Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber

Written by Ilan Mejer  on March 07, 2001

Review: A highly anticipated sequel of a cult Super Nintendo classic, Ogre Battle 64 is the epitome of real time strategy RPG gaming on any console.

Tweet

Comments

Every scenario you play through will run in real time. You will deploy your armies on an overhead, fully 3D map. You must plot strategies, manage resources, and manipulate your armies in real time, as your enemies will be doing the same. Adding to the steep learning curve and overall difficulty, you will also have to react to your enemies' strategies and assaults in real time as well. Fans of Ogre Battle will come to discover that the original's СChaos Frame' statistic is in fact present in this game, albeit as an invisible number. No longer will you be able to view your forces' Chaos Frame, which reflects the populace's opinion to your presence and your overall popularity with them. This Chaos Frame mainly determines whether you are viewed as hero or villain, and ultimately decides which of the many possible endings you will view when you complete the game. Every decision you make, no matter how unimportant, affects the Chaos Frame, but your inability to actually view this information in game, at any point, makes it much harder than the original to determine your progress and popularity with the people. In general, keep in mind that liberating towns will add to your CF, while capturing them will subtract from it. Additionally, defending a town while occupying it will greatly reduce your CF, as the townspeople would rather you repel the enemy before they arrive to devastate their countryside.

OB64 is a massive cartridge, larger even than the impressive Ocarina of Time and even rivaling Capcom's FMV-filled port of Resident Evil 2. The reason for such a large cartridge size becomes immediately apparent after playing the game for a few minutes: The pre-rendered graphics and fluid animation. Aside from the 3D map, every single weapon, item, monster, character, and piece of furniture is masterfully represented as a pre-rendered sprite. Adding to this is Quest's inclusion of a beautifully pre-rendered scene for every single backdrop and combat background in the game. Being an RPG, and one built from a traditionally static graphics system, you would think the game would look very stiff, but Quest also managed to include an insane amount of sprite animation and even wind-simulating background animations. The characters come to life and exude personality as they interact with their backgrounds and each other in a convincing and realistic manner. Watching them wander about while talking, opening and closing doors realistically, and even pushing out their chairs as they stand up from a roundtable discussion is truly a site to behold. As for combat, the scenario 3D map graphics are quite simplistic, yet effective. However, the game truly shines in the actual melee. Watching the mages unleash spells, the archers volley their ammunition, the dragons discharge their elemental breath weapons, and even different units combine their spells and abilities is graphically magnificent as well as extremely satisfying from a gameplay standpoint.

In the aural department, OB64 can be a mixed bag, and the N64 architecture is only partially to blame. The actual in-game sound effects are quite generic, particularly the combat sounds and synthesized death screams. It is nothing we have not heard in RPGs before, and given the sheer amount of different attacks and combinations available, tends to lack variety. The music is typical of Quest, and for you audiophiles out there, that means the stunning style of music from previous Ogre games returns. Unfortunately, if it sounds too familiar, it is because approximately 40% of the musical tracks are remixes from the original Super Nintendo game. There is no doubt that the new songs are incredible, but a quest of this length would have been better complimented with a more original score.

The Ogre games have always been known for their massive replay value, mainly embodied by the branching story lines, sub-quests, new characters, and new items only available in certain story lines, and of course the multiple endings. OB64 is no different, and in fact adds to this experience by including more of each. Throw in returning special characters and items from the original game's story, which can only be recruited or found if very specific in-game goals are met, and you will be treated to an extremely varied and deep experience. In addition, the entire game engine has been revamped to support more varied character classes, more units, a much more robust inventory system for each unit, more unique artifacts and magical weapons, an extremely deep alignment system, and the new ability of grouping teams to form legions, and you have a new Ogre Battle experience that must be replayed repeatedly in order to truly experience everything the detail-orientated title has to offer.