Tactics Ogre Remake

[Zargabaath]

So I decided to check a website I haven't been to in a while to see if there was anything news worthy, there is:

In the latest issue of Famitsu, SE revealed that it will be remaking Tactics Ogre for the PSP. Along with this news is that Matsuno will be on board as game designer along with a few other notables. It is stated that this new version will be more of a reimagining. The visual style will stay the same as the SNES version but the gameplay will be changing up a bit: new skills and classes & the battles have grown from 10 versus 10 to 12 versus 18. This remake will be released in the U.S as well.

Here is the link to the news article: RPGamer - News Bulletin - Tactics Ogre Remake Revives Matsuno **Coming to NA

This is good news for me; I liked the games that I've played that were done by Matsuno and feel that I would enjoy this game as well. I am also wanting to play Vagrant Story when I get the chance. The only tactical RPG I have is Final Fantasy Tactics so it will be good to have some semblance of variety though both FF Tactics and Tactics Ogre were done by Matsuno. I'll be planning to pick this game up (open it, put UMD in PSP, and play it) when it is released.

[Alpha]

I saw this thread and literally squealed.

Tactics Ogre is/was such a fantastic game -- better than FFT even. I borrowed the GBA version from a friend for a few weeks when I was about 16 (about four years ago), but never got to finish it before he wanted it back (to play it again for himself). I'm no longer in contact with this friend, but desperately want to get my hands on it.

Now it's coming!

+Rep for the news, and I urge any fan of FFT, FFT:A and/or FFT:A2, and who hasn't played this, to get it. On release day.

[T.G. Oskar]

Well shite on me, Matsuno just sold me another PSP game!

I might have to build up my reserves about this game, though it's a great relief that Matsuno is on the head of the game that made him popular and trusted (and I urge Kawazu to follow those steps...). Still, for a game that I played a long time ago, and which I had the chance to play again once I found it on an old games bin (one of the best offers I found!), I would shell money once more. Besides: it's going to be portable, so yet another reason.

As for Alpha's claims, I'm on a mixed bag: the class system of Tactics Ogre is pretty good, but nowhere near the beauty of FFT or FFT:A. It requires great finesse to handle, but once you know the right ways to handle it, you can work great things (say: Swordmaster with Charge, Exorcist with Starion, Dragon Magic, etc.) However, story-wise, Tactics Ogre flat-out defeats FFT's story. It is a truly intriguing story, and I URGE everyone to find out; specifically more to vets of the Ogre Battle series, which will find out great surprises.

Also: Hell's Gate >>>>>>>>> Midlight's Deep >>>>>>>>>> Brightmoon Tor.

I'm surprised by the new classes option. I expect some old faves to appear (say: Samurai as a pre-class for Swordsmaster, Evil Ones as upgrades to those terrible Terror Knights, and so on). Not so sure about new skills (there weren't many skills originally, sans some implied abilities on most classes and bonuses that were usually hard to determine; example being the Valkyrie's morale bonus to male units and Warlock's morale bonus to Golems). The increase in battle roster...doesn't really surprise me, actually. You can do loads of stuff with 10 people, and you can truly face anything with 10 people (or 6 people and 2 Large monsters)

One final question: if Matsuno's on the helm, and there will be some reimaging to the story, does that mean Masaharu Iwata will remix his old songs? Or will we see Sakimoto taking Iwata's steps on composing? Now that I see it a bit, it'll be both Iwata and Sakimoto! Furthermore, and I know that Matsuno must be thinking this as well: will this be a revival of the Ogre series? Tactics Ogre left a huge amount of questions open, and it never linked with Ogre Battle 64 (OB64 is canonical, but it deals with the aftermath of the first Ogre Battle, while TO is more of a side story, with TO: Knight of Lodis being a gaiden of...wait, if I say anything more people will catch spoilers!)

I'll have to see to believe.

[Musashiden]

Until I hear news of a proper remake of Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, I remain uninterested .

Actually, Tactics Ogre was pretty cool. Pretty much anything Matsuno touches turns to gold.

[T.G. Oskar]

Until I hear news of a proper remake of Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, I remain uninterested .

So wait: Person of Lordly Caliber (aka Ogre Battle 64) was a bad remake of the first game?

Also: pretty surprised by the pic with all of the characters done Yoshida-style. It's a bit shocking after seeing the classic pics, though it hints a bit far too much to the future events of the game.

[T.G. Oskar]

Alright, so I don't normally do double posts...I think I hardly ever do one, but I just have to bump this:

YouTube - Tactics Ogre Official Trailer

Might wish to erase it once someone else gets ahold of it, or else forgive me for this little action of double-post bumping.

In any case: the video brings back memories of one of the coolest things on the Ogre series; the Tarot cards, and how your choices built your eventual army. Also, apparently they wanted to make the same revamped translation as they did with Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions, given that some of the classical names have been changed; Powell, which is closer to our time, to Pevel which is quite...striking; "Kachua" has been changed to Catiua, which is a large stretch, and the classical and pretty much canon "Zeteginea" has been changed to Xyteginea, perhaps to separate a bit from Zeltennia from the FFT series.

Also: the spells are eye-candy. Starion (the starlight shower) is pretty to behold, as well as some of the other spells around. As well, the option to move from 3/4ths view to overhead is a nice touch. And pretty much all of the other characters were shown, if only a bit (Lans/Lancelot seems just too awesome to be true).

Opinions?

[Zargabaath]

I totally just watched the trailer over at rpgamer just a few minutes ago. Anyhuma, the trailer was nice and re-affirmed my position to purchase this title. I won't mind the name changes since I did not play the original, plus if the changes are of a better translation then I'm all for that. When I saw the tarot cards I thought of Persona 3 & 4; of course Tactics Ogre came out before either of those games, though I'm unsure if the earlier Persona's used them as well (which reminds me I need to pick up Persona for the PSP & maybe P3P). I did like the art for the tarot cards and the game had the FFT look as well. As it should since they were made largely by the same team and more accurately, FFT has a Tactics Ogre look since the latter came first.

[Taco-Calamitous]

T.G. Oskar: I'll allow it... this time. (Seriously though, it's been a couple months, so that's fine.)

I never played the original Tactics Ogre. In fact, I think I probably only ever played the first third of the original Ogre Battle. I watched that trailer though, and the gameplay intrigues me; looks a lot like FFT (and it must predate it, being that it was originally for the SNES, eh?) And you say it has a more compelling story than FFT, huh? That makes me very interested... maybe it'll have to go on my Christmas/Birthday list this year. Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

[T.G. Oskar]

T.G. Oskar: I'll allow it... this time. (Seriously though, it's been a couple months, so that's fine.)

Eeee! Thankee!!

Though, seriously, even if it's a couple of months, it's still a double post and only admins like Cain get to do that when they're showing a new trailer or something of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 so...oh, well, it's an update so I guess it's not a bad idea

I never played the original Tactics Ogre. In fact, I think I probably only ever played the first third of the original Ogre Battle. I watched that trailer though, and the gameplay intrigues me; looks a lot like FFT (and it must predate it, being that it was originally for the SNES, eh?) And you say it has a more compelling story than FFT, huh? That makes me very interested... maybe it'll have to go on my Christmas/Birthday list this year.

It looks a lot like FFT, but it doesn't play like FFT.

For once, it relies on a system that on FFT wasn't so important. FFT has the Zodiac compatibility: if you were of a compatible sign, you dealt more damage, if you were of a non-compatible sign, you dealt less damage, and if you were of the opposed sign, you could hit very well or very bad depending on your gender. In TO, you have elemental pairings, which amount to "you're gonna get whupped if they get your elemental affinity right". And it's not a 1% change; damage can go from 25 to 150 in the blink of an eye with that system.

The second is the challenge of which classes to get. What's important to consider in TO is that you can't customize your character to have the fighting skill of a warrior and the spellcasting power of a mage; you either ARE a warrior, or you ARE a mage, with a few, few restrictions. Even spells are limited in that regard: pure spellcasters only have 3 spells that they can equip from a very decent list (at least 8-9 spells per element, and you have all 4 classical elements plus Holy, Dark and the unique Dragon magic), and your spells also play with your elemental affinity (characters with the sign of Earth will use Earth spells better and will suck a bit with Wind spells). Some classes allow for 2 spells, some for 1 spell. The rest of the classes (about more than 1/3rd of the classes) gain no spells at all. And about a 20% or so of them don't even get special abilities; Knights get...a bit of a benefit when using a sword, and they get huge defense...but you'll be attacking with them until the end, while the higher-tier classes such as Swordmaster or Dragoon get to use a bit of magic and even some skills (in the case of Swordmaster). Each class has its strength and its weakness, and the system relies on you to choose the right classes for the mission at hand. Also, some abilities are locked to either male or female: while you can have the Priest(ess) class on females and the Exorcist class on males, only the female Priest(esse)s can use better healing spells, while only Exorcists can use Holy attack spells. And so on: males start by using attack magic (Wizard), females start with using debuff spells (Witch), but the best attack magic users are females (Sirens) and males get a weird debuffer who is also the only class (save for a few) that can actually use Dragon Magic (Warlock). So you'll probably see yourself depending on the same classes as before, or suit your party to develop a few very strong characters.

Finally, the story is a bit similar but it's also part of a bigger story. You'll be playing a game that's great by itself, but it gets better if you play it with knowledge of the other Ogre series games. In a way, eventually it resembles the FFT storyline, but it has some stuff that makes it different (I won't tell anything because that would be spoiling). It's a bit more compelling because of the repercussions of the story, and because you can essentially "choose" your path.

That last part has to be explained. All characters have an alignment, but they're not "Good" or "Evil"; instead, they're "Lawful" (willingness to follow authority, discipline, and the ability to take responsibility for your choices for the well-being of a higher cause) or "Chaotic" (disrespect for authority, and the idea of following your own path over the paths of others). There's also Neutral if you wish to deal with it. Now, the main character quite literally changes alignment based on your choices in-game, and those changes in alignment define the story and how it goes (all the way to a single point in which all three stories collapse again). The word "choose" is within quotation marks because, no matter your adventure, you end up usually the same (it's another choice that allows you to alter the ending). The way the story is told in each of the paths, however, is quite interesting to see.

[Rocky]

When I saw the tarot cards I thought of Persona 3 & 4; of course Tactics Ogre came out before either of those games, though I'm unsure if the earlier Persona's used them as well (which reminds me I need to pick up Persona for the PSP & maybe P3P).

I know that the first Persona game (on the PSX/PSP now) used the tarot system, but it was in a much different format then.

SMT 1-3: Talk to monsters, can convince them to join your party if successful.

Persona 1: Talk to monsters can convince them to give you their card, take 2+ cards and fuse them at Velvet Room for Persona.

P2: ? (never played through either P2 game)

P3/P4: No talking to monsters, after battle you have a chance to win a persona card, can fuse personas to creat new ones in Velvet Room.


ANYWHO, TO looks fun, I played it through and ended up beating it on the SNES (thanks to a translation patch ) but since I haven't really bought any new PSP game since the first Persona game came out way back last October I think(?), this may interest me

[T.G. Oskar]

For anyone else still interested, and two months after the last post (and certainly after being released in Japan...), more info about Tactics Ogre!!

First: the entire class system has been revamped. To the very core. It resembles a bit the Final Fantasy Tactics system. Curious?

Well, for starters, there are now male and female versions of most classes. That means: Soldier and Amazon are collapsed into Warrior (Male/Female), the Exorcist is now a male Cleric, there are female Knights, Berzerkers and Ninja (called Kunoichi...yeah...), as well as male Archers. Oh, and female Terror Knights too.

Only a few exclusive classes remain. Witch is the rough equivalent of the Wizard, but they're gender-exclusive: Witches are still female, Wizards are still male. Not sure, though, but apparently their spell lists got combined. Certainly, that also means Sirens and Warlocks are also gender-exclusive. However, Valkyries are (sorta) no longer gender-exclusive.

There are new classes added into the mix. Cringe now, if you want: there's a Rogue in the game, on both the male and the female versions (they look like Pirates, though). The Valkyrie male expy is called the Rune Fencer, and quite probably they'll have the same spell set-up of the Valkyrie.

However, if you thought that was the only change; nope, still not finished. You see, there are no more separate job levels; now, you level the classes, and the characters shift to the average level of the class chosen. So if you like to use Knights, changing anyone will make it have the same level. Not sure if that's good or bad, but it's innovative nonetheless.

So...what's with the similarities to Tactics, then? You get Skill Points after a battle; these allow you to buy four different kinds of abilities. One is Passive Abilities (think Support Abilities); the others are Action Abilities (mostly what you'd get from Hell Gate: Fudo, Dracul, etc., except this time you can buy skill sets relative to the class), Commands (the class abilities of the classes themselves, such as the magic ability of Ninja or Wizard), and Special (related only to monsters, probably to support the Lizardman or Ghost). As you can notice, the SP system exists (much like Tactics) to provide the characters with a plethora of abilities. Why cringe, then? Well, for starters, Tactics Ogre was known for its difficult choices: you only had two or three spell slots, and one slot for special abilities, and that was it. Most classes couldn't use magic, full spellcasters could only use the three slots, and some classes had a special ability that's only their own. This seems to harken to the FFT system, which allows you to customize your units in a plethora of ways.

As for the rest: the music has been completely revamped, for once. Really. Prepare to Take the Field has never sounded so epic, and that's the unit selection BGM. The rest have been revamped, sounding quite like the originals but given a great boost. Names, of course, have been changed as well: I mentioned about Denim/Denam, Kachua/Catiua and Vice/Vyce, but the changes are astounding. For example: instead of Bishop Branta Mown, now it's Abuna Brantym Morne; instead of Cardinal Barbatos, now it's Hierophant Balbatos. Dark Knight Lans, of course, now is Lanselot Tartaros. The big winner, though, is King Dolgare, whose full name and title is...wait for it... Dynast-King Dolgarua Obyrith Valeria. Yes, Dynast-King. They're really hammering the fact that apparently Final Fantasy Tactics was a sequel to Tactics Ogre before being bought by Squaresoft.

What else? Well, there's two new systems: the W.O.R.L.D system which allows you to visualize the "what if?" when something crucial happens. Essentially, it's a way to see the other paths, or effectively asking "what if I did this instead of that". The paths have apparently changed, as well: the Lawful route may have some changes, but apparently the Chaotic route has changed vastly. But that doesn't matter much compared to the C.H.A.R.I.O.T. system, which literally allows you to turn back time if you made a mistake. Really. You make something, wanna see what would have happened if you did something else, you press the menu and choose the C.H.A.R.I.O.T. option, and you can return to a specific point in the battle. So yeah; not only they've changed the way that the characters developed, but the entire way a TRPG is played. Darn, this is ambitious!

As for MORE options...you can create a file to spread to friends, allowing you to face them in battle. Basically, you can copy your entire clan, meaning you could be going with two Denim/Denam, probably fighting with The Holy Knight Lans/elot (no kidding, that's how he's introduced when speaking) on one side, and on the other having a really advanced team. That's the closest thing to multiplayer this game has (going the Pokemon way, copying the clans of others).

BTW: there's also DLC for the game. One is Canopus (our beloved chicken man) and someone else trying to look for Warren (remember that for a while Warren is absent?), and the other apparently deals with either another Paladin, or our beloved The Holy Knight Lans/elot. And apparently both DLCs are free, at least in Japan.

I think that's as most of the updates I can bring, but if you need to know more, just go to Siliconera which has most of the info about the game.

Oh, and as a parting gift: Rogues can steal items. Cringe as hard as you might like.

[Musashiden]

So wait: Person of Lordly Caliber (aka Ogre Battle 64) was a bad remake of the first game?

Also: pretty surprised by the pic with all of the characters done Yoshida-style. It's a bit shocking after seeing the classic pics, though it hints a bit far too much to the future events of the game.

The sprites and badly compressed voice acting hold a special place in my heart. FIGHT IT OUT! LIBERATION!