im looking for a solid srpg. I have FFT, and love it. But, I was looking for another game. What would you choose between these two games?
If you want an excellent hardcore tactics game, go for Demon's Rise. It's not an RPG, mind you. In case you prefer what looks like a JRPG, Ixona should be your thing (didn't play it, so can only go by the trailer).
Ixtona is more FFT-like in its basic gameplay structure, with a fairly heavy narrative focus. It's very short and has infinitely fewer combat options and character development choices, however. And of course, the story isn't as good as FFT's. Truth be told, if you're going for a Kemco SRPG, I'd give the slight edge to Legna Tactica over Ixtona. Demon's Rise is a much better game in terms of its tactical mechanics, and it does have RPG elements like persistent characters who grow in strength and equipment to find, but the story part of the game is very minimal. It feels like a series of battle modules that happen to allow you to carry over characters, equipment, and experience rather than a big over-arching story. I think it's the better game of the two overall but if you're looking for a JRPG-esque level of attention to the story and characters, you won't find it here. Have you looked into any of HyperDevBox Japan's games like Spectral Souls and Agarest War? They're probably the closest thing to FFT on the App Store besides FFT itself, even if they're nowhere near as good.
Agarest looks very promising. Please allow me one random question. Are you able to rename the characters? Are you able to rename characters in any of these games discussed? I like to fight along side my wife, my sons, and other family members. I find that renaming the characters give just that more attachment to these guys when I'm playing. BTW, Shaun, I am a big fan of the work you put in here at TA. I am also a little honored that you would take time to reply to my post. Keep up the good work! Rob
Thanks for the kind words! Unless I'm misremembering (and I might be!), none of the games I listed let you rename characters. Sorry!
Hey Shaun ... thanks for the summary on Demon's Rise. You can, in fact, rename characters. It's not very obvious though ... I admit and thus easily missed. When you select a character and add it to your team, he or she moves into the team pool shown at the bottom of the screen. Then if you click one of those characters in that pool, a button appears that allows you to rename them to whatever you like. See the button at the bottom of the left window: Screen Shot 2015-12-04 at 11.36.14 AM by Rajpreet Dhillon, on Flickr