How Important Is The "Battle System" In An RPG To You?

For me the battle system has to be very tactical and be something that you have to think through. This is why I like the Disgaiea games. Especially the item world levels. Nothing is ever the same.

Battle systems are intensely important to me in RPGs. I've played some with amazing systems, and some with systems that made me just want to give up playing. I'd say... as far as shitty battle systems, FFVIII may be one of the worst. One of the best would be FFXII, I simply prefer the open-world, active battle style.

Its like asking if any particular engine of a game is important. All are, and more so if a large portion of your time is to be spent there and it is non-optional. For most RPGs, this is true of the combat section - although not all, such as Planescape: Torment, where combat took only 10-20% of playtime in my opinion.

Well, the battle system is just part of the whole. I like to think all aspects of the game when considering it's worth. A game can be good, if not better, even if it doesn't have a strong emphasis on combat. Me, I'd certainly wish to see games where diplomacy played a bigger role- you could honestly talk your way out of conflict situations by trickery, reason, bribery or intimidation, instead of the usual 'fight-to-the-death' setup where monsters and opposition are there just to make dungeons up out of a mish-mash of corridors, a few odd traps and a chest here and there, and the boss fight at the end. Very unimaginative and boring.

Still, on the subject of battle systems...as long as they work and are not cumbersome or filled with idiotic arbitary restrictions (take the 'red card and you're out' for using swords type of ruleset from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, for example).

It certainly helps if the 'battle system' gets to be clever. I just played Minecraft and am 'farming' monsters by creating a trap for them where they get dropped into water, drown, and then a mechanism sweeps up their goodies and deposits it in a fountain into my treasure room. I don't need to do anything and often just go and study, then return an hour later to peer at accumulated goodies.

Much better than repetitive left-clicking.

im not a big fan of turns. i like that i can just run up and go balistic on an enemy. Turns aggravate meh sometimes. Such as in Fire Emblem and FFX2

i cant get into turn based games. its too campy for me. id much rather have more control over whats happening.

FF8's battle system is awesome in comparison to 12

Combat mechanics make or break an RPG for me.

I like something with some depth to it, but also a good feel.

I'm enjoying Skyrim's combat right now, because even though your equipment and skill choices influence it, it feels visceral and exciting regardless.

There's a big difference between hitting a dragon over and over with the same animation until little numbers stop appearing and leaping onto an enraged dragon's back and stabbing it in slow motion

My most enjoyable victory thus far was confronting a dark mage at the top of an old fort's tower, however.

I drew my big axe and he screamed something like "You meddle with a master of the arcane arts, fool!"

Then I put the axe away as he started charging his first lightning bolt, and instead yelled at him so loud in the dragon tongue that he went flying over the tower wall. One fading scream and a loud thud later, and there was one less evil doer in the world

Great Solitary Man, make me jealous

I like turn-based fighting in RPGs. I save the real-time for strategy games.

If the combat system is good, it would make the game less boring, I usually just want it to be not annoying, the thing is that RPGs are often 30-40hrs long, so for me, it's just the matter of time the combat becomes boring, and if they're annoying or frustrating, it becomes a problem, having variety and different progression would help, for example characters with different skills/jobs.

Persona 3 fes was one of the rpgs that kept me interested because of the different ways to fuse personas.

To me FF10 had the best one as everyone had their monster specialty in battle and evasion makes a difference, but it really just depends on the game and what I'm in the mood for. Turn based rpgs can become boring and there are times when you want a more real time action approach:

The Tales games tend to have a side scrolling street fighter like battle.

The hardest battle systems tend to be less turn based. Legend of Dragoon is a good example. Every attack is an attempt to perform a combo where you have to hit a bunch of alternating red and blue screens at just the right time and the ability doesn't get better until you successfully do them a certain number of times. So how well you do in battles literally depends on your real time experience with the rhythms of the attack moves. I was able to master them all, but some people hate them. The Dragoon mode battle system is basically the same, picture a clock moving from 12 to 12 5 times and you have to hit it at 12 all 5 times or else you only do some of the moves. And dont think that magic is any better; To get the good damage depends on how fast you can mash your buttons. And when enemies counterattack you have to hit a different button, the blue screen will suddenly turn red, and if you dont hit the right button your combo will be canceled and you will take damage.

But there a lot of good ones. The Wild Arms series has always had unique and interesting battle systems, though turn based. I know there have been a few I didn't like, but I cant remember any of them right now.

The battle system is often a crucial deciding factor when deciding what game you want to play.