Ogre Battle (SNES)

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Zack Burner
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Ogre Battle (SNES)

Postby Zack Burner » October 11th, 2019, 10:27 am

Time for a strategy RPG review! This one's a complex game where you wage war against an evil empire. You play some lord (can be either male or female) leading a rebellion against the empire that can be in small groups of different type of units ranging from fighters, knights, amazons, mermaids, dragons, beastmasters, wizards, and lot more. The battles, unlike Final Fantasy, are on autopilot though you can determine the tactics Leader, best, strong, or weak by pausing from time to time. Also taking into account are Tarot cards, which you can use in battle. You obtain Tarot cards by liberating towns and temples and sometimes a Tarot card will either increase or decrease your reputation. Reputation is a key factor in this game as it not only helps you recruit certain leaders (which can sometimes be bosses of certain areas), but also determines one of several endings (and there are plenty!). What you do in the game as well including who you recruit determines the best ending as well. Here's one example:

In one area you here the leader (boss) Gilbert used to be a kind man, but when the Empire rose he became cold. You first need to find an old friend of his; an Eagleman named Canopus. At first he refuses to join you even after you give the best answer as to why you're fighting (freedom). After liberating a town with a shop you'll hear that Canopus has a sister named Yulia, she resides in a town/temple to the left of the boss part. If you find her she will give you the Wings of Victory. Return to the area where you found Canopus, and with the Wings, you successfully convince him to join you. Once he joins you, Deploy him and let him fight Gilbert. Once you defeat him Gilbert opens up and should you forgive him, not only does he join you, but the people will love you!
(Bear in mind that forgiving everyone isn't always the best option especially when you encounter later on the witch Deneb which means the people will hate you for).

I recommend having a guide with you should you play this either in the rare cartridge or even better through emulation.

Luigi & Peach
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Re: Ogre Battle (SNES)

Postby Luigi & Peach » October 19th, 2019, 9:11 pm

Biggest pro for emulation: Being able to save anytime during some of the immense levels of this game. Some of these levels can easily last for 3-4 hours and to be 2 hours into a level and lose everything because something came up is really unbearable.

Biggest pro for original cartridge: If you can get a complete copy, the manual and additional documentation that comes with this is very entertaining. I enjoyed reading the documentation almost as much as I enjoyed playing the game.

Either way this was a really good game although trying to maintain a high level reputation was very frustrating in the days prior to online guides.

Zack Burner
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Re: Ogre Battle (SNES)

Postby Zack Burner » October 19th, 2019, 9:15 pm

Luigi & Peach wrote:Biggest pro for emulation: Being able to save anytime during some of the immense levels of this game. Some of these levels can easily last for 3-4 hours and to be 2 hours into a level and lose everything because something came up is really unbearable.

Biggest pro for original cartridge: If you can get a complete copy, the manual and additional documentation that comes with this is very entertaining. I enjoyed reading the documentation almost as much as I enjoyed playing the game.

Either way this was a really good game although trying to maintain a high level reputation was very frustrating in the days prior to online guides.



Tell me about it! You have to guard the towns, which proves to be not easy, and don't get carried away with using Tarot cards either! Doing that lowers your leader's alignment and then the people begin hating you. In fact a high alignment is crucial if you want to get three powerful leaders late in the game, which is not easy to maintain. Having a guide with you is absolutely crucial. And thank heavens for emulation, or trying to get it right wouldn;t be possible

Tron
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Re: Ogre Battle (SNES)

Postby Tron » October 28th, 2019, 6:26 pm

Love this game. One of my absolute favorites.

The PS1 version allows you to save in battles and has hero specific sprites. The downside is that the PS1 has loading in between fights. The few seconds of loading is a drag, especially considering how slow the gameplay is. Still I like both versions.

I wish there was a sequel or even other games like this one. It is so unique. There is no other game like it.

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: Ogre Battle (SNES)

Postby VideoGameCritic » October 29th, 2019, 9:25 pm

As a huge fan of Vandal Hearts (PS1), I should probably break my piggyback to get a copy of this.

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Retro STrife
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Re: Ogre Battle (SNES)

Postby Retro STrife » October 30th, 2019, 8:59 am

VideoGameCritic wrote:As a huge fan of Vandal Hearts (PS1), I should probably break my piggyback to get a copy of this.


Not until you play Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1 or PSP) first, Critic!! It's a tactical RPG just like Vandal Hearts and Ogre Battle. It's made by some members of the same team behind Ogre Battle, and so it's usually seen as an upgrade over it. And no offense to Vandal Hearts, but Final Fantasy Tactics is universally considered a better game than it - FFT might be the best tactical RPG ever made (it is in my opinion). In fact, if you were asking me, I'd say it's one of the best video games ever made, period. Give it a shot :D

That said, Ogre Battle is a good game too, along with the other games in the Ogre Battle series (like Tactics Ogre and Ogre Battle 64).

Tron
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Re: Ogre Battle (SNES)

Postby Tron » October 30th, 2019, 10:53 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:As a huge fan of Vandal Hearts (PS1), I should probably break my piggyback to get a copy of this.


Vandal Hearts is awesome, but Ogre Battle is not really comparable. Like Retro said Vandal Hearts is more comparable to Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre. Just so there is no confusion Tactics Ogre is n OJ t the same as Ogre Battle. I think they have the same publisher, Squarenix maybe, but very different gameplay. I think you would love both Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre if you could be patient and get past the learning curve. Neither are too terribly complicated, but there is definitely more to them then Vandal Hearts. Ogre Battle is very different. Like I said earlier I cant tji k of any game to compare it to. In Ogre battle you command up to 10 armies that consist of 5 units in each army. They travel across maps and fight other armies. There isn't much to the gameplay as the units just take turns hitting each other. What you control is whom they attack like "leader" or "weak". You have to make sure your units dont die. You also control areas on the map, liberating towns, holding defensive positions and flanking enemy units. The fun part is leveling your units and deciding from the various classes to change them into. A weird part about Ogre Battle is reputation and alignment. If you use higher leveled units against weaker ones you'll suffer from reputation loss and or alignment. Another thing what enemies you attack with what units. You will gain alignment if you kill a demon. You will lose alignment if you kill an angel. Its tricky and hard to maneuver your armies correctly so that for example you dont destroy your Knight's alignment by having them kill fairies.

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ptdebate
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Re: Ogre Battle (SNES)

Postby ptdebate » November 1st, 2019, 4:28 pm

Just jumping in to say

PLAY FF TACTICS, CRITIC!!! :D

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Retro STrife
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Re: Ogre Battle (SNES)

Postby Retro STrife » November 1st, 2019, 5:22 pm

ptdebate wrote:Just jumping in to say

PLAY FF TACTICS, CRITIC!!! :D

VideoGameCritic wrote:


I hate sounding like a broken record, but all of us have been saying this about FFT for at least 10 years now! :lol: Especially whenever his A+ score for Vandal Hearts is mentioned. So far, no signs of interest whatsoever... Critic -- you can't escape us forever!!

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Matchstick
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Re: Ogre Battle (SNES)

Postby Matchstick » November 2nd, 2019, 12:47 am

And, best of all, a copy of FF Tactics *won't* break the piggybank ;)


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