My Favorite Games, Vol. 1.2 - Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber (11/21/09)

Moving into episode two...yeah, I'm writing a lot faster ever since my writer's block subsided, so my blog has kind've gotten full.  I figure here in a few days, I'll start slowing down again...but who knows, I may keep having things to write about.  That being said, moving into volume two of "My Favorite Games".



Volume Two is brought to you thanks to Atlus, number one in American distribution of JRPG's.

Well, not really, but this one of those games that Atlus did bring over to the states by the droves.  For the uninitiated, Atlus is the Viz Media or Funimation of video games, being in charge of hundreds of title yearly.  They've brought such games as the Persona series, Demon's Soul, Odin Sphere, Disgaea, and of course, the Ogre series to the states.  Some consider them the leaders in localization of Japanese shovelware, however, if such is the case, just by the sheer numbers they localize, they bring in a good number of good games as well.

That being said, I don't expect a lot of you to know this series, unless you know the history of Final Fantasy Tactics.  The creative director behind that series got his start creating the Ogre series, so in a way, it's his fault we had to deal with FFXII, however, I adore most of the Ivalice Alliance simply because in large part they play like Ogre Battle.

My favorite in the series is Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Calibre.

In this game, you play as young knight, Magnus Gallant, a nobleman's son fresh from the military academy of Platinus at Ithaca.  The story revolves around him and his childhood friend, the second son of the King, Prince Yumil Dulmare.

Magnus and Yumil

The story is set into a prologue, four parts, and depending on your alignment, three possible epilogues.

The prologue opens on Magnus' last day at the academy and his graduation.  He is quickly assigned to the tactician Hugo Miller, to finish his training before becoming an officer, and meets his future compatriot Diomedes "Dio" Rangue.

Hugo and Dio

After a brief training mission, the learn of a plot to kidnap Yumil and spark a revolution in the country.  Magnus and his company quickly make their way to where Yumil is being held and free him.  The revolutionaries get away though and it's revealed just how pathetic Yumil is.

The revolution still begins, regardless of the failure to kill the Prince and war breaks out.  Magnus is soon joined by Leia Silvis, a valkyrie knight from the north.

Leia

From there they begin the fight against the revolutionaries.  As they get further drawn into the battle, Magnus and the others of the company (by default, known as the Blue Knights) begin to realize that the revolutionaries are trying to do what's best for the country, and fight the much larger threat, the Lodis Empire, an overbearing force that has enveloped the small country and forced it under it's iron fisted dominion, leaving King Dulmare on the throne as a figurehead.  As is stereotypical with JRPG's, they abandon the Platinus army and join up with the revolutionaries.

As the game progresses, Magnus must fight against the country he loves in order to save it from the Lodis Empire, all the while, uncovering the secrets of the Progenitor and stopping the Lodis Empire from unleashing what lies in amongst them upon the world.  I'm gonna stop getting to much in the story here, as it's just so epic and awesome, but I suggest checking it out if you have the chance.

Gameplay is very similar to most strategy/tactical RPG's like FF Tactics in that you build up units from volunteer troops or from the soldiers in your reserve.  Based on their gender they're open to a specific set of classes, with females mostly being ranged fighters or auxillary units and males being mostly melee warriors with some ranged fighters.  Also included are beast and dragon characters, monsters of great power that you can only change by leveling up, and zombie and angel characters, creatures created when your character dies in combat and certain aspects are met, including not reving them and others.  Finally, there are reserve soldiers, gender neutral characters that can team up in battle to do more damage.  After a time, these change into customizable human characters soldier (male) or amazon (female).

What's unique about the gameplay is that these characters are set up into units of combination of five human or undead characters, with non-humanoid beast characters taking up two spots.  Each unit must have a leader character, a second level human character or higher.  This character is responsible for keeping the group together.  If they die in combat, the character will retreat back to the base and be uncontrollable unless you have a second character able to lead in that group.  Also, in a unique control situation, the lead character determines which gender the soldiers become in that they would become like the leader.  Therefore, if a soldier was in a group lead by Leia, it would become an Amazon.

Magnus' unit in battle

Battle plays out automatically with you deciding the unit's base strategy of how to attack and where they move to.  Also, you can decide what ability a character will use based on their location in the team formation.  Most battles run for two to three turns (depending upon the characters and abilities they have due to their team formation) with the player able to make snap decisions about the team strategy, running away, or use the all powerful Elem Pedra's.

Elem Pedra's are the instant trump card.  They work like the Totema of FF Tactics Advance in that they're full area damaging spells, however, they can only be use in battles when the battle gauge, a meter at the top of the screen has filled to the certain point, and if the Pedra's own charge is full.  These recharge at the end of every chapter (level) or over time while you're fighting in the chapter.

Another unique thing about this game is it's time flow.  As time passes in game, characters become fatigued, day becomes night (allowing some characters more or less ability), and allowing Magnus to age (this opens up a special scene each time where you get a free item, ranging from weapon to permanent stat boosting items).

Also, Hugo keeps a record of your journey in his report, a menu that can be brought up from the overworld menu.  In it, he documents certain scenes that you can rewatch (including the birthday scenes, which must be watched from here for the items), important characters, tutorials, and random information about the world.

Finally, from the opening screen, there is a full tutorial so that teaches you to play the game, so that once the story starts, you don't have trouble figuring out how to play.

All in all, this is an amazing game, and if you haven't played it, you should check it out, especially if you like strategy or tactical RPG's like FF Tactics or Disgaea.  Let me know what you think.

-Sara