Help me find more tactical games with a very specific game mechanic
May 6, 2022 11:57 AM Subscribe
I've fallen in love with a specific kind of Tactical Role Playing mechanic, but it's either rather rare or I need the right search terms to find more. Players take turns moving around a colored grid, moving to any adjacent squares of the same color. The main tactics are to chain moves/attack along a color as well as picking paths and locations to optimize an attack. There are other things like selecting colors based on powers, manipulating the colors, spoiling color runs for the enemy, etc. The two examples I've found below the fold.
Ticket To Earth by Robot Circus
Alchemy Stars by Tencent, ultimately.
Indie and pay-to-own games vastly preferred over ConHugeCo and microtransactions/lootbox/adware games.
Any platform. Thanks!
Ticket To Earth by Robot Circus
Alchemy Stars by Tencent, ultimately.
Indie and pay-to-own games vastly preferred over ConHugeCo and microtransactions/lootbox/adware games.
Any platform. Thanks!
Um, isn't this all trickle down from final fantasy tactics?
posted by history is a weapon at 12:34 PM on May 6, 2022
posted by history is a weapon at 12:34 PM on May 6, 2022
Response by poster:
posted by Ookseer at 2:00 PM on May 6, 2022
Um, isn't this all trickle down from final fantasy tactics?I’m not aware of any FF title that uses the “run along colors” mechanic. If I’m missing one let me know. (I’m very familiar with standard grid-based tactics games. I’m specifically looking for games that use the changing color of the squares as part of the tactics.)
posted by Ookseer at 2:00 PM on May 6, 2022
Does the Banner Saga series fit the bill? Here's a video of the gameplay. The Wikipedia page for Banner Saga says the gameplay is inspired by the game Final Fantasy Tactics.
posted by phil at 4:38 PM on May 6, 2022
posted by phil at 4:38 PM on May 6, 2022
On reread I think there may be a bit of a misunderstanding going on here. There is a Final Fantasy game named Final Fantasy Tactics.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_Tactics
posted by phil at 4:45 PM on May 6, 2022
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_Tactics
posted by phil at 4:45 PM on May 6, 2022
I play a lot of tactical games and I haven't seen any other games exactly like those 2 games. It's interesting how those 2 games look so similar to each other. The other name that shows up when I search for those two is a gacha game called Pocoron Dungeons, which apparently inspired Alchemy Stars.
I think you're more generally looking for puzzle/tactical RPG hybrids, which is the broader genre that you could say started with Puzzle Quest (and definitely includes Grindstone). Puzzles and Dragons is basically an elaboration on the same gameplay and is massively popular, which is probably why there are so many gacha games that have puzzle/tactical combat. Sdorica looks to be another gacha game that is going for similar mechanics.
Honestly there probably will never be many pay-to-own games in this style, because anything that is mobile friendly and doesn't derive from console gameplay styles will probably end up as free-to-play in today's market. Standalone mobile games are even more rare now then they were back in 2017 when Ticket To Earth came out, and my understanding is they only make sense if they're like Grindstone and part of something like Apple Arcade (which Apple seems to be losing interest in)
posted by JZig at 4:52 PM on May 6, 2022
I think you're more generally looking for puzzle/tactical RPG hybrids, which is the broader genre that you could say started with Puzzle Quest (and definitely includes Grindstone). Puzzles and Dragons is basically an elaboration on the same gameplay and is massively popular, which is probably why there are so many gacha games that have puzzle/tactical combat. Sdorica looks to be another gacha game that is going for similar mechanics.
Honestly there probably will never be many pay-to-own games in this style, because anything that is mobile friendly and doesn't derive from console gameplay styles will probably end up as free-to-play in today's market. Standalone mobile games are even more rare now then they were back in 2017 when Ticket To Earth came out, and my understanding is they only make sense if they're like Grindstone and part of something like Apple Arcade (which Apple seems to be losing interest in)
posted by JZig at 4:52 PM on May 6, 2022
Some of the minigames in Doctor Who Infinity seems to fit the description.
posted by kschang at 12:06 AM on May 7, 2022
posted by kschang at 12:06 AM on May 7, 2022
I thiiiink? Suikoden Tactics has something liiiike? this. It's basically FF Tactics except that the five elemental runes and their rock/paper/scissors-esque interactions dictate a great deal of your battle tactics. I played almost none of it but I saw an awful lot of multicolored squares on the battle map when my wife was playing it.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 7:53 AM on May 7, 2022
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 7:53 AM on May 7, 2022
Best answer: The Disgaea series is a great tactical RPG with something somewhat similar to what you describe - there are colored squares / patterns on the field, and objects that grant field effects to all the squares of the same color. A key part of the gameplay is understanding those effects, actively moving them from one color zone to another to adjust what parts of the play area are under different effects, as well as changing the colors to expand or remove zones in increasingly complicated fashions.
posted by FatherDagon at 2:49 PM on May 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by FatherDagon at 2:49 PM on May 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
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posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 12:09 PM on May 6, 2022