Ogre Battle 64: Person Of The Lordly Caliber

Sorry guys, promised to review newer games, but this one I just can't let go of. This game is my absolute FAVORITE game, I play a fresh new file every summer because there's so much you can do and that can happen. Sadly, it's like the Unsung Heroes of gaming. Uhh I'm not sure how to classify this game, but I guess like a tactical RPG?

STORY

Alright so you are Magnus Gallant, in the process of joining the army to follow in your father's footsteps. A revolutionary war is brewing, and you, as an army minion, is dispatched all around to quell the uprising. However...there are many dark things happening in the midst.

That is like...a VERY general outline of the game. It'd take me too long to go in-depth about it so it's up to you to play and find out the rest.

GAMEPLAY

There are 4 different basic screens: Unit Overview, World Map, Mission Map, Battle Screen.

In the world map, you can choose which missions to undertake, or choose a previous map that you've cleared to explore. Exploring can find you wild creatures to recruit or undertake secret missions that are scattered throughout the game. There is also a calendar system. Each dot/map is a days worth of traveling. Every year on your birthday (which you designate), you get an item. Every 10 years is a special item. 99 is the max age.

The Unit Overview screen lets you see all your battle groups and individual units as well as their equipment. Battle groups are formed with up to 4 units (Some units like dragons count as 2 units though), and 1 leader, the leader has to be an "intelligent human" by their standards I guess. EVERY unit has their own equipment, so got (in-game currency) is necessary, although not very hard to come by. There are a variety of unique units that can be acquired too, but under a lot of specific circumstances. It is also impossible to acquire ALL the unique characters without cheating.

Units all have a class, and those class have specific evolutions. Fighters become Knights, Amazons become Archers, etc. Some classes have more evolutions than others. Even beast units like dragons have evolutions.
There are a TON of classes so I don't really want to list them out.

You can view each individual unit's stats as well. Units have your basic stats such as STR, VIT, etc., but then there is also Alignment, Element, Movement type, etc. Almost everything dictates gameplay. Chaotic or Lawful alignment may be needed to evolve into a class or elements may dictate the type of high-level dragon you get, movement type specifies how fast you move on different territories on a mission map.

There are literally hundreds of pieces of equipment in the game. Some you'll run across, some you'll have to find, some you have to go through a specific chain of events to, seriously...hundreds.

This is the Mission Map. You are allowed to dispatch a certain number of units per map and then dictate their movement. Your group leader's avatar will the be group's marker while moving on the Mission Map. There are also a variety of different towns within the map that you can visit to get more story of the current mission, run events, shop, or revive dead characters.

When there is a mission in progress, you have a certain set conditions that you have to achieve to complete the mission. This is generally defeating the leader that is occupying a far off base, but there are some missions where it varies. Enemies are dispatched against you, and they'll either be actively moving towards your base or guarding their own bases. You'll have to guard your HQ by leaving at least one group in it for if an enemy were to occupy it, you'd instantly lose.

There is also a free-roam option that you can initiate one the map is mission-less. As I said before you can find beasts to recruit, but you can also look for items that are hidden on the ground, or initiate events that are only activate at certain days or time of days.

This is the battle screen. When two unit markers are engaged on the Mission Map, this screen will appear. Battle is completely autonomous, which can only be vaguely controlled via battle objectives (Attack Leader, Attack Strongest, Attack Weakest). You can "block" some attacks by pressing B at the right moment, but it's not too reliable anyways. Your group will play out all of the attacks that it has (Which can be seen in the Unit Overview map) and then the battle will end. I think winner or loser is determined by amount of damage done, but I'm not too sure.

When it ends though, you'll be sent back to the Mission Map, and the loser will be pushed farther back. If you managed to kill the leader of the group, then the group will become "panicked" and move around randomly on the map. If you did not kill the leader, then they generally try to come back at you.

FINAL WORDS
That's all I really have to tell you about this game. I probably missed a lot, but then again, this game is so MASSIVE that it's extremely hard to tell you everything. I highly encourage you to check it out on your own.

Comments, criticisms, follows appreciated guys!

Cheers, and happy gaming!