Obiwanshinobi wrote:Have the Japanese made any turn-based strategy/tactics games devoid of grinding since the original Shining Force? Romance of the Three Kingdoms perhaps?
I recommend Disciples II: Rise of the Elves and HoM&M3 with add-ons. Both should be dirt cheap by now. Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic had plenty of cool ideas going for it, but the interface wasn't great.
Advance Wars has absolutely no grinding. Definitely worth checking out if you've got a DS or GBA.
@ Fire Emblem sucks comments: The Arena is the only location in the game where you can farm money and exp. It's extremely dangerous for a reason - to cap the limit of resources that's available so you can't grind forever. In other words, it's actually a gamble. You have to know when to quit, or else avoid it entirely. You don't need to visit the Arena to complete the game, so if it frequently kills your characters, just ignore it.
As for permadeath, I actually like that element of the game. The game feels satisfying when you win, because there are actual consequences for making mistakes and failing.
Breakable weapons don't bother me. You get more than enough weapons to finish the game, unless you waste all of them grinding endlessly (only in Sacred Stones... -_-...). It introduces an interesting element of resource management because you must save your best weapons for when you actually need them (as opposed to using legendary weapons to slaughter fodder enemies).
