This game looks like Dark Wizard from the old Sega CD... I hope it's at least half as good. Dark Wizard was a hell of a game, even the music was awesome.
I gave up on disciples the races are far to symmetrical and the combat to monotone and while i don't deny there is a lot of strategy and tactics in that game its far to subtle for me.
There's always Disciples. You know. Instead of Disciples 2. Fewer over-the-top animations, same units. (Except for that new rank of top-level units which take you forever to get into play.) I'm not sure what's "subtle," "monotonous," or "symmetrical" about it, though. It's pretty much a par-for-the-course example of this type of game: Ogre Battle with an explicit overworld grid. You don't have to like it. I'm just surprised.
The strategy is subtle because it has to do with leveling paths setups and positioning pree combat rather than much in combat strategy granted i didn't get far so maybe that changes i don't know. As far as the symmetrical i was referring to the units being very close to each other for the races that I'm sure will start to differ greater at later stages but it was just another thing that peeved me. The game also seamed very slow to me having to wait to regen up your units and gaining very little exp from any fight that was anything but difficult. I'm not saying the game is bad I'm simply saying it does what its supposed to very well. But what it does is not so much for me and even more not what i was looking for right now.
I played that game a lot when i was a little very nice tho it seams we are still closer to heroes then we are to fft ^^' Then again what i really want is cardhunter so maybe thats why im shooting down all these great ideas
Fate steeped in and dropped a free copy of avadon: the black fortress in my lap while its not perfect it comes close enough without doing anything extra that manages to peeve my picky picky brain. Thanks for all the suggestions opinions and all other good stuff from a wonderful community!
Grid-based tactical games... You know who makes games like these even in this day and age, and mostly for PC? The Japanese. Too bad that that very same industry also regularly puts stuff like lolicon and rape in their games. (and considering the different culture, simply westernably-objectionable content like nudity. Oh hey, I invented a new phrase) Even so, if you're willing to accept that their culture simply is different over there, Kamidori: Alchemy Meister is an excellent tactical game with a decent story and game mechanics (combat, levelling, economy, etc.) which scratch a retro itch yet haven't aged horribly. Someone made an unofficial english translation patch, and the game itself is purchasable in Japanese if you're so inclined to google for it Video is safe-for-work, 20m in for actual gameplay (the tutorial) edit: Hurr, previous vid moves way too slowly since the guy insists on reading the tutorial dialogue at a torpid pace. 10min mark of [this other video] would probably be a lot less monotonous.
Japan and Korea for sure make the most memorable games of that sub genre but the problem is they rarely or never get release and the translations either don't work properly or are terrible most of the time.
I've been a long time fan of Spiderweb games and was happy to see them get on Steam but i really prefered the old Exile series gameplay, graphics style and story line way more than Avadon. I havnt actually finished Avadon sadly, its a pretty long game since im 64 hours in but it doesnt have the open world exploration that Exile did. Look up Exile 3: Ruined world, that might be more your thing. Also, Immortal Empire is still very much what you are describing.
I would love the hell out of immortal empire if it wasn't for two things the impact of your dialog options on things like stats and resources, and the fact that your heroes don't level separately or as a group instead you gain one level to give to one of them which is a mechanic i despise deeply.
I liked it because it means you can Solo or co-op or just use however many heroes you want, and also has an odd effect on the balance of PvP since its objective based. And yes the dialogue thing bugged me but theirs guides you can find to get all the stats you want, i played through it on many characters and tried different dialogues.
Like i said before the fact that you only get one level to assign isn't something that makes the game bad in it self but it make the game bad for me personally since i dislike that way of doing it. Going to give kamidori alchemy meister a try as the fact its got nudity in it wont be something that maters as long as the game is good just as much as its not a selling point if the game is bad but the auto combat might putt me off well have to see.
Found xcom for a decent price so gave it a shot. The game is absolutely amazing and it deserves every bit of praise it gets. Sadly the campaign doesn't last longer then a few days. Which is still a long time for a game mind you. But just not enough for me as i beat it in a weekend. Really wish there was some kind of skirmish mode as i refuse to replay on the highest difficulty on account of me not being a masochist.
The grid is the tricky part. Fallout Tactics, Jagged Alliance 2, Dawn of War 2 if you don't mind that it is not turn-based, the Fire Emblem series and Gladius if you are up for using a Gamecube emulator (all on grids), the Icewind Dale series is more tactical combat and less RPG than Baldur's Gate, King's Bounty (on a grid but it is more like HOMM than a tactical squad game).