So we meet Warren. He's our friendly character in charge of getting us started on this rebellion. But first we need a name. Can't have this rebellion run by Anonymous can we? Well if we were fighting Scientology we could, but we aren't. Unlike some other games, there's no default name, but Ogre Battle 64 is kind enough to give our protagonist the Canon Name and gender of "Destin Faruda", a dude. So DESTIN it is. On a side note, Destin is french for "Destiny", so it's quite suitable, as our main character's stats will determine the destiny of this rebellion.
I should mention the naming screen includes an easter egg: Entering the name "FIRESEAL" opens up a map called "Dragons' Heaven" where you play a mid-high level with some pre-made units. This map is not part of the main campaign, but I may include it as an installment when I am done. Meanwhile, GoToHell makes the game run stupid fast.
See, combat in Ogre Battle is not controlled by the player. Two squads meet, each unit in the squad has moves and a number of time they can do them. Everyone does their moves, the side with the most damage dealt wins, pushing the loosing squad back when they return to the world map. Now what the game does not tell you is these upcoming questions determine which of 4 Heroes we get. The four choices are:
- The Pure Good Hero
- The Neutral Good Hero
- The Neutral Evil Hero
- The Pure Evil Hero
Three of them are mostly the same. Two attacks if they are in the front row of a squad, one attack that hits all enemies if they are in the back. And that fine... except that these heroes will feel severely underpowered come the half way point of the game, where hit-all attacks become common place and most units get more than one while melee attacks come in numhers of three or more. The fourth hero, gets a lame attack in the background, but THREE melee attacks in the front, on par with the mighty Paladins or Generals. And this is the hero you want if you don't want him to stand in the background come the later half of the game. Said hero is the Neutral Good hero. This leads to a problem: Warren's questions are chosen at random, and only have three answers, so it can be quite hard to get the hero you want. Good news is, I've played this game alot!
So each of our questions is represented by a Tarot card. This game has a big tarot theme running through it, but more on that later. For now, our questions (The answer in italic is the one I chose):
- 0: Fool
- You want to be sure that your knights abstain from disgraceful behavior. What do you warn them about most?
- Obey the law
- Don’t make empty promises
- Be kind to all you meet
- XIX: Sun
- After a long and difficult battle, your army has finally achieved victory. What do you credit your victory to?
- Your personal luck
- Those who fought with you
- The gods blessings
- VI: Lovers
- It is sometimes said that victory is only luck. What do you think luck is?
- Tenderness
- Purity
- Physical Beauty
- X: Fortune
- It is sometimes said that victory is only luck. What do you think luck is?
- Luck Is Something You Create
- Luck Is Inescapable
- Bad Luck Can Be Good
- IV: Emperor
- Which do you think is the most important ability trait to be found inside a successful king?
- Action
- Leadership
- Conquest
- VIII: Strength
- What do you think is the most important thing to remember when walking the path of the warrior?
- Justice
- Glory
- Faith
And finally we choose to draw a tarot card at random. This has no effect on our leader. The card is added to our deck (explained at a future date).
I draw V: Hierophant
Next Instalment: We fight! Kinda...
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