Tactics Ogre

"{To Final Fantasy Tactics:} Anything you can do I can do better!"

OPENING STATEMENT
Tactics Ogre has nothing to do with Ogre Battle. It is a strategy game in the vein of Final Fantasy Tactics. And it improves upon Final Fantasy Tactics in every way.

STORY--10
Tactics Ogre immediately throws you into a story of treachery, love, war, and deceit. Unlike most games with a non-linear story, this story is spectacular. It is in fact, better than most linear stories. I cannot really explain it though, since it is non-linear right from the start.

GAMEPLAY--10
The gameplay is complex for those who want it to be complex, and it is simple for those who want it to be simple. For those complex people out there, you can make the characters be controlled by the computer in various styles in combat, experiment with different weapons, armor and magic, and try to get specific characters levels up. For the simple ones out there, you can give everyone a sword, and throw them into battle. And of course you can do training, where you can level up your characters without the risk of dying.

The greatest things about the gameplay is that you can persuade your enemies to join you. The more hurt they are, and if you are behind them, the more apt they are to join. Only Denim (your leader’s default name) has the persuade command though.

GRAPHICS--9
The graphics are all beautifully hand drawn sprites. The characters all look a little on the pudgy side in battle and training, but their portraits are perfectly realistic. The landscape in the battle, manages to be beautiful, in spite of the harshness (and the clear square lines) that it portrays. The text shows up perfectly.

The spell animations are sort of, well, blah. They are the reason that Tactics Ogre received a nine in graphics. For example, in the Meteor spell, a rock falls on each square in the range. Even the ones without characters on them. This is a waste of time, for the programmers, and for me to watch. Just have it fall on their heads already. Lightning is just a simple lightning bolt, fire a simple flame, and so on. The effect spells are even worse. They just glow a certain color. (Red for stun, green for poison, etcetera.)

The enemy designs are hard to define, since all of the enemies have the ability to join your team. So I’ll do the character designs. As I said before, they all look a little on the pudgy side. They are all colorful, in a washed out sort of way, that makes them look very realistic. Every character looks kind of cutesy, but not so much that a four year old girl would try to jump in the screen and hug them. The enemies all look cutesy too, in case the join you, so they do not have to change the image.

MUSIC--10
This is great music. It is all orchestral music, beautifully set up to perfectly represent the mood the game is attempting to convey at the moment. This game would have sounded pretty funny with singing, so I’m glad Atlus chose to make it all instrumental. The training song for example, seems to be higher, therefore happier, than some of the songs at times of death and despair.

The sound effects get on the annoying side, especially after long play sessions. One sound I will never get tired of, though, is the sound that the text makes. I really think more games should use this sound. The sound effects in battle consist mainly of weapon noises, and grunts and groans for those struck by an arrow or a sword.

CONTROL--10
This game is surprisingly easy to control. When I first began, I was certain that the game needed a mouse. After playing Tactics Ogre for a while, I found out it does not at all. There are some funny control issues, yes. Like how to attack, you first press ‘O’ and press ‘X’ the rest of the way, until you get to the next character. But these do not take away from the game. They just do not make sense. Telling characters where to move is easy, also. Just pick a square, within the flashing blue squares, and click on it.

FUN--10
This game is one of the most fun I have ever had the privilege of playing. Even the Training Mode, which I certainly thought was going to be a tedious chore, turned out to be fun. The battles are never repetitive, because each map has different natural obstacles, which heed one or both teams progress. Rarely is there a map where both teams can just storm at each other. And when you do get those, they rarely happen, so then that makes it different, too. Plus, customizing your characters items, weapons, magic, and most importantly job class, is fun. You have to think carefully what you want everyone to be.

CHALLENGE--LOW TO HIGH
As you cans see, the challenge really depends on the battle. Some battles are easy, and they can be won within a few minutes. And some battles are nearly impossible, and they can take hours to finish. And you will probably have to replay them a few times.

REPLAY VALUE--HIGH
This has sky high replay value. Since it has a non-linear storyline, the game will be a little bit different each time you play it. Some thing will happen no matter what you do, but others will not. And, of course, you can also make everyone’s job classes different each time through. And you will not get exactly the same characters each time. So you will play this game over and over, and you will never get the same game.

PROS
*Fantastic, watercolor-esque graphics
*Excellent musical score
*Intricate storyline with many twists and turns.

CONS
*Seriously overshadowed by Final Fantasy Tactics.
*Fans of original Ogre Battle may want more similarities to it.
*Not enough bad things to think up a third slot.

CLOSING STATEMENT
This came before Final Fantasy Tactics, and it does everything better than Final Fantasy Tactics. It is the absolute best Strategy/RPG on any console or computer.

OVERALL--10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/16/01, Updated 07/18/01