GBAtemp Recommends! Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis

[Hadrian]

GBAtemp Recommends! Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis
G.R. Issue #14 (GBA)


Some people complained about last weeks choice but the beauty of this feature is that there is a new recommendation every week. I think some people will be for this weeks choice.

Welcome to the fourteenth issue of GBAtemp Recommends! - a weekly magazine feature in which we share our favourite Game Boy Advance titles. The games we recommend may be top titles from the GBA library, a homebrew, or they may be sleeper hits that flew by the radar, but one thing's certain, they're all fantastic games that deserve your play time!

GBAtemp Recommends!

Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis

Screw Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, this is the real GBA Tactic classic. Its a party based tactical combat on a isometric view that the series has endured, and it is all still menu based. If you've played these sort of games before, you pretty much know what to expect, only this is better than most of them.

The game is an extremely deep and fulfilling, with an extremely rich story with plenty of twists and turns to keep you hooked during the 40 odd hour game. Graphically it is very good, rich colours, brilliantly animated characters and maps that fit the game so well. Static screenshots don't do this game any justice, it needs to be seen on a GBA or top screen of the DS.

There are a couple of problems with this that stop this from being a perfect game. The sounds & music are just really really plain and average, absolutely nothing to write home about at all. Also some of the battles last for ages! At one point I had one going for about 40 minutes, can't say I've ever had that in a Tactic game before. So lets just say its not a game you can pick up and play for short sessions.

Still saying that this is a very well realised, deep, fun and exciting turn based strategy title that is essential for the GBA gamer.

Assume the role of Alphonse, a knight of Galicia, sent on a mission to investigate the intentions of the suspect governing body of the Holy Lodis Empire and solve the mystery of Ovis. Along the way, you will experience many trials and tribulations, but you must survive the unrelenting battles and cultivate your characters' abilities to reveal your true destiny.

#0432 - Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis (Mode-7)

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy
Developer: Quest
Publisher: Atlus
Dump Date: 10/05/2002
ROM Size: 64 Mbits

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Discuss

 

[granville]

This and the original Genesis Shining Force remain the only 2 turn based strategy/tactics game I've ever beaten. This one really shined for me personally. And it's got an excellent story with a lot of different possible story sequences based on your decisions. Good call Hadrian!

 

[concealed identi]

I loved the idea and strategy behind this game, but honestly, sitting through the computer's turns is nothing short of painful. I prefer PLAYING games, not watching them. So yeah, I thought this game was absolutely terrible because of that.

 

[Toni Plutonij]

This one is an absolute beauty!!

I just love tactics games, it involves strategy AND RPG elements, damn fine if you ask me, and I don't mind computer making his moves, actually I really like it this way, because it feels like you're reading a book or watching the movie, but you have influence in what will happen next, maybe it's silly, but that's how I feel with all tactical games (especially Fire Emblem!)

 

[granville]

I loved the idea and strategy behind this game, but honestly, sitting through the computer's turns is nothing short of painful. I prefer PLAYING games, not watching them. So yeah, I thought this game was absolutely terrible because of that.

In saying that, I can only surmise that it's the entire genre of games like this that you dislike, not just this one in particular. ALL tactical games do the computer turns (FF Tactics, Ogre Battle Series, Shining Force Series, and even Disgaea). Just not your type of game I guess.

And I'll admit they're an acquired taste. I don't even like FF Tactics much, but did like this and Shining Force. And I'm trying to force myself to get into Disgaea with minimal success. They take pretty hard patience and have very little replay value. Technically, this Tactics Ogre game has a bit more replay than other games in the genre due to the alternate story sequences you can trigger.

EDIT: stupid tired me forgot about one of the more popular ones- Fire Emblem. I've never beaten any or played them much, but I liked the little parts that I did try. I need to try them out again and maybe get addicted to them!

 

[Hadrian]

I loved the idea and strategy behind this game, but honestly, sitting through the computer's turns is nothing short of painful. I prefer PLAYING games, not watching them. So yeah, I thought this game was absolutely terrible because of that.

I didn't think the turns were any longer than Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, FF Tactics and so on.

 

[concealed identi]

I loved the idea and strategy behind this game, but honestly, sitting through the computer's turns is nothing short of painful. I prefer PLAYING games, not watching them. So yeah, I thought this game was absolutely terrible because of that.

I didn't think the turns were any longer than Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, FF Tactics and so on.

I love Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Rebelstar, X-Com, etc., but I remember being able to do things like go to the bathroom, get some reading / work done, or make a sandwich in the time it took for the computer to take its turn sometimes. Actually, maybe that's not a bad thing. Try playing both of them again though, as I don't think they can even be compared in terms of agonizingly waiting for the computer. I guess if you don't mind it in the first place, though, you're less likely to notice it.

 

[LowEnergyCycle]

I fully agree with this recommendation - Tactics Ogre is a fantastic way to get into SRPGs. It's far less daunting than any of the Disgaea games and it has a ripping story too (far less cringe-worthy than the Fire Emblem ones). I love the FFT games, but there was soemthing tangably different about Tactics Ogre. Every battle in itself seemed to tell it's own story, away from the main arc.

On the subject of 40min battles though... Yeah, I distincly remember spending a long time trying to kill one last Bat in an early mission. I had no way of curing the status ailments most of my ranged characters were under, and the Bat in question had flown up to an unreachable part of the map. It was both annoying and hillarious in equal measures. Again, it kinda told it's own story through the nuances of the battle.

Incidently, I've seen boxed originals going for a whopping £115 ($200 at least) on Ebay. And I'm fairly sure it made it into Famitsu's Top 10 Games of All Time list once. It's THAT good.

 

[Opium]

This is still one of my favourite GBA games. The story is really intriguing and there is a lot of depth to the strategy.

Gotta love the Lich

 

[JPdensetsu]

Sounds great, I love these games, I'll try it

 

[Velveteer]

It honestly has to be one of my favourite games of all time. The only thing that bothers me is the class-imbalances, where some classes are pathetic, (lol, Beast Tamer) others are sadistically good. (Lich, anyone?) The vast array of items, spell and classes, along with a very open game-play style really made this. I've played through three times to date, and have no intention of quitting now.

For the record, you can suspend a battle and resume it later, so the 1 hour battles (later on) are epic more than they are a chore. One thing it has over games such as Disgaea, is the fact that Clerics/Priests get EXP for healing allies. I'm dissapointed there's no news of a sequel.

 

[Hadrian]

I'm dissapointed there's no news of a sequel.

Yeah this was the last game in the Ogre Saga some say its because the creator of the series Yasumi Matsuno, left Quest in 2005. Quest were bought by Square Enix in 2002 and various members have worked on FF Tactics GBA & FF Tactics A2 DS.

It would be nice if SE got the team working on a new Ogre game.

 

[Noitora]

Screw Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, this is the real GBA Tactic classic.

FFTA is superior! I didn't enjoy Tactics Ogre that much

 

[knl]

It was annoying to farm items from the quest mode (i'd always get ones I already had) but then again that's a matter of personal choice. :\

 

[Satangel]

Screw Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, this is the real GBA Tactic classic.

FFTA is superior! I didn't enjoy Tactics Ogre that much

Same here, FFTA is way better IMHO

 

[dice]

This was probably the game that got me interested in the genre.

 

[tinymonkeyt]

omg yeah!
me too!
i was playing FFTA2 on the ds a few days ago
and i wanted to persuade the enemies to join :[

 

[Hillsy_]

Tactics Ogre is not a very good game as it is flawed. The training aspect spoils the entire campaign as you can hit your own troops to accumulate experience. Onimusha tactics is another bad game, but for different reasons.

 

[yorch]

This is my favourite gba game ever

 

[SargeSmash]

As opposed to entering extra battles against CPU controlled enemies instead? Just a matter of how you look at the training.

I never did finish this one, and I didn't finish FFTA either. Both are rather similar, but I'd probably give the edge to Tactics Ogre. The story seems more "mature", and you don't have to worry about laws crippling you in battle.

Fire Emblem probably plays the most how I prefer, but its unforgiving nature has a tendency to make me move to other stuff (despite the fact that I'm a glutton for punishment while playing old NES games). Losing a team member permanently if they fall in battle isn't very fun, and always prompts a reset for me.

Shining Force II is probably my favorite SRPG, along with Arc the Lad 2 for PSX. Awesome stuff.

Anyway, enough rambling from me. Great recommendation.