Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together

I think at this point I just have to give up and admit to myself that my favorite video game genre is RPGs.  I won't call myself an "RPG Gamer" because using the title "gamer" to describe yourself forces you into a bizarre subculture of pompous twits who focus their entire lives, income, creative powers, and intellectual ability on video games.  Then if you're a "gamer" you're forced by law to complain about how violent video games have no effect on us in any way, which then forces you to defend serial killer-in-training games like "RapeLay", complain endlessly about how Jack Thompson is the devil, and compulsively collect Xbox Live Achievements while not bathing or dating women (or men).  So to save myself all that, I'll just say that "I like video games, and particularly RPGs".  There.

And clearly not being obsessed with video games, I'll just review "Tactics Ogre:  Let Us Cling Together" now.

A few years ago, I played "Final Fantasy Tactics", probably the best* game out of the entire Final Fantasy franchise.  "FFT", as I'll abbreviate it now out of laziness, was a dark game set in a fantasy medieval kingdom in the midst of a civil war - basically a History Major's wet dream.  In this game, rather than a basic story where a group of plucky teenagers save the world and the damsel in distress (your sister), you are an outcast where just being heroic in a world full of so much backstabbing and betrayal is enough to make you every faction's enemy.  Then... the plucky teenagers save the world, of course, but even then things don't end very well.  "Tactics Ogre" for the PSP is the game that inspired "FFT", meaning that is probably the one game I am most excited for in all of 2011.  So I bought it immediately, dreaming to recreate that "FFT" experience.

"Tactics Ogre" is the third game in the Ogre Battle franchise, a legend of the Strategy RPG genre.  Created by the now defunct Quest Corporation, Ogre Battle was the brain child of Yasumi "Yiazmat" Matsuno, who would later go on to create games like "Vagrant Story", "FFT", and "FFXII".  These games are touted as being the very finest of the breed, yet were played by next-to-nobody, and now are some of the rarest and most expensive games out there.  On Amazon, the original "Ogre Battle" on the SNES will cost you anywhere from $50 to $350 to buy.  In a fit of hubris, Matsuno decided to follow the Star Wars numbering conventions by starting off the first game as "Episode V".  Naturally, Episodes I - IV have never been made and probably never will.  Ultimately the franchise packed up and died after only four games made, Episodes V - VII and a side game on the GBA, all with names that reference Queen songs.  "Tactics Ogre" was Episode VII, meaning that I'm actually starting this franchise out from the end.  Hopefully this PSP remake is a sign of life for this franchise, because I would like to see Matsuno finish his grand epic and make those missing episodes.

Now I think I can actually start reviewing this thing, can't I?

"Sing tome of a time long past, a time when men answered to power alone, ruled by steel, steeped in darkness, sing me of an age called Xygentia."
Following the death of the great Dynast-King war has come to Valeria.  You play as Denam, or Insert-Your-Name-Here, a young relatively blank-slated character whose father was killed in the bloody civil war that is decimating the fantasy kingdom of Valeria.  So you join up with your sister, Catiua, and your dickish best friend, Vyce, to take on the evil Dark Knights of Lodis who killed your father.  The civil war is based around racial lines, you are Walister, who are being hunted by the Galgastani.  Then there are the Bakrum, a third faction waiting to take on whatever side is left standing.  And if things weren't complicated enough, the foreign Empire of Lodis has its own army standing by, led by those same Dark Knights who are so evil.  Just in case the Dark Knights aren't evil enough, they're led by a one-eyed guy whose name is "Lancelot Tartarus", named after the Hell of Greek mythology.  Unfortunately you can't just walk up and kill Lancelot, because the war is a massively confusing place with lots of factions, dragons, betrayals, and at least one insane Necromancer wizard.  Interestingly for an RPG, the game plays like a straight political drama for at least 3/4hs of the way through before giving even the slightest hint of a great struggle to save the world.

Yes the story is pretty complicated, but luckily "Tactics Ogre" gives you the Warren Report, an encyclopedia of every scene you've watched, every character you meet, and even a few News reports as to what's going on in the world.  Keep on eye out for some Ivalice references.

Early on in the game you save Duke Ronway, leader of the Wallisters.  Ronway sends you on a couple of missions, and he seems like a nice enough guy, until he suddenly orders you to wipe out an entire village of your people.  He wants to pin this massacre on the enemy Galagastani, and so rally his forces.  And unlike every RPG I have ever played, the game actually gives you a choice:  massacre or don't massacre.  This creates a huge branch in the entire game, which changes the storyline completely based on your decision.  The moral choice is actually surprisingly deep:  can you do evil for the greater good, or must you follow your conscious no matter what?  If you kill the people, (which is called the "Lawful" route, ironically enough), you stay with Ronway and keep fighting for him.  If you don't kill them (Chaos Route), then you're blamed for the massacre and suddenly are an outlaw to every side.  I followed the example of Ramza, sinless hero of "FFT" and went Chaos.  Either way, your best friend Vyce betrays you and the war just gets worse.  Later on in the Chaos Route you can a second moral choice that gives you a third possible game route, Neutral.

What's interesting about "Tactics Ogre" is that depending upon which route you take, the characters that join your side change.  So if you Chaos, a certain pretty Dragoon by the name of Ravness gets killed off immediately, but if you put Lawful you can recruit her later.  In Lawful you can recruit Vyce eventually, in Chaos he's your sworn enemy.  There are some missions where Guest characters can be saved from the enemy, if you fail they're gone from the story forever.  Then of course often you'll have to make certain dialogue choices to have characters join your side - if you pick the wrong answer they're gone forever.  Luckily though, those choices are dead easy, just tell them what they want to hear and they're yours.  Out of the entire cast, nearly all of the major characters can join your cause one way or another.  There's a lot of freedom to "Tactics Ogre", which I really like.

The gameplay of "Tactics Ogre" is virtually identical to "FFT" in most ways, but the deeper battle system is very different.  You command a set number of units in battle, typically with the objective of killing the enemy commander like in "Fire Emblem".  So most battles involve you fighting the mooks while waiting for the commander to get close enough for you to surround and destroy him or her.  If your units fall, you have three turns to revive them of else they're gone forever.  Plot important guests will teleport away, everybody else can die at any moment, which changes the later cutscenes.  If the Hero falls, its GAME OVER.  If everybody dies, GAME OVER.

There is a Job System, albeit one very different from "FFT".  Every Class in "Tactics Ogre" shares the same level.  So if your Dragoons are at level 12, and Sisteena is a Valkyrie at level 15, if she's changed to a Dragoon, she'll go down to level 12.  This means that much like in "Dragon Quest IX", my changing Class you can lose all your EXP at once.  The abilities you've learned stay, but if those abilities are not compatible with the class, you can't use them.  At the end of a battle, EXP is shared amongst Class, so if you were using a Dragoon, every Dragoon in your party gets so much EXP, but the Skill Points are divided amongst individual characters.  Annoyingly equipment is based on level, so low level characters can't use the best weapons or armor.  This means that every time you want to change Class you have to spend hours level grinding it before its useful, like in "Dragon Quest IX"**.  Thus you almost never want to change Jobs, ruining the Job System.  This is my No. 1 complain about "Tactics Ogre".  By the way, random battle enemies have levels that are equal to the party members you bring against them, so level 1s will fight level 1 enemies, while level 20s will fight level 20s.  Remember that.  Then if you want to change back, you might not be able to because you need Class Marks, special items you need to make a character a certain Job.  Class Marks are probably the stupidest idea I have ever heard in a Class-based RPG, and whoever thought of them should find a priest or some other kind of ordained servant of God and repent.

There also are Limit Breaks called Finishers, which both you and the enemy can use after a few turns.  For whatever reason the enemy seems to always be able to charge up their Limit Breaks before me, I don't get it.  Finishers are especially useful on the bosses, or the enemy Monsters.  Monster, by the way, are ridiculously powerful enemies in "Tactics Ogre", and can take a huge ton of punishment.  Fear Dragons especially.

The most interesting feature of "Tactics Ogre" is the Chariot system.  Using the Chariot wheel, you can rewind the battle up to fifty moves.  This is hugely helpful, because "Tactics Ogre" is a friggin hard game.  Unless you're infected with some kind of foolish bravado, you will use the Chariot system, and use it often.  Its amazingly what kind of seemingly minor moves can completely change the outcome of battle.  The enemy AI is strange, to say the least.

My No. 2 complaint with "Tactics Ogre" is Catiua, your sister.  She is the most terribly dipolar character I have ever seen in a video game.  In the middle of the game she suddenly decides that you aren't paying enough attention to her and just leaves.  "You care too much about this war you're fighting, not enough about me, waaaaaa!"  Oh shut up!  Then if things aren't bad enough, Catiua joins the enemy side, and if you want the Good Ending, you have to re-recruit her.  Or you can let her die, which is an option I'm considering.  I know Ramza, the Immaculate hero, would be a better person, but sadly I'm not a saint like Ramza.  We'll see.

So that's "Tactics Ogre" a game that I am happy to say is a great follow-up if you loved "FFT".  They even share the same talented art designer, Akihiko Yoshida, whose work shines in this game.  It is really an amazing experience, far darker than its Final Fantasy successor.  "FFT" does have one advantage:  slightly better graphics.  This is the kind of game I've been awaiting for years now, and I am so glad that I got to play it.  I gotta use my Wii's Virtual Console to play the other games.

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* Not, really.  In terms of storyline and gameplay, being a SRPG, it gets close but  the real best is the similar "Final Fantasy XII", which is actually the best RPG ever made.  "Final Fantasy VII" is close as well.  Its a hard call.

** I didn't mention this in my "DQIX" review because I didn't realize it at the time of writing.  So now I wait until I'm very deep in my games before writing reviews.  "Dragon Quest IX" still is the best game of 2010, though.