Tactics Ogre

"Bad Port Takes the Shine out of This Gem"

Tactic Ogre - Author's Notes

Tactic Ogre is a famous SFC(SNES) game in Japan, but was a complete bomb (dud) in the USA market due to bad marketing. However, before I go into the details of this game, let me explain a little about this illustrious history of this exceptional game.

This series was created by a small/medium game developer called Quest. One of their first games they released was Ogre Battle which was a very popular and well loved game around the world. The game drew on many themes or magic and war, and is remembered well for its interesting integration of Tarot Cards in the game play and the ability to pick your hero's personality (from a villain to a hero). The game is essentially a very large strategic board game, that appears to move in the real time. You can choose to build your armies with humans (with numerous classes) to mystical beasts. The multiple ending depending on the player's playing level and decisions was also an interesting feature of this game.

This game has captured the imagination of many game players and has proven to be one of the most memorable games to the present.

With such popularity, many people believed that Quest would release the second episode of Battle Ogre in a similar game genre.

What they got as the sequel was completely different. Tactic Ogre was the sequel of the series, and it continues the story from the original Ogre Battle. The major difference was that the game was completely changed from a real time strategic board game to a very complex turn based war games (Simulation Games) that was similar to Fire Emblem. Many game players were taken aback by the complete change in the game system and play, but after a while, many game players came to appreciate the game. Tactic Ogre was a technological marvel at the time of the release. Instead of most other simulation games in the time period, Tactic Ogre was one of the first simulation games that offered an isometric look (45 degree or fake 3d look). Most other games of this genre were flat 2D so this offered a different perspective to the game. Many people argued that having a game with such viewpoint would obscure the player's perspective of the game and proved to be more trouble than its worth. This game proved the critics wrong, and paved way for more games with more advanced viewpoints (and a precursor to 3D simulation games). The game system was similar to the previous Battle Ogre, with minor adaptations, but with such a pioneering system, this game was a big hit in Japan.

However, before the game was adapted for the US, Square (which created Final Fantasy) liked Tactic Ogre so much; they essentially hired the whole team to work on their next game which was Final Fantasy Tactics. During these few years the English translation was not released due to Quest's non commitment due to its project with Square. However later around late 1996, Altus a game company with a track record of localizing Japanese games for the US market bought the rights for the game Tactic Ogre and started the localization process.

By the time Altus have finished the localized product, Final Fantasy Tactic was out. Final Fantasy Tactic was an exceptional game, and was one of the first simulation games to be offered in real 3D with customizable views. Since my discussion is not on Final Fantasy Tactic, I would like to leave it on the point that the game was very very good, something that brought the best both out of Square and Quest and was one of the biggest hits in that time.

What happened a little later was Altus released Tactic Ogre in the US markets in the PS platform. Tactic Ogre which was released was a major disappointment. The game has nothing new to offered from the SFC version. Due to high latency in the CD-ROM drives, the game was exceptionally slow. With all of these factors involved, Tactic Ogre was a complete bomb. Many people in the US said that Tactic Ogre was a cheap imitation of Final Fantasy Tactic (notice the Tactic in the names of both games), and completely criticized the game into shreds.

However in this perspective I would like to leave our game players with an open mind with one of the pioneering games in this simulation genre. Tactic Ogre was a gem, a classic that you should play and keep in mind how much has it laid the foundations for 3D simulation games that would appear in the future.

Gameplay: 1/10
If the game is so slow, that it ages to load, ages to load an animation, or play a sound, then the game becomes a chore more than fun.

Game Mechanics: 8/10
Tactic Ogre, though suffering from a lack of interesting magic and powerful items, what is has is a completely unique game system - and class system.

Turns are not done on team based turns - but done in system of weight. Characters with low weight will go first in the turn, and alternatives with the next lighter person - which it means the turns can interleave between two sides. Due to this aspect, the game play in this game is rather interesting. Instead of letting all your character move in the same turn - which allows concentrated attacks to selectively kill enemy units easily, in Tactic Ogre, its no longer that simple - as players don't take exact turns. This adds some interesting tactics to the game, and adds more thinking elements - which is a welcome in these strategy simulation games :)

The irritating thing about this game is the random event - which player army may have to fight a number of random army when they transverse through areas in the map. Though initially it may be good for leveling up, later it becomes a chore, especially if we are trying to just get to a town asap.

Graphics: 5/10
If this game was done in a SNES, I would have given this game a 10/10. However this is a PS game, and SNES graphics don't quite match up with the other games in the market - most notably Final Fantasy Tactics. With no improvement on the game since the SNES, this game is very disappointing which is reflected on the low scores.

Sound/Music: 6/10
The music is basically same as the SNES version, though they completely redid the title track as a CD track. The music for Tactic Ogre is rather good in the SNES version, but unfortunately the sound effects were done shoddily. In the PS version the sound effects - like grunts when a character die were recorded cheaply - and sounded very artificial. The worst part about that is that the PS needed to read the track, having a 1-2 second delay before the bad effect could sound is a big turn-off.

Replayability: 3/10
There are multiple endings in Tactic Ogre, and also a few side quests which makes Tactic Ogre a rather replayable game. Its unfortunately that the game has such high latency and slow speed, that it makes it a chore to play this game :-/

Also coupled that this port has nothing new from the SNES version(except being English), this game is hardly adds anything to the port - driving the replayable value down.

Overall: 4/10
This is a classical example of how ports of great games can get awfully wrong. This port of Tactic Ogre has been done so shoddily it should never have been released in the first place, and a good case study for other companies who are interesting in porting games to new platforms. A classic example of a little too little, and a little too late - completely takes the shine out of one of the gaming gems.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 06/13/04