An incredibly deep, thrilling game that will challenge and excite you until its set of multiple endings.
In the game, you take contol of Magnus Gallant, a warrior that enlists himself into the Palatinean army to see the world with his own eyes. Only after 50 hours of gameplay later will you find out the end of the story, and that is only the beginning. There are many multiple endings in this game based on exactly how you play it, such as which strongholds you capture and what missions you take. This provides for almost limitless replayability and a new story each time around.
The gameplay is spectacular, and although it may seem simple there are many components to it. Your army (which you get to name) is composed of units, and your units have your particular characters including a leader for each unit. The interesting thing, however, is that you don't take direct control of your characters in battle. Although you order them what to do on a battlefield, once a unit engages in combat they are on their own fighting the enemy. This provides a unique experience that will also have you biting your fingernails when you encounter a very stong enemy.
Within your army are a ton of characters as well, some that are involved in the story and some that are not. Characters such as Leia, Dio, and Hugo will interact with you quite often and are the main characters in the game. Then there are the infinite amount of other characters in your army, and also some characters that are available to join your army if you meet certain conditions throughout the game. Each character has a unique ability, and a different class. This provides the gamer with a lot of different options as to who will do what during battle.
Classes are the most important aspect of this game, and there are tons you can choose from. Divided into male, female, beast, dragon, and demon classes, each has a different purpose. Clerics heal your party, while fighters provide offense and defense for your unit. On the other hand, you can gain hawkmen which have the ability to fly on the battlefield, or also dragons which can provide your unit with a huge offensive lift. Characters can change classes at any time (except for main characters such as Magnus and Leia) as long as they meet certain requirements such as strength, dexterity, intelligence, and even alignment. Choosing which classes to make your characters into will make or break your unit, as different classes work well with each other.
The appearance of this game is not astonishing, but still very good, even for an N64 game. The music in the game is impressive, and provides a medieval feeling as you progress throughout the game. You will trudge through many different types of battlefields and can fight on many different types of terrain as well. All in all, even though the graphical appearance of this game is its weak point, the gameplay and storyline make up for it and then some.
Ogre Battle 64 is one of those games that are hard to find, and it is a shame that it is that way. This is definitely the best RPG that the Nintendo 64 came up with. It is addicting, and will consume a lot of your time. Get ready for a long, thrilling ride that you will be able to embark on over and over again.