and the lack thereof. 
I still have a soft spot for the old turn based tactical JRPG, you know, like Shining Force, where you had a top down grid and 5 different heroes including the tiny girl with the honking great big axe.
Today, however, is the day of the action rpg, or horrors the first person rpg. Surely I can’t be the only one who still has a longing for those old school rpgs? Even the iPhone, which seems ideal for these sorts of games, doesn’t have any!
Sigh.
Tactical RPGs have been less popular in the West than in Japan for a long time, so while it’s a very well-represented genre in Japan, few Japanese ones are translated, and fewer still American ones are made. Europe gets a little better than NA, I think, but, not being European, or enough of a fan of the genre to go that far out of my way, I’m not entirely sure.
They are, of late, more popular on handheld systems - Gameboy Advance, PSP, and Nintendo DS. Still not very common this side of the Pacific.
The Disgaea series is currently going fairly strong, both on consoles and handhelds - the latest was just released in NA on PS3 in February, and the first one is available for DS and PSP - the second is likely to be released on PSP, though the NA and Euro releases aren’t known. No word at all on whether it’ll get a DS release (that I know of).
Nintendo still produces the Fire Emblem series for the Wii and DS. They’re not quite as customizable on the individual unit basis like Final Fantasy Tactics, but each character has their own story and you hate to lose any in combat.
You might want to look at Valkyria Chronicles on the PS3. It’s more of a turn-based strategy game than an RPG but the story and artwork is wonderful.
I second the mention of Disgaea 3 on the PS3. I bought it a while back but haven’t got around to playing it properly yet (too many new PC games to play first).
I’ve been trying to get into Disgaea lately but I find it to be a bit rough going. There’s a vast, vast amount of things that you can do and not a lot of context for any of it.
Oh, by the way, speaking of Shining Force, both SF games are available on Wii Virtual Console.
Oo. I have a Wii! So I’m looking into Fire Emblem now. 
There’s also La Pucelle and Phantom Brave on the PS2, both by Nippon Ichi (makers of Disgaea)
Same here. I bought Disgaea 2 because I read it was amazingly rich and full of developpment possibilities, which is 100% true… but there’s little *point *to explore them. The storyline is over in a flash, isn’t really that interesting in the first place, and then…what ? Level up in random grids over and over and over for bragging rights ?
I have a soft spot for Prinnies though.
Concur. Disgaea 2 felt huge and empty.
On the other hand, I -loved- La Pucelle Tactics, by the same folks.
Regrettably, recent Shining Force games have been action RPG travesties, and Sega shows no sign of reversing this trend with their latest entry in the series. (By the way, Tengu, it’s not “both Shining Force games”. There was a Shining Force 3, and it was -good-. Sadly, only the first installment of the game ever got localized.).
If you’re looking for a fantasy SRPG, your options are pretty much covered in this thread. If you’re just looking for SRPGs in general, then well, there’s also Front Mission 4.
If you’re looking to go old school, my favorite game of the genre is Tactics Ogre. Originally for the SNES, it eventually got a PS1 localization. Not a lot of individual character customization by today’s standards, but it felt far more balanced to me than other SRPGs. It’s also interesting to play and see how blatantly Final Fantasy Tactics ripped off its storyline. The GBA sequel was also pretty great.
Perhaps the most under appreciated gem of the genre was Gladius on the Gamecube and PS2. Set in a world extremely similar to imperial Rome, you go around entering various gladiatorial contests trying to fight your way to the top. It was a bit of a wimpified version of the gladiatorial games, though, since they explained that healers were always on standby to make sure that no one actually gets killed. The focus was on smaller battles, but there were plenty of character customization options and you could get some pretty neat party members, like a yeti.
Final Fantasy Tactics A2 for the DS was a lot of fun. Tons of hours of short tactical battles and some longer multi-stage ones.
Shining Force was my first and favorite RPG game. They’re still making “Shining” games but nothing like the old ones.
I forgot about Gladius. That was a fun strategy game with a small amount of timing thrown in. Unfortunately, I kept feeling like they were going to open more of the world, characters, and classes but ran out of budget. One playthrough was enough because it did get fairly repetitive and the enemies got all the cool classes.
Gladius is good, but while your characters didn’t get killed in the arenas, they could die outside in wilderness battles. Those gave you a lot more experience, though.
Well, yeah. Admittedly if this isn’t the kind of thing that appeals to you, then a lot of the fun of Disgaea goes away, so it’s no surprise you weren’t impressed with it.
Also came back to mention that there’s going to be a new Vandal Hearts game for the DS at some point in the future.
WAY underrated game, I recommend it also! My roommate rented it just for cheap thrills and a week later after taking it back late we just went out and bought it used at the local game store. I’m not sure if I’ve ever had $7 go so far.
Well, seeing as how Square went the brute force way and just bought the company who made Tactics Ogre and told them to do it again, I can see why. 
/Ivalice fangirl
I would kill to get La Pucelle on the iPhone, or failing that, the Wii…
… how much is a DS, anyway?
I’m playing this game now and just love it. The strategy elements aren’t too killer, but the story is great, it looks wonderful, and I actually like the characters a ton. Excellent game.
La Pucelle is fantastic. And if you’ve got access to a PS2 it’s well worth it.
If not, they’re only $99 now.