Triangle Strategy
Here it is folks. The strategy RPG we’ve been waiting for since the PSP ports of Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. I played the demo of this when it was first released months ago and I have been hyped ever since. The full game did not dissapoint.
I’m going to start off with warnings to those curious. This game is extremely dialogue heavy, like on a Trails/Kiseki level of dialogue. 60% of the game is dialogue. Also, there’s no job changing, all units are unique. Personally, those things did not bother me as I’m huge on narrative based RPGs, and plenty of other games in all genres offer job changing.
So this game, oh my god. I freaking loved it. The 2D-HD style was really taken to a new level this time around. There was actually some setting to get rid of the controversial after-effects such as corner blurring seen in Octopath Traveler. The music is also very well done. The voice acting, however, is hit or miss. Usually miss. Only a few characters had good voice acting.
Gameplay mechanics are your typical SRPG fare. Move > Attack, or Attack > Move. Yes you can attack then move in this one, a weird QoL feature many SRPGs don’t offer. Each character is almost completely unique in their skill set, and only a few skills are seen on multiple characters. This allows you to pick your team based on your preferred tactics. It almost felt like Suikoden. I found about 15 characters outside the initial 8 you start with, and I believe there were probably a few more that I missed. I played the game blind and only looked after. You can definitely enjoy this game in a blind playthrough, and I suggest you do so because… there are multiple branching story paths. Four different endings here. Three you can get no matter how you play, but one can only be gotten by doing specific choices. There are more than 5 points in the story where you’re offered between 2 and 3 different paths to take. Each option for these decisions seems viable, but also has apparent flaws. Sometimes I just spent time grinding while I contemplated which path I was going to attempt to take. I say attempt because you indirectly make the decision. Decisions are done by majority vote. The main character does not get a vote, but the 7 others of the core party do. They offer the options, and have their own opinions. However, you are given the option to attempt to convince them to change their mind and decide to follow the path you want. Sometimes they agree, sometimes they stick to their convictions. You have to choose how you communicate your opinion to them, and I found it to be very meaningful to the game and it’s narrative.
We have an extremely linear experience here, as with most SRPGS. The story is very deep in politics and morality. No choice is black and white, everything lives in a gray area. An early choice, which we saw in the demo was do you turn over your friend, the Prince of Glenbrook, to an invading army to secure the safety of your people, or do you refuse and try to defend against the overpowering might of their army. There are breaks in the linearity through a feature called “mock battle” where you can partake in battles without advancing the story. This is great for grinding, getting funds, and upgrade materials.
Character progression is your standard get experience go up in level stuff. Each character will learn new skills as you level up. The main crew of 8 have two levels of class progression that you must use items, much like in early Fire Emblem games. The optional characters you can find only have one level of class progressions, as they start on a second tier class when they join. The items to progress to the third tier are very limited so you need to decide who you want to promote sort of early on. There is also a single weapon progression system, where each weapon also has two levels of upgrade, and every one starts on the first level. Each level also has multiple skills you can unlock to increase stats or other things, such as decreasing the cost of a skill in battle.
The game took me about 30 hours to finish one story path. I decided to take a break before I go back and play it again, this time using a guide to get the so called “Golden Route.” I will definitely be back though. This has earned a spot in my “re-playable” games list. It’s just that good.
