Tactics Ogre
is a 1995 tactical role-playing game developed and published by Quest Corporation for the Super Famicom. It was later ported to the Sega Saturn and the PlayStation, the latter released in North America in 1998 by Atlus USA. The second entry in the Ogre Battle series, the story takes place in the war-torn kingdom of Valeria, where protagonist Denim Powell works in a local resistance force against occupying powers, ending up caught in the ethnic conflicts driving the war. Battles are turn-based, taking place on grid-based maps from an overhead perspective with a focus on positioning and using character class abilities.
Production lasted two and a half years, with Ogre Battle creator Yasumi Matsuno acting as director, writer and lead designer. The storyline was inspired by conflicts in Europe and Asia, based heavily in personal and political drama over the fantasy-themed narrative of Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen. The gameplay, inspired by the video game Solstice, uses a chess-inspired combat system in contrast with the real-time battles of its predecessor. Hiroshi Minagawa was art director, while the characters were designed by Akihiko Yoshida. The music, composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata, used the narrative as inspiration and remains fondly remembered by the composers.
The Super Famicom release sold 500,000 units in Japan and met with positive reviews. Later ports also met with strong sales and reviews, with many praising its gameplay and narrative. The PlayStation version was met with criticism for technical issues. It has since been remembered as one of the best in its genre. Matsuno left Quest Corporation after completing Tactics Ogre, joining Square and developing Final Fantasy Tactics and other titles set within its universe of Ivalice. Quest developed further titles in the series before being absorbed by Square in 2003. A remake of the same name for the PlayStation Portable was released in 2010.
Gameplay
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together is a tactical role-playing game in which players take on the role of Denim Powell, a soldier caught in the middle of a war in the nation of Valeria. The player moves between nodes on a worldmap, triggering story events followed by either a single battle or sequences of battles. Beginning the game, the player is asked to input the lead character's name, birthday, and answer a series of questions determining their alignment and statistics. Each movement on the world map equates to a single in-game day, which alters weather conditions. Prior to battles, the player can equip their preferred units with chosen weapons, armor, items and accessories. Also included is a training mode, where the player controls both sides of a battle and can raise unit strength. This mode allows for two-person multiplayer in the Super Famicom release.The game uses a turn-based battle system dubbed the Non-Alternate Turn System. Battles and all actions within take place on a small map viewed from an overhead diagonal perspective, with spaces and level geography appearing as a square grid structure. The player team has a maximum of ten units on the field, and a maximum of 30 in their army. The enemy team and allied characters are controlled by the game's artificial intelligence. A unit has a set range of movement, and an attack range dictated by their position on the map. Turn order is dictated by a unit's Wait Turn points, which fluctuate depending on how many and what type of action is taken, with a unit's weight and agility statistic impacting how many WT are gained each turn. When an enemy is defeated, a tarot card can randomly drop, able to bestow a temporary boost to a character. After a stage's victory condition is met, units can raise their experience level during battle. If Denim is killed, the game ends and must be restarted from an earlier save point.
Units have a variety of commands including moving, attacking with either melee or ranged weapons, performing a spell if they are capable of magic once their magic has charged enough during battle, using an item, or performing a character-specific special move. An ability unique to the lead character is "Persuade", which has a chance of recruiting enemy units in battle. The terrain and weather conditions impact how a unit can move and act in each battle. Unit behavior is also influenced by their alignment to the story path, and their associated elemental affinity which impacts unit compatibility and can enhance attacks or other actions. An important feature is character classes with dedicated abilities, which can be evolved into more powerful classes through use in battle and transferred to compatible characters.
A key element to progress is branching story paths, labelled as "Law", "Neutral" and "Chaos", built around the lead character either accepting or rejecting the commands of authority figures. Some characters will also live or die depending on these choices, represented through dialogue options during cutscenes. The narrative's branches occur in its first three chapters, with events coming back together for the final chapter's events before playing out an ending based on earlier decisions. Up to eight different ending variations can be unlocked. Character biographies and events both from cutscenes and beyond the revealed storyline are detailed in a separate menu named the Warren Report after one of the game's characters.
Synopsis
Tactics Ogre takes place in Valeria, an archipelago united as a single kingdom under King Dolgare and worshipping a pantheon of six elemental gods, together with the Light Goddess Ishtar and the Chaos God Asmodeus. After Dolgare's apparent death with no direct heirs, the three primary ethnic groups of Valeria end up in a brief civil war, dividing into dedicated territories of varying sizes. The factions are Bacrum-Valeria, backed by the foreign nation of Lodis and ruled by its regent, Bishop Branta Mown; the Galgastan Kingdom led by Cardinal Barbatos; and the Walsta People led by Duke Ronway. After Galgastan gains the upper hand and declares itself ruler of Valeria, the neighbouring Walista are subjected to persecution and restricted to a small island.The story opens with a small Walsta resistance group−Denim Powell, his sister Kachua, and his childhood friend Vice Bozek−attack a group of roaming Zenobian mercenaries falsely believing their leader Lans Hamilton is the Black Knight Lans Tartare, a Lodis soldier who imprisoned Denim and Kachua's father Plancy in their childhood. The sympathetic Hamilton joins the group, bringing the old sage Warren, and Kachua vainly attempts to dissuade Denim from fighting. Denim's loyalty to the resistance is tested when Ronway orders the massacre of a town that refuses to join them, framing Gargastan for the crime. Whether Denim agrees or refuses the order, Vice disagrees and opposes him. If he rebels, Denim can later reconcile with Ronway or continue his own path. Following this Vice either becomes a fugitive for disagreeing with Denim's return, or secretly allies with Bacrum for his own ends as he serves Ronway.
Eventually finding Plancy dying from a terminal illness, Plancy tells Denim he is of the Mown family, and Kachua is Dolgare's illegitimate daughter, giving her a direct claim to Valeria's throne. By this point, the revelations regarding their bloodline and the constant danger for Denim strain his relationship with Kachua, leading her to briefly join Tartare's forces. If Denim does not comfort her, she commits suicide. Hamilton is captured and tortured by Tartare during this period, and while rescued Hamilton is left crippled and mentally traumatized. Gargastan is conquered and Barbatos dies either by suicide or execution. In all routes, Ronway's complicity in the massacre is revealed, leading to his assassination by his own people. Tartare's forces are defeated and Denim kills Branta Mown. Survivors of Tartare's Dark Knights use the stolen Zenobian sword Brunhild to break the seal on a portal leading to the realm of Asmodeus, attempting to use its power to repel Denim's forces but are instead killed.
It is revealed that Dolgare, overcome with despair over the death of his wife, made a pact with Asmodeus in an attempt to resurrect her and became an Ogre, one of humanity's ancient enemies. Dolgare attempts to return to reclaim Valeria, but Denim's forces defeat Dolgare and Warren sacrifices himself to seal the portal. Depending on Denim's actions and Kachua's fate, either Kachua is crowned queen and unites the groups in a time of peace, or Denim is crowned king and either sees Valeria conquered by Lodis or is assassinated during his inaugural speech by a Gargastan. Vice's fate varies depending on the route, either surviving as Kachua's ally, dying after killing Ronway, or being executed by Bacrum-Valeria to protect Branta Mown. In all endings, Hamilton is left in Valeria, his surviving forces return to Zenobia with Brunhild, and Tartare escapes back to Lodis.
Development
The production of Tactics Ogre began at series developer and publisher Quest Corporation following the unexpected commercial success of Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen upon its 1993 release. The concept for Tactics Ogre was in place by 1992, though Matsuno's team had begun work on an untitled 3D action title which was abandoned when Quest Corporation requested a sequel to Ogre Battle. Matsuno created a multi-page detailed proposal for the game, with it taking a few months to get the project started at Quest. During this period, frustration with Quest's corporate structure had convinced Matsuno to eventually leave, but he decided to complete Tactics Ogre. Matsuno acted as the game's director, designer and writer. Production, including later delays, lasted two and a half years, involving a team of 15 to 16 people.Hiroshi Minagawa acted as art director, creating the sprites, effects and user interface, while Akihiko Yoshida created the new character designs and level backgrounds along with character portraits. The latter job was very difficult due to color limitations on the console. Minagawa used the character sprites from Ogre Battle as a base for the character animations. Yoshida's more realistic character designs following the "Disney-like" designs of Ogre Battle were Matsuno's choice and emerged naturally during production. Matsuno wanted Yoshida to base the character faces on notable actors of the time, such as requesting Hamilton be based on Kevin Costner from The Untouchables. Yoshida ignored the instructions and created original designs, which Matsuno eventually accepted. Memory limitations were a constant issue, with walking and running animations being the only ones that could be on-screen at all times.
The switch from real-time to turn-based tactics was born from Matsuno's boredom with the first game's systems, a situation he compared to the differing paces and audiences for Alien and Aliens. He also wanted to fill a gap in the gaming landscape, creating a more approachable alternative to the notoriously difficult Fire Emblem series. The quarter-view perspective was directly inspired by Solstice, a game Minagawa enjoyed. Minagawa created a prototype design which he showed Matsuno, which formed the technical foundation for Tactics Ogre. The 3D-style levels were created using the custom-built Hermit technology, which could create large-scale levels based on positional data using a small amount of system memory. This allowed for more detailed graphic elements and for the time complex character animations. The battle system was inspired by chess. The magic system, which started with an empty magic meter that charged over time, was chosen to represent the great power of magic in the game's world.