There are great suggestions here, but they are large beefy games. If you want something smaller: Into the Breach

Super Mario RPG is really fun, I like that era game with optional challenge bosses. The PS1/2 Final Fantasy games are good if you like the anime bullshit too (I do mostly). However, the best turn-based gaming experience I’ve had is Pokemon Black Randomizer, where you can tweak the settings to give gym leaders more Pokemon, 10% higher leveled Pokemon, random Pokemon and move sets. It takes a great base game and makes it challenging and more exciting.

I really like The Battle for Wesnoth. It’s FOSS and still receiving updates 20 years later.

JRPGs:

• Chrono Trigger
• Earthbound/Mother 3 (skip 1)
• Etrian Odyssey
• Final Fantasy (I recommend 10 as the best entry point)
• Golden Sun
• Live a Live
• Paper Mario
• Persona

Other:

• Balatro
• Mega Knockdown
• Riichi Mahjong (Mahjong Soul for the most popular online client)
• Slay the Spire
• Super Auto Pets

Chained Echoes

Clair Obscure

Final fantasy 4,5 and 6 are all good.

Fallout and Fallout 2 are great, but not very forgiving.

Haven’t had much time to play games, but those I played over the years, enjoyed and would recommend:

• Bravely Default & Bravely Second (both for the 3DS)
• Child of Light (afaik all versions are the same, aside from DRMs included)
• Coromon (played on Steam / also on GOG, EGS, Switch 1, Google Play and ITunes for the IOS - it’s Pokemon if you don’t want to give Game Freak money)
• Deeper Down Dungeons (Android from Google Play / Windows version on Itchio should be the same)
• Final Fantasy II (PSP version - also most feature-complete version afaik)
• Final Fantasy VI (SNES version but afaik most versions are mostly the same)
• Final Fantasy VII (2013 PC version / PS1, Win98 & Android versions are mostly the same afaik)
• Final Fantasy X (played all but the PS4 version - can be grindy and repetitive if you go for optionals, though)
• Final Fantasy X-2 (also played most versions - also weaker than X, but still decent, me thinks)
• Final Fantasy XII (also most versions played; does it count as turn-based though? Also while not as repetitive as X, it can be far longer)
• LiEat (English on Steam and Japanese version on Booth as freeware - feels like what RPG Maker games often try to be, but decent instead; also not a RPG Maker game just in case someone gets confused)
• Mary Skelter trilogy (all on Steam, first 2-ish on GOG, Mary Skelter Nightmares has an older version as a separated purchase and a remade version as an unlockable game in Mary Skelter 2, and all games are somewhere between horror, grid-based first person dungeon crawler, turn-based RPG, visual novel and on a lesser degree the further the series went, ecchi)
• Parasite Eve (PS1 - sequel to a Japanese horror book with the same name, though what’s important is explained in-game, and if you don’t want spoilers for the book, you can find the Kindle version on Amazon JP as パラサイト・イヴ)
• Persona 3 FES (PS2 - harder than the PSP version but more content-complete; still have to play the recent remake)
• Persona 4 Golden (PS Vita / Steam - 2nd weakest plot-wise imo, losing only for Persona 4 Arena, but fun gameplay loop)
• Persona 5 (PS3 / PS4 - story feels kinda juvenile but not as bad as P4G, and art/gameplay loop/game flow make up for it, me thinks)
• Quest of Dungeons (Android & PC versions are on several places; roguelike and little to no plot though)

Final Fantasy Tactics.

The game that sort of defined the genre.

And you are in luck. A complete remake is just being released on all major platforms.

UFO: Enemy unknown and Syndicate.

I’m currently really enjoying Ash of Gods: The Way. Didn’t try the previous game yet.

Divinity Original Sin 1/2 and ofc Bg3 if you like dnd

The best turn-based gameplay I’ve enjoyed recently (maybe ever) is Honkai: Star Rail. If you want something similar to that without the gacha, try the Trails series. It’s a continuous story, but they just released a remake of the first game this month.

Baldur’s Gate 3, Civilization V, Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre are all turn-based games I’ve put hundreds of hours into. Since you enjoyed 13 Sentinels, a story-heavy game, I’d steer you away from Fire Emblem Engage for now and more towards FFT or TO if you want stronger story.

Thank you everyone for the recommendations!!! I’ll be sure to check out quite a few that caught my eye.

Old or modern?

More recent: Clair Obscur - you’ve probably heard of it, any description won’t do it justice, just watch a prologue you’ll be instantly hooked Persona series - pokemon meets mythology and teenager sim with social commentary, start from either 3 or 5 Metaphor Refantazio - same devs but fantasy setting, very pretty and the characters are good Yakuza like a dragon - is a jrpg unlike earlier titles, early game is a hobo sim, later it’s kinda like other Yakuza games but with a bit of fantasy sprinkled in. Subclasses are written with humor, story’s nice

If you’re into more retro stuff: Earthbound is a must play, it’s legendary, and has raised a generation of quirky moving story lovers (also, Undertale is inspired by it) Chrono trigger is also a classic

Edit: oh, sory, I didn’t realize this post is 2 days old. Lemmy is a bit confusing, I’m new here

There’s a demo for JRPG remake Trails in the Sky that came out recently. It’s mainly character-driven, so it won’t always mesh with everyone. First few tutorial fights feel braindead, but even before the prologue is done you have a few boss battles that can wreck you if you’re not planning any strategy based on the systems they’ve taught.