PCG Article Renaissance of Strategy RPGs on PC

[Brian Boru]

Oh great, another RPG acronym to confuse the uninitiated like me: SRPG!

I don't recall seeing you guys talk about hardly any of the games mentioned, so here you go

https://www.pcgamer.com/holy-heck-there-are-a-lot-of-strategy-rpgs-on-pc-now/

 

[Zloth]

A lot of those look more like TRPG (tactical RPGs) to me. There isn't a sharp line between the two, but jeez - some have 'tactics' right in the name! IMHO - fights on a battlefield are tactical. It doesn't get strategic until you are determining where the battlefields are and who's taking part. (Though so few people seem to know/care about the difference that it may not matter. It would literally not be the first words to lose meaning due to speaker ignorance. <ahem>)

You have been seeing RPG elements showing up in strategy games. 4X games often have leaders/commanders that you can level up and give more skills. Units have been earning xp and choosing between abilities in Civilization for a few versions now. Age of Wonders: Planetfall and some others even have sidequests.

Now imagine the other way around: Instead of a strategy game with some RPG elements, make an RPG with some strategy elements.

I can't think of any games that I would call an SRPG off hand. RPGs are supposed to have stories as a major element. That isn't going to be easy to pull off at a strategic level.

(So your list is now: RPG, ARPG, TRPG, SRPG, and JRPG. Open world RPGs can be any of those. )

 

[Pifanjr]

I came across the SRPG term when researching the definition of CRPG, but like Zloth says, most if not all of these are tactics games and Wikipedia seems to call most of them "tactical role-playing games".

The only games I've even heard of from this list are Tactics Ogre Reborn and Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children, the latter only because Zloth has been talking about it on the forum.
I loved Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis on the Game Boy Advance, but couldn't really get into Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together for the PSP because of the changes they made. Especially not being able to undo your movement was really annoying to me because it wasn't always obvious whether your characters would be able to hit an enemy from a given position.

 

[ZedClampet]

@Zloth has convinced me they are misusing SRPG and TRPG. And even though I'd never heard of either, I'm now furious and insulted.

 

[ZedClampet]

Upon further reflection, I have decided that TRPG is a sub-genre of SRPG, so all TRPGs are also SRPGs. My fury has abated.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

I'm really hoping someone comes out with a good RPGRPG (Rally of the Guinean People Role-Playing Game).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rally_of_the_Guinean_People

 

[Zloth]

Upon further reflection, I have decided that TRPG is a sub-genre of SRPG, so all TRPGs are also SRPGs. My fury has abated.

Not at all! That's like saying learning to drive is a subset of city traffic design!

They could make strategy RPGs but they don't! Why? Because they think you can't handle a game like that! It's a SLAP IN THE FACE!!

OK, maybe not that bad of a slap.

 

[Brian Boru]

RPGRPG (Rally of the Guinean People Role-Playing Game)

Uh huh. And what exactly have you against my homeboys, the Ryanair Pilot Group?

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Uh huh. And what exactly have you against my homeboys, the Ryanair Pilot Group?

Nothing! I'd take a good game about them, too!