My favorite combat system for turned based similar to Lunar 2 eternal blue.
It’s kind of strategy without the grid or anything.
But if i could add to it i’d put obstacles on the map, bushes other rocks, magic barriers.
Make the ground changing like a part of a cliff falling down changes the battle fiend.
Add Legend of dragoon type additions.
What’s yours?
Lunar 2 is a good pick because the interesting part of it is easy to miss. You never move anyone directly. You choose a target and the character walks there on their own. So distance becomes a cost you pay in time rather than a thing you steer. That’s why the ranged party members and the area attacks feel so different from each other in that game.
Obstacles would land really well on top of that. If a rock blocks the straight path then the walk takes longer and the whole turn shifts around it. You’d be handing the player terrain control without ever giving them a movement command. Your falling cliff does the same job. It changes routes rather than stats and route length is already the currency that system runs on.
The Legend of Dragoon additions pull the other way though and I think that’s worth naming. Positioning is a planning problem you solve before the turn resolves. Additions are an execution problem you solve during it. Systems that ask for both at once tend to produce players who plan badly because they’re already bracing for the timing test.
The version that usually works is keeping them apart. Let the planning happen when you pick the action and save the
Magic barriers are the one I’d be most careful with. If they block movement they’re excellent because they feed the same currency as the rocks. If they only soak damage they quietly become a second health bar and the fight gets longer without getting more interesting.
Yeah the only way you really controlled the movement in lunar 2 was when defending.
Timed attacks be it from legend of dragoon, super Mario rpg, shadow hearts, lost Odyssey. Keep me engaged.
The obstacle thing when I think of it is kind of like raid mechanics in final fantasy xiv, however the pathfinding would have to be implemented really well. Barriers could have other ways than just health bars. Elemental weakness to pop it, QTE, special one time skill (ffx).
Keeping the player engaged in big battles is something I personally like, not every battle of course that could get tedious.