Tactics Ogre - Beat this! Quick review time.
Story-wise, I think the game does something very neat with the pathsplit at the end of chapter 1. I went law route so I'll talk only about that for now... I also really liked the stuff at the end of chapter 2. And Lans has one really solid scene with the other Lans somewhere in chapter 3-4. Unfortunately the rest of the plot in the later two chapters isn't really worth talking about, and there aren't exactly many compelling characters, and the endgame plot is really stupid. Basically the game's plot is FFT without FFT's good parts. It had potential at least, and I don't come away from the game thinking "wow that sucked" but despite its flashes of promise it's not a game for which story is the reason to play it.
Gameplay is quite solid of course. It's a small thing arguably, but I really like how you could scroll over enemies to get damage projections even when they were out of range, helped you choose where to move and streamlined everything. It makes the core gameplay great. Class system is okay though I wish there was more reason to crossclass. New classes starting at Level 1 is a terrible, terrible idea and pretty much singlehandedly lowers the game a point, obviously its worst feature. The game's mechanics felt borderline impenentrable and at times a bit glitchy (I still don't think Lion Dance, Misery, or Anatomy/etc. actually do anything, at least on units with Strengthen) which is unfortunate but the great damage projections make up for this so it's okay. Also, not sure what they were thinking with a 14-floor inescapable final dungeon with virtually zero plot. C'mon guys.
Despite the flaws it's a very fun SRPG and certainly rises above the uninspired efforts of the genre. I'd put it #3 in that style of SRPG behind FFT and WAXF but that was virtually inevitable unless the game blew my socks off or was a complete disappointment.
I finished around Level 24, 45ish hours. Did almost nothing optional until right before the final dungeon where I cleared that forest area mostly so I'd have enough money to have Blessing Stones for the final dungeon. If I'd been better at the game this wouldn't have been necessary of course, and even then it was arguably overkill; the final dungeon wasn't especially hard. Granted I apparently missed the final boss' best move. Party was 3 archers, 1 vartan, 2 knights, 2 warriors, 1 ninja, 2 clerics, and 1 dragoon. Played around with others, so... class reviews~
Archer: Everyone knows this is the best class, right? Not too much to say, most battles being "defeat boss" made them even better than they would be otherwise (which was already MVP-potential), their offence is frequently range ~10 and they have a much more generous line of fire than most other ranged options. Great damage, Tremendous Shot for even more when needed, and for some reason they have great evade, so they aren't even liabilities on durability like other offensive classes. 3 move is the only complaint. Accuracy in rain was also bad earlygame but this totally goes away for some reason. Objectively I should have used more than three probably.
Warrior: Archer with more durability but only 1 range. Obviously that's a losing trade (it can be hard to attack the enemies you want to attack), but they're still competent, and their counters hurt enough to be noticed, especially towards the end. They don't do much besides hit things, counter things, and use Field Alchemy when hitting things isn't called for, but they've got the stats at least.
Wizard: Not impressed here. They're like archers with worse damage (especially right after being revived), worse range/targetting freedom, and waaay worse durability. They have some limited multitarget later and some status but I don't think this excuses the wretched durability which I found quite a hindrance.
Cleric: Kinda like wizard in that the durability sucks, but they can generally stay further back so this isn't as much of an issue. Still, I'd say their job could be served well enough by items (although money in this game can be an issue) except... Major Heal. And especially Mother's Blessing Major Heal. This can often negate half a dozen enemy actions in one fell swoop and is just amazing action economy. There's also Exorcism, which while not great that often is invaluable in a few fights (especially since you can't move through the panels of stilled undead. WTF?). Lacking offence sucks, but Boon of Swiftness gives them something to do when you for some reason don't need any healing at all. Probably the class that feels third most useful to me, although I'd never use more than two (one serves fine for many battles, even).
Rune Fencer: Sorta suffers from the same curse as some versions of the FF red mage. Heal is nice for range but it's not nearly the upgrade Major Heal is, and they're just a bit too close to the real mages in durability. Kinda the worst of both word between the pure mages and knight, it feels like.
Knight: And this would be the already-alluded to #2 class. Knights are durable bastards - physical, magical, status, you name it. Kinda like LFT knights in this regard. They're slow, but they get in enemies' way and make them waste attacks, while providing ranged healing so they can stand where they need to stand and abuse Rampart Aura to protect others. And hey, they can counter, so they contribute a bit more on offence than they otherwise might. Just all-around good stuff, Knghts + Archers feels the easiest way to dominate the game.
Terror Knight: Really didn't use this one much, but wasn't too impressed by what I did see.
Berserker: Goes for the lower-durability, higher-offence mold than warrior... which isn't really a great idea on a frontliner, and then they make it worse by Berserk being generally not as good as Mighty Impact (it could have been, if we'd been allowed to target empty panels, but as is it is often difficult to hit the enemies needed). Pass.
Dragoon: Oddball. Great to have when fighting beasts or dragons, since the slayer skills just do amazing damage. Subpar warrior wannabe otherwise, but not so large a downgrade (in particular, durability is fine, unlike a few classes just talked about) to really make you suffer, so I certainly enjoyed using one.
Ninja: Now we start getting to the classes who are gained kinda late and struggle a bit as a result. Still, ninjas are pretty handy. The extra mobility is nice, and the damage is great even if the katana masteries are horrid for anything but ranged options. Ninja spells are... I dunno, overall, but Decoy is good when you finally get that. Could be great if they'd actually had good evasion instead of shockingly bad, as is the durability holds them back in many fights.
Warlock: Can't say I was interested in a wizard clone that also had the underlevelled problem! Maybe if it had had 4 move...
Swordmaster: Swordmaster seems to have a lot of potential but the durability is just too bad, even worse than Berserker is no good. Preempt is great and certainly their selling point, but you just generally don't want the Swordmaster wading into the front lines enough to abuse it. I guess there's potential with knockback but even then too many enemies are immune and ranged enemies will carve the SM apart. Lion Dance sadly sucks and the healing one is kinda useful but not enough to excuse the other flaws.
Ranger: 4 move archer. Or 4 move ninja with less bad durability. Underlevelled though, not really worth it.
Anything that joins after this point: Do not want.
Feels like the balance could overall have been better but still fun enough.
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Valkyrie Profile - In Chapter 8! I am not using reaction abilities or Angel Curios (shock) this playthrough, or the Creation Jewel, and am not religiously fighting everything like I have on every previous playthrough. Does make things a bit more interesting. I died once to Wraith since he OHKOed my party despite lightning defence, BExped Valkyrie to avoid this happening again. I've also died once to Fire Elementals spamming Flame Banner in Citadel of Flame and a double-possessed Haunt since I really, really screwed up a fight in Celestial Castle. Laziness woo. This has been quite a quick and casual playthrough (I'm still under 14 hours, nearly done) but it's been a fun enough romp.
