It can be costly to buy a house or to even build one. That’s why a lot of people nowadays can get their kicks not only building one house digitally, but a whole town. There have been city-building games for ages from classics likeSimCityto more modern ones likeFallout 4. Even a game likeAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsdabbles in the genre.
Have therebeen any JRPGsthat have done the town-building concept well too? It may be surprising to find out that these games do have city planning mechanics in one way or another. Let’s hop to work and let these gems speak for themselves.
Dark Cloud 2is an action RPGwith so many mechanics in it. At its core, it is a time-traveling RPG wherein the stars, Max and Monica, must go through different eras to rebuild towns that an evil mastermind is destroying. To rebuild these towns, players have to jump into dungeons randomly set up akin to a roguelike.
Getting different materials, including NPCs, will allow players to reset things back to how they used to be. While players are free to remake towns in their image, putting things back a certain way can get them bonuses. For example, an NPC may want to have their house by a river.
Dragon Quest Builders 2is a sequel that lets loose on a lot of boundaries the first game had. The first game wasaDragon Questspinoffand an attempt to take onMinecraftwherein players could venture out, fight monsters, and make towns. These towns reset after each chapter, making players feel like their progress was destroyed the second they pressed forward.
The reset mechanic was dialed back in the sequel, the combat was refined, and players were given more tools to build and craft at their leisure. Perhaps one of the best things was the co-op island wherein players could work together to build a paradise. While it still didn’t offer as many building mechanics asMinecraft,Dragon Quest Builders 2excelled in other areas namely the RPG department.
Ever Oasisbegins with a young adventurer displaced in a desert region. To thrive, players have to create a town which will in turn help their level progression. Getting shops to get better equipment, for example, is part of the loop. There are traditional leveling-up mechanics as well and it plays likeaManagame.
Once players get the right NPC and shop set up, many of the shopkeepers can become party members. These NPCs will have skills that can help players get through dungeons like going through small holes or breaking apart giant rocks. It’s not an RPG with a massive set of town-building mechanics, but they are at the core of the experience.
Fire Emblem Fateswas split in-between two releases at first:ConquestandBirthright. Both games had a mode called My Castle wherein players could establish a town square. In this town square players could set up shops which would help the growth of their kingdom overall.
Each game gave a different flavor to My Castle. The family in Conquest was more medieval-like while the family in Birthright was based more on samurai. LikeEver Oasis, the mechanics players could wield in My Castle inFire Emblem Fateswas limited, but it was a cool addition to introduce to theFire Emblemseries.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealthis a fairly new turn-based RPG with a pretty in-depth town-building mechanic. About a third of the way through the game, the protagonist, Ichiban, will get washed up on an island called DonDoko Island. Here he is greeted by mascots one would find at an amusement park or something.
The goal is to clean the island up by collecting trash like cans and sweeping up sludge to make it livable again. Materials collected can be used to craft things like benches which can be placed around the island. It’s so intricate that it feels like it could be its own game. Sega may want to hold onto that idea for a spinoff intheYakuzaserieswho are not shy about weird spinoffs from zombie shooters to pirate adventures.
Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdomis all about retaking a kingdom. The hero, Prince Evan, gets his throne usurped by a rat-like people who invaded. To get it back, Evan is aided by the literalPresident of the United Stateswho got sucked into this fantasy world. Together, they will recruit party members and soldiers to fight back against small outposts using Pikmin-like mechanics on the world map.
There is a new castle created to act like a home base and getting enough NPCs and materials will allow players to build something new like a shop which will boost things like morale for the kingdom. These upgrades will be built in real time, meaning there is a cooldown timer and some of them take hours. It’s a bit of a borrowed mechanic from mobile-based gacha games.
