izigame.me

This is among the greatest games in this genre and I'd dare say the greatest. I have put in thousands of hours collectively between the Playstation, PSP and this version on PC and this iteration is by far the best, having preserved the key features that worked in the previous versions and cut the bloat of the PSP version. Of all the versions of the game, this is by far the least "grindy," at least in the early and mid game. Grinding for levels is completely obviated by the Union Level system. Some mind find it annoying, and there are certain points about its implementation that indeed are (for example, the level cap raises after the completion of certain battles, and it never feels good when you get through a rough battle for which you receive no experience but then the level cap goes up), however it becomes irrelevant as soon as one completes the first run through a story route. Because this game was designed with multiple completions in mind with the WORLD system, players who dedicate themselves to this game will spend most of their playtime at either level 40, 45, or 50, where the element of grinding finally makes itself known through the crafting system requiring more and more obscure materials for better gear, and the post-game dungeons having randomly dropping loot that some players may wish to farm. The addition of stat-up cards is not a lot of players cup of tea but I found it quite interesting and rewarding. Yes many bosses begin with the benefit of 4 stat up cards right at the start of the fight but in the grand scheme of things this is generally manageable. The game has a steep learning curve, and the difficulty a player may experience depends entirely on his understanding of the game's systems to make effective use of the myriad of tools at their disposal. Players who prefer brute force playstyles where they simply overpower their enemy through sheer superior stats by overleveling or maximizing for superior equipment may find themselves frustrated, because for the most part this is not an option. Instead, the game demands you familiarize yourself with all of its status effects, with its classes, with their skills, and with the synergies that can be found between them. Archers lose effectiveness quickly in this version against heavily armored enemies (compared to the PS1 and PSP version where they are absolute beasts throughout the course of the game and only get better), however once one becomes aware of their utility for inflicting and helping inflict status effects, they maintain their value, especially when paired with the skill Eagle Eye and other ranged weapon users such as ninjas (with for example, a stun inflicting short bow and the skill envenom which adds the additional effect of poison to their next attack), suddenly the presence of an archer on the battlefield can turn the tide as enemies lose turns, actions, become silent, or and suffer damage over time all thanks to the archer making all ranged weapons hit and inflict effects with 100% accuracy to their allies. Every class in the game has its use, even if it is not immediately apparent, and the options for finessing every battle to achieve victory conditions without sustaining any losses are vast. All that to say, the game expects the player to put in the work, not through grinding, but through accumulating understanding of how various factors interact, and there are a lot of factors with a lot of interactions. So many, in fact, that even 2 years since release more and more are continuing to be discovered.
The amount of "post-game" content is massive even compared to the base game, where completing one of the story routes may run 30 to 50 hours, and completing the two others may take an additional 30 - but going through the Coda chapters, Palace of the Dead, San Bronsa ruins, and so on, can take well past 100 hours.
As for the story content, this is perhaps the true reason this game has continued to stick in the minds of many players including myself for the past 30 odd years. Tactics Ogre takes places in a high magic quasi-medieval world that it shares with the rest of the games in the Ogre Battle Saga (Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen on the SNES, Ogre Battle 64 on Nintendo 64, Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis on the GBA), which despite its multitude of gods and magical creatures, is grounded in realistically nuanced political circumstances. The director/writer of Tactics Ogre went on to make a name for himself with Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story and for those familiar with the mood and plotting of those games, expect to find a story in the same voice. What separates Tactics Ogre from those games, and perhaps even the games in its own series, is the diverging branching storyline (which while present in both Knight of Lodis, and OB64, is nowhere near as detailed or impactful), where the main character must choose his path at pivotal moments in the plot. The choices are significant, and lead to highly divergent experiences - (though it should be noted that all paths re-converge for a largely similar Chapter 4, there are still route differences and events in that chapter exclusive to different routes). The main character could bloody his hands following the orders of a corrupt regime, taking on the mantle of a lawful (evil? or perhaps lawful neutral) officer of a national liberation orders for whom the means are justified by the ends; alternatively he can assert his moral integrity in disobedience to his superiors, and take on the role of an outlaw hero, though perhaps from there he could reconcile with his former allies and return to the fold as well. The overall plot begins in an almost standard Fire Emblem manner however - you are a member of one of three clans, the Walister, which has been recently defeated and suppressed by its rival, the Galgastani, on a war-torn island, Valeria, which is geographically pivotal to the intercontinental trade of the world and thus under observation by the adjacent empires of Xenobia and Lodis - and you join a resistance to liberate your people and bring the tyrants who oppressed you to justice. But is the war you're fighting really what it seems? Are the heroes really the people they believe themselves to be? Where the game shines is in exploring the themes of human conflict and human motivations, and how such are influenced by the choices people make. While thematically and structurally similar to Final Fantasy Tactics, the story has a less personal, and more broad, approach to how its told (focusing on the Valeria conflict itself, rather than on the personal struggle of the main character as in FFT) and concerns itself less with occultic conspiracies and more with the immediate political conflicts, though the game never forgets the setting it is in, so demons and divine entities do play a not-insignificant role too.
I cannot recommend this game enough, but with the caveat that it is for the type of gamer who has patience and an appreciation for complex mechanics and learning how to leverage them toward good results. If you are someone who prefers things to be a bit more simple and straightforward, you might find this game frustrating, and if you won't take the time to learn how things work you might find it rather unfair. You might appreciate the earliest iteration of the game on the SNES/PS1 for its more vanilla tactical gameplay which did go on to set the standard for the genre in its own generation a bit more, but be warned that the translation (though bless the people who made the English patch for the SNES) will unfortunately leave much to be desired, and you will miss out on some of the story content that was added or altered in the PSP version and reproduced in Reborn.
TL;DR:
Recommend, if you like complicated games with overwhelming number of options and realistic political plots in a high fantasy setting. Do not recommend if you are impatient with somewhat obtuse and not necessarily well explained systems.