Strategy RPG
A strategy role-playing game (also tactical role-playing game , abbreviated to SRPG for Strategic Role Playing Game , or TRPG for Tactical Role Playing Game ; in Japan also Simulation Role Playing Game ) is a sub-genre of computer role-playing games in which the playful focus on the tactical management of extensive battles with a usually larger number of fighters. The Fire Emblem , released in 1990 for the NES , is considered the archetype of this genre .
Game mechanics
In such games, the player, who is also often represented by his own avatar, takes over the fate of a group of different characters that become more numerous in the course of the game and that are available as fighters in the game-defining tactical conflicts. Compared to the classic role-playing game, in which the frequent, short fights take place within the game environment to be explored, the duration is much longer, the number of participants in these fights is higher and the fights themselves incorporate significantly more tactical and strategic elements. The predominantly linear plot of the game is told in cutscenes between the fights, where very simple decisions about how to proceed have to be made.
The main feature of a strategy RPG is strategic combat. The fights themselves are typically turn-based and take place in a walk-in, severely restricted game environment that represents the place or area in which one is currently in the game world represented by an overview map and in which one has encountered an opponent. It is customary to subdivide the battlefield shown in an isometric or bird's eye view into grids, with the checkerboard-like square grid and hexagonal grid (" hexagonal grid ") being the most frequently used. In addition, there are usually altitude levels, which makes additional tactical decisions possible. Depending on the game, the player himself has an influence on which of his figures he places where. The movement and the fight then take place individually, each figure is moved individually by the player, computer-guided figures are often available as NPCs, or to make it easier for the player to handle very large scenarios. The objectives of a fight can vary, from defeating all opponents to shooter this figure , surviving X rounds or taking buildings .
The character development is often automatic, with only slight influence on the part of the player, who can often only make the choice of development stages or the distribution of individual attributes. The equipment is often much more sparse than in a normal role-playing game, and handling is more difficult. In games where the strategic component is very high, the equipment aspect can also be in the foreground.
Modern computer strategy games now often have a higher proportion of role-playing elements, especially in the area of character development of the equipment, so that here, too, the boundaries of the genre are blurred. Games like Spellforce or Knightshift are, so to speak, hybrids of classic strategy games with role-playing elements.