Back in the early '90s, there were two very similar fantasy-styled SRPG franchises that battled each other for relevance: Fire Emblem and Langrisser. Though each series offered certain defining gameplay or stylistic characteristics that the other didn’t, they were about neck and neck when it came to the overall experience being delivered; if you wanted to play a challenging, semi-simplistic RPG that tested your tactical thinking, it was tough to go wrong with either brand.
Things didn’t stay that way, however. Decades passed, and the gulf in relevance between the two gradually widened. Fire Emblem, after years of struggling to find an audience, finally hit it big and went on to become one of Nintendo’s biggest franchises. Langrisser, on the other hand, could never quite lock down a sustainable fanbase, and essentially disappeared after the '90s – somewhat ironic when you consider that the first Mega Drive outing was localised as Warsong in North America a full 12 years before Fire Emblem would make its western debut with The Blazing Blade on the Game Boy Advance.
With the recent rise in popularity for Fire Emblem, it seems that now would be as good a time as any for Langrisser to re-establish itself as a modern franchise. In pursuit of this, Masaya Games smartly decided to look to the past, instead of the future, and now we have some well-done remakes of Langrisser I & II. Although the design of these two games certainly indicates the time period in which they were released, Masaya has done an excellent job of infusing these old-school releases with modern sensibilities, new art, and some extra content to make this the definitive way to play some RPG classics.
The storylines of Langrisser I & II are nothing to write home about, marking the first area in which these releases show their age. It’s not so much that there’s anything here which is outright bad, but the plots are painfully simple, high-fantasy fare. Case in point, the plotline of Langrisser centers around a goodly prince named Ledin, whose castle one day falls under siege from the forces of an evil empire hellbent on finding a mythical sword called Langrisser, which is also the key to reawakening an ancient evil force.
The storytelling in either game is entertaining enough in its own right, then, but expecting anything beyond trope-ridden fantasy guff is going to leave you disappointed. Both games do get points, however, for offering up a surprisingly substantial amount of story content. Though a run through of either release will probably take you anywhere from 10-15 hours, replayability is encouraged via the inclusion of alternate paths stemming from certain moral decisions you can make (this feature was present in the second Mega Drive game, but not the first, so it’s a notable addition here). We won’t spoil anything here, but suffice to say, those of you that are charmed by these storyline threads will find plenty to keep you busy.
Gameplay in either release takes the shape of a standard tactical RPG, wherein you command an army of warriors on a grid-based map and alternate turns with an enemy faction until one side is routed. All weapon types are strong against certain weapons and weak against others, and differences in terrain can sometimes tip the scales one way or the other. So far, so similar, then. A rather interesting wrinkle introduced here, however, is the Mercenary system. You only have a handful of named, story-relevant characters (called “Commanders”), but each of these characters can be escorted by a handful of other, disposable mercenary units that can fight on their behalf.
In practice, this means your commander can safely acquire experience points without lifting a finger while the mercenaries do all the dirty work. Or, on the other hand, it means you can take your commanders a lot further into the fray because you can rely on some meat shields to take all the critical blows. We deeply enjoyed the extra tactical options presented by having what essentially amounts to a large class of expendable bodies that can be tossed at any problem to resolve it, as it helps to shift the player’s mindset from a compulsive need to protect every single unit on the battlefield. The flipside of this, however, is that battlefields can easily become overcluttered. When every named unit on each team has a harem of four to six mercenaries following close behind them, it can lead to some overlong phase animations where you’re watching every single one of those units move another four or five spaces forward.
Luckily, battle animations can be expedited or skipped entirely, allowing you to forfeit spectacle in favour of efficiency. It’s fun to watch soldiers duke it out in the flashy cutscenes that play during each skirmish, of course, but those cutscenes really add up when more than a dozen are playing for each phase. Langrisser I & II are both divided into a series of chapters, and each chapter has specific conditions that must be fulfilled before they’re completed. Often, the condition can be as simple as killing every enemy on the battlefield, but sometimes it can be something that requires a little more finesse, such as escorting a largely helpless character across the battlefield to a predefined zone.
On the whole, it feels like Langrisser I & II are both a little to sluggish in the overall pacing department, but the journey is often an enjoyable one. Watching your army slowly overcome a daunting military force and gain all sorts of experience in the process never ceases to be rewarding and satisfying, and you’ll often go for ‘just one more’ chapter to keep chasing that high.
When off the battlefield, you can manage your bench of commanders in myriad ways, tweaking each one to fill a niche you need on your team. Upon each level up, commanders gain all the expected bumps to their stats, but they also get a few “CP” points that can be used to change up their classes. Each commander has a class tree that shows a branching progression path for where they can go, and you can spend earned CP to unlock new classes.
These, in turn, will affect things like your commander’s stats, the kinds of mercenaries they can hire, and new skills or spells to use in battle. Best of all, you can freely change to any class you’ve unlocked, which does a good job of encouraging experimentation and removes the fear of making any ‘wrong’ choices. And though early classes only have marginal differences from one another, latter options can prove to be quite diverse. Flying units, for example, are peerless in their overall mobility, but they can also tend to be glass cannons that don’t hold their own all too well in a fight. Balancing your team is key, then, and figuring out what does and doesn’t work together is a satisfying experience.
On the presentation side of things, both Langrisser I & II prove themselves to be exceedingly competent, offering up a range of options to satisfy both old and new fans. By default, you’ll be playing both games with the ‘modern’ settings on, which includes redrawn art by Ar Tonelico artist Ryo Nagi, redrawn map designs and rearranged background music. However, if you go into the settings menu, you can opt to swap in the old-school chiptune soundtracks, original character art (by the legendary Satoshi Urushihara) or old-school map designs – and you can do it in any combination of you so desire.
So, if you’re really digging Nagi's new character portraits but you miss the ‘old’ 16-bit look of the maps, you can easily set exactly how you want both those things to look (although it's worth noting that you cannot change the in-game sprites, which unfortunately look like they've stepped right out of a smartphone game). It’s nice to see that the developers went the extra mile to include this kind of flexibility, though we think it’s worth reiterating that both the old and new styles look great. Longtime fans of the original may not particularly appreciate the ‘different’ look of the new art, but its expressive, consistent, and overall bright look fits well with this release.
Conclusion
Whether or not Langrisser I & II is the release for you ultimately depends on your affection for decidedly simpler, but more straightforward RPGs. This isn’t a release to shock and awe you with its innovative mechanics or boundary-breaking storytelling, but if you’re feeling up for an old-fashioned, no-frills SRPG romp, Langrisser I & II has what you’re looking for in spades. Corny storytelling and occasionally sluggish gameplay aside, both of the games present here hold up reasonably well, helped in no small part by the minor gameplay tweaks and remastered assets. We’d give Langrisser I & II a light recommendation; it’s not exactly a ‘must-have’ title, but there’s plenty to love here and it’s sure to keep you busy for quite some time.
Comments 36
The mobile game-esque aesthetics really turn me off of it. Although I'm glad the beautiful Urushihara character portraits are still an option.
Geez those visuals are a major turnoff.
I enjoyed the demo well enough. Fire Emblem hasn't been working for me too well ever since Awakening so here's hoping this'll help fill the void somewhat.
In the demo I thought the classic look was poor and nothing like the original games anyway, obviously not helped by having the truly awful modern character designs slapped on top. Gameplay was fine so I'd be interested but only at about half that price though
I hope this complication does well so that we can get remakes of Langrisser III-V.
Enjoying it decently but it's got a litany of pacing issues.
For one, the game takes forever to load. I don't know how such bad load times are excusable - I could literally download the entire first 2 games online, several times over, in the time it takes to load the title screen - let alone the longer load for the actual game.
In-battle is hardly better. Displaying too many enemy danger ranges will actually cause lag after each and every action. You're only allowed 10 danger range displays for this reason, but it only takes 3-4 on some maps to start causing severe lag that compounds the already slow pace of the game even further.
Seriously let that sink in a second. How do you program that so poorly that it lags on Switch, when in other games that sort of danger range function wouldn't lag on Game Boy Advance?
Then there's the allied AI, which charges in idiotically unless you set the Command to "Defend". Problem solved, right? Unfortunately not. The pathfinding AI in Langrisser doesn't really exist. If there's a wall between commander and troop, the troop won't recognize it. "I'm only 2 spaces away from the commander!" They think, having gone the wrong way and found a dead end where it'd take them half a dozen turns to return to where they ought to be.
The AI, if left to its own devices, will also move in the "wrong" order. Meaning that if troops in the back of a narrow area can't move forward because of other troops in the way, they're liable to just give up and end their turn instead of waiting for the troops in front to move so they can advance.
All of this to say that, to play optimally, you really need to move all your dozens of troops yourself, every turn. The game is rarely hard enough to need you to do this, but it's a poorly-done system regardless.
Then there's the preparations. It's split into 2 parts - the map screen that lets you buy/equip items, equip skills, and set classes. And then the battle prep screen where you buy merc troops and rearrange starting positions.
The issue here is that skills and equipment are often situational. Do you need that magic resistance that robe provides? Is the water-based class or skill going to be useful, or is the next map totally dry? By the time you can actually see the next map, you can't go back to the world map to prepare without a total reset, meaning you sit through over a minute of load times again.
The worst was a recent map where at the start, one of your allies is mind-controlled and you have to fight them or avoid them and try to cure them. Cool idea, but for me that ally was a frail flier, making it impossible to avoid combat with them that'd kill them or one of my units. So I had to reset about a half dozen times to figure out "Does it always control the same ally? Is it based on position? Level? Another stat? Can I remove all their good equipment and troops beforehand to make this easier?" Finding the solution to this wasn't hard, just tedious.
That map so far was the exception though, as every other map so far has been very easy.
Overall, again, I do enjoy parts of this game, mainly for the strategic gameplay systems mentioned in the review. I've never played the OG games before for what it's worth. But a lot of these problems would have been easily fixed - I can say that not only based on the countless other games that have fixed them, but from my own amateur SRPG attempts that have already addressed many similar problems.
As a remake, it's a really poor effort.
I will mirror what's been said, the mobile aesthetic is a turn-off, and if the story-telling is lacklustre I see no reason to play this over Fire Emblem games. Those games are so long that I am nowhere near finishing the franchise.
I don’t know what the poo is going on with Japanese game prices of late but this is WAY overpriced for what you get.
You can have a fun time on Switch by browsing the most expensive games and outside of sports games that are allowed to be pricey due to a massive amount of licenses . There are a slew of massively overpriced Japanese ones. Creatively they look drab too, they’re not even pretty looking like Overwatch, skyrim, breath of the wild, Doom. They’re pooing hideous. But they’re pandering to a very easy market: Weebs I guess.
The mobile game look turned me off. It looks like they took a bunch of pages from Fire Emblem Heroes. Like, almost the same artists did both games.
That being said, I was hoping I’d like this more. It’s got all the elements and right pieces to check all my boxes but I just can’t get into it for some reason, especially knowing I can play Fire Emblem. Wonder if we’ll ever see Shining Force get this kind of remake treatment?
The CE is expensive unless you just get basic version and even then people forget you have to rewrite the code for the Switch you don't just change the format and it works. The codes aren't the same even though the graphics looks update you don't the underlying codes needed to get it to work on the Switch. To Re-Master on another system for people are making it sound to simplistic maybe they should try to rewrite codes from one system to another so it works like the previous system they will find it's easy to talk but not easy to do and then you have to test to make sure it works. So those pandering to least common denominator needs to think alot more here.
@SwitchForce
Please try to work on your English before you talk about how difficult it is to translate games from one language/engine to another. I wouldn't normally be as harsh on grammar, but I feel like your post is supposed to be a response to mine - only I can't be sure as it's impossible to decipher what exactly you think you're saying.
The game looks like a mobile game but the gameplay is pretty fun if you're into traditional SRPG's. It's basically a cross between Fire Emblem and Advance Wars. I picked it up for that reason.
Was planning to get this but the flash visual style turn me off, I think I'll just wait for a sale.
7 seems about fair for this type of game if you are into it.
Really digging the game so far, been playing it since it first came out. The new leveling system and the inclusion of a branching story for Langrisser I are huge bonuses for me, plus the removal of the rally function means that battles are more engaging than they were in the original. Enemy AI is no longer as timid as they were before and will actively engage you in battle most of the time rather than turtle. Two of my favorite Genesis games (one of which has never been officially released in english) bundled together with new features is easily worth the 50 dollars, so anyone complaining that it's overpriced frankly is wrong. You're getting a fair bit of content for the money.
The original map sprites were barely recognizable pixels bumping into each other in battle, while here they're actually recognizable as human beings or whatever you're fighting. The new artwork isn't horrible IMO but the classic artwork is definitely better and the option to toggle it is appreciated, but bear in mind that doing so turns off some of the new still scenes that were added. The classic mode art looks really good in the higher resolution but it won't match the sprites in battle. Personally though I think the new artwork is pretty decent, though I hate how Leon, Imelda, and the other Imperials on Langrisser II look. Chris, Jessica, Narm, Cherie, and many others look great though. With that said I agree they could be better. I've never been overly fond of the super-clean sprites look that mobile games use myself, so I would probably have preferred a different approach, but it works well enough. Definitely ain't a bad remake, they put in plenty of extra effort that anyone who has played the original games would immediately notice, such as a completely overhauled stat system, a new skill system, balancing, (slimes are no longer ridiculously tanky), etc. in the original games, most maps would end with you having no units and just using commanders, dragging battles on and on because units would simply get blown away too quickly. Here, thanks to the new HP system, units can actually take some hits, making battles feel more balanced overall. It'll be interesting to see Langrisser II maps play out compared to how they usually play out for me. Oh and the remixed music is freaking awesome, though the option for the original soundtrack is also present. I'm still working my way through the games but I hear there's NG+ as well. as far as technical and performance issues go, I haven't had any issues with my digital version but I have no idea how it compares to the PS4 or Steam versions as of right now.
The remake is a bit easier than originals overall but I've heard there's a hard/challenge mode after clearing the game, so hopefully that'll add some extra challenge. The originals were not known for being super hard though. I also wish they had taken a cue from Fire Emblem and allowed us to actually see the map we're about to play on. It's not a perfect remake but I think for the money it's a solid package. Overall I think a 7 is a fair review, but the comments on the game are far too harsh and likely made by people with little to no experience with the series and are judging the game by the visuals. Make no mistake, this ain't no Three Houses. You're not going to be wowed by the visuals or the animations, but look beyond that and you'll find a solid strategy game with a fair amount of content to get into. Fans of the originals should get it ASAP while newcomers may want to research a bit first. As they say, don't judge a book by its cover.
I loved Warsong on the Genesis and I was really excited about this version. The graphics definitely put me off, and I really wish it could be set to the old sprites. I am also not a fan of the HP change. In the original game, every unit had a 10 max HP and you could really see terrain bonuses kick in because of that. Not sure that I prefer the new system where HP can differ.
However, the biggest surprise is that even with these niggles, the game is so darn addictive. The sprites are ugly (not nearly as bad as the huge headed polygons in Langrisser Tensai for 3DS though) and the gameplay changes threw me off, but the overall fun of Langrisser is still there and it's terribly addictive!
I love everything about this game. A real gem for me.
Love this style of game.
How difficult is it?
@cmk8
Pretty easy overall, with some difficulty spikes here or there. It's significantly easier than the original games, but some maps may still require multiple attempts. For example, Langrisser I's first map can be made more challenging if you choose to try and fight some of the tougher enemies on the right of the screen, and the second map may require a few tries because you have to protect a weaker CO and her units. Both Langrisser I and II also have a tendency to spring reinforcements or otherwise change the flow of battle, so you need to adapt on some maps when the situation changes. There's a few spots where the enemy CO will try to throw a serious wrench in your plans, such as Langrisser II where one of the enemy COs will set the map on fire, forcing your army to keep moving forward. There's maps where you may need to rush a specific CO to a certain tile and so on. It's easier overall than Fire Emblem and similar games, with a harder difficulty unlocking after you finish the game. Newcomers to the game may struggle in spots, but it's by no means a hard game.
@Mynameishello I can't think of anything funnier than saying this game looks bad and in the same breath praising the visuals and creativity of skyrim when at best skyrim is. ok.
@cmk8 Not difficult at all. No permadeath, either. There's also an easy mode you can toggle that gives you a bunch of extra cash and CP to use.
What's with the mobile game art style?
I played the demo and I was turned off immediately. Graphically and its presentation were not good. I also dislike video games that give you from the first minute too much information on screen but fail to explain how everything works.
@Ralizah Yes, the mobile look does throw me off. I never really liked that look. I don't want to be harsh but the pivot animation makes it seem cheap (even though it was probably cost effective).
Was gonna get this day one, but didn't happen. Since the EBX (AKA Gamestop/Eb games) I went to didn't had it or sold out quick somehow. (Didn't ask about it.)
Oh well I came out with a different game at a good deal. Got Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of the New World.
@Onion @switchvogel thanks for the responses. Appreciate your time!
@ChromaticDracula It's not just this.. I mean look @ final fantasy 5 and 6 on steam.. those sprites are very ugly. It totally didn't capture the awesome SNES sprites at all. They had only 1 job.. to make the older version to look better without touching the standard look of those sprites. They used new looks and it didn't fit at all. The sprites and art just doesn't fit there. It felt like some amateur mod was used. I refunded right away. This game is also same..it's like they keep using those flash made graphics in games.. those are so ugly. I prefer true pixels from SNES quality any day over any ugly Flash player made like graphics. Those are so souless
Ugh, I hate branching paths in story-heavy games! Just give me one true storyline to follow, not this nonsense of multiple endings where none of them are canon and you have to play several times in order to see everything.
("Fire Emblem: Fates" gets a pass for having such wildly different paths, only having three paths while I can skip one of the initial two without losing much of the story and the third one being the true canon story, and there's only a singular divergence point that's clearly marked. "Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology" also works, since finding the "correct" storyline is basically the point of the game. Otherwise, stick to a single story in games like this.)
@BulbasaurusRex
Neither Langrisser I or II originally had branching storylines, the concept was added to Langrisser II when it came to other consoles and Langrisser I only received it in this remake. There IS a canon story, the descendants of light path (the main path) is the canon story for both games. You don't have to switch paths to "see everything", the other story routes are literally just different takes on the war and story. It's not like playing on different routes reveals the full story or anything, you get the full story by simply playing with your main faction. Switching factions is quite literally a "What if" situation and isn't canon.
There's also a very clear marking point when changing factions, with your character being presented with a choice before changing factions. You're never forced to change and since the original versions never had the feature, sticking with the descendants of light in both games provides the full story. At best, changing factions will reveal irrelevant pieces of character background that you probably won't care about unless you really like one faction over the other.
@Onion Well, it's nice that there is a canon story and an easy way to stick to it. That should really have been mentioned in the review to ease people's concerns. The lack of permadeath really should've been mentioned, as well.
However, you also immediately contradicted yourself by pointing out that there are indeed additional story elements that require several playthroughs in order to see them all. They still added them into both games of these remakes, so there's now extra stuff any player should want to see, but it's a real pain the neck to do so! You should care about additional background information in any story-driven game, and it's terrible that they make you go through so much trouble just to see it all! It's the same reason that locking most of the story background through such an annoying scanning mechanic in the "Metroid Prime Trilogy" was so stupid. They should just find a good way to tell you this stuff up front instead of forcing you to discover it all yourself in a very time-consuming mind-numbing manner!
@BulbasaurusRex
In defense of the reviewer, they can't cover all the bases and it probably just didn't occur to them to specify. I'm also not entirely sure how much experience they have with the originals, given that these are niche Japanese games with barely any presence outside of Asia. On the note of permadeath I have nothing to add except for the fact that the original Langrisser actually DID have permadeath. Later on they simply changed it to your characters getting alternate endings based on whether or not they had to "flee" battle. A neat little extra bit of info, I guess. But yeah there's no permadeath, reviewer probably simply forgot to mention it. That's why the comment section exists though.
I didn't contradict anything, you aren't required to see any of the extra story content, it adds very little overall to the game's plot. Yes it exists, but if you don't want to see it, you don't have to. It really doesn't matter and isn't even canon to the rest of the series. Like I said it's just a "what if" scenario, an alternate sequence of events. The only story that matters is the main one because it's canon to the rest of the series as well as the original Genesis/Mega Drive versions. For example choosing to go Imperial on Langrisser II really doesn't reveal much we didn't already learn from the default path. There's even a nice little Story Tree for you to view all the paths so you can skip to the map where a story branch is presented so you can easily start a new path if you wish, a function that the original games didn't have without using cheats.
There is absolutely nothing to complain about here.The remakes aren't perfect and there are several valid complaints that can be raised but the branching story definitely isn't one of them. It sounds like a personal hang-up more than anything and I doubt anything I say is going to change that.
@BulbasaurusRex I have to agree with you about the scanning in the Metroid Prime Trilogy. It was stupid because it was over used and slowed the games down.
Here's hoping Prime 4 dials it back a bit.
Would try if it cost less but currently it's the same price as Fire Emblem Three Houses so it seems way overpriced right now.
Having soldiers to spare is always good in those type of games. Target saturation is sometimes the best way to get around AI in turn based games.
@Ralizah I'm glad I'm not the only one who looked at the art style and was turned off by just how much it looks like a phone game.
I think the silver lining here for these games to even be released is that Fire Emblem's success seems to have breathed new life in the SRPG genre.
With that said, let's bring on remakes of the Shining Force 3 games (greatest SRPG ever made) and Dragon Force games!!
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