Topic: Unicorn Overlord

Wow, it’s worse than I thought, then. I had a month lead-time, you had much longer, and still neither of us could get the Monarch edition in-store? Physical releases are dwindling, and GameStop should glom onto notable titles like this for all they’re worth. Such a bummer.

With my crushing backlog, delays like this usually don’t bug me, but Uni-O is one of those titles I really anticipated.

You would think that if GameStop had the game available for shoppers to preorder on their main website, they could also allow their stores to “preorder” to fill local customers orders. It’s a shame how they neglect the physical locations they have, and the staff working there. I try to support local shops, but they don’t make it easy sometimes.

Ah well, I’m still excited to play the full game, just bummed I couldn’t start it this weekend.

@SwitchForce
I've honestly had really good luck preordering things through GameStop and getting them on or before the launch day and with free shipping. Lots of games and even my original launch Switch all went over without an issue. I am a Pro member, though, so I don't know if that affects things at all.

Haha got the bad end to the game. Went where I thought it would. Welp time to work on the good ending lol.

Edit: Someone at Atlus likes FE a little too much. Got an outcome I wasn’t hoping for. Final Battle was awesome but I didn’t quite like the ending. But they explained the title lol.

Finally got my copy on Saturday. Played a few hours yesterday. It certainly feels like the most "new player friendly" version of tactical rpg. I like how the micro-encounters on the overworld map let you testbed your squad composition. With your unit loadouts pre-engagement leaning Unicorn Overlord almost into a puzzle game of sorts.

Yeah, I like this as much as I thought I would.

Welp I rolled credits early so now I will finish liberating the towns I have missed, grinding and optimizing my team. I got a lot of CCs to earn. Overall very good game and it respects the player’s time. I am disappointed in how the ritual works in light of the lore but it is what it is.

Edit:Working on post game content now.

Plot discussion below:
OK, so I don't think the plot of the game is that bad...mostly. There is a lot of exposition required to get the gist but the game does hand it to you in droves. So basically from what I understand, the ancient Zenorian Empire tore itself apart in civil war and Galerius ends up Emperor of a barren land. The Zenorians are magical and weapons experts so they essential magic nuked the land. Galerius was not content to be emperor of a dying land so he gatherer up his people (what was left of them) and his Generals and his Wizard (Baltro) and set sail for new lands. They landed in Fevrith...which was already occupied by Elves (and most likely humans but the story is a little unclear). Fevrith is full of magical power and magical creatures/guardians such as the massive Tree that protects the elves and the Unicorn.
The Unicorn in particular is a sacred breed and can purify/cleanse evil. Galerius set about conquering the entire land (the ruins of the capital are there in game) and he also wanted to live forever (because why not I suppose) so they wanted to use the power of the unicorn and any other magic they could get their hands on to do so. Baltro is a genius Wizard but has absolutely no morality so he and his disciples set about working on that while Galerius goes to war. The Elves are on two continents at least, Bastorias to the north and Elfhiem in the southwest. As the Zenorians win the Elves in Elfhiem abandon their cousins and use their guardian to protect their lands. The Elves in Bastorias create a magic artifact that turns them in to werebeasts in hopes of being strong enough to fight back...the knowledge to change back is lost over time. Meanwhile Baltro and company experiment on the unicorns and people and try to create a divine being/immortal. They succeed in a few ways, they create a spell of possession, they create the Winged (but they aren't immortal) and they create the a being with divine connection who eventually becomes the first Pontifex and Baltro figures out how to extend his life but doesn't tell anyone. (which of course means the entire religion is somewhat bunk) Galerius succeeds in conquering Feverith and Batro states that he can give Galerius what he wants but he needs to kill the last unicorn via ritual/magic. They do so and it backfires (or it may have been what Baltro was hoping for not sure) as the Unicorn's death unleashes its magic and "cleanses" Zenoria...AKA kills everyone and traps their souls in limbo.
However only one person survives, the Maiden/Holy Mother and the first Pontifex is also alive (as they aren't Zenorian/natural human/evil). The Maiden is imbued with the Unicorn's power/blood and can cleanse things. So the Maiden and the Pontifex goes and builds sanctuaries to act as a cleansing conduit and to seal away the souls in the beyond. Once they finish, the Maiden expunges the power and it becomes two rings, and the pontifex goes off and starts the religion, while the Maiden goes and founds Grand Corrine (she is Alain's ancestor). However Baltro who isn't dead managed to use his spell to fuse Galarius' soul to his armor. This is where it gets a little weird, as that armor is in Valmore's (the general in the beginning) family and I don't know if that means descendant or they found it and claimed it as their own in the past. The spell allows for possession NOT brainwashing the way everyone keeps saying.

FedEx delivered my Monarch Edition yesterday (Mon), as predicted. Sadly, by the time I got home from work, finished chores, and hit the couch to start up a new game, it was 11pm. Naturally, I fell asleep before Josef could even flee with baby Alain! This is why I hoped to have the game last weekend - weekends tend to be the only time I have energy & leisure time enough to game lately.

I was disappointed that the CD included in the box was a selection of “16-bit Arrangements” and not a standard soundtrack. After listening a bit, it wasn’t too bad, but still….
It was then that I happily discovered the Unicorn Overlord OST is available on Spotify! I like all the dramatic music in the game, so I’ll be streaming it from time to time.

@Magician
Sort of. It'll get more complicated as you progress. There are tons of classes, and then you get lots of active abilities that certain classes can use on the battle map, and some are kinda/sorta important depending on the battle.

Overall I haven't been super challenged yet. There was one battle earlier in norther Cornia that was a few levels above me but I tried anyway, couldn't quite do it. But other than that, I've been having a blast. I'm 20 hours in, but I'm going slow just absorbing and reading everything.

@Ryu_Niiyama
Nice lol I'm not quite there yet, so I don't want to read the spoiler. I can't do too many hours on weekdays usually. It's probably gonna be two more weekends until I beat it.

@rallydefault Take your time. I just accidentally lost the weekend to it.

@rallydefaut I'm alright with the lack of challenge. I'm here mostly for the art and chill vibes. That said, I am surprised with how strong some valor abilities are. After acquiring Rolf, I was shocked how I was able to delete 90% of the next boss's health and all his troops before even engaging in a fight with him.

I am looking forward to playing this one day. From what I've read, the only thing I will dislike is the name and the acronym, because that one will forever be for Ultima Online.

@Magician what difficulty level are you playing on?

Edit: ok I have beaten the post game fight (which was insane) and I will keep grinding my units but I think I am done.

The height of vanity! I am quoting myself:

Turns out I will NOT be streaming the OST, as apparently it has been pulled from Spotify. The album and tracks are displayed but grayed-out, and I'm told "SONG UNAVAILABLE" if I try to play it.
Maybe the album was posted illicitly, or it was region-locked to Japan only? Spotify is weird like that.
Such a bummer, though - it was too good to be true. I hope it returns to Spotify later, or that I can buy the soundtrack album from Japan eventually.

@Ryu_Niiyama Typically I play games on the lowest difficulty.

@Magician Ah that’s fair. The game has 4 difficulty levels so that may be why there is no challenge. I played on normal. I will try hardest difficulty if I replay it though.

Ten hours in, 30% of the map uncovered.

That first encounter with Galerius was actually kind of tough, nothing fireballs can't handle.

Just having fun with the fog-of-war before entering the Elf and Dragon domains.

On the difficulty spectrum, I tend to prefer opting for the harder side of normal difficulty, but tend to rarely enjoy games on really high difficulty settings. Like Fire Emblem Lunatic runs. No thank you.

I'd probably opt for the Hard mode as long as it's not too hard.

@Magician yeah Galerius having the ability to just negate attacks is hecka annoying especially if it puts you in a poor tactical position. Make sure you are stationing people at towns as you free them.

Ok, 30 hours in now, having an absolute blast. I don't think I've become so absorbed in an RPG world like since some of the PS1 Final Fantasy games... and Triangle Strategy, of course lol

Anyway, yea, did the desert area (need to go back for the Coliseum eventually... if you know you know), and I'm pretty deep into the Elf area.

It's becoming a game I don't want to end. I'll find myself just spending an hour catching up on the lore entries, perfecting my characters' equipment (takes a long time when you have dozens and dozens of units), etc.

Pretty sure I'm super overleveled, though. I'm playing on normal difficult and just steamrolling every fight. I haven't felt any real pressure since that one time early in the game.

As a tip, vary your unit compositions. It may seem nice to "balance" every unit with a tank, a magic user, a healer, a DPS, etc., but I find that specializing units works way better. One of my most successful units is just a single hoplite up front and then packed with a witch, wizard, and archer in the back, no healer (I have unlocked five-person units, but not for this one yet). They absolutely wreck most enemies.

@rallydefault Eh the Coliseum and the final fight (which was crazy) went up in to level 45 (actually the Coliseum goes up to 50) and even with me having a few squads at 50 I struggled. I had to switch up some squad formations and optimize equipment. So while you can out pace parts of the game since each region is a set level the terrain and new units will imo keep you on your toes until you beat the game.

@Ryu_Niiyama
Yea, that's gonna have to wait until the end for sure.

I'm really enjoying the flexibility of these Elf classes! The Augur is cool with a little bit of everything, good supplement for most formations.

Some of the map abilities have been game changers, too. Wild Rush from my cavalry formation comes to mind. That ability can often take out a whole slew of enemies without even entering battle.