Summary
Yakuzawas one of the only franchises that kept the brawler genre alive. It was over a decade of sequels and spinoffs that brought raw bloody action to consoles. Then, withYakuza: Like a Dragon, the seventh mainline title not counting the prequel, Sega turned it into a turn-based RPG.
Thanks to its success, themainlineYakuzagamesare all going to be turn-based now while the spinoffs will be action-based includingLike a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. Can these other action games get transformed into turn-based RPGs and be successful too? It’s time to jump in and brainstorm some wild ideas.
Castlevaniamay not be a series that most categorize as a JRPG buttheir Metroidvania styledoes include RPG elements which started withCastlevania: Symphony of the Night. Players can level up their stats, gain new abilities, and get a good amount of loot from monster drops in the Metroidvania entries.Castlevaniahas never had a traditional turn-based RPG though, but there is one entry in the series that could be converted easily into one.
Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curseon the NES gave players multiple characters to bounce around with including Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, Grant Danasty, and Alucard. This was before the Metroidvania boom, so it wasn’t an RPG either but it did have a party system. It would make sense then to remake it as a party-based RPG and it’s also fitting because the Netflix adaptation of it was huge a few years ago. It may be past the point of relevance now but diehard fans would surely pop off from this announcement.
5Custom Robo
Mobilizing Toys To Fight
Custom Robowas not a huge franchise for Nintendo outside of Japan but overall it had a good run between several games on the N64, GameCube, and DS. The concept saw children build customizable robot toys to fight them in arena battles sort of like Pokemon but with mechs. It’s a popular medium in Japan referred to often as Gunpla even though that specifically refers tobuildingGundammodels.
Gundams aside, these action games could be turned into turn-based strategy RPGs. They could be like Square Enix’sFront Missionseries except with a more appealing art style and tone for kids to fit with the family-friendly brand of Nintendo. Players could customize their robot toys and then send them into tactical battles.
FromSoftware has madea lot of action games over the years even way beforeDemon’s Soulsand the whole Soulslike movement began. They have dabbled in turn-based RPGs too like withEnchanted Armson the Xbox 360. Now that they have seemingly conquered the action RPG realm, FromSoftware should go back to turn-based RPGs and give it another go sinceEnchanted Armswas not received highly.
A turn-basedDark SoulsRPG could look a lot likeDarkest Dungeon, another tough-as-nails series. FromSoftware could do for the turn-based genre what they did for action games by redefining what it means to have a challenging but rewarding experience. There’s never been a better time to give it a go since they’re still white-hot as a developer.
TheKingdom Heartsserieshas had a lot of spinoffs since it began in 2022. However, none of them have featured turn-based combat which is odd since Square Enix practically butters their bread with the turn-based RPGs. There was a mobile attempt viaKingdom Hearts Unionbut mobile games come and go.
Now,Kingdom Hearts 4shouldn’t be turn-based but Square Enix could try to make a tactical RPG spinoff. That seems the most logical and perhaps it could be about the infamous Keyblade Wars. Any kind of war is a fitting setting for a strategy game and Square Enix has made some great ones over the years fromFinal Fantasy TacticstoTriangle Strategy.
Samurai Warriorsis the first major spinoff fromDynasty Warriorsand focuses on famous Japanese historical figures. All ofthese Musou-like gamesfollow a distinct gameplay pattern: slay thousands of enemies. Some find this combat monotonous and it definitely can be, but there are dedicated fans out there who love to just chill and bash away.
What if a Musou game was turn-based while still keeping that drive to slay thousands? Instead of players facing several enemies in battle, they could fight several hundred. Some games have used one unit to represent many in a strategy game likeYggdra UnionorAdvance Warsand battles still go by quickly. The concept may seem wild forSamurai Warriors6but anything is possible no matter if Koei Tecmo and Omega Force make a traditional or tactical turn-based RPG.
TheTalesof seriesis one of the older action RPGs from Japan. It began on the SNES in 1995 and instead of randomized turn-based battles, players got into randomized battles that then let players take control of their character in real-time. Now, it was a bit clunky inTales of Phantasiabut over the years the developers have smoothed things over, making the combat more fluid, especially with the latest entry:Tales of Arise.
If theFinal Fantasyfranchise can begin with turn-based mechanics and then move into action, then surely Tales of can try their next mainline game as a traditional turn-based RPG. Maybe they could even split the difference and make the big console versions, like on PS5 and XSX, action-based while the Switch or Switch 2 version is turn-based. That might be the wildest pitch on here and that’s saying something sinceSamurai Warriorswas nominated.
