I'm currently working on an RPG. I've gotten a good leveling system created, stats, experience and all, etc. but I'm having trouble designing a good battle system. My current one is sort of a clone of Megaman Battle Network, though it is quite different. The battles are real-time, and you collect plaques which give your gun different weapons, like flamethrower, etc. But instead of 9 squares you have a whole half of the battlefield. I know a lot of people didn't like the Megaman Battle Network Series, so I'm looking for some feedback. It is a 2d game, but my graphics are drawn with a bit of perspective so I have to account for that with a height variable in all battle elements. This causes some bugs (having to do with hitting and missing) that I can't seem to work out so that is another reason why I'm considering a change. I'm thinking that if I could combine the MMBN style with another style, possibly Chrono Trigger, then it might solve my problem. The game could be based around the plaques, collecting them, etc. the more you have the better attacks you can use, but it could be more turn based like Chrono trigger. In that way the perspective would also not be a problem, as I could just "tell" the weapons to hit or miss depending on an initial random number. I'm just wondering what will please my players more. If anybody has any other ideas, please let me know. Thanks!

A turn-based game could work just as well as action, but you'd probably have to stay away from a typical RPG battle system. Megaman Battle Network's battle chips were different from each other largely because of either their attack pattern or how they altered the battlefield.

In a game like Chrono Trigger (which, if I remember correctly, was menu-based only), the only real difference in different attacks could be element, damage, and possibly status effects. This works for a game with a limited number of different abilities, but in a game based on collection, there could possibly be hundreds (Battle Network had over 200 different battle chips, I think), and if their only difference was their damage, element, and whether or not they changed a status effect, most attacks would just be duplicates of each other with a different name.

Now, a turn-based collection game could work, but not in the traditional sense of an RPG. It doesn't have to be based on movement, though. Card games like, for example, Yu-Gi-Oh, didn't involve actual movement, and were entirely turn-based, but their setup was designed to allow for a variety of different cards. And let's face it, Megaman Battle Network is just a card game with some action elements and a storyline.

So, you could mess with the design and make an RPG that involves collection but isn't anything like Megaman Battle Network, and still have it be good. It probably shouldn't be too much like Chrono Trigger, though, because Chrono Trigger is created for a smaller number of different abilities than would be useful in a collection-based game.

If the only reason you're considering this is collision detection, though, I'd say to try and work out the problem instead of changing your design. Megaman Battle Network's sprites, for example, usually took up more than one panel, but the game only considered the panel which their feet were on for sake of collision detection. You could do something like that, probably.

Thank you, kind sir, for your feedback, it has definitely helped. If anybody else has anything they would like to add, it is always welcome.