Tactics Ogre: Reborn

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy-RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

Tactics Ogre, sometimes bearing its subtitle Let Us Cling Together, is often seen as one of the foremost progenitors of the “Tactics” style of Turn-Based Strategy-RPGs (as opposed to the XCOM style). While Tactics Ogre is far from the first game of this sort (it is preceded by multiple Fire Emblem and Shining Force games, to name a few), it established many gameplay elements that would go on to be used in numerous other games within the genre.

The game was originally released only in Japan on the Super Famicom in 1995, later being ported to the Sega Saturn in 1996 and the PlayStation in 1997, with this version of the game finally releasing in the West in 1998. Then, in 2010, a remake of this game was created for the PlayStation Portable. Finally, in 2022, the 2010 remake formed the basis of a new version of the game on PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch, that featured upgraded visuals and sound, full voice acting, as well as some refinements to the game mechanics, all while keeping the same core story and overall gameplay. And because I don’t know where else to mention this, I’ll note that the Nintendo Switch version of the game doesn’t use touchscreen controls, even though it might’ve benefitted from them.

The story and how it’s presented are likely to be one of the main draws here. Fans of the works of Yasumi Matsuno (who directed the original Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, and Final Fantasy XII) will not be surprised to find that the world of Tactics Ogre is one torn apart not only by war, but by the sorts of political machinations, backstabbing, and ethical choices that modern audiences may be more likely to associate with the likes of Game of Thrones. This well-crafted and impeccably well-localized story is enhanced even further by this game’s outstanding voice acting, which brings to the game the level of nuance and subtlety that the strong writing deserves.

The rest of the presentation here is quite good too, though not on par with Square Enix’s HD-2D works like Triangle Strategy and Live A Live. The 2D character portrait artwork here is excellent, and the game’s locations are wonderfully-detailed, but the characters themselves look like someone took the original game’s art and used an AI upscaler to improve the resolution rather than redoing them manually. What’s more, this game lacks the impressive lighting and environmental effects of the HD-2D games. At the very least, the re-recorded orchestral soundtrack is impeccable. Overall, Tactics Ogre reborn looks and sounds great, but we’ve seen Square Enix do better with a remake of a classic game

The gameplay here is similarly excellent but feels a bit lacking in a few areas. Players recruit a variety of characters with different classes, all of which are fairly customizable, with players not only able to equip each character with different armor and weapons, but also with their own unique spells and abilities. Players can also re-class characters using licenses they can purchase or obtain in battle.

Having said this, a lot of the options here seem dubious in how useful they may be. A wizard has access to a wide range of elemental spells, but the spells of their own inherent element will get a boost in power that seems to outweigh any elemental advantage you’ll get from a diverse range of spells. Adding more characters to your party seems like it could provide added opportunities and flexibility within your party, but as you have limited funds to outfit these characters, adding someone new seems like taking on another mouth to feed, which can seem like more trouble than it’s worth when every battle has a character limit. And changing a character’s class doesn’t seem especially helpful either, when each class limits not only the equipment a character can wield, but also their skills and magic, meaning all that work you did building up their prior class now feels worthless.

Much of the problem here comes down to this game’s dogged refusal to allow players to grind their party to be overpowered, with no random battles. The repeatable optional training battles players can tackle instead of random battles do not provide gold or loot, and while they can level up your characters, your characters will all be limited by an overall level cap tied to your progress through the game’s story missions. I suppose this does mean that the game will remain consistently challenging throughout, but I think that there are many fans of this genre who, like me, enjoy building up a powerhouse team, and the lack of the freedom to do so here is disappointing.

Make no mistake, Tactics Ogre: Reborn is still a superb Tactics-style Turn-Based Strategy-RPG, but the way it enforces its challenge level by refusing to allow players to enjoy the game how they may prefer to play it makes it feel unnecessarily limited, and while its audiovisual refinements are excellent, it’s hard not to look at Triangle Strategy, which came out earlier the same year, and which by comparison looks and sounds better. This is still a must-play for fans of the genre, but I’d still take the wacky, freedom-loving antics of the Disgaea series over this any day.

tl;dr – Tactics Ogre is a remake of one of the classics of the Tactics-style Turn-Based Strategy-RPG genre, and it is overall an excellent entry in that genre, with well-crafted gameplay, a great presentation, and an excellent story. Having said that, the way the game limits players’ progression to maintain its difficulty is needlessly limiting. And while the presentation is very good, other games like Triangle Strategy look even better. In the end, this will still be a must-play game for fans of the genre, but it’s not quite on par with some of the best Strategy-RPGs on Nintendo Switch.

Grade: B+

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