of the dark ages in the late 2010s.
The wild story is a throwback to JRPGs of yesteryear, and the graphics are among the best the Switch has to offer to this day.
However, the battle system is one of the worst imaginable. It’s not so much that it’s fundamentally bad, but how overly complex it is and how much you need to retain in order to use it effectively.
The big issue is the endless tutorials introducing new battle mechanics that don’t even make sense despite rereading them repeatedly.
To have any real understanding of the system, you’re going to need online video tutorials explaining it, and that shouldn’t be a requirement for any game.
While the core of the system is simple, it’s just over the top in terms of how many things you need to keep track of, combinations that you have to capitalize on, and more.
If it were turn-based, this would be a lot to take in, but having it all happen in real-time with the chaos of the battle going on makes it near impossible to consistently have a grip on what to do, especially when a new battle mechanic is introduced many times throughout the game.
Over Simplified
Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht
Xenosagais, in many ways, thethinking man’s JRPG. It strays far from the ‘boy saves world’ tropes set by games of the past and instead embraces a more philosophical story that focuses on some heavy themes.
There are also well-written characters, gripping antagonists, and some pretty graphics to keep you occupied while enjoying the story as well.
The game does manage to suffer in its combat system, however, which felt like a pale imitation of the much more involved and fun Xenogears system.
Here, action points are what make up the system, and you may spend them on attacks assigned to different buttons.
The combos here are so much more streamlined compared to its spiritual predecessor, which makes toying around with the system far less interesting and much more by the numbers.
Once you find a combo that works, there is little reason to go outside of it. You also don’t get to discover the combos on your own, as everything is unlocked as you proceed throughout the story, so the feeling of self-made progression isn’t there either.
There is also a lack of flair to the combat, as many of the attacks look and feel less than impressive, even for the time it came out, and have not aged too well because of that.
3Drakengard
The Worst Dynasty Warriors Game
Drakengard
Drakengardis, for lack of a better word, completely insane. And that’s a good thing, at least, if you likeoriginal stories that leave your jaw agape at what is happening on screen.
This game is the beginning of the legendary Nier series, which spawned from one of the most absurd endings in the history of gaming that you may unlock while playing Drakengard in a specific way.
Drakengard puts you in the boots of Caim, who is one of the most unhinged protagonists out there, and early on, he seals his fate by bonding his life with a dragon and from there, the plot goes off the rails, rips the rails from the earth and twirls it in the air as you’re hanging onto the ride for dear life.
The one issue is that in order to enjoy this ride, you need to get through the combat, which is a large part of the game.
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The combat is broken down into two modes: on foot, which plays like the lowest-effort Dynasty Warriors clone of all time, and in the air, which plays like Panzer Dragoon if someone had to recreate that combat in a single night’s work.
The on-foot combat is particularly awful, giving you such a small suite of attacks in the opening hours that gets boring so quickly you might not even want to play on.
This increases with the weapons you unlock, but if you’re expecting something as thrilling as Nier: Automata, you will be greatly out of luck.
It has only gotten worse as the years have gone on, and playing through this one now is even more painful than it was 20 years ago because of it.
Even with that in mind, it’s worth the trip.
2Nier: Replicant
A Classic Grind
Nieris one of the few games that can bedefined as brilliant. The story of a brother trying to find a cure for his sick sister is so gripping and bizarre that there is nothing like it.
It’s got some of the best twists in history, iconic characters everywhere you look, and some of the most unique environments any JRPG has seen.
To enjoy it, however, you’ll need to come to grips with the combat system, which is less than exemplary.
You can tell what they tried to do here with an action-based system that includes various combos, weapons, and magical attacks, but it, unfortunately, is just so janky for no particular reason.
Attacks lack impact, the magic system, while interesting looking, doesn’t work as well as it should, and it ultimately feels like a poor attempt at a Devil May Cry-type system that lacked the technical expertise to really make something like that work over a long, JRPG.
The series would right the ship with Nier: Automata, which has some excellent combat, but here, it didn’t feel as good as it should’ve been.
1Final Fantasy XIII
Too Much Change
Final Fantasy 13
Final Fantasy 13was a disappointment for many when it came out, but that was mostly due to the linear nature of the first half of the game.
For those that stuck with it, agreat gamewas there with some well-done characters, a creative and out-there story, and some of the best graphics the series has to offer.
The combat system is always a huge part of JRPGs though, and the Paradigm Shift system here was just so bad.
First, you only get to control one character, which is a terrible decision as there are some cool characters here that you only get to control when the story dictates it.
This leaves you with a very samey feeling combat system for the majority of the game.
It’s annoying because there is potential for something special here with the Paradigm Shift system, but it’s a poorly explained system from the get-go, and feels like the game is essentially playing itself most of the time.
You’re able to finally switch out leaders and alter formations late in the game but by then? You’re probably already bored to tears from the repetitive nature of the combat.
There is no actual reason not to let us control the party in this game other than Square Enix wanting to do something different.
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