Tactics Ogre

"One of the slowest rpg/strategy game I've played"

After playing and loving Ogre Battle for the Snes, and being a harcore fan of the games "a la shining force" I was sure that Tactic Ogre would be a master piece... Well it could have been.

Graphic:
Even for the Snes, those graphics were outdated. But this being the remix and being on the playstation, they simply look awful. Even the characters face, when they are talking doesn't look good enough and doesn't seemed to have been modified at all.

Sound effect/music:
Well, that's a good part, the music is good, not powerful enough to carry you out of a battle, but just good enough to listen to it while playing. As for the sopund effect, same thing here. There is no exageration anywhere. A sword sound like a sword (or at least almost)

Fun Factor:
I really hate when I have to do level ups before going on with the next battle. But the training is there just for that, doing level ups because it is plainly impossible for a character that is only 1 level behind to do any sort of damage to others without being killed by the counter attack. Doing level ups that way (fighting myself) is simply time lost for me and very frustrating.

Story:
Being the predecessor of Final Fantasy Tactics, the story is almost the same. Your quest start with 3 characters working for their own self ambition but as the story progress, the main character roles takes more and more place. Because you can make choices that can completely change what will happen, it is tough to say more than that...

Replay Value:
Like Ogre Battle, Tactic Ogre has more than one ending and really different from one to another. Still, because going through one time can be very long and frustrating (those level ups!), I didn't have the guts to go through a second time.

Overall:
The game being tough, it is a very challenging one. Still this game is an almost non retouch remix of an older console, making it less appealing. That game could have been at least retouched in graphics and level ups (boy do I hate that training session) could have been faster for weaker character. That 5 is for me an average. This is a good game but far from being excellent.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99