Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen - Overlooked SNES Gem - Casp
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 4 сен 2024
- I wasn't too keen on this video, but I got lazy and had nothing else. Figured it was about time to shit something out, and just wanted to talk about a game that I like, but I never see anyone mention in anything ever.
Still not happy with it, but it's a video. Enjoy!
********************************************************************
Games featured in this video in order of appearance:
Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen (SNES/PS1)
********************************************************************
Music used in this video in order of appearance:
Overture - Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen OST
Thunder - Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen OST
Wall of Defense - Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen OST
Entrance Parade - Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen OST
Fight it Out! - Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together OST
Avilla Hanya - Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together OST
8-bit Ogre Battle - Queen
(I have no idea what the real names of the songs are, but this is what they're listed as, and they're all magical.)
Ok so here is my Oger Battle story,
I saw the game burried in the corners of a Nintendo Power and thought that looks good but didnt act on it when it was relevant. I got a few years older and suddenly RPGs were the thing for me. I was playing a lot of PS1 RPGs and while browsing the local electronics boutique in Santa Clara CA (where i grew up) I saw the game, box, manual and inserts for sale used for $40.
It was summer and i was totally broke and too young to get a "real" job, so i begged my grandpa for something that he would pay me for. He said he would pay me $3 an hour to fix up his back yard.
I took that job and worked for 2 days straight. I remember thinking about that game every single second. I tried to skip meal times so i could work more and get the money faster.
On the second day i had enough $48 and even though the back yard was only half finished i took that money rode my bike as fast as i could and saw the game was still there. (Thank goodness)
I played that game all the time. But my experiance is one that involves OCD to some degree because i would spend hours on the maps. I wanted to make sure i was super meticulous with unit placement and who is liberating and who is fighting. Finding all the things. The biggest issue i would have is that one map could (for me) take a few hours and there was no save halfway through. So you had to commit.
I was not allowed to play games that long so i would leave the system on and under the TV putting something in front of the RED SNES light so my folks didnt know the system was on all day and night. I would pick up half way through the map the following day.
This all went down in the mid 90's.
Last year 2017. My brother came out and visited me in Europe (where i now live) and we were talking about the game. I told him i never actually finished it. I don't know why but i put so much time into that game i was kind of afraid of the end, like would i get a shit ending. Did i do the correct things? Was it wrong to forgive the witch??
Being an adult who is not afarid of silly things like video game endings finally won out (barely :) ) and we turned it on, i had a save file right on the last stage (props to SNES save batteries). I fought and lost that battle a few times. (like 3 times, that last boss is a beast unless you have tarrots, and unlike any other battle the army he has never stops...)
I finally beat it.
I got the Chariot Ending... Im ok with that. It took over 20 years and my grandfather has passed in the mean time, but that game, that lovely game has so much weight in my heart.
Great job on the review, but go easy on the visuals will ya, :) the game was not supposed to compete with HD games, i can hardly think of an SNES game with better sprites and please tell me you are joking when you say you cant tell your army apart from there icons. Those Tarrot cards alone are some of the best (pre Donkey Kong Country) SNES graphics i have seen. :)
I would give my left arm for them to make a sequel to the SNES version. The 64 and tactics games were OK but the SNES was just so, so damn good.
Hey Casp, thanks for your reply i got close to deleting that comment a few times because it is such a personal experience, but i thought it belonged because it seems you also really loved the game as much as i did. You are 100% correct it was like completing a chapter in life. A small one, that only a few people on the internet could possible relate to. But still completes all that effort, that frantic bike ride and all those years after.
May i ask what ending you got? What Alignment did your character start off with? I re roll (re draw) anytime the main gets that samurai move that damages the character as well as the bad guys.
Favorite Unit, Lich
Least Favorite Pumpkins, (those guys never hit)
I can't remember what I got for this playthrough, as it's over a year and a half since this video dropped, but I always try for the ice/lightning moves for my main boy, so I would've rerolled till I got those. I got one of the good endings too, because I'd played it so many times, I was like "OKAY, THIS TIME, I DO EVERYTHING RIGHT!"
So I recruited Tristan, had full reputation and high ALI on my main dude, and smacked Diablo upside the head, which was not easy.
I must've got the Hierophant, because I don't remember getting special swords or gems. It does irk me a bit that there's a 'canon' ending because of Persons of Lordly Calibur and Let Us Cling Together, but it's still rad.
Right on sounds good to me!!! What i love about this game is when i feel like playing just a little bit of it. I just use the "Dragon" something name and get that special 1 level with the high level characters and go through that. Gives me a good taste of late game cool characters with out the hours and hours of work to get there.
@@Caspicum I don't get all the hate for the 64 game. It's very similar to this one but better in many ways. One of my favourite games ever and an absolute gem in my opinion. Depends what you play first, I guess.
At the time, we were playing Age of Empires 2 a lot. Nintendo Power came out and had a pretty in-depth walk through of the first couple of stages of Ogre Battle 64 with blurbs about the different classes. I saw ‘Paladin’ and recognized it from AoE2 and thought it might be something like that. Not even close. But it quickly became one of my most loved games. Even to this day.
On the subject of Queen, “March of the Black Queen” is an absolute banger and easily my favourite song from the band.
Legitimately the best opinion I've seen on this website.
I really appretiate the Queen references.
There are also references to Robert E. Howards Conan.
Queen II
I rented this on a whim at our neighborhood grocery store. I rented it so many times that the clerks knew what I was after when I came in on Friday nights. I couldn't find a copy anywhere to buy so I asked the manager if I could buy their copy. She told me to come back the next day and when I walked in, she said she got it cleared and it could be mine for $20.
SOLD!
Hot damn, what a bargain. I mean, you probably spent hundreds of dollars renting it, but $20 for a buy is sick. Tell me it came with the box and manual.
I was like that with Breath of Fire 4 and Legend of Dragoon, to the point where the video store would hold the games for me. Good times.
@@Caspicum it did come with box and all, but it had their rental store stickers on it and they wouldn't peel off. Still worth it.
I could never get a copy and had to buy the ps1 version
I love March of the black Queen for me this is as close to a game of thrones story you will ever find next to pc stratagy games.
I love Ogre Battle, and Queen II. I'd say the best Queen album. Loved the 8-bit Ogre Battle at the end. I also love TO:LUCT, Thanks a lot, now they're on my replay list. You monster.
Geez my mother really took a beating in this video
She didn't play enough Ogre Battle, I think that was the issue.
I fell in love with this game when I was a kid. Such great memories. The lore is quite interesting and how it is slowly revealed to you through the stages was engaging and stirred the imagination.
Every time I see an alert ding for Ogre Battle, it makes me incredibly happy. Another person out there has amazing taste.
Just started playing this last night- what a game! I am already a fan.
I had the SNES one as a kid and when I grew up I bought "Ogre Battle: Let us cling together" for the PlayStation, from a pawn shop I worked at. This was near the end of the life span of the PlayStation and this one came from a Video store as it had a not Block Buster but still Rental place sticker surrounding the hole in the middle of the CD. I was happy, got it for $10, the pawnshop was bad at pricing video games after Funcoland went under and the charts stopped coming but also before E-bay really took off.
That part was unimportant, it's just how I got it and why what happened happened. The sticker was peeling off and I didn't notice and my PlayStation started making it peel when I booted it up and the data on top of the CD was ripped off.
Got that game, Earthbound and Valkire profile for $30 ($15 or Ogre Battle, $10 on Earthbound and $10 for Valkier profile, with $5 taken off because I promised to come in on the weekend) with the money I won from my Asian Foster Mother in playing penny, Black Jack... She didn't know I could count cards, I didn't know I could count cards and the rest is history just like my 18 years dead copy of Ogre Battle: Let us cling together is!
Good video. I was lucky enough to stumble into Ogre Battle growing up at the rental store, absolutely love it. Was so ahead of it's time and still is a fun game. It actually fits quite nicely with all the new retro style games so the art doesn't feel quite so dated. I still have my old SNES and ended up picking up an Ogre Battle cartridge a few years ago, glad I did since the price seems to have gone up since they didn't make too many of them.
I would love to own a physical copy of Ogre Battle, just to have it. I don't even own a Super Nintendo, but man, it's such a valuable piece of history. I'm currently working on a video for the N64 Ogre Battle as well, and I hope that turns out okay!
Yasumi Matsuno is a genius and this game clearly deserves an enhanced port to modern platforms, just like Tactics Ogre LUCT in 2011
YES. SOOOOOOOOO MUCH THIS!
My favorite game ever! This one and the N64 one.
Oh, and the "best" tactic makes the characters attacks the enemy that will allow him to deal the bigger ammount of damage.
Like if you have a valkyrie attacking, it would attack a mermaid over a wizard, for an exemple.
The "Best" tactic means that each character will attempt to attack the enemy that allows them to do the most damage. For example, clerics are weak to ice magic, and so anyone using ice field will target them with that attack.
So I wasn't even wrong when I said "Best" is the best option.
Thanks for the info, lad!
The 8-bit version of Queen's Ogre Battle at the end is **chef's kiss**
Glad someone caught that
ahhhh Ogre Battle so many fond memories I spent so many hours scouring every parcel of land for secrets.🙂
That truly is one of the joys of Ogre Battle. Just pissing around, accumulating that wealth, and finding secrets.
unfortunately you get penalized for it, I don't think I ever got the good ending. lol Great video I like how yoy look at old games that not many people talk about anymore. Most of the old games I like it seems nobody remembers like the Dark Cloud and Valkyrie Profile series.
Dark Cloud is on my list, and Valkyrie Profile is on my "to play" list.
It may take me a life time, but expect videos on both of them.
Cool 🙂
This game is the king of secrets.
Although I have only play and completed Tactics Ogre for the GBA, the Ogre series is one that fascinates me. I bought the 64 game for the virtual console, but hadn't have the oportunity to play it (because I'm always playing 2 or 3 Rpgs at the same time). I love when someone talk about any of these games and wonder if one day Atlus would remember this series and make a comeback. Thanks for the video, with this you just won me as a subscriber and a friend =)
Awww, thanks, babe! Atlus was only the publisher of Ogre Battle though, currently Square-Enix owns the rights. They effectively hired the OG Ogre team to develop the Let Us Cling Together PSP remake, and that was the last we heard anything about the series... God, that was over a decade ago. You're 100% right, we need a comeback!
Also,if you haven't played Let Us Cling Together, the GBA one is actually a direct prequel to it.
I like weak coffees, too. :D
I actually really like the art direction in this game! The little gold and pewter pieces on the map remind me of those little miniatures you find with various tabletop games. The rest of the character sprites also come across as quite beautiful to me. I especially love the art on the Tarot cards and how it gives interesting interpretations of the traditional Tarot concepts.
Did I say I liked weak coffees? Boy, I've grown in the past year.
That Tarot art is fantastic. The remake of the sequel to March of the Black Queen actually has collectable Tarot cards that came with the pre-order, and they look fantastic. I've had to stop myself from buying them multiple times, but I kinda need them in my life.
I turned Warren into a leach class and used a griffin and two ghost to fly in front of the enemy castle and destroyed all approaching units. Then, used my low level and high aligned units to liberate cities one by one.
good tactic, i do similar and keep low aligned units for smashing and good aligned units lower level for liberating. a nice trick to keep alignment high is to kill ghosts and skeletons with magic items
I loved this title. The great thing was that you could load up a new game and see different events purely because you did one action over another and that gave it a good amount of replayability. Even if I got a game over, it kept me wanting to go back. It was a bit slow at times and in desperate need of a Fast Forward button (I don't think the SNES with it's 3Mhz CPU was up for the task though). We used to have the actual cartridge, which was quite rare. Unfortunately, my brother sold it for a pretty profit. Our family was poor and needed the money.
I'm sorry to hear that you lost your Ogre Battle cart, but the fact that you had that experience at all is still something to be proud of. Also desperate times can be rough, and Ogre Battle was there for you in your time of need. I'd say that's pretty symbolic of how great a game it is.
Is this game a Big Queen Reference?
Pretty much.
Yasumi Matsuno is a HUGE Queen fan, and references them a lot on his games.
Is that a JoJo reference
@@Caspicum Queen visited japan in the mid 70's and left a VERY lasting impact for the next 40 years . Some anime even have references to Queen such as JoJo . Queen is and will always be my favourite band
Yup Japan LOVED Queen, probably just as much as America LOVED The Beatles during the Brit Invasion
I loved the march of black queen and person of lordy caliber. Too bad there isn't any other games like this...
Great video, I'll be sure to pick up this game when I can, the amount of depth,options and variety is quite surprising and something I like to see games.
AND ON A SUPER NINTENDO CARTRIDGE. WHAT ARE THEY, LIKE 4MB? THAT'S INSANE!
Casp O'saurus Yeah, While alot of games these days seem to remove more than they add, even with more memory.
My understanding is that "BEST" tactic causes each character to choose the attack that allows it to do the most damage.
Where I live we usually didn't get a wide variety of games, so I actually never saw a physical copy of this game, and played many of the SNES RPGs on an emulator.
The first playthrough I had no notion of the reputation bar, i just enjoyed the strategy gameplay and tried to build the most powerful army, which led to it having very low ALI. It shocked me when I got the evil ending and just then I had to look up how the reputation bar worked. That made me appreciate the game even more, since it had that hidden depth.
Playing through the game with the restrictions tied to keeping a high reputation and alignment really felt like a different experience from the first time, and I enjoyed discovering the new things available with a high reputation alignment. I don't think I ever completed it 100%, zodiac stones and all, but I sometimes go and play the first few stages and really enjoy it. Uncovering lore through secret towns, items and character recruitments, or fighting with specific units against bosses is something I've only ever seen again in dark souls titles.
Quality taste. I think the low ALI run is most people's first encounter with it, but the shocking fate of the main character becoming a tyrant makes you assess what happened. "How in the fuck am I a terrifying demonic ruler? I saved the world!"
Goes to show how powerful games can be with gameplay alone, and minimal narrative elements.
I love that 16-bit version of Queen's Ogre Battle at the end of the video...
Me too!
Yet another game I really ought to give another shot at some point. I remember feeling super overwhelmed by this game back in the day. Granted, I was like 6 years old back then and couldn't speak English, so that probably didn't help, but still!
Primo channel you've got here, btw!
The night before a battle you see several falling stars heading for the east. What do you wish for?
A) Luck for your army
B) Bravery for your army
C) More backers on Patreon
B.
Luck is fickle, but a man who fights bravely is worth more than gold.
+2 to Charisma it is!
Hey, I just want that back-row lightning/ice.
Fair enough, Casp! Your videos are fun, by the way - we love how (like us) you take on lesser-known gems that we were pumped about during our childhoods.
This is one entire queen reference. I need to play this game.
You absolutely do. The entire Ogre Battle Saga is brilliant.
This game never gets enough praise even though I haven't had a chance to play it myself. This is a really good review for it and you put it in such a way that I sincerely hope more people would be willing to look at it and give it a proper try because the only thing I heard about the snes game from a lot of gamers is how rare and valuable it is without even caring about how competent of a game it is.
I found this gMe accidentally like 10 years ago once I discovered roms. Absolutely loved it, but forgot the name for many years until this video so that k you very much. Subscribed
That's fantastic! It had a sequel on the Nintendo 64, as well as two grid-based Tactics RPGs. There's also a Japanese-only one on the WonderSwan or some stupid system nobody's heard of. Brilliant series, you've got excellent taste, and I'm glad I could help.
This is probably the best video covering OB on RUclips. The others include so much incorrect info.
I swear I replied to this. That makes me incredibly happy, I know there's still stuff I either glossed over, or missed, but with such a unique game, I really wanted to show it as accurately as I could. It's one of my favourites too, which helped.
"I don't know what best does, but it is clearly the best choice" - hilarious!
Ah Ogre Battle. Pretty neat game. It's an interesting one for sure.
true dat
My overall favorite video game of all time! It will drive you mad trying to get your characters alignment just right lol😀
It's such a fantastic game. I wish more people had played it!
I'm so glad I found this channel. With a minty Raspberry Pi 3 I'm falling back into the retro stuff I sold off ages ago. You're a right fucking legend, man!
I hope I've introduced you to some games you can love!
I've played through Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis when it was released on GBA back in high school, but I shied away from this one because it was in something other than the FFT/Tactics Ogre framework. This video demonstrates depth I didn't see when looking at the jewel case back in 99' (PSX). I'm currently 1 battle away from finishing Vandal Hearts for PSX, so if I can return the favor - try it out, it's another overlooked gem!
You’re a friend of mine. Started with Ogre Battle 64 way back in the day. Recently added March of the Black Queen to my SNES Classic. Now to find a rom of Let us Cling Together.
ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
anyone who likes Ogre Battle is a quality human.
This game sure is deep. Given the fact that since, this week two months ago, I spent beating Fire Emblem 8, 7 and 6 I've been in love with the genre. I'm looking foward to it.
HELLS YEAH! Fire Emblem 7 and 8 are the GBA ones, right?
Actually you want to match alignments when liberation (low alignment liberate low morale cities, high alignment for high morale cities, the latter of which tend to be the norm).
There are also exclusive characters you can recruit on "evil" routes with low alignment and reputation (like Galf and if I recall there are a couple others).
There is even a way to both break the game and get insanely overpowered AND still get the best ending. Starting at the first map, your going to want to put up your characters and let a day pass on every map, to get a huge gold boost. Sooner or later, someone will drop an item that sells a merchant summon, where you can buy stat boosts and such. Wait till around the last quarter of the game, and if you have been saving a day in gold after every battle or so you should be a millionaire or more. Summon the merchant, and well....You will plow through everything if you do it right after that and still be able to score a perfect ending.
This led me to your channel only a couple of days before the ogre battle 64 vid. I'd been searching for this most of the day and after giving up on a few flea markets and thrift stores, found a copy had just listed on ebay about $10 below anything I'd seen looking for it previously. I subbed after seeing the Suikoden interview vid, as it's my favorite series and proceeded to get hyped for the alliance alive as well.
All that to say, thank you for getting me excited about my favorite genre after some burnout /family responsibilities.
Comments like this make it all worth it, my friend. burnout is always temporary, and life shit always comes up, but at the end of a long day, I enjoy kicking back with a comfy as fuck RPG from the golden age and falling asleep within 5 minutes but enjoying every second. Thanks for watching!
Having only played Ogre Battle 64, seeing Debonair and the other people here was cool.
Thanks for the awesome breakdown.
Yeah the way the series connects to each other is great. I don't know if you've played Tactics Ogre, but most of the big characters from Ogre Battle make their appearance there too.
@@Caspicum I'll have to check that one out, very likely use an emulator.
That would be hype.
I loved “Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together” on PSP and knew about the other games on SNES and N64 but hadn’t played them because I heard the gameplay was so different. However, after watching your videos, you got me very excited to check out “March of the Black Queen” and “Person of Lordly Caliber”!
Fantastic! I hope you have a great time!
I will always remember this game as "that game I was too dumb to beat because as a 7 year old I had no idea what strategy was so I couldn't get past the first battle." After watching videos describing the battle system it's like, "Wow, I never had a chance."
Yeah, my first exposure to it was in high school and even then, I'd always get the bad endings. Game sure as shit ain't for bebbi boys.
All Yasumi Matsuno's games are drenched with politics, and complex motivations and events. And I can't blame that, the guy has read a lot of western philosophy and books, and his games incorporate that.
That is why his games are not popular, because, to put it politely, general people can't handle his games. His games don't serve them overly positive things like victory, and love, on a silver platter (like many other games do to keep the fans "happy", #cough#Chrono Trigger#cough#), but shows the harshness and the naked truth of the human nature. And as it turns out, people "hate" this kind of stuff in their _games_.
Games today are being dumbed down, mechanically and narratively, to make more people happy, and while it's understandable that companies want to make money, they loose their identity in this process. And it all because of the "gamers".
Sorry, I just mini-ranted as I wrote this. All I want to say, whenever a gamer demands something they are "entitled" for, a potential Matsuno is pushed down, and forced to work against his/her creativity.
You can't really blame people for not getting too heavily invested in games. Most people work full time, and games are just an outlet to chill for a few hours a week. NOT LIKE US. WE BECOME VIDEO GAMES.
It's why Marvel movies are doing so well. It's all good to enjoy challenging shit, but sometimes I just want to see buff dudes beat the fuck out of each other. Life can be hard enough for some people, where their fiction being challenging is simply too much. I think a lot of us have it so easy, we forget the average person doesn't really give a fuck, so the new Madden every year is enough, you know?
As for dulling stories, I'd say that's more about the technology than the people playing. We can make them look like movies, so movies we shall have. Granted, we shouldn't be praising shit like walking simulators, because they're barely games, and the stories they try to tell are dwarfed by *actual* games. Mass Effect can eat my arse, with it's bullshit story-telling.
My issue with newer vidya, is that old games relied on their gameplay to convey a narrative, at least in part. Newer games are so advanced, they don't have to do that, and it's significantly easier to rig characters to move in a cutscene, than it is to design an engaging piece of gameplay.
Nothing will ever hold a candle to games like Alundra, or come anywhere close to narrative choices like in Breath of Fire 2, where the player actually has to physically do shit to see a result, and without a prompt too!
I'm actually making a Breath of Fire 2 video next, where I lightly glance over some of this shit, but that'd be a fantastic topic for a proper video.
Casp O'saurus Really nice comment. And I was talking in terms of those who are invested in games. I see and read so many people being resistant to change, and try and experience things which dare to break the norm. They instead want to get comfy with their comfy games, and they "want more of the _same_ stuff". That is why you see the "Bioware formula" being applied to so many games, that even Fallout became a victim of it. Why? "Because fans wanted it".
Sorry, but I'm sometimes appalled with such mindset.
Also speaking of Breath of Fire 2, I read that many regard the fan translation to be better than the official one. I highly recommend reading this : www.destructoid.com/destructoid-interview-breath-of-fire-ii-translator-ryusui-132649.phtml
There is certainly value in wanting the same, because what worked a year ago can act as a good foundation for what's to come, but yeah, if something works, nobody ever takes risks by expanding on it. They all just play it safe, and mother fuckers lap that up because it's comfy. Gotta love Bioware, Bethesda, Ubisoft, Naughty Dog, you name it, they'll rehash it until it's dead.
That's why I like Digimon and Dragon Ball Z games. Up until a few years ago, they had their fingers in every pie, and even though they still crank out a fairly diverse set of games genre-wise, they're starting to go the way of the Ubithesdawaredog.
Also, I have seen that! I typically avoid destructoid, because they're mostly fuck-blankets, but occasionally they do some shit worth reading, and that is a fantastic read. I partly blame the 24-hour news cycle, but also some of them say some ridiculous shit. The SNES fan translation of BoF2 has this weird window display, and it makes the text hard to read, but hearing about the idea behind it is extremely valuable. Cheers, lad.
Hemang Chauhan Isn't Chrono Trigger canonically followed by a radically different game where most of your actions in even the good endings of the game don't matter as the kingdom gets wrecked by the forces of Dalton?
@@Caspicum Bro Alundra! such a God damn amazing gem
I love this game man. I remember getting my first Lich and just having a blast ripping apart enemy armies with it.
I give this game a full play through 1-2 times a year, and have done so ever since I first played it back on the SNES. Such an amazing game with an absolutely insane amount of replayability.
I love going back and testing new formations, absolute classic title.
My first Ogre Battle game was Tactics Ogre: the Knight of Lodis, unfortunately I haven't played the other games but have been wanting to for a long time. It's a shame these games haven't had remakes or ported to some of the newer consoles (as far as I know of), I personally really liked the story of Lodis and am curious to see what the other games' stories are about in detail. Glad I found one channel that talks about it, I wish more did. In fact, I wish the series was continued because holy crap did I play the hell of of Lodis when I was a kid.
Knight of Lodis was my second, right after March of the Black Queen, and I love them both. I remember getting in debates with my mate about whether Knight of Lodis or FFTA was better, because he was a pleb.
I actually recorded all of Knight of Lodis, and clocked all the side content under 25 hours for the secret ending to grab the footage for a video, but then I never made the video.
I'm still sitting on the footage just thinking "one day".
I'd love for that day to be soon.
One of my favorite games ever!!!! And your commentary is awesome!!!
love you baby
You have GOT to have a video about Tactics Ogre: Let us cling together. Storywise anyway, because its brilliantly written.
Come, let our steel sing!
Sweet! Good to have more from you! Ps. Cancer Free Since '93! (Really '95, but that doesn't rhyme sooooo...)
I told you you'd be fine! I'm a time wizard, dude. Play me with a Baby Dragon and get some good shit!
Nathaniel Esposito Thats great to hear, may you remain healthy for years to come.
Casp O'saurus: thanks man!
I have easily poured 80+ hours into this game (most, as a teen who just discovered emulators). Loved every damn minute of it.........................using the speed up button on zsnes. Also, using the fog effect from the title scree, in the background of your footage: master stroke.
I couldn't not do it. It's a fantastic effect.
And you're saying you sped it up instead of furry porn. Disappointed, man.
Just got the strategy guide on ebay for £5, this game is overwhelming every time I try to play it!
I LOVE Tactics Ogre, and I've always wanted to get ballsdeep into this game!
It's definitely tough if you're not dedicated to it. I find the best way is to crank that music all the way up and have a real good time.
I see the primordial ooze that would form the Total War franchise here.
Top tier content as always, friend. I may need to snag a copy at some point. I own Ogre Battle 64, should I play the preceding titles first?
they can all be played individually without prior playtroughs, though it's more fun if you play the 4 he mentioned.
Yeah, Zeldrak is pretty spot-on. They're all connected to one another in some way. Some major, some minor. I'd recommend going in order of release for the most mind-blowing moments, but no matter how you'll approach it, I think you'll get something out of it. Especially the two Tactics Ogre games. They're fantastic.
honestly, the snes one is a lot better than 64
Best means the character targets whoever they can do the most damage to
I think you missed the fact that if you include say two griffons and a wizard, the whole unit moves like the griffon. I always imagined this to be the wizard riding the griffon. Really for a SNES game from 1993, the game mechanics are incredibly intricate. But also simple. It's easily one of my top 5 SNES games.
That's an interesting way to look at it, but what if you've only got one Griffon, and three other blokes? That'd be an awkward ride to say the least.
You're 100% right about the game being a beauty though. Genuinely fantastic experience.
@@Caspicum
" if you've only got one Griffon, and three other blokes"
I Can't remember how the game handles that, but as soon as I found a place where I could farm griffons I always grabbed up as many as I could. I call it the Air Superiority strategy. By mid game you have to have a few beast masters and then you just abuse the system to grab up as many griffins as you can and all of a sudden you have an air force. Figured that exploit out when I was 15.
Ogre Battle is unique in that one needs a lot of info to succeed but it sucked me in long enough to learn. I've also beaten it multiple times, so that's even MORE rare!!!
rented this game in 1995 and fell in love with it, thanks to emulation i can enjoy it again.
this game and final fantasy tactics were my first RTS type games, then i played starcraft and warcraft :D
Such a great game ! The 2nd tactical rpg I played(After Shining Force, wich was the only one I knew back then)
Great video, I still have my SNES copy on my game shelf, its by far my favorite game of all time
We got a good taste guy up in this bitch.
Oh man. I remember trying this game out as a kid. Could not for the life of me figure it out.
It's probably way better than I remember. One of those cases of "It's actually good, but you have to learn how it works first before you can judge it, dummy."
Maybe I'll give it another shot sometime.
It's certainly not for everyone, so you may still end up hating it. That said, still absolutely worth trying!
my childhood masterpiece :3 with chrono trigger
That's a quality line up. You were incredibly lucky to have played Ogre Battle as a kid!
FWIW: "Best" tells your units to attack whatever they can, based on their damage resists, so as to maximize DPS. Damage output determines the winner.
Excellent discussion about an excellent game. Sadly I still haven't re-added this to my collection yet.
How much does a physical copy go for? It seems like one of those titles which would be insanely expensive.
Yeah, unfortunately you're correct. The SNES cart is somewhere around a hundred loose I think.
At least there's the PS1 version. Nobody wants the PS1 version :^)
I do! It's more reasonable at least, but many would consider a $60 PS1 game expensive.
I freaking loved this game as a kid! If you do some things "right" you'll even got floating island maps with beautiful music! On the first map (not the tutorial one) you can find lvl 1 dragons in the mountains and hawk man in the deep water! They are really useful to make low flying team and get around easy early on! Once you defeat all the trash mobs dismiss all your groups. Keep one flying around the mountains for dragons and one in the water for the hawk men! Catch a few then go beat the boss! You'll make some money and loose no reputation! Just don't get greedy! Stay for 1 or 2 days! :)
I used to spend hours looking for random encounters in the mountains of all stages.
Even when I got to Pogrom Forest, and saw that I could recruit undead, I immediately made an entire team of undead. It was not the best idea.
90s kid here. I have beat this game multiple ways. All endings and then some.
One of my all time favorites
That's a good-taste boy.
Love me some Ogre Battle.
People have been talking about Unicorn Overlord as a successor to Ogre Battle and I'd been over the moon if that turns out to be true.
Trying to keep the hype down, but I sincerely hope they're right.
I was aware of Ogre Battle's _existence,_ but I was really just invested in Tactics Ogre because I absolutely love FF Tactics, and I lament that I have yet to experience the likes of War of the Lions ever again.
I do adore FF Tactics, but there's something about Knight of Lodis on the GBA that I prefer to every FFT game. That said, I basically consider them all the same series, and adore everything but FFT2.
You played both TO games?
Ogre battle is still one of my favorite games to pick up, play for an hour, get frustrated with, then put away for a few weeks. I found a copy at my local blockbuster video when I was a kid and after realizing how rare the snes version was in the states, decided to tell them I lost it. I've had it ever since, even though when I play it now I prefer the ps1 port for the little bit of polish they added to it. Great, but fairly tough game
I'm actually writing a video on the 'sequel' Person of Lordly Caliber, and it's odd how far it shifted from the core formula, and how I think it suffered.
Casp O'saurus I absolutely agree. I'm currently playing that one, as well as the Knights of Lodis. Both were inferior sequels, but not without their own charm. They were the 2 I never finished and I'm hoping to find something about both that I really enjoy
Knights of Lodis was a fantastic alternative to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance though, and the story that syncs up so well is mind-blowing. I think I honestly prefer Knight of Lodis to Let us Cling Together, but I've only played the PSP one which is... Iffy.
Knights of Lodis was a fantastic alternative to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance though, and the story that syncs up so well is mind-blowing. I think I honestly prefer Knight of Lodis to Let us Cling Together, but I've only played the PSP one which is... Iffy.
Another awesome video! I am so excited to check this game out for myself, so thank you!
Let me know what you think of the game if you get around to it!
I have played it like 5 times but never finished.
Certain characters will act differently towards you if you are male or female which is pretty neat. Overall this was such an awesome game. I've beaten it at least 3 times and had a different ending each time.
I've only played as a female a couple of times, and I think it was because she had a specific spell that the boy didn't have. I've been playing this lovely game on and off for the past 20-odd years, so I've got a lot of hazy memories.
Queen 2 is easilly queens best album. March of the black queen isn't only a hidden gem of a game its also a hidden gem of a song.
The super duper secret ending 13 is a reference to the Hidden track 13 on the Queen album "Made in Heaven"
*oh my gooooooooooooooood*
@@Caspicum lol
so it’s basically a combination of soul nomad and generations of chaos, that’s all right in my book
I haven't played Soul Nomad yet :( I've owned the bastard for like 10 years and have never played it. Worf?
Honestly, I only looked this game up because I recognised the title from the Queen songs. I'm very glad I did, it's great.
Makes me extremely happy to see new people finding this amazing series. Thanks for the comment!
amazing game - sub par review - considering this is actually the greatest game of all time for the SNES i think your underselling this game
You might be right, it's been a hot minute. It's a solid game but it's got some big flaws, defo not the greatest game for the SNES, but it's certainly up there. I also don't sell games, brother. Over-hyping shit is for IGN, I just encourage people to give everything I talk about a look, and formulate their own opinions.
If you can give me some specific criticism I'd take them on, even if this video was... shit, 3/4 years ago now I think. MIght be something I can apply to future videos. Cheers
I loved this game. And I loved the soundtrack. I only ever beat it once aaaaaaand became dark overlord of the land. Whoops!
Yeah, you beat the Dark Queen and Satan himself and then... Become Satan himself.
Definitely fucked that one up.
So I have one thing to add here, I happened on a disc only copy of this game for the PSX, it was the anniversary edition, i paid 5 dollars for it and easily one of the best buys i ever made. It is superior to the snes version and when ever I hear someone talk about how much they love FF tactics, I think of this game as being hands down way better. Just my opinion. Really good review though.
*I REIGN WITH MY LEFT HAND! I RULE WITH MY RI*--
ght
I'm lord of all darkness I'm queen of the night
tu vieja en cana I’ll be your bad boy, i’ll be your bad boy!
NOW DO THE MARCH OF THE BLACK QUEEN
I really loved this game, but it was hard when I was younger just to get past the 5th stage. XD
The fact that you made it to stage 5 is a feat in and of itself, hey.
I've seen full playthroughs of this game, and no way would I have been able to make it there as a kid. XD Now that I'm older, maybe.
If they make games like this anymore, I'd like someone to point me in that direction. I had only gotten (I think) 3 of the endings when I played the hell out of it 20+ years ago. The pandemic allowed me the time to get 3 different ones. Great game!
Looks like the pandemic wasn't a waste after all!
Only person I trust with a review for Unicorn Overlord. Hopefully, you'll consider covering it or at least checking out its demo or something. (Still cautiously optimistic myself)
The demo is iffy, I will say that much. I'm not looking for a 1:1 Ogre Battle, but certain little things irked me. Vanillaware is one of the few companies I trust not to completely ruin it, but I'm not feeling too good after trying the demo. Gonna wait for the full game though!
@@Caspicum RIP, yeah, kinda what I figured/felt. Again, I'm cautiously optimistic, but it doesn't help that a lot of people will just sort gloss over/handwave some of the problems and hop on board the bandwagon cuz Vanillaware/ShAtlus. Hence why I'd prefer your take. There's not a *lot* of good JRPG youtubers/coverage :/
Thanks for the reply on the matter!
miss this game... seen a few speedrun videos that were awesome, about an hour just boss rushin'...
Wait You're not Roo from Clan of the Grey Wolf? I don't care glad to have 16-bit Gems back
You're talking some serious shit and the reference is lost on me.
but I appreciate it regardless.
I miss 16 Bit Gems as well @.@
Huge compliment.
I just researched this guy, and holy shit. He had a fantastic channel and ruined it completely with terrible podcasts.
WHAT DID HE DO?
HIS ACT RAISER 2 VIDEO IS GREAT.
Casp O'saurus MFW I introduce Casp to who he must replace
May one day i see a review on my favorite RPG of all times?
I want to see Final Fantasy Tactics on your channel soo bad!
It will happen. I played War of the Lions about a year ago, with the no lag patch and wew lad it's so much better than I remembered.
I know.
I own and played both and still is my favorite RPG of all time.
I can't get enough of that game, i did everything i could do with it and i still play. Pacifist runs (All teammates have Mediator skill, so i don't kill anyone unless it's necessary),Mathematical Challenges (exploiting the hell and back how broken the Arithmetician is), 100% runs, No special units run.
Zero The Bloodedge OH YEAH
And add Vagrant Story there as well! One of the best RPG on PS1, if not ever.
Il always remember my first time through this gem. Challenge ran Tactics Ogre for years, friend's like "When's Ogre Battle"? Had just completed Tactics Ogre KoL Fairy Only, he's like "Do that for OB." It's more like 80% Fairy Only, but still interesting.
Find a staff and ring of the dead pretty much immediately. He's in the background like MAKE A LICH!!! How do I do that? You need a mage to a sorcerer to a Lich. Cool. So a Sorcerer is a Necromancer. How do I do that? Low Alignment, High Charisma. Spend the next like 2 hours trying to cheese random encounters to somehow get this uncharismatic bastard to get skelly laid. The pickup lines and in jokes generated from this stupid event go on to this day.
I should mention it was a no reload run. He later became the champion of the team, but defected to the Black Queen. It just felt so appropriate. His charisma had gone from 0 to so high that the queen wanted to see them bones.
This game is neat.
My god what a tale. Can you even blame a Lich for defecting? Also fairy only is insane. I know they're practically like cardboard in terms of defense, but what does the damage output of a fairy army look like?
@@Caspicum Early on they kind of suck, but to be honest, they were practically rolling Armored Core bosses by the end of it. The Jesus Lasers absolutely lay waste to things. Plus they exorcise, so when combined with the inevitable princess squad, they were unstoppable. Bad ending, of course. Mosquitoes with laser guns are not a viable form of government.
OB64 was way harder. Ultimately almost got through the entire series....only for Magnus to get annihilated by that one sphinx hiding amongst the the random mob at the last castle siege while I was distracted staring out a window 🤣
An incredible game
I kept trying to get into this game but I enjoyed let us cling together more than march of the black queen
That's fair. Let Us Cling Together is a lot quicker-paced and significantly better in terms of balancing and... I guess being a more well-rounded experience.
Great Game loved playing it back in the day!
Finished this game 2 times already. 1st low reputation (didn't know all rules, so my main units were really OP invading cities), then high reputation in the next playthrough.
There are units which cannot be acquired in each path, so the child inside of me that wants to get every character was displeased :P. But that goes into the experience of the game.
Awesome game! I've learned that there is a portable version, maybe I'll check that one out.
I think the portable version is technically a sequel, and follows Tristan. I also think it's only in Japanese. I could be wrong, but 99% sure.
Wow, a reply for a comment on a video from more than year ago :D.
Looks like you're right on the money for the Gaiden.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_Ogre_Battle_Gaiden:_Prince_of_Zenobia
I think this game's rules and battle mechanics are really good for the army management feel, unlike most other games achieve even today.
Such as not being turn based like Nobunaga's Ambition battle, so you have to manage a lot skirmishes and positioning simultaneously.
Or units not having a proper name, so you can use and discard them or respect them even without knowing each one's background, unlike Fire Emblem that feels like a group of rebel friends fighting an army.
And a lot of other things you did comment.
This game seems really advanced to have been on the SNES.
There were some great feats achieved on the SNES, but I think Ogre Battle is easily one of the most complex and innovative of the system.
I haven't played ogre battle myself. But I did play tactics ogre. WHile the game does have some flaws in either version, as far as i'm concerned, it's my pinnacle. It's that one game that to me means more than anything else, faults and all. I wish that Matsuno will one day return to make the octalogy a reality
The GBA one, or the SNES/PS1/PSP one? Both are quality picks though, and I hope Matsuno gives us at least one more Ogre Battle before he kicks the bucket.
@@Caspicum Both actually, but it was Let us cling together that i was reffering to. And while I do agree, something tells me he ain't going back to square. Here's hoping to a new series from him with the same level of care
A few things about Ogre Battle for those wanting to understand it:
1). "BEST": From what I've gathered, this instructs your characters to prioritize the leader first, OR, hit an enemy they are capable of killing with their next attack, OR whatever enemy they can do the most damage to, in that order.
2). Use Tarot Cards to *weaken* the enemy unit so that your characters can finish them off. You gain next to no XP for fighting a battle in which nobody dies. You only gain meaningful XP when something dies. But as Casp said, you do not want to kill enemy units with tarot cards because all the XP goes straight to your hero. An overlevelled hero will cause a lot of problems if you want the good ending.
3). You can buy Jokers from the 3rd Map's shop and beyond. Using a Joker will give you one Tarot Card. I find that two stacks of 99 Jokers is enough to do nearly any map except for maybe the last few. One stack per map should be enough for the first half of the game.
4). To keep yourself well-supplied with money: Every single map in the game except for the very last one, *has a finite number of units* in the enemy's army. Simply park it at your home base with a few units out front that you want to level up (swap between them as you level them up). Early maps have 2 of each unit type, and it goes up to 4 of each for the last few maps. Kill all the enemy units until no more spawn. Go liberate everything on the map (send all of your units away so that your Hero is the only one out) and then wait for incoming tribute money. Do this until you see your reputation meter drop twice. Go kill the last boss. Using this formula will give you more than enough money to run your army and buy enough jokers to weaken every single enemy unit so you can kill them easily and quickly AND you can get the best ending doing this.
5). Use Moonbeams to prevent Noon (and Tribute) until you're ready to rake in money. Wait until almost Noon, use the Moonbeam to turn it back to Night.
6). *LIBERATE EVERYTHING USING YOUR HERO* ! You get a reputation bonus if your Hero has good Alignment and Charisma, and you get an added bonus for using your hero to liberate the town. If you need a special character to trigger a cutscene, place this character in your hero's unit when you go to liberate the town.
7). Fight all bosses with your Hero (place special characters in Hero's group). Even more reputation bonuses ahoy!
8). Use units containing a gryphon to chase enemy units that turn into skulls (if you accidentally kill their leader).
9). Keep 3 "Evil" Units for when your Hero/Good units are leveled up. Don't fight anything with a higher level than the enemy except for these 3 evil units. Said evil units should be comprised of 3 Mage-types in the back row + 1 tanky monster in the front (gryphons work best; you can use these as your chaser units as described above). There's Warren, and two other mages that work for this (each special mage getting their own unit alongside two normal mages). If you do it right, you can turn the Wizards into Mages, and then if you get enough luck, you can get a few Liches. Liches are insanely powerful. Once you get a Lich, you don't have to worry what their CHA/ALI are, they can be 0. That's fine. Just don't over-use them.
10). Always use item transformations (Sorcerer's Staves, Lich's Rings) on Unique Characters (Warren, Saradin, etc) first, because they are stronger and deal more damage. Warren's spells hit harder than a normal Wizard, for example.
11). While using Jokers to draw Tarot Cards, always keep two "FOOL" cards on you. Save them for the map's boss; a FOOL card causes everybody but the leader to flee combat. This makes boss battles MUCH easier. It's also nice to always keep a Priestess/Empress card on you or two at all times for emergency healing, and also keep a Moon Card to swap rows because some enemy units come with deadly combinations (such as two Muses in the back).
Addendum to #9: You may or may not want to substitute two of these "evil" units for Dollmage units. Since you don't get the other two unique Wizards/Mages until later maps, you'll want these two units earlier, and Dollmages make great early-game replacements for wizards. You don't want a unit full of them, though. Two wizards+1 dollmage is a great alternative until you get high enough to turn your wizards into mages. You can also change a dollmage into a wizard then into a mage later on too.
These are great points, and shit that plenty of new people will miss. Appreciate it, my boy.
I actually have been pondering the idea of making a beginner's guide of how to get the good ending, but my voice is nowhere near as good lol. But yeah, I enjoy making guides and stuff like that.
Hey, my voice is nothing special either. A nice voice helps, but as plenty of people have shown us, it's far from necessary!
The playstation remake was pretty awesome.
Sadly the Sega Saturn version with VOICE ACTING was only released in Japan.
If I had the money I'd totally pay a company to make a new game similar to Ogre Battle.
Voice acting, you say?
Things just took an interesting turn.
Ah, this was always one of my favorite games ever since I found out about it by basically complete chance.
The version I always played was the PS1 version, though I later tried the SNES version and it seems the PS1 version is the exact same game, just with a new coat of paint and new audio. (And the music in the PS1 version is really good)
Well, either way, subbed and thumbed up.
Yeah, it's a shame about the PS1 version, because it seems to have added so many improvements, yet *LOAD TIMES*.
If we could get that version, sans load times, it probably would've been the version I looked at. Though, by the PS1 era, we had Command and Conquer, Starcraft, Warhammer, and a whole host of other RTS titles on home consoles, so it certainly wasn't *as* special.
This game looks very interesting! Thanks for bringing my attention to it.
Thanks for watching!
The PS1 version had way smoother everything. I really wish there was a sequel/prequel or anything remotely awesome as Ogre Battle's class system which was meticulous at the time. An online co-op would be awesome to take on the enemy would be insanely awesome...
I'd love to give the PS1 version a crack, but I think the load times would add additional bloat to an already fairly slow game. I'd love to be wrong about that.
I loved this game but enjoyed it more on the emulator with a turbo mode function. The slow movement of the units was a pain to me.