No longer should Tactics Ogre be labeled as that “other” Tactical RPG.
GAMEPLAY ~
I’ll give a run down of the actual game mechanics, than add in a positive and negative section, for quick reference.
TOA (as I'll call it from now on) is your run-of-the-mill Tactical RPG brought to you by the always inventive ATLUS company. Basically, the whole outline of the game is you dispense troops (of your choosing) onto the battle field and control each unit to victory. After victory you garner some Goth (currency) and war spoils. Some of the spoils can also be picked up after an apposing unit is defeated (enemies can also acquire these spoils, so grab 'em!) and besides "random encounters" on the map, most of the battles objectives are "defeat the leader" so if you don't need to level-up (which is half the actually gameplay) that is an easy out!
+ Positives +
+ There is 15 classes your troops can graduate into, some exclusive to certain genders. There is also an additional 2 specialty classes that take more than leveling to acquire.
+ Practice mode makes leveling up early in the game easy with a set option on if you want to set up practice manual or computer controlled. (go for comp. controlled, and let it run during work! Quick and easy!)
+ Persuasion is a nice additive, originally featured in the first TO game, which allows your characters to persuade enemy forces (around the same level) into joining your cause. Female units seemed far more effective when persuading enemy forces.
- Negatives -
- No real strategy is needed due to each team taking turns with movement one after another, and the player squad always moves first, no matter what. This completely defeats the purpose of adding in “agility” to the characters stats.
- Practice mode is very time consuming and will tack on un-needed additional hours to an already lengthy game, but the levels earned are nice.
- Battles take awhile to fully complete (some nearly an hour in length) and since this is a portable game, you'll have to fight most of the battles in intervals. There is a “suspend” option (explained more in replay) but it never gets fully utilized.
- Half the classes aren’t even used unless needed to acquire one of these listed classes. Knights, Valkyries, Sirens, Ninjas, Swordmasters, and Priest were the basic choices from my experience. You will almost never use a beast class, that is if you want to survive your battles.
- The game offered too many demi-humans and magician type special characters over more physical type characters. An none of the characters in all had any interesting back stories, so most of them you couldn’t really get an understanding of who they were.
- Apposing units have some really bad AI. For example, if my lowest defensive unit is out of attacking range, the AI seem to automatically target my highest defensive unit next, completely ignoring my Hero, which if defeated, ends the game.
- What happened to the “Sniper” class from the PSX’s Tactics Ogre? This would have made some of those lousy archers useful later on.
TOA could have had more of an original concept in the overall scheme of things, but TOA decide to rehash what the original PSX title drew upon. Not a bad idea, but ATLUS really should have branched out and gave fans something new for their devotion.
STORY ~
A good story, but half the time it jumped so much I couldn‘t keep a grip on it, so I have no idea if it interlocked with the original PSX Tactics Ogre title or not…
GRAPHICS ~
TOA’s graphics look fantastic! Character sprites are quite advanced (and outlined) looking like LEGO’s going to a medieval war-party. Sprite animations are also a high point with certain classes even having a finishing stance right before they vanquish the apposing unit. Sprite portraits are nicely hand-drawn as well, giving a good impression on what the characters might look like if zoomed in on. The battlefield map is a basic grid outline with a stationary ¾ camera. Unlike it’s kin title for the PSX, the camera, sadly, does not move this time around. So you might even lose a character on some of the more rugged terrain. Many of the spells cast are powerful and vibrant at the same time. With summon magic completely enveloping the whole screen and dishing out some major damage to boot!
The main game takes place on one map, and you move the courser over the area you want to explore. Than the blue lines turn red as it progresses and you sometimes make it there with limited interference. The only downside to the graphics is in-game slow downs. The game does start to lag when a lot of characters are on screen when basic magic attacks are performed. So you will experience it a lot, especially with Craig Crush. Besides that little problem, the game runs fast and the action is only compromise to the overall look and feel of this game!
SOUND ~
Uhhgg... This game has some terrible music! Only one song was worth remembering, everything else was just synth-rock garbage with no variety or energy to them. Normally I don't beat down a GBA games music, but I did end up playing this game at home, and I did listen to the music, it's bad. The other bad sound aspect was the hum-drum voice announcing "Fight it Out!" or "Encounter!" Both really not giving me any enthusiasm to continue forth.
But I can say the SFX were nice! from sword slashes to the horrible gurgling sounds of the beast-type creatures demise! each SFX was a breath of fresh air! You can turn off the music if needed and since it's on the opening menu of the game, they, themselves, knew the music blew!
REPLAYABILITY ~
I was hoping for more actually.
Normally in these kinda games you go on these massive journeys across the map to locate specialty characters and expand the story beyond what we know. Instead they offer your two special characters, where each one doesn’t progress the story much anyway. Both are cool, but you can only acquire one or the other. So choose wisely. This game also holds two separate paths towards end game progression, plus several different endings you can acquire depending on your gaming rank (A+ is the best) and what characters you kept alive.
The game is mobile, and the suspend option was appreciated, but felt in vain. Basically, the "suspend" option is used for the parts of the where you "branch out" your team into groups and storm a castle, or what have you. Other than that, you can't stop a tactical decision midway! It's so un-knightly! So TOA might just be that on-the-go game played at home for awhile.
There is emblem collecting, which there are too many to count, as well as class building and the always slow and boring, leveling up! Which will normally top around Lv. 32 - 36. This game holds on average, 50 hours of gameplay, not all of it is action packed, but worth every minute spent at work raising levels!
There is however a "quest" mode which is the main income flow for your unit within the game, and each time one is finished you can acquire a new quest after the latest chapter. Some of the later quest are un-lockable by conquering the previous quest. But as mentioned, these are for those who want more Goth and all of the specialty items in the game. Serious collectors only should apply! The downside to "quest' mode is that you don't level up, so to me, felt pointless in the long run.
OVERALL ~
A grand experience only hindered by what system this game is released on. Not saying the GBA can't handle a game like this, because it truly can! But a good tactics game needs devotion, and with the GBA's on the move attitude, it's hard to give a game with such a slow momentum any serious time. But if you got the time, and you got the patience, give TOA a good run through, might be more than you bargained for!
But I do have one question I’d like ATLUS to answer...
What happened to all the HawkLadies?
They were a main factor in the original Ogre Battle game (Yulia) and after that they were completely omitted... strange... how do those HawkPeople reproduce?