Legendary SRPG "Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together" is 25 years old today

[Disclaimer]

One of the best games of all time, with one of the best localizations of all time.

Please unshackle it from the PSP, SE.

My only complain for this game is the painfully slow and time consuming job system. You can easilly sink hundreds of hours doing random battles just to level up the job system. It is Insanely slow.

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The PSP version's job and crafting systems were terrible, but you're exaggerating just slightly. Unless maybe you were literally trying to level cap every job for some ungodly reason.

 

[Kromeo]

Fuck Vyce.

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Tbf fuck Denam if you go the lawful route lol

 

[Vaser]

I've played the PSP remake and really liked it, but the game has two major flaws: probably the worst, most tedious crafting system ever made and savestates - Tactics Ogre is all about making the right decisions, but with savestates there's really no need to carefully plan your moves. You fucked up? No problem, just use a savestate and try something else. Really disappointing...

 

[Hogendaz85]

I had this on PSOne loved it so much! A few years later my friends and I went to a pawn shop in the middle of nowhere and there was a copy of the psone version with the case and manual in excellent shape...sadly I didn't have any money.....even more sadly it was only...$10!!!

This was when the game was selling on eBay for like $70 or more.

Edit: I already owned it and paid like $40 used at GameStop for mine, no manual no case just the disc in a generic case

 

[Ralemont]

I've played the PSP remake and really liked it, but the game has two major flaws: probably the worst, most tedious crafting system ever made and savestates - Tactics Ogre is all about making the right decisions, but with savestates there's really no need to carefully plan your moves. You fucked up? No problem, just use a savestate and try something else. Really disappointing...

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You mean the Chariot System? I actually think it works rather well. Its inclusion shifts your focus on mid and long-term tactics instead of relying on the result of acute skirmishes and eliminates the ol' 95%-but-I-miss rage. The penalty for playing poorly in any game is your time: whether that's restarting a battle or needing to rewind over and over to rethink your approach. The difference is that fights are so damn long in LUCT that restarting a battle is far too harsh a punishment. Spending 45 minutes on a fight only to get screwed and not have the Chariot system would be untenable.

 

[Zekes]

I bought the remake o PSP but didn't make it very far. I would love a port or a remaster though; I always regret not sticking with it

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

I've always been interested in this because of the relationship to Final Fantasy.
I get put off by the branching story and multiple endings though.

 

[finalhour]

I've been meaning to replay this for ages. I soldiered through it on the PSP. I remember it being fairly tough. My strategy was to use dragons as tanks, and support them with Berserkers, Archers, and Mages. That carried me through the game, and I got what I think must have been a pretty terrible ending:

Spoiler

The main character became king, and then got assassinated

probably the worst, most tedious crafting system ever made

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Yeah I remember that not being much fun. So many PSP games seemed to be drawing inspiration from Monster Hunter in that regard. I think this game would have been better without it.

 

[Jo-awn]

Still the single best SRPG ever made.

It's Matsuno working in his Queen fandom :P

Queen - Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together) (Official Lyric Video)

Taken from A Day At The Races, 1976.Sing along to 'Teo Toriatte (Let Us Cling Together)' with this official karaoke style Queen lyric video.Subscribe to the ...

www.youtube.com

The world the series takes place in has a bunch of locations and items named after Queen lyrics, etc. Ogre Battle and March of the Black Queen are both Queen song titles, which is the name of the first game in the franchise (Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen lol). Can find similar references in FFT. It's why this tweet from him is the best thing ever:

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That's incredible! 🤯 I wonder if the band knows.

 

[kidnemo]

A great game that I have never finished, despite playing it multiple times over the years.

I always preferred the more straight forward job system in FFT to more convoluted system in TO.

 

[GeekyDad]

Truly is legendary. But to be fair, you used only gameplay screens from the PSP version (which is amazing, of course -- just sayin').

 

[Vex]

I always hear great things about this game. The only version of this game Ive played is FINAL fantasy tactics A2. Which I thoroughly enjoyed (mostly the class system was addicting af). Im guessing they are similar and FFtactics are spiritual successors or something..? Might play this someday.

 

[Hu3]

Best game. Better than tactics I dare to say.

 

[Exellus]

The Best.

Hope we see more of the Ogre series sometime.

 

[Fraxin]

I've always been interested in this because of the relationship to Final Fantasy.
I get put off by the branching story and multiple endings though.

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I don't like branching story alot, but I really enjoyed it in this game.


This is probably one of the best games I have ever played.

Amazing writing and addictive gameplay. Localization for the PSP version was top notch.

And Tsubasa Masao's redesigns are probably some of my favorite in the industry.

Now I want Knight of Lodis Remake.

 

[chrominance]

Being a fan of FFT/Vagrant Story, I was hyped for the PSP version when it came out. Heard it was hard but figured I could handle it. Got decimated like 3 hours in, tried several times to beat that battle but couldn't do it. Would give it another shot nowadays if I could play it on something other than PSP though

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You could emulate it. You'd be able to make the game a bit easier for yourself via save states and cheats in that case, too.

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I haven't tried Tactics Ogre yet specifically (hope to fix that soon, I've only owned it for like a decade), but I recently got around to putting PPSSPP on my phone and oh my god why didn't I do this ages ago. It really is a fantastic way to play PSP games, especially if you've got a controller clip or something like a Razer Kishi. Highly highly recommended.

 

[Ouroboros]

This is a great game. That is all.

 

[jblanco]

This was actually my first SRPG, and boy did I love it. I recall having played it in PS1 though. I was a child, so my memories are a bit foggy, but I remember I used to play Training a lot, and loved the winged dude lol

Anyway, I played FFT after this one, and while I did enjoy FFT, I dare to say I found the core gameplay of Tactics Ogre more enjoyable. I will def revisit TO one day to confirm.

 

[Professor Beef]

I never knew what the fuck I was doing in this game and eventually just dropped it because it was all so confusing. Even the PS1 FFTactics translation made more sense.

 

[ara]

I haven't tried Tactics Ogre yet specifically (hope to fix that soon, I've only owned it for like a decade), but I recently got around to putting PPSSPP on my phone and oh my god why didn't I do this ages ago. It really is a fantastic way to play PSP games, especially if you've got a controller clip or something like a Razer Kishi. Highly highly recommended.

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I've actually been planning on buying a cheap-ish large display Android phone one of these days for solely emulation purposes. Would love to be able to play some of my PS1 favorites in particular in bed or wherever.

 

[Godfather]

It's terrible my mind went here, but this seems like prime gacha game material if they copied the style of OB64. I'd be willing to deal with some gacha shit for an otherwise solid Ogre Battle 64 style game

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Hard to think this was originally a SNES game. They packed so much goodness in a little cart!

 

[Samiya]

I desperately want a AI upscale remaster or something that takes the PSP version to full HD like WOTL

 

[hydrophilic attack]

spent over 200 h games on the psp version of this game

as you can probably tell by my avatar, i love it

the remake got one of my votes for game of the decade

 

[Mr. Nice_Guy]

One of the most affecting stories I've ever experienced in a game, and aside from one or two small nitpicks, (story important characters coming in at level 1? Come on now), it's basically a perfect game in my eyes. In a better universe this would have received sequels to finish out the story and more games would have tried emulating it's art style. I don't even want a remaster, they would butcher the art style like they almost always do. Just a port of the PSP version with some QOL fixes is all I want.

 

[thezboson]

I never got very far, but I do enjoy replaying the beginning of the game every now and then. The game is also one of the reasons I want another Sony handheld, I love playing games like this on a handheld.

 

[Richietto]

And it's just another game from a long list of classic games that will never see the light of day on modern systems. :( fuckin SE, man.

 

[Adnor]

"So you can die with redemption in your heart? Never!" is such a good line goddamn.

 

[CarterTax]

Amazing game. Would like a remaster -- and while we're at it let's remaster FFT as well !

Yes I know it's on iPhone but not really a fan of playing it on a phone.

 

[bigbaldwolf86]

Probably the best SRPG ever made. FFT is close but this game is just that good.

 

[dabri]

Playing through BOF3 on vita. This is next on my list to play through. Excited.

 

[antitrop]

King.

 

[AuthenticM]

I don't understand how Square hasn't ported the PSP remakes of Tactics Ogre and FF Tactics to PC yet. They fucking love porting their games to PC. Why haven't they done these two yet?

 

[Raftina]

The PSP version made enormous changes to the leveling and battle systems. If you dislike the crafting and leveling in the PSP version, or you found it too slow, the SNES/PS1 version is much faster and forgoes crafting altogether. You might think of the gameplay of the original version as an isometric Fire Emblem game in a lot of respects.

 

[Lenz]

My roommate and I are both replaying games in this genre. I'm replaying Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together and he is replaying Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. These games are reaaaally incredible.

 

[Kyussons]

Can you really call it a SRPG though if it wasn't made in Spain?

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lol

we need a new tag, maybe StrJRPG1.0 ?

 

[EssBeeVee]

I started a new save a month ago on vita when I was on a final fantasy binge

 

[Ocean Bones]

Still bust out the psp to play this.

It's the GOAT SRPG

 

[Caz]

Still a travesty that we only ever got one direct sequel (which was narratively a prequel). The Knight of Lodis was a great tactical RPG but it pales in comparison to the GBA Fire Emblem trilogy, to say nothing of this masterpiece.

 

[Dogui]

Easily best Matsuno game imo.

Snes/PS1 version is kinda unplayable nowadays, but the PSP version still kick butts. Favorite non-Devil Survivor SRPG, no doubt.

Spoiler: Ending stuff

Got the bad ending first time i finished it. You know, the one where Denam turns king and dies in a terrorist attack. It was easily the coolest bad ending of videogames haha

Also like how the endings has really subtle changes if specific characters died in-game

 

[WetWaffle]

I took a break from the game from work reasons , I think I'm around chapter 4 in the chaos route. But this game really is one of the best games of all time. So many moments and quotes have stuck with me. Especially when

Spoiler

Vyce enters an alliance with a rival nation and tries to kill Denam, only to be used as a scapegoat after the failed attempt and left to hang...literally. That he dies screaming Denam's name for help still sticks with me. God if only we had a 3d remake in good hands.

 

[Schopenhauer]

One of the few games that has multiple fully fleshed out storylines based solely on player choice. Gotta love it.

 

[Worldshaker]

Off topic:

What are some good modern SRPGs? I figure I'd ask here since you guys obviously have good taste. The only ones I've seen have been:

Brigandine: Legend of Runersia (PS4/Switch)
Mercenaries Saga Chronicles (Switch)
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Disgaea (newer releases)

What else am I overlooking that has come out within the last 5 years?

 

[Disclaimer]

Still a travesty that we only ever got one direct sequel (which was narratively a prequel).

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Mhm.

Ogre Battle 64 chronologically takes place alongside/just after LUCT. In one of OB64's endings, it's loosely implied that Lanselot Tartaros is coming to deal with the Xenobians, presumably after his escape from Valeria. Everything was gearing up for a climactic battle against Lodis, and then... nothing.

Please remember the franchise exists, SE.

 

[ManNR]

I miss Ogre Battle.

 

[Leviathan]

This one just barely edges out FFT as possibly the best game of all time. It is certainly the best SRPG, for me.

 

[ManNR]

Off topic:

What are some good modern SRPGs? I figure I'd ask here since you guys obviously have good taste. The only ones I've seen have been:

Brigandine: Legend of Runersia (PS4/Switch)
Mercenaries Saga Chronicles (Switch)
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Disgaea (newer releases)

What else am I overlooking that has come out within the last 5 years?

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I've heard great things about Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark and own it on Switch but haven't jumped in yet. Trying to work on my backlog.

 

[Quinton]

Hopefully Square Enix still has the source code for the game.

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Brutal but true.

 

[Deleted member 11413]

Am I crazy for preferring the PS1 version?

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Am I crazy for preferring the PS1 version?

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Why you prefer it?