Post by devilmaycare150 on May 27, 2003 15:21:07 GMT -5
The Knight of Lodis, Tactics Orge
DMC Reviews
..I've always had a fascination with strategy games; they're fun, challenging, and most importantly, they make you think, they make you have to really think about what your next move will be. It's like chess, well, chess with everyone casting spells and having swords (or in Front Missions case, Shotguns, and machine guns) but chess none the less...
..I was literally starving for a good strategy, in fact, any kind of good game, for the GBA. So when I saw a Tactic's Orge game for only 30 bucks, I had a crucial decision to make; buy this game I've never played, and almost never heard of, or buy Golden Sun, this great RPG I've been hearing about, I went with Tactic's Orge, and after playing both of the games, I strongly believe I made the right choice..
Golden Sun is the type of RPG that you can get tired of...fast. It can be rather enjoyable, despite it's simplistic story and rather good music, but it's characters can be rather flat, and since it's the first installment in the series, it doesn't really go anywhere...
Tactic's Orge is almost a direct opposite of that. It follows the adventures of Ambrose, (well, that's what the manual calls him, but you get to name him..I named him Percival, out of that guy from Suikoden 3) he's a...well, a knight from Lodis (surprises you, doesn't it?). Lodis isn't exactly the nicest country in the world, it's hand's have been stained with plenty of blood, as it conquers every surrounding country, and converts them to Lodisim, the only religion accepted in the country. Most country's, not wanting to see needless blood fly in a battle that could be avoided, decide to sign treaties and become part of Lodis voluntarily. But a few rogue groups dislike the way the country of Lodis runs (who wouldn't) and decide to fight back. Ambrose, and his friend Richter Lasanti are sent to defeat these groups, and restore order to an island that is now part of the Lodis Empire (I forgot the name of the place). But when they get there, a storm erupts, and after a battle, Ambrose and Richter are seperated...
..And so begins a spiraling tunnel of lies, deciet, conspiracies, and long, drawn out battles that are bound to get on your nerves..
..Before I go on, I'll make it clear that there is nothing really wrong with the story, or the central characters. Both Ambrose and Cybil have theri own problems, Ambrose has to decide whether to fight for Lodis, or rejoin his friend. And of course, there's enough twists and turns in the plot to keep you interested..
I liked the graphics, but that's perhaps the only thing a game like Golden Sun holds over TKOL. Golden Sun's graphics are superior to TKOL's, while Golden Sun uses what could be called the best looking graphics in a GBA game to date, TKOL's is basically something you'd see from an SNES, as most GBA games' graphics are. But it doesn't really bother me that much..
The music and battles do. When you hear the title music, you expect the same grandoise in all of the other themes, sorry to let you folks down, but I'm afraid that's not true. Most of the music played during conversation's is horrendous, it's a good thing the battle themes are slightly better than that, or else I wouldn't be able to stand the game in general. But there's so many battles, that even the good battle themes (which are far and in between) start to grind, and really begin to annoy any player.
..The battles, ah, the battles..let me speak of them quckly, before the harsh reality of how boring they get comes over me...like any Tactic's Orge game, you can change any character's class, mage's, archer's, and of course, the usual soldier. But there's a new twist to it, you have to have certain emblem's in order to earn the option a new class. Emblems are awarded win a character fulfills a certain task. For instance, in order to gain a Knight's Certificate, you have to basically charge directly at an enemy, and stand your ground (or so I believe), to add a certain flavor to it. Women and men have their own certain classes. Women have Valkyries, and men have their own class centered around that (probably a Paladin).
Sure, that might interest you the first 15 or so battles, but when you get the hang of it all, when you see that same "Defeat The Leader!" message over and over again, it really starts taking the enjoyment out of the game..
..As with any strategy game, don't bother playing TKOL, or any Tactic's Orge game for that matter if you don't have that one essiential trait; patience..
Overall:
7/10