The Tales Series Have The Best Battle System EVER

Role Playing Games, or better known as RPGs had a very distinct look to them that clearly set them apart from all the other genres. Perhaps it was the very-anime art style and corny english-translated dialogue. At any rate, that was years ago where the major source of RPGs came from Japan. Now, that distinct look that RPGs had has been blurred with many different games that provide a new take on the RPG aspects.

RPGs today are released both from Japan and the US. In fact, I feel that the US has been releasing more RPG games than Japan. Look at the Mass Effect franchise, Skyrim or Darksiders. They're all action heavy games which have RPG elements to them, mainly the leveling and skill trees. But they never seem to adapt that turn based combat system that many RPG games were based on. 

   

RPG greats like Suikoden, Final Fantasy and the Persona franchise all used this turn based combat and have had success with it. So why can't the US games also adapt this kind of approach? Perhaps - and the harsh truth that old school gamers have to realise - is the fact that nowadays, turn based combat is ancient. It's boring and slow. Gamers now want to be right in the action. They want to be in complete control of their player when they're in combat and it makes sense. Who wouldn't want all the stat-leveling and mastering skills aspect of an RPG without having to sit through boring turn based combat. True, that turn based combat provides a deep sense of strategy to the game but it's still boring and slow. 

It's for that reason alone that I think the Tales series (Tales of Xillia, Tales of Abyss, Tales of Vesperia etc.) have made one of the best combat systems out of any RPG game EVER MADE. First off let me explain the combat system. There's no random encounters (thank god) so if you see an enemy, just walk to it and a battle will initiate. Then you're put into this arena where you and your party have to defeat the enemies. The combat used to move from left to right only so the change to full 360 motion really made battles more fun and free. But that's not the best part. 

What separates the Tales battle system - and ultimately makes it funner than everyone else's - is the fact that there's a high level of strategy that you can put for your party (a crucial element in turn based combat) while, in battle, you'll still have complete control of your character. And no, I'm not talking about pausing the screen, selecting a party member and asking him to use a potion. I'm talking about that party member being able to use the potion or using a spell or skill by themselves according to the strategy that you've tailor made for that character. 

Let me just explain it like this. Suppose you want to have a party member use a potion to heal themselves. But you only want them to use that potion when they're health is - say, - below 50%. That can be done. 

Or.

Maybe, you want your mage character to start using normal attacks instead of spells when they're MP is below 25%. That can also be done. 

OR.

Let's say, you want a party member to guard and dodge as best he can when his HP is below 10%. It can ALL.BE.DONE.

Mass Effect's duck-and-cover shooting and biotic skills is fun and all, but there's not as much strategy as any tales game out there. It's this high-level strategy BEFORE the battle and the fact that the actual battles are fully controlable without having to worry that much about your party that - in my opinion - make the Tales series have the best battle system from any game. I mean, you've basically got the complete package. Deep strategy elements like that of turn based combat (only, the strategy is tooled around with before combat) and action-packed fighting during the actual battles. It's the best of both worlds. Which game do you think has the best battle system? Comment below!



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