RPG/Strategy VN

[Not_At_All]

Hello, I am looking for a Visual Novel that has RPG or Strategy elements and a good story. I have been through all the vndb with this query a few times, but I don't think I can find any more. Things I've read/played:

• Utawarerumono (Loved it)
• Eien no Aselia/Seinarukana (The gameplay wasn't fun enough to do more than one route, but I loved the idea and I had a lot of fun in the first route of both games)
• Kamidori Alchemy Meister (Gameplay was one of the best I've seen (I'm a sucker for grid based strategy) but the story was poor, so I got bored doing the second playthrough)
• Tears To Tiara 
• Castle Fantasia
• Koihime Musou (Didn't like it, waiting for SKM to be translated)
• Yumina The Ethereal (Didn't like it either)

I also know of Eiyuu Senki. Is there something I've missed? I only looked at fully translated japanese ones on vndb, so my blind spots are: not fully translated, but playable VNs (maybe Ikusa Megami series or Monster Girl Quest Paradox are playable?), english VNs and stuff that is not on vndb. I only have PC though, so Utawarerumono sequels and Tears To Tiara 2 are sadly no go.  

P.S. I am aware of Rance series and Bunny Black, but rape is a major turnoff for me.

[Guest]

34 minutes ago, Not_At_All said:

Hello, I am looking for a Visual Novel that has RPG or Strategy elements and a good story. I have been through all the vndb with this query a few times, but I don't think I can find any more. Things I've read/played:

• Utawarerumono (Loved it)
• Eien no Aselia/Seinarukana (The gameplay wasn't fun enough to do more than one route, but I loved the idea and I had a lot of fun in the first route of both games)
• Kamidori Alchemy Meister (Gameplay was one of the best I've seen (I'm a sucker for grid based strategy) but the story was poor, so I got bored doing the second playthrough)
• Tears To Tiara 
• Castle Fantasia
• Koihime Musou (Didn't like it, waiting for SKM to be translated)
• Yumina The Ethereal (Didn't like it either)

I also know of Eiyuu Senki. Is there something I've missed? I only looked at fully translated japanese ones on vndb, so my blind spots are: not fully translated, but playable VNs (maybe Ikusa Megami series or Monster Girl Quest Paradox are playable?), english VNs and stuff that is not on vndb. I only have PC though, so Utawarerumono sequels and Tears To Tiara 2 are sadly no go.  

P.S. I am aware of Rance series and Bunny Black, but rape is a major turnoff for me.

Shin Megame Tensei\Fire Emblem (Series) have a lot of dialog, but it's not a VN, so if you think it's not much of a Stretch.

 

Edited July 26, 2017 by Guest

[Clephas]

The Ikusa Megami series all have interface patches, but the story isn't translated.

[Guest]

Phantasy Star is also a good one.

There a spinoff series of VN, but I dunno if they're RPG or just side stories for the original series.

Fate\Extra and the Battle Moon Wars are good ones if you know about the Nasuverse.

I think Circus (famous for Dacapo and Suika) have a giant crossover RPG+VN of their characters.

 

 

[Clephas]

Madou Koukaku also has an interface patch...

If you don't mind old stuff, I suggest emulating Dragon Force for the Saturn.  It is a great conquest strategy jrpg that is highly-addictive. 

[Benji Price]

Taking the good storie aside, Sakura Dungeon is an extraordinary RPG, more than I expected. 

Maybe the Rance series could fit.

 

[Zenophilious]

I was going to recommend Rance 6 or Sengoku, but then I read your post-script    I hear Evenicle is slightly less rape-y than Rance, but it still has some rape scenes in it, so I'm guessing that's a no-go.

If you ever decide to stop caring about rape in VNs, I'd highly recommend Rance 6.  It may be a giant grind fest, but man, was that game fun.  It also has a pretty good story as well, and is really damn funny, as awful as that sounds.  It's kinda hard to understand unless you read it.

[littleshogun]

I also recommend Rance VI here if you didn't care about rape in the first place, along with Sengoku Rance, Daibanchou, and Bunny Black duology. If not then perhaps I could recommend Galaxy angel trilogy, although the story there would probably wasn't your taste though and it's RTS instead of grid base. Hope those recommendations would be help to you.

Edited July 27, 2017 by littleshogun

[Not_At_All]

Thank you all for the suggestions, much appreciated.

23 hours ago, SeniorBlitz said:

Shin Megame Tensei\Fire Emblem (Series) have a lot of dialog, but it's not a VN, so if you think it's not much of a Stretch.

 

20 hours ago, SeniorBlitz said:

Phantasy Star is also a good one.

There a spinoff series of VN, but I dunno if they're RPG or just side stories for the original series.

Fate\Extra and the Battle Moon Wars are good ones if you know about the Nasuverse.

I think Circus (famous for Dacapo and Suika) have a giant crossover RPG+VN of their characters.

Is any of this on PC though? I looked and almost all of them are console exclusive.

19 hours ago, Clephas said:

Madou Koukaku also has an interface patch...

If you don't mind old stuff, I suggest emulating Dragon Force for the Saturn.  It is a great conquest strategy jrpg that is highly-addictive. 

That looks a bit too old for me. :/ And interface patches I will leave for when my Japanese is a little better, thanks for the suggestions though.

 

16 hours ago, Benji Price said:

Maybe the Rance series could fit.

 

11 hours ago, Zenophilious said:

I was going to recommend Rance 6 or Sengoku, but then I read your post-script    I hear Evenicle is slightly less rape-y than Rance, but it still has some rape scenes in it, so I'm guessing that's a no-go.

 

11 hours ago, littleshogun said:

I also recommend Rance VI here if you didn't care about rape in the first place, along with Sengoku Rance, Daibanchou, and Bunny Black duology.

Yeah, rape really rubs me the wrong way, especially if it's the protagonist doing it. Also Evenicle also has rape? I didn't know that and I was looking forward to it

16 hours ago, Benji Price said:

Sakura Dungeon

 

11 hours ago, littleshogun said:

Galaxy angel trilogy,

Sakura Dungeon looks really good visually and if it has good gameplay, great. Galaxy Angel looks like it could be a great hit or a total miss for me, I hope it's the former.

 

Thanks for these two.

[Guest]

40 minutes ago, Not_At_All said:

Thank you all for the suggestions, much appreciated.

 

Is any of this on PC though? I looked and almost all of them are console exclusive.

That looks a bit too old for me. :/ And interface patches I will leave for when my Japanese is a little better, thanks for the suggestions though.

 

 

 

Yeah, rape really rubs me the wrong way, especially if it's the protagonist doing it. Also Evenicle also has rape? I didn't know that and I was looking forward to it

 

Sakura Dungeon looks really good visually and if it has good gameplay, great. Galaxy Angel looks like it could be a great hit or a total miss for me, I hope it's the former.

 

Thanks for these two.

You Could Emulate both Shin Megami Tensei, Phantasy Star and Fire Emblem, since NES, SNES, MASTER\MEGA DRIVE, GBA, etc. emulation is pretty easy.

I think Battle Moon Wars is on pc, and Fate\Extra on psp.

The Circus RPG+VN is also on PC.

NOTE: Also I don't wanna turn you off, but I think Sakura Dungeon have Yuri Rape, but I dunno.

Edited July 27, 2017 by Guest

[Not_At_All]

40 minutes ago, SeniorBlitz said:

You Could Emulate both Shin Megami Tensei, Phantasy Star and Fire Emblem, since NES, SNES, MASTER\MEGA DRIVE, GBA, etc. emulation is pretty easy.

What would be good entry points to these series? They all look to have A LOT of games. I would like to not jump into it from the midpoint in the story, but I don't think I can stomach the very earliest games.

 

45 minutes ago, SeniorBlitz said:

I think Battle Moon Wars is on pc, and Fate\Extra on psp.

The Circus RPG+VN is also on PC.

I'll try the Battle Moon Wars, thanks. And what is the Circus RPG-VN is called? I can only find things with no english releases.

 

47 minutes ago, SeniorBlitz said:

NOTE: Also I don't wanna turn you off, but I think Sakura Dungeon have Yuri Rape, but I dunno.

I should be fine with that I think.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Not_At_All said:

What would be good entry points to these series? They all look to have A LOT of games. I would like to not jump into it from the midpoint in the story, but I don't think I can stomach the very earliest games.

 

I'll try the Battle Moon Wars, thanks. And what is the Circus RPG-VN is called? I can only find things with no english releases.

 

I should be fine with that I think.

Shin Megami Tensei:

Good Starting Points (From "Best Starting Points" to "Weaker but possible Starting Points":

Persona Series

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey

Devil Survivor

Digital Devil Saga 

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne 

Shin Megami Tensei 1, 2 & If (Easy to Emulate)

Phantasy Star:

Phantasy Star Generations (Remake of the old Phantasy Stars, Better Graphics and Gameplay)

Phantasy Star Collection (Original Ones, but with better performace on the Saturn OR GBA)

Phantasy Star (Original) (The graphics are not that bad for Master System Standards, but if you can't stomach old games, don't even try) (PLAY WITH A GUIDE)

Circus RPG: A.G.II.D.C. ~RPG Gakuen 2.0 Circus Shijou Saidai no Kiki!?~ and RPG Gakuen

Battle Moon Wars makes references to Nasuverse titles like Fate and Tsukihime, so go with caution.

 

 

1 hour ago, Not_At_All said:

What would be good entry points to these series? They all look to have A LOT of games. I would like to not jump into it from the midpoint in the story, but I don't think I can stomach the very earliest games.

 

I'll try the Battle Moon Wars, thanks. And what is the Circus RPG-VN is called? I can only find things with no english releases.

 

I should be fine with that I think.

Fire Emblem:

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Fire Emblem: Blazing Blade  

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Fire Emblem Awakening

Fire Emblem (GBA)

Fire Emblem Fates
 

 

 

[Not_At_All]

I'll try out the Shin Megami Tensei, Phantasy Star and Fire Emblem. I'll wait until I've read Tsukihime for the Battle Moon Wars and the Circus RPGs are only in Japanese so they'll have to wait too.

 

Thanks a lot! I think I got a lot of stuff to check out from this.

[Guest]

Just now, Not_At_All said:

I'll try out the Shin Megami Tensei, Phantasy Star and Fire Emblem. I'll wait until I've read Tsukihime for the Battle Moon Wars and the Circus RPGs are only in Japanese so they'll have to wait too.

 

Thanks a lot! I think I got a lot of stuff to check out from this.

I'm glad that I got to help ya' :o)

[Zenophilious]

2 hours ago, Not_At_All said:

Also Evenicle also has rape? I didn't know that and I was looking forward to it

Yeah.  I skimmed through the CGs, and there's some light guro in one scene as well.  Nothing really bad, but it would probably upset people that want pure vanilla h.

Here's a chart of the h-scenes in Evenicle, made by arunaru, the translator of Beat Blades Haruka, Rance 6 and Evenicle.  Doesn't sound like something you'd enjoy, unfortunately.  You'd probably want to stay away from Alicesoft in general, tbh.  Their popular titles, at least the ones I've heard of, tend to have a decent amount of rape.

[littleshogun]

8 hours ago, Not_At_All said:

Yeah, rape really rubs me the wrong way, especially if it's the protagonist doing it. Also Evenicle also has rape? I didn't know that and I was looking forward to it

I see. Well, in this case then I could recommend Beat Blade Haruka here although it's full of rape. I suggest this because you could chose to skip the rape and going straight to the love ending without invoke rape from the protagonist, so perhaps you could play that. Hope this recommendation help.

[Zenophilious]

Dude, BBH is, like, at least 50% rape.  That's an even worse suggestion than Rance.  If you skip the rape scenes, then it's not really worth the price tag, because that's quite a bit of the total content.

[Albedo]

Galaxy Angel 1-3 are RTS (so technically strategy...) and the story is fun enough in all three of them, although pretty light hearted. Also, no porn.

[littleshogun]

I see, and in this case then I would recommend Gadget Trial instead. The gameplay was duplicate of Advance Wars, and the story was quite light. Hope this would be help once again.

[Not_At_All]

5 hours ago, littleshogun said:

I see, and in this case then I would recommend Gadget Trial instead. The gameplay was duplicate of Advance Wars, and the story was quite light. Hope this would be help once again.

That looks exactly like what I was looking for. Will give it a shot, thanks. It completely slipped my radar since it is not on vndb (it looks like it was at one point).

[Not_At_All]

On 2017-07-27 at 11:47 PM, SeniorBlitz said:

Fire Emblem:

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Fire Emblem: Blazing Blade  

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Fire Emblem Awakening

Fire Emblem (GBA)

Fire Emblem Fates

Wanted to say that I started Fire Emblem. I love the fantasy setting and the gameplay is pretty much everything I ever wanted (even restarting an hour long chapter due to unfortunate critical hit from the boss). I don't know why I didn't try it sooner, it's not like I was unaware of the series. Recommendation here was enough of a push and I am really happy I got into it though there are a few things I don't really enjoy like side characters being pretty boring (they look interesting when they join, but they get only a few lines through support conversations throughout the games). It was even worse in Shadow Dragon where even pretty important characters didn't talk much and side characters only had their joining scenes.  I'd prefer smaller cast, but with more dialogue, though I guess with permadeath the current setup is pretty much it. I still intend to play every game I can get my hands on (except 1-3) because the gameplay is so fun. 

So far I've played:

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (currently in progress)

 

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Not_At_All said:

Wanted to say that I started Fire Emblem. I love the fantasy setting and the gameplay is pretty much everything I ever wanted (even restarting an hour long chapter due to unfortunate critical hit from the boss). I don't know why I didn't try it sooner, it's not like I was unaware of the series. Recommendation here was enough of a push and I am really happy I got into it though there are a few things I don't really enjoy like side characters being pretty boring (they look interesting when they join, but they get only a few lines through support conversations throughout the games). It was even worse in Shadow Dragon where even pretty important characters didn't talk much and side characters only had their joining scenes.  I'd prefer smaller cast, but with more dialogue, though I guess with permadeath the current setup is pretty much it. I still intend to play every game I can get my hands on (except 1-3) because the gameplay is so fun. 

So far I've played:

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (currently in progress)

 

 

I'm happy that you enjoyed my recommendation! 

Also I recommend using a guide for Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones at least to get the good ending, since the game is very specific about that, and you can easily get locked on the normal end.

 

 

[Not_At_All]

I thought there were only character endings (the little texts about what everyone was doing after the game) that depends on what supports I get for which characters. Is there an overall "good ending" as opposed to normal ending that depends on what I do, or are you talking about specific characters?

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Not_At_All said:

I thought there were only character endings (the little texts about what everyone was doing after the game) that depends on what supports I get for which characters. Is there an overall "good ending" as opposed to normal ending that depends on what I do, or are you talking about specific characters?

I'm talking about specific endings.

Like there's a good ending if you can get a specific character to be alive until the end and if you get all secret items.

This video can help you, but, be aware of spoilers!

[MaggieROBOT]

17 minutes ago, SeniorBlitz said:

I'm talking about specific endings.

Like there's a good ending if you can get a specific character to be alive until the end and if you get all secret items.

This video can help you, but, be aware of spoilers!

As someone who also played Sacred Stones, my first thought was "what, there's two endings??????? how I get the other??????", but then I saw the video, and this secret ending is for Binding Blade, dude.