I much preferred the story missions to the random battles. When you finish the game you can actually go back and choose a different dialogue option and see how the story changes. Every now and then you get to make a dialogue choice in a cutscene, and this changes the way the game plays out. I didn't think the story of rebellion and betrayal was all that engaging, but I did like the way the story branches off. The unit AI turned out to be pretty clever, using skills and finishing moves at all the right times.
I didn't want to switch any of my characters to AI control at first, but in the end I just had to otherwise each fight would have taken forever. There's a lot of micromanagement that needs to be done, but luckily you can switch some units to AI control, giving them basic orders like being a front line fighter, offensive caster, ranged attacker or healer. You can have up to nine units on the field in any fight, not counting the NPCs that might be tagging along. You can also change characters to new classes, but unless you already have a recruit of that same class you risk the chance of them reverting back to level 1. Instead those XP go to the entire class, so characters that weren't actively in battle can level at the same pace as everyone else. Individual units don't receive experience after a battle. There are actually a heap of really clever mechanics under the hood. During a battle you can rewind 50 turns and try again, with the battle stored as an alternate time-line so you can switch between the different playthroughs. Or at least rewind 50 moves and hope that the AI isn't suicidal the second time around.īeing able to rewind moves is a brilliant mechanic though. There are a number of battles in which you must protect some NPC, but more often than not they seem to run out of range of your healers and get themselves killed doing something stupid, forcing you to do the whole battle again. The AI didn't help with my stress levels, that's for sure. It would have been nice to have a little levity to break up the grind. There are so many Lords, silly names and betrayals that I found it all a bit alienating.Įach battle can take between 15 minutes and upwards of a hour, and they can be pretty stressful. The mechanics are solid and the battles are challenging, but sometimes it's just soooo gruelling.Įvery cutscene seems to be some weighty conversation between King Poly-syllable McStupidname, and someone who is either going to die or be betrayed within the next few minutes. this is serious business from the first battle to the last. Maybe that's just because other games of this ilk, like Disgaea and Advance Wars can be so funny, but Tactics Ogre came off dreadfully dry. There's so much micromanagement and so much you have to remember about your units that sometimes the game stops being fun and starts feeling like work.īajo, I thought this game had a serious humour bypass. I don't think there's anything in this game that will entice someone who is not a dedicated fan of the genre. There's not so much of a learning curve as a learning cliff. The first battles are kind of tutorials, but all they really do is throw information at you at machine-gun pace. Each character can equip all sorts of equipment, as well as learn skills, magics and finishing moves. The terrain, weather, height and unit placement - such as which way you're facing - all play a huge part in battle. The game looks simple but there's a hell of a lot going on beneath the surface. Battles are all played out on isometric maps, with you taking turns with the AI to move your troops around and give them orders to attack, cast spells, and use skills. But let's start with the good stuff.Īs far as turn-based games go, this is seriously 'old school'. I'm a big fan of turn based strategy games - Advance Wars is my favourite - and there's a lot in this game that I really like, but there's also some things that really don't work for me. Now Square Enix has given the game a facelift and re-released it for PSP, how do you think it stacks up, Bajo? The rather oddly named, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together is a bonafide classic in Japan, having been released for the Super Famicom in 1995 to widespread acclaim.
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