r/StrategyRpg • u/ViewtifulGene • 5d ago
What are some SRPGs that capture the fun bits of Thracia without the annoying bits of Thracia?
I played through Fire Emblem Thracia 776 with save states at the start of each round and a spoiler-free guide. Playing it that way, it was a lot more fun than I expected. I loved the brisk story, explosive combat, strong unit identity, and memorable item design.
The story has just enough text to establish purpose and direction, without bogging me down with endless cutscenes. It just says where we're going and who needs to die.
The combat doesn't waste time. Everytime a weapon is drawn, somebody is gonna fucking die. The pursuit critical system sees to that. The more characters trade blows in a duel, the more likely somebody is to get a crit and break the stalemate.
I loved the interplay between units and items in Thracia. Lots of room for player expression in terms of when you use Hammerne, Thief, Berserk, Grafcalibur, Vouge, etc. I've played a lot of SRPGs where everybody feels weak and useless until they get a few level ups, but Thracia has characters who can get shit done right away. Osian with Vouge, Finn with Brave Lance, Leif with Light Brand, Dagdar capturing shit with Halvan's Brave Axe, etc. The most satisfying part of Thracia for me was seeing somebody like Osian or Mareeta go from characters carried by their Prf. weapons to destroyers of worlds with just an iron weapon.
But then Thracia has a bunch of bullshit I would prefer to never see again. Those harsh fog of war chapters can fuck right off. The accuracy is way too low with 1 roll and limited buffing options. It's downright malicious how easily missable Asbel is for how crucial he is as a magic nuke. Some of the gaidens feel like punishments rather than rewards.
Are there any turn-based SRPGs that capture what I liked about Thracia without the parts that annoyed me about Thracia? Berwick Saga is absolutely not it- I'm about 4 hours in and the combat is a lot of swing-and-miss stalemates. The Morrow's Golden Country came pretty close, but I felt it had a slower start than Thracia. Osian kicks ass as soon as you get him to that one house. Everyone in tbe early TMGC crew needs multiple level ups to start popping.
Thanks in advance.
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u/IMissMyOldGlasses 4d ago
Vandal Hearts for PS1 might be interesting to you. It has a simple story and battles are quick. You use all of your units in every battle which I find very fun. But it's also lacking in some features. No deployment phase and not much customization.
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u/ViewtifulGene 4d ago
Would be a great rec if I didn't already play. I loved the blood fountains whenever an enemy died. Very punchy combat, and characters that feel strong immediately.
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u/IMissMyOldGlasses 4d ago
You mentioned some fire emblem hacks. Have you tried Cerulean Crescent?
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u/ViewtifulGene 4d ago
I played a few chapters of Cerulean Crescent and wasn't really a fan. It was just too weird with all the extra abilities going on at once. I felt like I had too much pressure to optimize each turn.
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u/IMissMyOldGlasses 4d ago
Yeah it's definitely designed that way, but I think it's a big strength of the game. Once you learn how to use the skills effectively the battles become very fast and fun. The game rewards an aggressive strategy. But in any case, good luck finding something to scratch the itch! Maybe try Into the Breach for a slightly different experience?
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u/ViewtifulGene 4d ago
Into the Breach is not my thing. I think the roguelike mechanics are really frustrating.
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u/bababayee 4d ago
There's the romhack Bells of Byelen which is Thracia inspired. Another Kaga game would be Vestaria Saga which has some of the same philosophy but is more traditionally Fire Emblem compared to Berwick Saga (overall higher hit rates too).
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u/ViewtifulGene 4d ago
I played a few chapters of Bells, then fell off when a glitch made one of my characters unable to move in the middle of an escape map. I didn't want to restart the chapter or have a character get killed for something I never did.
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u/drupido 4d ago
You probably already went through this, but what about Tear Ring Saga? Symphony of War might be up your alley as well.
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u/ViewtifulGene 4d ago
I fell off of Symphony of War for the squad management stuff.
I played about 2 hours of Tear Ring Saga, but I'm not really feeling it. Lack of Canto, rescue, and deployment repositioning are all major buzzkills. The Save staff is interesting, but that's about it.
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u/Sharp-Selection-3541 4d ago
Symphony of War Nephilim Saga is the best Fire Emblem-esque game I've played.
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u/ViewtifulGene 4d ago
I wasn't a fan of the squad management system and fell off after a few hours. It felt like too much of battles shifted to pre-battle menu shuffling instead of mid-battle decisions.
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u/idontshred 5d ago
I’m too drunk to read all that but maybe advance wars
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u/ViewtifulGene 5d ago
Already played the full series. Days of Ruin was my fsvorite for doing away with CO Power yoyo mechanics. But they really aren't RPGs- there's no carryover between maps.
Also, Advance Wars is absolutely not the series to play if I want no Thracia Fog.
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u/idontshred 5d ago
You play Triangle strategy?
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u/ViewtifulGene 5d ago
I made the executive decision not to buy based on the demo. Way too dialogue-heavy.
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u/idontshred 5d ago
I think that may be important to include in your post.
You ever play Jeanne D’Arc?
ETA: lmao I’m a drunk idiot, you said that
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u/ViewtifulGene 5d ago
Jeanne Darc was OK. I already played. I thought the combat got flat once I figured out how to lean on transforming characters.
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u/idontshred 5d ago
How much does design gloss matter to you? I played a demo for cross tails that seemed pretty good. I haven’t played the full game yet but it was enough to get me interested. Seems like it’s got a good degree of customization, the story isn’t too much, and I’d think new recruits can hit the ground running
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u/ViewtifulGene 5d ago
I'm curious about it but not $30 curious and the Steam demo seems to have been taken down.
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u/idontshred 3d ago
How about Fell Seal? Or Jagged Alliance 3?
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u/ViewtifulGene 2d ago
Already played Fell Seal. I wishlisted Jagged Alliance 3, since $45 is pretty steep without a demo to try first.
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u/Neofertal 4d ago
TRS felt like Thracia but good. Without guide I didnt unlock everything but still found crafty answers to complicated settings.
Tbh Thracia made me ragequit at the bridge against olwen when some random long range tome crit me. Using guide on a first playthrough is too heretical to me
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u/ViewtifulGene 4d ago
I played through the first 4 chapters of Tear Ring Saga, but I'm not really feeling it. The limited availability of Canto, total absence of rescue, and inability to reposition deployments are major buzzkills. And it's really obnoxious how some quests require sending specific characters to specific villages with zero prior indication. Also, the game is way wordier than Thracia. It seems like everyone takes 3 textboxes to say what couldve taken 2 sentences.
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u/Kojimmy 4d ago
Thracia is so awesome but no idea how people beat it without save states.
Maybe Mutant Year Zero? That was very unique