whats the best SRPG you have ever played ?

[Words Of Wisdom]

Khuutra said:

Words Of Wisdom said:

Khuutra said:

So the primary distinction is not anything to do with role-playing, but simply carrying units over between missions.

More or less.  RPGs aren't really about role-playing anymore (except mostly wRPGs which actually let you make decisions) but that's a different discussion all-together.  Overal, games today are much more story-oriented than they used to be.  Now just about every game has a story.  Even some sports games have a story where you take the role of someone.  Advance Wars games have stories where you follow the path of the COs.  

Since we can't use story to differentiate games, we have to use gameplay.  I feel the biggest gameplay difference is that TBS lets you create new units in missions whereas sRPGs let you carry units over.

If this is your distinction, you're only talking about a single game mechanic in turn-based strategy games. There is no such thing as a Strategic RPG unless you are talking about the narrative fact of playing a character - in which case Advance Wars is an RPG but Risk is not (assuming that you do not pretend to be a conqueror).

I'm not sure I understand.  Your first sentence and the rest of your post have nothing to do with each other.  The rest is basically providing of an example of why story can't be the dividing factor.

As for the first part, a single gameplay mechanic is often built on a foundation of other equally simple gaming mechanics.  In PC TBS games such as Age of Wonders and Heroes of Might and Magic, it's much easier to see all the things that go into the game such as area capture, resource gathering, castle/base building, building upgrading, and army raising.  Advance Wars probably wasn't the best title to draw comparisons with since it simplifies and removes a lot of the more elaborate PC game mechanics.

So where are you going with this discussion?  Are you agreeing with me?  Disagreeing with me?  I'm not clear on that.