Topic: Triangle Strategy

Even the fast-forward button isn’t enough to alleviate the overwhelming amount of dialog in this demo.

But I really like how things can chain together in battle, and the new terrain modifiers with spells is neat.

If they add a job system like they did Octopath, I can put up with all the story and persuasion sequences.

Well I tried the demo. I love the art style and presentation in general.

I really like that they added exploration segments into it. That was one major issue I had with the old FF Tactics and Fire Emblem games, the fact that it was JUST repeated battles got so boring after a while. Obviously they've changed that up a lot in recent years with FE Echoes and FE Three Houses, which both used exploration elements very well.

My only negative is that the battles felt very slow and clunky, like the original FF Tactics. It's not necessarily a deal breaker, but I do find this type of SRPG kinda hard to play after playing a Fire Emblem game, where the battles are really exciting spectacles (ever since Awakening they have been anyway).

I got real Tactics Ogre vibes from the trailer, and this game is clearly a modern take on that cult classic which I love. It's also great to see SE finally making another tactical RPG. I feel like there's been a glut of passable indie attempts at recapturing the feel of FF Tactics and Tactics Ogre but none have really hit the mark. Hopefully SE can pull it off. Does anyone know if they'll be asking for player feedback like they did for Octopath? I'm assuming yes, as the demo has been released so far in advance of its release!

Woo finally got to sit down with this. I’m very impressed so far. I have some UI issues, but I love that you can see the artwork profiles so that you know who is talking and what they do. I’m still getting used to the battle phase though. The fact that it is alternating turn based is an adjustment for me.

Love the dialogue and voice acting (which is hit or miss for me usually), and the phases of the game are a nice pace changer. A little nerve wracking with the evidence finding though. I’m glad you can rotate the camera and that the maps have a real since of depth rather than an image and a stat marker. FE needs to steal that.

My only real gripe is the music. But I think that’s because I loved Octopath’s OST so I am seeing the graphics and expecting that.

I haven’t played the demo yet, but the game looks great! I hope they change the name though. Is he demo good?

It is a working title, @BabyYoda71... & part of the idea of such an early demo is to get feedback, so try it & see what you think

I'm enjoying it so far. I like the darker mood so far and it seems like there is a story to this game which is nice (something I found Octo lacked)

I've played a little bit off this now and agree with most of @1000tomatoes' points for tweaks.

A couple of things I'm wondering:

• everything within the game environment is in constant, slight, motion - little ripple effects everywhere, and the characters bobbing up and down. I get that this is just to make it appear a bit more alive instead of static, but are the little vertical lines that scroll across the characters a necessary part of the animation, or are they a stylistic choice? Cos I'm not sure I like them.
• I've limited experience with the genre and I'm wondering why, when I move a character in battle, at least one of their 'actions' is nearly always greyed out and unavailable for use. I'd like the game to explain this as it doesn't appear to currently.

I think the voice acting is pretty decent, so far as video game voice acting goes. There's quite a few characters who have been voiced and none of them have been bad to my ears.

Wow. What a game.

I think the thing that would make this more nifty for me is to have the the square where you cursor is, ever so slightly more pronounced than it is. I find it not quite as effortless as I'd like. Maybe a slightly bigger glow or a much more stand out colour.

Really small thing, but would make a big difference (for me)

Not tried it yet, so maybe someone knows. If you have 4 characters around someone, and you hit them indirectly with a bow (say), do all the characters get an extra attack on the target too? I appreciate it works with melee and certain positions, but I'm sure it happened after a bow attack.

@gcunit your characters earn TP ( I missed what that stands for. Tactical Point?) per turn and special actions have a cost. The amount is next to the action. That’s why your basic attack has no cost. You have to manage that in your strategy. The good news is you can bank them per turn. The spy (Anna I think is her name) is really good at this. Some passive skills boost this too.

@GrailUK From what I can tell it’s a backstab follow up. Opportune Attack can stack though (used by Roland). So no hits on all sides. But you can get three hits. (Two from Roland and another.)

I loved how Octo looked, but I can’t get into traditional jpgs. Tactical ones though is a different story altogether, so I’m keeping this on my radar.

I loved the art style of Octopath Traveller but I wasn’t really into the separate narratives and dropped it fairly early.

A SRPG sounds really exciting. I haven’t tried the demo yet (as I’ve got Super Robot Wars T as my current fix) but I’m glad to hear everyone is impressed so far.

@Ryu_Niiyama Thank you, that makes some sense and I will look out for it on my next play. Am I right in thinking the demo doesn't overtly explain the TP, or did I miss something?

@GrailUK Agree with you on the point about the cursor square prominence - there's so many squares lighting up etc. as I move the cursor around it's easy to lose track of it.

I am glad the camera is as free as it is, as I am regularly wanting to swing around to clarify who is where. I just wish the camera could be angled to show some sky too. Presumably that's the trade off for all the graphical effects and it all looking nice, but I am constantly trying to see a bit more elevated background than the game will let me.

@Ryu_Niiyama Ah. Thanks for that

Has anyone triggered a Quintus (I am sure I spelled that wrong) yet? What is it? I’m guessing ultra move...

Has anyone used the Shamaness yet?

I’m annoyed that permadeath doesn’t seem to be a thing so far though. Granted with as badly as I played at first that might be on purpose. Hard to have a decision phase if half your voters are dead.

@gcunit Um I don’t think they went into what TP were called but I kinda blew past that in my excitement so I am hoping I missed something. I sorta chalked it up to the demo being in the middle of the game and SRPG/JRPG fans (especially Octopath and Bravely Default fans) are used to banking some sort of BP/TP. Kinda a “if this is your genre you know how this works already vibe” which considering they are after improvement feedback it make sense to hit the vets first.

@GrailUK NP don’t take it as hard fact but I have never triggered a four prong attack. But it may end up being some sort of passive skill later.

@JoeDiddley Might I suggest trying OT again if you still own it? It isn’t “merry band of plucky, chosen ones with a singular goal”, but that was on purpose. The idea is their personal quests end up impacting the world (sometimes accidentally or in non overt ways) but their stories are actually all tied and tied to that of a few NPCs. I get why it is off putting to some and it runs into the issue with massive world-building when your tale takes place in the middle of the actually ancient conflict but I think they did a decent job with it. The ending to each story is kinda a fake out if you are conditioned to think that’s all the narrative impact you will get.

When you realize the jobs come from the Gods of that world and that they test you for the advanced classes it start to click in a “oh snap this is a massive, centuries long plot” kinda way. It did for me at least.

Edit: I was not designed to type on a phone.

@Ryu_Niiyama
I’m very impressed so far. I have some ui issues but I love that you can see the artwork profiles so that you know who is talking and what they do. I’m still getting used to the battle phase though. The fact that its alternating turn based is an adjustment for me

My thoughts exactly. I was just posting in the switch thread how I love the artwork profiles so you can see who is talking and what their title is and where they’re from. It’s really handy, actually.

To be perfectly honest I was actually kind of relieved to see permadeath wasn’t a thing because I lost two characters just in the first battle. I suspect they may offer it as an option though and that’s some thing you could put in the Feedback if you want to see it happen. Then again it would probably mess with the scripted stories so that may just not be an option.

Feedback

• Ability Details menu blends in with background menu
• Ranged Height spread “—“ is confusing as a negative. Color the numbers?
• Select Event map screen should provide double cursor speed by holding a button
• Needs Equipment menu in battle prep and outside battle to easily equip weapons, armor, accessories
• Let SELECT toggle unit info box when hovering over characters in battle among 3 modes: default, off to the side of the screen, and off
• Selected tile should be made more clear to stand out from the rest

I’m sure I’ll be adding more as I progress.

Here’s my take I posted in the Switch a thread

Ok. Project Triangle Strategy. My guys. This game. This freaking game lol...

Oh my gosh this game. This is it. This is the one. This is the strategy RPG I have been waiting for and dare I say it... I think I may like it just as much as Fire Emblem.

And let me just expound on that statement by saying, Fire Emblem is one of my favorite franchises of all time. It really is. And this game... this freaking game.

I haven’t felt like this since I first played Fire Emblem Awakening demo on 3DS. That was when I had my epiphany about turn based games. It was like my eyes had suddenly become opened and I could see. I had never felt that way in a video game before. Strategic chess like combat with a serious story that involves characters dying. I never knew a video game could do something like that.

I have continued to love Fire Emblem, but I’d be lying if I said any of them I’ve played since Awakening have allowed me to fully re-live that initial experience. This game though... I’m reliving it. Oh man am I reliving it.
I came into this game with all kinds of presuppositions about how it should play, and at first I had my notepad out and I was saying oh, they should let you do this like FE, they should let you do that like FE. but the more I play, the more I realize it doesn’t need to be like FE in every single respect. I like that you don’t toggle enemy movements, I like the elevation and direction factor into damage, I like the critical hits are based on squeezing an enemy from both sides. I like it all. Is it different? It is. But it is equally good, and it has shown me that Fire Emblem is not the only way to do things.

That said, this game reminds me an awful lot of Fire Emblem Awakening. Not in the minutia of mechanical similarities but in tone, style and visual appearance. The sprites probably add to that.
What I also like is the incredibly strong focus on story, good narrative and dialog, voice acting, and the triangle strategy of Utility, Morality and Liberty. This game has some serious questions and choices for you to make. They might not seem that major at the time but I can see how they shape who you are as a character in the game has already made it clear that who joins you in battle will depend on your character. That’s amazing.

Also, a small thing, but I really like how you can press X on a Sprite when they are talking in dialogue and it will pop up a nice artistic drawing of them that has their name and title, so that you can remember who’s who with all the characters in the game. There’s a lot of them and it’s easy to lose track of exactly who the person is this speaking and where they are from and what their title is. I played through a second time and realized the gravity of the initial assassination because the first time I played I didn’t realize it was Roland’s brother, and I didn’t realize it was his sister that screamed out in horror.

If you haven’t played this demo, I don’t know what I can say to convince you to, but I will at least stress that I think this might be the best strategy game I’ve played since Awakening, and I think it has the potential to be the best full stop. Even if it’s not, it’s certainly among the best. Assuming the rest of the game lives up to what I’ve played in the demo. But I’m confident it will. They’ve really struck gold with this game.

If anything, the full game should be better, @JaxonH .... Perma-death could be problematic for the main story characters, so I imagine they might just leave that out? I'm certainly getting it as soon as they let me buy it! Since there'll never be a new FF Tactics, this could easily take over that niche in my life. I'd compare it more to those games than FE, personally, although I do like the latter a lot, too

While I did enjoy the demo, I feel that being thrown a few chapters in and left to figure it all out in the battlefield maybe wasn't the best choice.
Someone died one or two turns in and I genuinely had no clue if permadeath was a thing or not and having no feel for the characters playstyles made it feel a touch haphazard.

Overall, I do still think it's going to be a great game and maybe after replaying the demo again, It will click more. In my own mind though, I'm comparing it to the Octopath Demo, which let you play from the starting chapter and felt way more natural and engaging.

I love it. Absolutely love it. It's an early demo, for sure, and the dialogue is certainly too plentiful. But if this is taking place during roughly the middle of the game, I'm sure I'd be a lot more invested in the dialogue by that point in a normal playthrough.

• I LOVE the art; my gosh I love this art style. It just takes me back to FF Tactics, but even more detailed. I just love pixel graphics like this, and the spell effects are awesome.
• I love some of the more detailed elements this game has over FE Three Houses, like choosing which direction your characters face when they end their moves (because flanking and back attacks matter) and spell attacks with areas of effect that can be targeted to the ground rather than needing an enemy. It seems there are even some strategic spells like the ice wall that could manipulate the environment and create some cool utility. And I love the flanking and height elements. There's a lot more depth here than in Three Houses, and I welcome that.
• I must admit that the rewind feature in FE Three Houses has spoiled me, though. It'll take me some time to get used to a strategy game that doesn't have it.

-This game isn't out until 2022? UGH. I want it now lol

I really enjoyed it. Gonna purchase day one. I think it feels more like Tactics Ogre with speed stat determinate turns.

What did everyone think about the cutscenes where the camera sways back and forth? I kinda can't put my finger on it, but it felt jarring.

I also felt that watching a cutscene, to return to the world map to only having a single cut scene is odd. If there is only one cut scene available after the one the player has just watched one, it should just simply load the next cutscene. Should only return to the map if there are a choice of cutscenes to choose from.

Also I would rather have more "no name" party members with customizable classes, but that's just me.