Unsung Heroes

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together

So in a change of pace, I am now going to do a section called Unsung Heroes. In this blog post I will talk about games that maybe slipped under the radar of most but are sincerely worth a gamers time, won't be for everyone but I thought I'd get some attention out there and talk a little bit about the game in general.

This week I am reviewing Tactics Ogre: Let us cling together. An SRPG from square enix and alongside FF Tactics Advanced 2: Grimoire of the rift, its my favourite strategy game. TO: LUCT was released on the psp back in 2011, I managed to get my hands on the limited edition of the game at the time and initially I found it gruellingly difficult and to my shame I put it away for several years. Skip forward to 2013 at uni on a lazy summer day nice breeze blowing through the room I decided to really invest my time into Tactics ogre and get past the difficulty. I am glad I did and here's why.

The premise

The setting of Tactics Ogre is set in the middle of several war torn countries all of them vying for the power left behind by the Dynast King Dorgalua Oberyth. The game features some very Shakespearian language with many characters sounding like they just jumped out of Game of Thrones and that is what makes it so enthralling.

Based in Valeria the game focuses on a bunch of teenagers who have recently had their homes raided by the Dark Knights, their leader Lanselot Tartaros takes Denam Pavel's father hostage. Denam along with his sister Catiua and best friend Vyce plot revenge against the dark knights. There plan comes to ahead when the supposed "dark knights" arrive in their home town, springing their carefully laid plan Denam and his friends attack only to learn that the people they attacked where in fact Xenobian White Knights led by Lanselot Hamilton so you can see the confusion there. Two guys with the same name. 

Anyway the story goes on to Denam learning about a resistance force that his people, the Walister, are fighting against invading forces from all around. Denam is led on a quest of realisation, unification and liberation. 


Tactics at its finest

True to its name Tactics ogre focuses heavily on tactics, there is a big emphasis on troop placement and terrain where standing on the right tile can give bonuses to ranged attack strength and psychical attack strength. Tactics ogre is also a good representation of what a tactics game should look like with so many different ways to take down the enemy it really forces you to think about your decisions and plan ahead for what could be a horrible move. But even when a move goes badly and you don't get the result you were after there is a feature called the chariot tarot which allows you to go back and try the move again perhaps taking a different route to a different outcome. All of these features plus the myriad status effects that can both help and hinder make for a great tactical experience. 

Diverse Classes, Diverse races. A chilling tale.

There are many different classes in TO LUCT from the most generic of warrior and archer to the more technical and experienced terror knight and samurai. There are many classes to chose from and each one has its boons and benefits….although that might not be immediately apparent. See the thing is in Tactics ogre when you change your characters class they revert to Level 1 making all the effort you put in on one class useless so what would be the point right? The point is that if for instance you have a dragoon at level 21 and a warrior at level 7 and you want to change the warrior to a dragoon then when he does his level will be matched to the dragoons. So basically the class level is shared. There is a benefit to that but starting an entirely new class from the begging is difficult and Tactics ogre is unforgiving in its assault upon new players…..it doesn't play nice folks. 

Which classes are the best then? Which one should you always have with you? Archers. Archers are undoubtedly the best class in the game, having at least three archers during the begging of the game can change the tide of battle dramatically. Of course classes are all down to personal preference and how good of a tactical head you have on your shoulders. 

An interesting part of Tactics ogre is the chaos frame and loyalty system. Chaos frame indicates your current ethical stance and what path the story will go in there are three routes: Lawful, Neutral and Chaotic and each one varies in length and the number of characters you can attain. Loyalty is to do with your individual units and wether or not they support your decisions, make the wrong one's and they can decide to abandon your cause they are also affected by how many times they die in battle. I never had a problem with loyal or un loyal units so this wasn't much of a problem but I gather that on different routes some people will just abandon you willy nilly. However there are characters that will stick it out with you through thick and thin, never questioning the path you tread. Its interesting to see how tactics plays a part in nearly all of the game's elements.

"There is blood on my hands, how long till it rests on my heart?"

Tactics ogre right from its story to gameplay and soundtrack is a beautiful game. It takes all of the inspirations of past games both from its own series and from Final Fantasy Tactics as well. The way each word is crafted and how the characters interact, it really draws you in makes you think that your a part of their conflict. The game is difficult but once you overcome that and start making the decisions that count what you will find is an incredibly immersive RPG experience the like of which is not easily mimicked. I will give a little bit of a spoiler as the game ends on a certain group leaving Valaria behind opening the doors for the next in the ogre battle series. With so many different options to explore and so many different things that make the game good Tactics Ogre: Let us cling together is a classic that has been wrongfully overlooked, maybe not entirely but still I wanted to write this article so that others will know of an amazing RPG sitting right under their noses. 


Trivia

The director of the ogre battle series, Yasumi Matsuno, was a fan of the english rock group Queen. He subsequently went on to make the first game in the series naming it after two of Queens songs the title of the first game was Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen. In a similar vain Tactics Ogre: Let us cling together is named after the song Let us cling together/ Teo Torriatte by Queen. The song Let us cling together has two choruses sung in Japanese. 

Persona 5

My impressions

So. Persona 5. Oh my god. 

Where to start other than saying how completely blown away I was. That and watching the trailer like fifteen times. Ah to hell with it one more time……because its relevant…….I lied I've watched it at least twenty times already. 

If your not familiar with Atlus's JRPG series Persona then you need to take a good long look at it. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 5 is the newest instalment from Atlus who lead the way in terms of original story ideas for games. Canonically the persona series revolves around young high school students who have the ability to summon persona's which are the manifestations of a persons soul or psyche. Each game in the series focuses on different aspects for instance Persona 3 focused on an event called the dark hour a hidden hour of time that not many humans knew about or were conscious for the plot of the game is to put an end to this supernatural event as you, the protagonist, is aware of the dark hour as are others. Sounds complex I know, its a lot easier to watch it than to explain it. 

The Persona series is a long running series and like I said above each one is different and adds something that the previous iterations didn't have. This is the latest in the long running series. 

Persona always prides itself on how diverse it is, challenging many adolescent idiosyncrasies and stereotypical behaviour.



Here is some information I have summarised and gathered based on screenshots and the trailer. Bear in mind at the moment this is all speculation.

• First off, because this is definitely one people are getting worked up over and is definitely not speculation at all just common sense, there are more than four party members in the game. 
• The protagonist seems to be transferred to a new school for rehabilitation. Implying that he has some criminal past. That's already way more personality than the last two protagonists. 
• The protagonists friends are sort of social rebels as they don't wear the correct uniform in school. Not a big deal since most persona characters are easily distinguishable from the rest of the npc's but still worth noting. 
• When in school and out on the street the protagonist is rather timid looking maybe even bored. However when in dungeons his true personality comes out that of a phantom thief. Pay attention to the true personality bit especially. 
• This is the first persona game, since the very first, to include multiple weapons the party is seen wielding both melee weapons and firearms in battle.
• Their is an element of stealth to the game as the protagonist is seen jumping around dungeons as well as moving stealthily from one hiding spot to the next. How this is going to be incorporated is anyones guess.
• The all out attack animation has been changed somewhat. It now looks even more hectic than before.
• The velvet room returns with Igor and two twin Velvet room attendants. Although it seems that the velvet room is less of a nice and safe place as the protagonist is seen wearing stripped black and white prison clothes. This is probably symbolic in a way although how isn't made clear. Its probably how the protagonist gets his persona though  as the tag line of the original trailer said: "You are a slave. Want emancipation?" Signifying that the emancipation bit probably refers to being free i.e. being able to use a persona. 
• The clothes the protagonist wears during the velvet room scene look eerily similar to that of Pharos from P3. Its possible, and this is a long shot, Pharos might have also been a prisoner and his escape was related to the P3 protagonist. Like I said, long shot and probably not related seeing as his presence is explained in P3. Still bear it in mind. 
• When in dungeons the protagonist and his friends don masks. This could have a dual meaning. The first is that it means they are hiding their identities which is the fairest assumption. The second is that their masks are what they truly are and when wearing them it represents their link to their personas. Seeing as the word persona quite literally means mask thats what led me to this.
• No actual persona's have been seen yet or at least not in battle. The end of the trailer shows the protagonist being consumed by blue flames. But what is interesting is that his eye's are yellow similar to P4 shadows. This could be a hint at how persona's are summoned or maybe it signifies that these personas are dangerous. Perhaps the protagonists need to force them out and as we know forcing a persona to manifest itself is dangerous to the individual.
• The shadows, enemies in all previous games, have appeared as black blobs and take numerous different forms. The shadows in this game look like some of the personas you can attain from previous titles implying that maybe the negotiation system from previous games might be reintroduced or something similar.
• The protagonists persona is Arsene Lupin also known as the phantom thief further alluding to the protagonists status as a thief.
• Philemon could have more significance in this game than more recent titles. There are, as ever, hints to his presence.
• The protagonists may be a gang of anti-heroes and seen more as people to avoid.
• Like Teddie from P4 a cat character named Morgana appears in the game. I am assuming that like Teddie, she too comes from the other world. Wether or not there is another world is debatable but for now lets just assume its right. Morgana can assume a more humanoid form as well. Get ready for cat girls. 
• Morgana is the name of an enchantress from Arthurian legend which would explain how she is able to switch between being a cat and human. 
• The Velvet room attendants look less like attendants and more like prison guards further hinting at the concept of prison and crime. As well as the cage of the mind.
• Their are some strong hints towards the protagonists transforming into their respective personas. I cannot stress how bad an idea like that is. A persona is a manifestation of your psyche it PSYCHICALLY appears. Just don't do it atlus, don't be those guys. No transforming please. 

Here's what I think. The main characters of the game are probably along the same lines as Robin Hood, take from the rich to give to the poor. But beneath that is another possibility the possibility that the prison is normal life and that the main characters go out of their way to create chaos to be "free". It definitely fits with some aspects of teenage years as most teenagers are rather rebellious and don't bow to social order like most. Either way its an interesting concept and I can't wait to see what the result is.