Tactics Ogre

"The absolute best strategy game"

My friend bought this game from Wal-Mart when it first came out for PSX, and he played it a little and I watched. I didn't think much of it until he allowed me to borrow it, and then it started. From the beginning to the ending(s), I enjoyed myself thoroughly, and I always say ''This is my last game'' if I start a new one, but it never is. In my humble opinion, this game surpasses FFT by far. So here goes my very first review.

Graphics:7/10
Nothing spectacular, but it's not supposed to be eye candy, and graphics are one thing I don't care about. If you can look past the graphics to see the sheer brilliance of this game, then you don't deserve to be playing it. On to the next category.

Sound:9/10
Sure, the death grunts and screams get a bit annoying, but let's look past that for now. The music to this game is gorgeous, there are some songs that I wish I could download, very much so. The music is brilliantly composed and drawn together flawlessly. 10/10 if it weren't for Thunder interrupting the music and for the repetitive death grunts.

Story:10/10
The highlight of the game, the story is absolutely glorious. Those who say FFT has a better story have obviously not played TO enough to get the story. The game starts a bit slow, but quickly picks up and takes you on a ride. There really isn't enough that can be said about the storyline other than: Thank you. I'm not going to ruin for those who've yet to play it.

Replay:10/10
There are 8 different endings, and 3 different paths to go by, with different characters on each. This makes the replay of this game unsurpassed by any other game by my point of view. Once again, I'm not going to go into detail to spoil it, but this game offers so much more than FFT I believe. There is so much non-linearity on the different paths that you could probably start 10-15 different games of this and have many differences from each one.

Gameplay/Difficulty:10/10
This is not a game for people looking for an easy, quick game. This game takes a long time to conquer, but you should enjoy every moment of it. Some battles are a piece of cake, but some are very frustrating. There is no set difficulty. The gameplay is basic, Your characters can choose from a number of classes, each with special growth stats and weapons that they use well(Note that any character can equip any weapon, It's not like other games where the mages use staffs, and the knights use swords. Hell, if you'd like you could give your knight a staff and mage an axe.)As well as many characters with special classes. You choose from a direct attack which is like a sword; axe etc., Indirect attack which is like a bow, crossbow, stone etc. Several classes, including some fighting classes can use magic(though they don't excel at it very well). There is also an item command, but you have to use an item that your character has equipped. You're able to equip 4 of any item you want(Well, you can't have 4 swords equipped of course, be realistic). There is also no Godly characters that completely decimate anything you face such as Orlandu from FFT or Cloud with the Ultima Weapon on FF7. As for sidequests, There are many. In particular, there is the always varying Hell Gate, a 100 floor shrine dedicated to the Dark God Asmodeus. I'm not going to dwell much further into this.

Well, I'm closing this review down with a simple statement: Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together is simply the best strategy RP made to date. Period. I hope you enjoyed this review.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/14/03