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Tactics Ogre: Reborn Review-In-Progress: A fantastic remaster

Geralt of Sanctuary by Geralt of Sanctuary
November 11, 2022
in Reviews
0

Key art for Tactics Ogre features its two protagonists bearing the burden of war.

picture: Square Enix

The original Tactic Ogre proved that RPG chess is not only fun, but can also be morally ambiguous, beautifully written, and deeply compelling. Almost 30 years later, Tactical Ogre: Reborn has managed to safely carry a masterpiece into the modern age and polish it up in a way that’s still fun to play. I was worried the remaster, with its smoothed pixel art and other tweaks would tarnish what I love about the classic tactics game. Instead, I keep getting hooked.

Tactical Ogre: RebornComing Friday to PlayStation, PC, and Switch is the grittier, more granular predecessor of Final Fantasy Tactics (Both were directed by Yasumi Matsuno vagabond story and Final Fantasy XII Recognition). Where Final Fantasy Tactics– released January 1998 in the US – focused on manipulating an overpowered job system to break the game with two-handed ninjas and massive summons, Tactic Ogre (which hit US shores shortly thereafter, although it was first released in Japan a few years earlier) reveled in slower, attrition battles where positioning and terrain are as important as character classes. And while both offer surprisingly mature tales of class politics and the corruption of power, Tactic Ogre lets players make a handful of decisions along the way and deal with the consequences at the end of the game. It’s not as accessible as Final Fantasy Tacticsbut his realpolitik approach to war and revolution resonates as strongly as ever.

If you’re completely unfamiliar with the game and the tactical RPG sub-series it comes from, Tactic Ogre

spends most of your time on isometric battlefields divided into squares. Units on one side consisting of knights, archers, wizards, dragons and other classes fight against enemies on the other side. You play as a trio of downtrodden youth trying to retake their lands from neighboring occupiers, tinkering with your troop formation and enjoying beautifully written scenes between battles as dukes, kings and other leaders decide your fate like pawns on a chessboard.

A screenshot shows one of the Tactics Ogre villains being questioned by Catiua.

The registered letter Tactic Ogre remains full of great lines and without nonsense.
screenshot: Square Enix / Kotaku

You would have gotten most of it from the original game as well, but reborn is a remaster of a remaster, building on the improvements already made in the PlayStation Portable version was released in 2010. Every scene is now fully voiced and with minimal scaring too. While I ultimately preferred to stick with the Japanese voice acting, the English cast is surprisingly excellent and a worthwhile addition, helping to add a whole new dimension and emotional subtext to the story.

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reborn also presents orchestral arrangements of all the original music. On paper this seemed like a nice addition, but in practice it’s transformative. As with the voice acting, this brings a whole new depth to Hitoshi Sakimoto’s and Masaharu Iwata’s fantastic score. Each fight feels more intense, each betrayal feels more sinister. Meanwhile, the recurring Wheel of Fortune system lets you revisit earlier points in the branching story.

The remaster also makes a number of other changes and additions. Unlike the PSP version, characters level up instead of their classes, allowing you to play around more with different party compositions and loadouts. Random encounters on the map while traveling from one story beat to the next are gone. Instead, Training Mode has returned, where you can put your troops on autopilot to save. But don’t think that you can grind your way to success. A “group level” limits how far a unit can advance before you progress further in the game.

A Tactics Ogre battlefield is littered with tarot cards and cool dialogue.

The new tarot cards are quickly beginning to pollute the battlefield.
screenshot: Square Enix / Kotaku

Another major innovation is the tarot card system. In addition to defeated enemies dropping green cards that permanently boost a unit’s stats, blue and red cards also appear randomly during battle. The blue cards grant buffs like higher critical hit rates, stronger magic or higher defense, while the red cards remove them. The card bonuses only last as long as each fight and can quickly turn the tide depending on who gets them first.

It’s a way to help make Tactic OgreThe combat hit of is heavier and dissolves faster, which helps you take down an enemy in three hits instead of six (unlike, say, fire sign where it almost never takes more than two). On the whole, trying to break an enemy’s hold on high ground or taking out a particularly powerful boss unit can help cut down on some of the game’s more boring moments (also a turn-do-over system and a fast-forward option ). Help). At the same time as a purist with a soft spot for Tactic OgreThe slower pace and longer fights of , I wish there was a way to turn it off as you have the choice to do so with the voiceovers.

A tactical ogre battlefield shows improvements to the character's line of sight.

My favorite low-key improvement in Reborn is the addition of line of sight for long-range attacks. No more shooting magic into bushes!
screenshot: Square Enix / Kotaku

However, most of the changes are significant improvements. You can now scout out battles in advance to see what units and terrain you will face and how best to counter them. You can also customize up to five battle lists, so you can easily switch from one team to another depending on the situation. Character customization has also been tweaked, with each unit allowed to equip four items, four skills, and four magic abilities depending on their class and repertoire (character stats have also been rebalanced to scale more rewardingly). The equipped items are even automatically replenished from your reserves after each battle. It sounds small, but it’s a massive time saver, allowing you to spend more time focusing on the cool stuff instead of constantly fiddling with medicinal herbs and resurrection stones.

The only part of reborn that doesn’t feel like a coup is the pixel art that was notoriously mocked when it was first leaked online. This is the first version of the game in HD, and the sprites and environments have been enlarged to compensate. The result is a “smoothed” look that can make things look slightly muddy or washed out. The effect is particularly noticeable at close range. Zoom in and things don’t look good, at least occasionally. I don’t know how feasible it would have been to try and give reborn the Octopathic Traveler or triangle strategy HD 2D pixel art lookbut I wish the game felt as nice to watch as it did to play and listen (or at least had the option to go back to the old look).

Luckily, I’ve easily missed most of my five hours with the Switch version so far. It’s barely noticeable on the move, especially when you’re busy calculating hit percentages and damage assessments. As with everything else on the OLED screen, the colors really pop and the overall package feels vastly improved over the PSP version in every other way. Some old games take you back in time, though reborn feels like it’s transporting Tactic Ogre in the present where it belongs.

Tags: Creative worksfantasticFinal Fantasy TacticsHitoshi SakimotoMasaharu Iwatamy boxOgreogre fightPlay videoRebornRemasterReviewInProgressrole playing gameRole playing in video gamesSingle player video gamesTactical roleplayTacticsTactics Ogre: Let's stick togethervideo gamesVideo games developed in JapanVideo games with isometric graphicsYasumi Matsuno
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Geralt of Sanctuary

Geralt of Sanctuary

Since I had my first console when I was 10, I've never stopped playing. I'm a multiplatform player and my favorite genre is RPG.

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