7 Best RPGs With Fighting Game Mechanics

08/05/2024

The problem with RPGs is that, while their stories can be thrilling, engaging, and heartstring-pulling, this isn’t always the case with their gameplay. Even the most diehard fan would eventually tire of battles that aren’t key to progression, especially if they’re random encounters. Conversely, fighting games have fast-paced, frenetic gameplay, but a high learning curve that’s much less friendly to beginners than RPGs.

10 Action RPGs That Have Great Combat But Weak Stories

Action RPGs can be a match made in heaven, but not every game manages to deliver awesome combat and a gripping story.

So, what would happen if the two genres were crossed together? Not as in action games with RPG elements like Yakuza/Like A Dragon or the Castlevania series after Symphony of the Night. But RPGs with combos, mix-ups, and other brawling mechanics in their gameplay. These are the best bona fide RPGs with fighting game mechanics.

Hybrid Heaven

GameFAQs Score: 3.7/5 Stars

Developer: Konami Computer Entertainment Osaka.
Platform: Nintendo 64.
Release: August 1999.

Globally, RPGs hit their peak in the late 1990s-early 2000s, when they went 3D and really made players feel like they were in another world. However, even then, some developers wanted to ramp up the action. For example, Konami’s Hybrid Heaven aimed to live up to its title by combining the genre with Tomb Raider-style action-adventure gameplay, and with fighting game-based combat.

Neither genre really appeared on the N64 in a big way, so it makes Hybrid Heaven stick out as one of its most curious cartridges. Its hero, Johnny Slater, can run, jump, shoot, and solve puzzles to progress during the overworld sections. In combat, both Johnny and the enemy fight in turn-based combat like an old RPG, but can pull off punches, kicks, throws, and combos like a fighting game. They can even move around the stage for a better tactical position, like the pre-round segments in Tekken and Dead or Alive.

Indivisible

Metascore: 77

Indivisible

Platform(s)Switch, PS4, PC, Xbox OneReleasedOctober 8, 2019Developer(s)Lab Zero GamesGenre(s)Action RPG

Inspired by Valkyrie Profile’s mix of platforming and RPG combat, Indivisible plays out more like an action-based 2D platformer. Ajna’s quest to reseal the goddess Kala just switches to RPG combat when the player strikes an enemy. From there, like Valkyrie Profile, each member of the player’s party can be controlled with the face buttons.

Though unlike tri-Ace’s game, players tap the buttons to form combos for each character. They can produce different attacks by holding a direction+attack like Tekken and other 3D fighters, with each strike building up a meter that, when filled, can unleash a super attack a la Street Fighter and 2D fighting games. The result is an intriguing mash-up of different games that produce a unique blend of experiences.

Naruto: Rise of a Ninja & Naruto: The Broken Bond

Metascore: 78 (N:RoaN), 80 (N:TBB)

Developers: Ubisoft Montreal.
Platform: Xbox 360.
Release: October 2007 (N:RoaN), November 2008 (N:TBB)

Anime tie-ins are susceptible to producing shovelware. For every Jump Super Stars, there’s a Jump Force, with a lot of average entries between those extremes. However, Naruto: Rise of a Ninja and Naruto: The Broken Bond did a good job adapting the original Naruto anime into games, and it did so by combining a bundle of genres a la Hybrid Heaven. N:RoaN follows the first half of the show, while N:TBB continues from the ‘Return of Itachi’ arc onward.

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It is no surprise that anime series often have a video game title as well, and there were some great games on the PlayStation 3.

The hub world and action stages play out like a 3D platformer, while the one-on-one combat sections are like a fighting game, complete with a 2D side-on view and special moves. But, like an RPG, Naruto and company must earn EXP through completing missions and side quests to learn new moves. Both games start off slow, but soon pick up the pace as their stories get going. As critically acclaimed as they were on release, they’ve since become hidden gems that often pass most players’ notice.

Xenogears

Metascore: 84

Xenogears

Platform(s)PS1, PlayStation 3ReleasedOctober 20, 1998Developer(s)SquareGenre(s)JRPG

The original Xenogears had one of the more interesting development cycles. It started life as a concept proposal for Final Fantasy 7, then it became a potential sequel to Chrono Trigger before becoming its own thing. Then it nearly missed out on reaching the West at all due to its religious content falling foul of censors. But it made it over the ocean and has since become a classic RPG that, while it didn’t receive a direct sequel, inspired related series from Xenosaga to Xenoblade Chronicles.

Its normal gameplay is based on the Active Time Battle system from Chrono Trigger and early Final Fantasy games. However, when the player climbs into the Gears for the Battle Arena minigame, things change. It became a 3D fighter where the Gears could use the terrain to get a tactical advantage, like DOA and Virtua Fighter 3. Only those games didn’t have rideable mechs and homing projectiles.

Jade Empire

Metascore: 89%

Jade Empire

Platform(s)Xbox (Original), PC, iOS, AndroidReleasedApril 12, 2005Developer(s)BioWareGenre(s)Action RPG

Today, BioWare is better known for the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series, which combined RPG elements with space shooting/sword swinging, and letting players chat up their party members. But before those games, they made Jade Empire, which used its Chinese mythological setting to tell a story straight out of a kung-fu epic movie.

This also meant its action replaced the laser blasters and Zweihanders with fists, feet, and chi. Players mix quick, light attacks with slower, heavy attacks to wear down their opponents while blocking and dodging their offense. They can also learn new techniques to help break the opponent’s guard or bring out sabers, spears, and other weapons to make things less like Tekken and more like Soul Calibur.

The Vagrant

Steam Score: 9/10

Developer: O.T.K Games.
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch.
Release: June 2017 (PC), December 2022 (Consoles).

It could be argued that Jade Empire’s third-person punch-ups are more inspired by beat ‘em ups than fighting games. It wouldn’t be the only one if so, as the likes of Dragon’s Crown and Odin Sphere looked more towards Guardian Heroes and Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom. But if an RPG’s combat suddenly goes into combos, charge moves, and specials, it has some fighting games in its DNA.

The 4 Best Things About Sword of the Vagrant (& The 4 Worst)

Sword of the Vagrant is a welcome release for fans of old-school RPGs, with a lot to love, but also a few weak points.

For example, The Vagrant (or Sword of the Vagrant on consoles) sees Vivian use those skills and more against her foes in her quest to reunite her family. She can collect weapons and gear to switch up her moves and boost her stats one way or the other. Which she’d need as the bosses would use its intuitive AI to test players on how well they knew the gameplay. They had to know how one strike moved into the other to get ahead.

Legend of Legaia

Metacritic User Score: 9.2

Legend of Legaia

Platform(s)PlayStation 2ReleasedOctober 16, 1998Genre(s)Adventure

Still, just because a game speeds up the action doesn’t mean it speeds up the pacing. Legend of Legaia stood out from the crowd by taking fighting game mix-ups, where a player mixes high, mid, and low attacks to break their opponent’s defenses and convert them into turn-based RPG combat. Basically, players build up combos by selecting high, low, left, and right strikes per turn.

The more the player levels up, the more they can string these combos together. Then certain combinations could produce special attacks called Arts, some of which could link into other Arts. It made the combat more technical, and more akin to 3D fighters at the time. But as innovative as the gameplay was, it wasn’t exactly quick, and was arguably slower than just selecting attacks from a menu screen.