The Shrine

I've been through this one once before, and it is a little saddening to know that this is still the latest game in the series. I am really hoping Square digs a little into Matsuno's notes and comes up with another one sometime (with Matsuno's help of course).

The first Ogre Battle is a great game, but it is very thin on plotline and character developmet compared to the sequel.

Anyway, I am playing through this time with the goal of only liberating cities (rather than capturing them). I want to get as many special characters as possible without having to follow an FAQ (following an FAQ for a game with this many points of note can get annoying).

For those who have played before. For starters:

I leveled up some characters and got 10 units (the max that can be on the field at once). Some units are main battle teams (5 human characters), and others are mop-up crew/training teams (1 leader and 4 soldier units) with the ultimate goal of having a spread in alignments. I am even going so far as to make certain teams only kill chaotic enemy characters, an others killing lawful characters to get a range of alignments. This is a fairly easy task early on. I am about 5 hours in now.

Julius Seeker wrote:I've been through this one once before, and it is a little saddening to know that this is still the latest game in the series.

TO: Knight of Lodis for the GBA is actually the latest if you consider it all one series. Same world, same classes, shared characters (Deneb). Play it if you didn't, 'cause it's rad. I have a copy if you want to buy it (or trade Suikoden 2 for it!).

I only played a bit of OB64. I had the opportunity to buy it for $30 once and passed... I imagine it is (or was) worth more now.

If you have a Wii, it's 10 bucks =P

Otherwise around 40-50 for a used cartridge, or $130 new. It was a very pricey game when it first came out as well (I think I must have paid about $90-100 for it)

In my opinion, it is still as fun now as it was then. It's just one of those games that ages slowly; though if you need the more detailed graphics, it is sort of on the level of the pre-rendered 24-bit sprites of the late SNES era - though with more variety. Overall there is a LOT packed into this one game; one thing I really like, is that it has a historian system similar to FFT, though they pack in even more stuff (hidden easter eggs, like you can view your character's birthday parties which otherwise won't appear in the game unless you look back through the history logues).

I do have Knight of Lodis, it's been a while since I have played that one now. It's a different sort of game though.

I downloaded "Orge Battle: The March of the Black Queen" for the SNES virtual console and it is F-ing next to impossible. I did this because I remember you going on about how great Ogre Battle 64 was forever ago. Is OB64 anywhere near as difficult?

I beat OB for SNES once upon a time and got a pretty shitty ending. The game's retarded in how it forces you to use weaker armies that the enemy lest your reputation meter plummet. I usually just made two or three good parties and raped everything. Liches are key, since they case magic on all thrice.

Ogre Battle to Ogre Battle 64 is considerably more user friendly (like I am talking Phantasy Star 2 vs Final Fantasy 6 more user friendly). I have never finished the original Ogre Battle, but I am going to attempt it sometime soon. For the original, there are hardcore fan communities who can be of help.

Just remember to keep 10 units and mind alignment so you can bulk up your military with Paladins.

Alright, I have reached the stage wher the first contact with people of the netherworld occurs (I guess it can be sort of considered similar to Draenor in Warcraft I & II).

A lame as it sounds, I have named everyone in my army; that's dozens of characters =P

Each of the ten teams consists of 5 characters; some are yet incomplete (Still just a bunch of basic soldiers with one character leading). Eventually my main forc will have 50 characters.

Themes on the teams:
I have my main team, which includes myself, Steph, and mutual friends.
A team based on pets (yes, I know =P)
A team based on Sun and Moon Deities (Diana and Selena, with Mithras, Apollo, and Helios)
A team based on FF8 characters
A team based on Phoenix Wright Characters
Dio leads the true gam character team (Katreida, Asbabel, Leia, and Troi; these haracters cannot be renamed).
Etc....