"We fight to live!"
Starting Thoughts
After 150+ hours with the game, I think I can safely say the Tactics Ogre: Reborn(TO:R) shot up to one of my absolute favorite strategy role-playing games. There is enough nuance here in how worldbuilding is constructed and politics I found realistic and surprising to a degree where my suspension of disbelief was held at bay. Pulling my interest from the beginning to the very end. As well as a host of other great features in the game like fun gameplay, freedom to customize units/classes, and a multiple route system is enough to sink many hours into the game.
The game has so much content in terms of multiple routes involved and exclusive units to recruit. And not only that, there is a people lorebook here which can constantly update based on the current events in each chapter. A propagandistic newspaper of events happening outside of your sphere of influence. A wealth of classes to choose from and easily switch into. Some are cleverly hidden, but for the most part, I felt all classes are viable depending on how you use your troops.
Impactful decisions throughout the plot and one where you can see the immediate consequences. So be wary of making hasty choices, take your time, and decide the best course of action. Since the plot will change drastically as you delve deeper into the game. Likewise, recruits and events will also change depending on what choice you made in earlier chapters. These can lead to different outcomes and events. There is a useful feature after you beat the game to see what happens in other routes.
"....True Victory is won in the heart, not on the battlefield"
Some Thoughts
Love the gameplay where you can create your party. Assemble a team of tanks with healers and you can make a tanky phalanx crew to mop up enemies ahead. Or mix things up and create a team of twelve, with every unit as a different class to spice up the class variety. Heck, you can even make a party full of casters if you so desire. And there are plenty of classes to choose from. Like frightening enemies with a terror knight. Unleash devastating spells using a warlock/witch/wizard. Recruit hybrid classes like valkyrie/fencer/enchantress and more. Dish out so much damage as a berserker in a 180-degree radius. And even stock up your healers with spells to attack and buff your allies with faster speed. Or take up the sword and become a swordmaster or the ninja class to strike enemies with ninjutsu. There are so many class combos you can try, the only limit is your imagination.
Great map variety where you can start from atop a hill and fight your way down to the enemy below or vice-versa. Where you start from the very bottom and must fight your way to the top. Elevation matters here a lot and weather can change how you approach a battle. So bringing a winged unit would be great to travel to high places easily, but will be hampered in accuracy due to rain or snowy weather. So keep an eye on the weather and the terrain you will fight on. To turn the tide against your enemies.
A bunch of side content you can do. While most of them occur in the final chapter I spent a good chunk of my hours completing a great majority of them. There is even a post-game included which can take even more hours of your time to complete. But I recommend it all the same. Especially to see the epilogue and what happens after the final boss is defeated. Very rare to see this among other games nowadays.
Health and fortune to you all
Final Thoughts
To balance all the glowing praise I've given to Tactics Ogre: Reborn. There are a couple of things I wish the game did better to elevate it a bit more to perfection.
Additional cutscenes to develop characters more. While I consider the main cast and villains pretty good. What would elevate them more would be additional cutscenes to flesh them out. Sure there is dialogue during battles and it is fantastic to learn more about your units as you fight. But I feel some more optional cutscenes could’ve given a bit more room to turn characters into more human and complex characters. More unique battle dialogue would be appreciated. Perhaps sprinkling some of their backgrounds after reaching an ‘x’ amount of battles with the said unit or some other suggestion would be nice to see.
Easier means to recruit hard-to-acquire units in each route. Or at least vaguely say what to do to recruit a unit. Had to follow a guide to make sure I didn’t mess up on some characters to recruit them. I imagine blind players can be frustrated if they unknowingly messed up a key requirement midway through recruiting a character. Especially if a unit can be important to receiving certain cutscenes and background with another character and further character development.
Aside from the criticisms, I listed above. I feel TO:R is an incredibly deep game for SRPGs. It touches on heavy topics on war and doesn't shy away from the brutality of it. While subjecting our main cast(the three units you start with) to the machinations of people in power. What to do with said power, what changes come from our protagonists, and who suffers the most in war. Where their beliefs will be tested and their strength of character checked constantly to see if they can overcome or succumb to the consequences of battles and skirmishes. Both physical and mental.
The game doesn’t have an amazing visual style, and yet the game’s graphics still hold up quite well today. And while there isn’t deep character development to the point I would be shouting across the rooftops for everyone to play TO:R. I feel the developers do a good enough job selling the characters enough since our main cast is intertwined with the plot and what becomes of them in the end, as well as any characters I recruit too. There is enough variation and differences in each route to see. And exclusive content you could only find in their respective routes. The soundtrack is great and I have nothing bad to say about it. If anything, I will say the music composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto & Masaharu Iwata made many tracks that fit in many places during battle and outside. Making me feel immersed in the world and battles ahead. The gameplay is really fun and my hours flew by as I continued to fight on every map I could and if need be, I could take a break and let the AI fight for me.
If you are looking for a game about war and political factions vying for power along with the usual tropes of protagonists coming to save the day. Then you won’t find that here. The game goes deeper into what you find in war and it ain't pretty. What happens when politics and other factions come into the equation and how that can affect the main cast, side-cast and innocent people. You’ll find out what exactly happens to our young trio at the end of the game and the events to come based on your decisions. So if you are looking for any of that, I feel Tactics Ogre: Reborn could be the right game for you.
Score: 9.75/10
Starting Thoughts
After 150+ hours with the game, I think I can safely say the Tactics Ogre: Reborn(TO:R) shot up to one of my absolute favorite strategy role-playing games. There is enough nuance here in how worldbuilding is constructed and politics I found realistic and surprising to a degree where my suspension of disbelief was held at bay. Pulling my interest from the beginning to the very end. As well as a host of other great features in the game like fun gameplay, freedom to customize units/classes, and a multiple route system is enough to sink many hours into the game.
The game has so much content in terms of multiple routes involved and exclusive units to recruit. And not only that, there is a people lorebook here which can constantly update based on the current events in each chapter. A propagandistic newspaper of events happening outside of your sphere of influence. A wealth of classes to choose from and easily switch into. Some are cleverly hidden, but for the most part, I felt all classes are viable depending on how you use your troops.
Impactful decisions throughout the plot and one where you can see the immediate consequences. So be wary of making hasty choices, take your time, and decide the best course of action. Since the plot will change drastically as you delve deeper into the game. Likewise, recruits and events will also change depending on what choice you made in earlier chapters. These can lead to different outcomes and events. There is a useful feature after you beat the game to see what happens in other routes.
"....True Victory is won in the heart, not on the battlefield"
Some Thoughts
Love the gameplay where you can create your party. Assemble a team of tanks with healers and you can make a tanky phalanx crew to mop up enemies ahead. Or mix things up and create a team of twelve, with every unit as a different class to spice up the class variety. Heck, you can even make a party full of casters if you so desire. And there are plenty of classes to choose from. Like frightening enemies with a terror knight. Unleash devastating spells using a warlock/witch/wizard. Recruit hybrid classes like valkyrie/fencer/enchantress and more. Dish out so much damage as a berserker in a 180-degree radius. And even stock up your healers with spells to attack and buff your allies with faster speed. Or take up the sword and become a swordmaster or the ninja class to strike enemies with ninjutsu. There are so many class combos you can try, the only limit is your imagination.
Great map variety where you can start from atop a hill and fight your way down to the enemy below or vice-versa. Where you start from the very bottom and must fight your way to the top. Elevation matters here a lot and weather can change how you approach a battle. So bringing a winged unit would be great to travel to high places easily, but will be hampered in accuracy due to rain or snowy weather. So keep an eye on the weather and the terrain you will fight on. To turn the tide against your enemies.
A bunch of side content you can do. While most of them occur in the final chapter I spent a good chunk of my hours completing a great majority of them. There is even a post-game included which can take even more hours of your time to complete. But I recommend it all the same. Especially to see the epilogue and what happens after the final boss is defeated. Very rare to see this among other games nowadays.
Health and fortune to you all
Final Thoughts
To balance all the glowing praise I've given to Tactics Ogre: Reborn. There are a couple of things I wish the game did better to elevate it a bit more to perfection.
Additional cutscenes to develop characters more. While I consider the main cast and villains pretty good. What would elevate them more would be additional cutscenes to flesh them out. Sure there is dialogue during battles and it is fantastic to learn more about your units as you fight. But I feel some more optional cutscenes could’ve given a bit more room to turn characters into more human and complex characters. More unique battle dialogue would be appreciated. Perhaps sprinkling some of their backgrounds after reaching an ‘x’ amount of battles with the said unit or some other suggestion would be nice to see.
Easier means to recruit hard-to-acquire units in each route. Or at least vaguely say what to do to recruit a unit. Had to follow a guide to make sure I didn’t mess up on some characters to recruit them. I imagine blind players can be frustrated if they unknowingly messed up a key requirement midway through recruiting a character. Especially if a unit can be important to receiving certain cutscenes and background with another character and further character development.
Aside from the criticisms, I listed above. I feel TO:R is an incredibly deep game for SRPGs. It touches on heavy topics on war and doesn't shy away from the brutality of it. While subjecting our main cast(the three units you start with) to the machinations of people in power. What to do with said power, what changes come from our protagonists, and who suffers the most in war. Where their beliefs will be tested and their strength of character checked constantly to see if they can overcome or succumb to the consequences of battles and skirmishes. Both physical and mental.
The game doesn’t have an amazing visual style, and yet the game’s graphics still hold up quite well today. And while there isn’t deep character development to the point I would be shouting across the rooftops for everyone to play TO:R. I feel the developers do a good enough job selling the characters enough since our main cast is intertwined with the plot and what becomes of them in the end, as well as any characters I recruit too. There is enough variation and differences in each route to see. And exclusive content you could only find in their respective routes. The soundtrack is great and I have nothing bad to say about it. If anything, I will say the music composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto & Masaharu Iwata made many tracks that fit in many places during battle and outside. Making me feel immersed in the world and battles ahead. The gameplay is really fun and my hours flew by as I continued to fight on every map I could and if need be, I could take a break and let the AI fight for me.
If you are looking for a game about war and political factions vying for power along with the usual tropes of protagonists coming to save the day. Then you won’t find that here. The game goes deeper into what you find in war and it ain't pretty. What happens when politics and other factions come into the equation and how that can affect the main cast, side-cast and innocent people. You’ll find out what exactly happens to our young trio at the end of the game and the events to come based on your decisions. So if you are looking for any of that, I feel Tactics Ogre: Reborn could be the right game for you.
Score: 9.75/10