Best combat in an RPG? EVAR

What do you guys think is the best combat in any RPG to date?

I'm going to start off this thread with a bit of controversy, as my vote goes to Dragon Age 2. I think the game as a whole is very good, and especially the combat sticks out as a fantastic piece of design. Hope they keep the DA2 combat in mind for the sequel, and spice it up with some of the more interesting stuff from Origins, such as bigger overworld, more interesting locations, and less repetetive caves.

You're up.

Dragon Age 2? Isn't this about RPG's, not action games?

DA2 was too "flashy". I didn't like how when I backstab a dude it caused his upper torso to disappear in a bloody mist. Also, as an early adopter of the console version I had no auto attack and had to mash the attack button like a madman and, though it has been awhile since I played it, I remember having problems using skills while continuing to attack. I hope they go back to the slow paced, less enemies and no fucking waves of dudes that DA:O used when they make DA3.
 
As for best? Dark Souls is an easy answer and probably the right one. Everything feels right about the controls of the Souls series.

Fallout 3.

Hey, if DA2 counts, then Fallout must.

Turned based wise I'll go with Mother 3 personally. I'm a nerd for Nintendo RPGs and I really enjoyed the simplicity added with some nice timing mechanics.

Non-turn based I'd say Skyrim as everything really works and I find it quite the improvement from Oblivion.

Now watch as the logic in my comment is torn apart by actual RPG fans.

@christ0phe said:

Dragon Age 2? Isn't this about RPG's, not action games?

So we're only going with RPG-ass RPGs? No sub-genres or anything like that?

Not sure if it's considered an RPG (I like to think so), but I really liked the ME2 combat much more so than ME1. Aside from that; old-school D&D = 'Baldur's Gate II: Shadow of Amn' would be my choice.

dark souls

The World Ends With You. If not the best combat, certainly the most batshit insane.

Resonance of Fate

Borderlands?

@christ0phe said:

Dragon Age 2? Isn't this about RPG's, not action games?

Skill trees? Check.

Character custumization? Check.

Levelling? Check.

Dialoug options? Check.

Tons of quests? Check.

Janky as hell animation? Check.

I would say that qualifies as an RPG. Bitch got told.

Mass effect 2 and Dragon Age 2 had satisfying combat. For JRPG's, Tales of Vesperia and Star Ocean had good combat although Star Ocean itself was bad. Final Fantasy XIII also had good combat. It felt fresh compared to other turn based sorta games (not sure what you call them considering they are not turn based but not real time either)

@christ0phe said:

Dragon Age 2? Isn't this about RPG's, not action games?

So we're only going with RPG-ass RPGs? No sub-genres or anything like that?

Turn based: Still goes to Chrono Trigger in my mind, still feels fresh and it's astonishing nobody really cloned it.

Real time: I'd have to say Mass Effect 2.

@sthusby: That's not controversy, that's just an incorrect opinion.

@sthusby said:

@christ0phe said:

Dragon Age 2? Isn't this about RPG's, not action games?

Skill trees? Check.

Character custumization? Check.

Levelling? Check.

Dialoug options? Check.

Tons of quests? Check.

Janky as hell animation? Check.

I would say that qualifies as an RPG. Bitch got told.

I'd take issue with this post, but to be fair, @christ0phe does look like a bitch, at least judging by his avatar.

Witcher 2 - the potion system and mutagens are awesome and the combat action works very well allowing for challenge and difficulty.

if it's a party-style RPG I'll go with Drakensang. I liked the real-time party system and the ability to stack up actions and have it all time out and execute just right. It's kind of what Dragon Age aspires to but doesn't quite get right.

Action oriented: Dark Souls

Turn based: Final Fantasy 13. Say what you will about the pace, story, linearity, characters, etc, but the combat system was very smart and provided an interesting new way to approach the turn based structure.

Final Fantasy X-2

@gelatinabomination said:

The World Ends With You. If not the best combat, certainly the most batshit insane.

The combat in that game certainly wins when it comes to originality.

Nearly bought the thing just to see how it worked.

Favourite ever: Final Fantasy X - I think it is perfect and could explain why but expect a long answer if you ask.

Recently: Dark Souls - the combat felt the most empowering of any I have faced, and is one of the few Action RPG's to bring me in.

Out of all Action RPG's - Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep - my favourite handheld game of all time and the battle system is truly magnificent.

And also I don't know if you include these kinds of RPG's - but Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has an amazing battle system, and I stll really enjoy Ocarina of Time's one even if it is shallow.

I'm not much of an RPG fan so I have to go with the Pokemon series.

@gelatinabomination said:

The World Ends With You. If not the best combat, certainly the most batshit insane.

100% yes.

@Turambar said:

Resonance of Fate

As its one man fan club I must say Ring of Red, its subtle blend of Fire Emblem over-map, pseudo turn based combat and light squad mechanics make it the best for me.

Maybe also Final Fantasy XIII, about the only thing worth salvaging from that game.

I'd like to see another Grandia game. The battle system in those games is pretty great and exciting.

FFXIII does a pretty good fast paced JRPG battle system. Despite my complaints about the game, I still really liked the battle system.

Final fantasy X, has the best slow paced RPG combat. Mass Effect has the best fast paced combat.

I personally prefer FFX.

Icewind Dale 2

In regards to Action-RPG's, I've yet to experience a more satisfying combat system than that of Demon's Souls/Dark Souls. In regards to Turn-Based RPG's, Persona 4 has to be my favorite iteration of that subgenre of RPG combat systems.

The World Ends With You. If not the best combat, certainly the most batshit insane.

I can't pick just one to be entirely honest, it's just not possible, so I will just list the ones off the top of my head I had the most fun with: 
  

• Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter: One of the earliest games I can think of that was sort of a melding of SRPGs and normal turn based stuff. You had AP that drained 1 per step and then various amounts based on how strong of an attack you used, and obviously positioning etc mattered... It actually reminds me of....
• Resonance of Fate: Currently playing through this now and I've sunk 20 hours into it over the past like 3 days. It is similar to BoFDQ in how moving drains an action bar but it gets significantly deeper with jumping, HP also being a damage dealing resource you must manage, knocking enemies into the ground midair or going under them in an attempt to score extra shots, multiple layers of armor via body parts... dear god I am actually still just in shock Tri-Ace actually managed to make a combat system that isn't awful.
• Final Fantasy XIII: Enough has been said about how good the combat is, but I will chime in with my usual if you used auto battle you were doing it wrong/slow and move on.
• Pokemon in Gen 4 and 5: It's fairly amazing at how well Game Freak hides how strategic the games have gotten over the past 2 generations, but it's nice to see that they have moved it outside of the PvP world and into stuff like Battle Subway.... seriously the later waves of that the enemies started to literally cheat (in a good way) by having Pokemon use attacks they can't normally even learn. Always keeps me on my toes. Also both triple and rotational battles have been amazing, I actually wish they would ditch single and double forever moving forward in favor of rotation/triple, but I know it will never happen.
• Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep: I still find it impressive SE managed to capture an action game feel in this, both dodging and blocking was key to survival (which is never the case in many action RPGs) and the fact you could chain a melee combo infinitely if you were skilled enough was just icing on the cake.

The FF:Tactics Advance games are some of my favourite.

Mass Effect 2, but combat systems are not what I look for in RPGs

The combat in Tales of Vesperia is the best part of the game, and that's a pretty stellar (J)RPG altogether; even going against random shit or grinding never felt as tedious as it does in other RPGs because it was so gosh darn damn fun.

Also Dark Souls is another contender too, to be sure.

ME2,

also the bow and arrow in Skyrim is really fun.

Grandia III has a great battle system even if the rest of the game is pretty much garbage.

@Zenaxzd said:

I can't pick just one to be entirely honest, it's just not possible, so I will just list the ones off the top of my head I had the most fun with:

• Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter: One of the earliest games I can think of that was sort of a melding of SRPGs and normal turn based stuff. You had AP that drained 1 per step and then various amounts based on how strong of an attack you used, and obviously positioning etc mattered... It actually reminds me of....
• Resonance of Fate: Currently playing through this now and I've sunk 20 hours into it over the past like 3 days. It is similar to BoFDQ in how moving drains an action bar but it gets significantly deeper with jumping, HP also being a damage dealing resource you must manage, knocking enemies into the ground midair or going under them in an attempt to score extra shots, multiple layers of armor via body parts... dear god I am actually still just in shock Tri-Ace actually managed to make a combat system that isn't awful.
• Final Fantasy XIII: Enough has been said about how good the combat is, but I will chime in with my usual if you used auto battle you were doing it wrong/slow and move on.
• Pokemon in Gen 4 and 5: It's fairly amazing at how well Game Freak hides how strategic the games have gotten over the past 2 generations, but it's nice to see that they have moved it outside of the PvP world and into stuff like Battle Subway.... seriously the later waves of that the enemies started to literally cheat (in a good way) by having Pokemon use attacks they can't normally even learn. Always keeps me on my toes. Also both triple and rotational battles have been amazing, I actually wish they would ditch single and double forever moving forward in favor of rotation/triple, but I know it will never happen.
• Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep: I still find it impressive SE managed to capture an action game feel in this, both dodging and blocking was key to survival (which is never the case in many action RPGs) and the fact you could chain a melee combo infinitely if you were skilled enough was just icing on the cake.

I should probably stop there, I could seriously list off RPGs with great and unique combat like forever but that is what immediately jumped to my head when I read the thread title.

Nice list.

Dark Messiah of Might And Magic definitely has my favorite swordplay in an RPG.

Favourite ever: Final Fantasy X - I think it is perfect and could explain why but expect a long answer if you ask.

All of the "Tales of" games. Especailly Vesperia, and Eternia though.

Resonance of fate is so rewarding when you get good at it, and if you mess up you're punished.

Shadow Hearts: From the new world. Native American dude with guns, A vampire alien that gets fatter or thinner which changes her fighting style...beast lady berserker...this game is fucked right up (in a good way)

Reccetear. Love this game so I just wanted to mention it :p

I haven't played many RPGS, so take my opinions with a grain of salt.

My favorites are: Mass Effect 2, Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door, and Persona 3/Persona 4.

Dark souls no contest

 A vampire alien that gets fatter or thinner which changes her fighting style

As is usually the answer when the word best and RPG are used in the same question: Dark Souls.

@christ0phe said:

Dragon Age 2? Isn't this about RPG's, not action games?

Skill trees? Check.

Character custumization? Check.

Levelling? Check.

Dialoug options? Check.

Tons of quests? Check.

Janky as hell animation? Check.

I would say that qualifies as an RPG. Bitch got told.

Action based in a RPG for me would have to be The World Ends With You, just because of how crazy it was and how satisfying it was to pull off massive combos on the bottom screen while playing something kinda like Poker on the top screen. Turn based for me would have to be Persona 3 Portable's system. It took the already great battle system from Persona 4 (which was an improvement over 3's to begin with) and managed to make it just a little bit better (personal opinion of course).

Final Fantasy X ... end of story.

A combat system is qualified as RPG if you make a dice roll to attack. Therefore, DA2 counts, but Mass Effect 2 does not, which is a shame as the ME2 combat is one of my personal favorites.

But anyways, Persona 4, then probably Pokemon.

...Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. The "timing" thing works very, very well with this one. I just love it.