The Biggest Game Project on this Planet

Ogre Battle 64

I would like you to cast your minds back to my review of Nightmare Creatures, if you will. Perhaps you will recall that I am generally confident in the games I buy, and I make sure I'm well-informed and therefore generally end up buying games that are very good.
Occasionally though, I purchase games haphazardly, not knowing what to expect, simply because I like the look of the pictures on the box, some of the music I've heard, or just because I have nothing better to do.
This usually ends in ruin.

In the case of Ogre Battle 64 I was impressed by graphics, and I was also still in that phase where I was desparately trying to find a decent old-school RPG for the N64. Suffice it to say, I never did find it.

Judging by the back of the box, the graphics are good (and they are nice during the 2D bits, the 3D maps suck though) and they offer nice old-school turn-based battles.
I was wrong though.
Perhaps my non-existent knowledge of the Ogre Battle series is to blame, but this is an entirely different ballgame. I think this game was made by the people behind the Tactics Ogre series, which IS a very enjoyable series. It should be obvious to anyone who's played these games that Tactics Ogre was a major influence on Final Fantasy Tactics, if they weren't in fact actually made by the same people.
Even in Ogre Battle 64, presentation and music are VERY remeniscent of FFT, which was ripped off the Ogre series most likely.

But whereas Tactics Ogre and FFT offered great Tactical gameplay, where you actually get to decide how your characters move and fight, Ogre Battle is ENTIRELY different.
If anything, it's closer to a Real Time Strategy game, than it is to a Tactical RPG.
The goal of each battle is to guide your teams towards the enemy base to defeat the leader, taking over enemy settlements along the way and defeating anyone who stands in your way.
Thing is, you only get to form your party members, and equip them, but you do not get to decide WHAT they actually do. Battles are fought automatically, and you only have the option of deciding if they spread their attacks or attack one specific character at a time.
On the field map you just have to select a party and point'n'click it to its destination. If you encounter an enemy party along the way, you automatically go into battle and every side gets to attack two times usually. After this, the computer decides who wins or loses (usually depending on total amount of damage, I think, but it seemed really random at times) and the loser is thrust backwards on the field map, whilst the winner can advance gloriously, until either of the sides is wiped out.

Basically, in perhaps more understandable terms, it is VERY similar to Final Fantasy VII's Fort Condor subgame. You deploy fighters, and you point them to where you want them to go, only in Ogre Battle 64 the emphasis is on offense, not defense like in FFVII.

The problem is, I don't like this kind of game AT ALL. It's just too damn boring!
It would have been SO much better if it just had non-automatic battles, if you could actually decide per character what they do and whom they attack. But alas.
This is the major reason why I've always stayed very far away from any kind of RTS, I just do not enjoy pointing armies around and then having them sort everything out for themselves. I want to be PERSONALLY involved like in a Tactics game, which is infinitely more enjoyable.

I do have to admit though, that this is largely a personal preference. Looking at this Ogre Battle 64 subjectively, I can't help but conclude that it's not actually a bad game by any means. I've checked around the internet for some reviews, and most of them are very positive, but to me it is painfully obvious that you HAVE to be into this kind of game to enjoy it. If you're not a fan, you do not need apply.
This is contrary to many other great titles that are enjoyable even if you don't like the genre or aren't into playing games at all.
I have yet to hear ANYONE speak negatively about, for instance, Resident Evil 4, which is praised by hardcore gamers and laymen alike, for just being insanely good basically.

Ogre Battle is the kind of game that is really for die hard fans, because it is simply too dry and static for most other people. I'll give it a 7, for acknowledging that it is a very solid game in its genre, and probably addictive if you're into it. The die hard Role Player in me found some elements to enjoy, but it won't get any higher because it's too much of a 'niche' game.

My mistake for getting a game I knew nothing about.

posted by Ingen! @ 3:17 PM