WHAT ARE THE MOST SIMPLE BATTLE SYSTEMS THAT STILL WORK WELL?

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I'm not good enough at programming/eventing to create a really flashy combat system, so I'm exploring the concept of emergent complexity, and creating something very mechanically simple which still produces fun gameplay.

How do you produce emergent complexity in a battle system? What are some games which do this well?
You'd be surprised how much you can do with just the default system in RPG Maker. This article was written with difficult RPGs in mind, but in it, I built up an encounter in detail without requiring any unusual mechanics (besides one counter attack skill). Each of the four enemies only has two traits at most, yet they still synergize for a very engaging battle.
author=Gale
How do you produce emergent complexity in a battle system? What are some games which do this well?

I have never seen this done in a JRPG, which is what most of the makers are designed for. I have seen emergent complexity happen in roguelikes such as ADoM and Nethack though.

Your question does to a great extent get into how you make JRPG combat interesting and varied. There has been a lot of topics and articles about it in this site, but again, I have not seen anything that can be called emergent being produced. The closest I've seen is "the multi-target paralyze spell which only have a 25% chance to hit managed to paralyze three out of four heroes, now I can only pray that the RNG allows me to resolve the situation it got me into" which tends to not be very popular.

You are kind of on your own. I would suggest you try the following first step though:
Make a couple of enemies that provoke different tactics from the players. Note that I'm not asking you to just make enemies that themselves do different things from each other, I'm asking you to make the players fight them differently.

author=LightningLord2
You'd be surprised how much you can do with just the default system in RPG Maker. This article was written with difficult RPGs in mind, but in it, I built up an encounter in detail without requiring any unusual mechanics (besides one counter attack skill). Each of the four enemies only has two traits at most, yet they still synergize for a very engaging battle.


Counter skill? In which maker did you do it? Saying because... I'd like to try it myself, though I am with RM2K3 so don't know if it's possible there.
author=Aoleorz
author=LightningLord2
You'd be surprised how much you can do with just the default system in RPG Maker. This article was written with difficult RPGs in mind, but in it, I built up an encounter in detail without requiring any unusual mechanics (besides one counter attack skill). Each of the four enemies only has two traits at most, yet they still synergize for a very engaging battle.
Counter skill? In which maker did you do it? Saying because... I'd like to try it myself, though I am with RM2K3 so don't know if it's possible there.


I did not specify a maker - I simply talked about designing enemies, not programming them. Also, I barely know how to do stuff in RPG Maker 2003, you should ask elsewhere.
Rock-Paper-Scissors still works well.
author=Liberty
Rock-Paper-Scissors still works well.


There's an article for it. No exceptions.
Erm, designing a bullet hell mimigame in vxa is already a pain. How much more it 2k3?
I just finished playing Dragon Quest 2 on my Note 3. While still a tad bit heavy in encounters, it was pretty enjoyable. Very simple battle system, but a lot of fun, especially as I could take it wherever.

Sometimes the simpler things bring greater joy.
The first two Paper Mario games have simple battle systems that work fairly well. Basic enemies require a little strategy so you can't just mash attack to win. And outside of the level up and badge systems the damage numbers were completely static and very low which allowed for easy balancing.
Monster Girl Quest is actually a very good example - the battle system is a very basic turn-based one with only 1v1 fights (with groups being considered one enemy still). What makes it deep and interesting is that you need to read exactly what the opponent is doing and which skills work in your current situation. For instance, one of the skills you get is a divebombing attack which you can only use in places where you can climb on something. It helps that the game is fairly linear and every encounter is pre-designed rather than random.
Given the choice between playing turn-based Dragon Quest games for the rest of my life or playing Unlimited SaGa once, I'd take the former in a heartbeat.

The simplest battle systems end up being the most lasting.
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