Tactics Ogre(PSP) Official Thread

So, having picked up the new version since it was one sale for about half price... its changes are sometimes good, sometimes bad. Pretty much every positive change I feel like is matched by a negative.

A quick TL;DR: I wouldn't get it if you have the PSP version.

First and foremost:

Gameplay feels a lot more luck-based. I do not care for the skill cards. Honestly, they feel like they turn gameplay into a Luck-Based Mission. Did some key cards spawn near you? Then great! Did they spawn near the enemy (which is statistically more likely, since your entire party spawns together, while your enemies spawn spread out)? Then have fun fighting a buffed enemy party. It also completely removes the idea of having a fully defensive party, since you basically need to move constantly to not just get buffs but prevent the enemy from getting them.

This also goes for skill activation. The fact that Skills that used to use TP are now randomly activated is... iffy at best. Like... that's just not the way to go. On the other (very specific) hand, it's nice that if the Target is a Knight it can't, say, just do Phalanx every goddamn turn while you desperately try to whittle it down to no avail. EDIT: Over the course of writing this, I've since played a stage with two Knights that just stand next to each other and get Phalanx II every turn. And both have Heal. And one of whom is above the level cap so even without Phalanx most of my team does scratch damage.

The removal of TP is also a double-edged sword. On one hand, it really does level the playing field among classes. Physical fighters need MP for finishing moves, Mages need it for Magic. No longer do we have Ninjas with 200 MP and Mages with 200 PT. On the other, it turns MP into the One Stat to Rule Them All, which is annoying since enemies have access to unlimited Magic Leaves and players don't.

The UI is weirdly clunky. Like... oddly. Micromanaging Skills/Abilities, Items, and Spells is absurdly janky. Changing one is fine, but it takes too many button presses to, say, go from one spell slot to the other which adds up as you'll constantly overwrite your chosen spells with the one you planned on putting in the next slot. Autoequip is seemingly gone. For better or for worse, you can't enter Chariot without finishing your turn, so if you made a mistake (or decided to savescum) you have to finish your turn and wait until however many enemies take theirs before rewinding time.

... that said, I do like the limitation of only four Spells, Skills, Items, and Finishing Moves. It creates a lot of speciation. Elements and Attributes feel like they have meaning... even if I feel like I have no idea what is different until I target an enemy and see that different characters do different amounts of damage, seemingly at random. Four items is incredibly stupid, though. A price to pay for not having to learn that item-using skill I never used. Just tedious to hope everyone has one Holy Blessing just in case.

Even units leveling up isn't perfect (... still way better, though). I'm in the "early" game (Chapter 3) so most of my team are generics, closest thing I have to a unique class is Canopus' Vartan. So now, when I get a new unit and they're level 1, they're a Level 1 Warrior or Mage or Valkyrie. Also the Level Cap... it's nice that it makes grinding not an option, but it just... feels kinda wasteful to win a stage and see this giant EXP number (and have bonus conditions awarding more EXP) only for it to go to literally nothing since everyone is at the cap. Still happier to have it than not. And I'm sure once I get unique characters with unique classes, I'll be screaming for joy about it.

Some absolute positives:

Voice acting is mostly nice. I don't... like most of the acting but it's pretty much an unalloyed positive and at worst can be ignored.

I like the Bonus Conditions (things like "Win a State with an Archer in Your Party" or whatever). They, at worst, provide a self-imposed challenge and at best spice up gameplay, even if the prize (like the aforementioned useless EXP) is meaningless.

CRAFTING.

The game looks beautiful and sounds better than ever. It's really a treat and it always looked and sounded great.

Overall: If you have access to both and only get one, I would probably get Reborn. Maybe. If you have both, I wouldn't bother upgrading. But if you have neither, then get it.

... still way better than Triangle Strategy.

EDIT: Undead enemies now revive at 50% HP rather than 100%. 10/10 would buy again. God, that was an annoying feature.

Edited by Larkmarn on May 11th 2023 at 9:32:16 AM

I need to know why my Crossbow barely do any damage against heavy armor units despite people said crossbow are goods agains heavy armors.