Last week's Nintendo Direct gave us a fresh look at Triangle Strategy, the latest HD-2D RPG from Square Enix. As well as the new trailer and March 2022 release date, it was also confirmed that changes had been made to the title as a result of the feedback survey handed out to players who had tried the game's demo.
Now, Nintendo has published a full list of the changes that have been made thanks to this survey. The game's producers, Yasuaki Arai and Tomoya Asano, have said, "We’re grateful to have received a lot of responses from people all over the world, and are very glad as developers to have gotten positive feedback and suggestions from each region. We’re working on various improvements for the final version of Triangle Strategy, based on the responses to the survey..."
So without further ado, here are those changes:
Main improvements
1) Loading times
- Loading times during events have been reduced and are now approximately 10 seconds shorter in the most notable scenes.
- The aim is to further shorten loading times by launch.
2) Events
- In the Debut Demo, it was necessary to return to the World Map after seeing an event. In the final version of the game, you will be able to view a series of scenario events in succession, reducing the number of times the player is sent back to the World Map.
- Auto-play and Skip features have been added. Auto-play can be activated during an event with the ZR Button, and events can be skipped with the + Button.
- Conversation logs, an event information review feature and character profiles have been added.
- The cursor speed on the World Map is now faster when selecting events. Additionally, icons for character episodes and side stories have been made easier to distinguish.
3) Battle difficulty
- “Hard" and "Easy" difficulty settings have been added.
4) Battle operation
- Camera controls have been adjusted:
- Degree of zoom in and zoom out can now be adjusted freely
- The camera can now be rotated 90 degrees by quickly tilting the Right Stick
- Camera rotation sensitivity has been adjusted
- By changing commands while hovering the cursor over an enemy within attack range, you can compare and evaluate estimated damage and accuracy rates.
- "Simulation Mode" added, allowing you to check estimated results of actions against enemies outside attack range.
- Weapon type icons are now displayed to easily distinguish an enemy's type and weapons.
- Added a highlight to target lines extending from boss characters with especially powerful attacks.
- Enemy turn orders are displayed when hovering the cursor over them.
- The turn order of units on the map is now shown on the AT Bar as well.
- Location of the command window during battle has been changed to improve visibility.
- More options have been added for screen visibility, effects, and controls.
Other changes and improvements
- Controls for Serenoa during RPG mode have been improved.
- A Button input is now required to enter/leave houses (to prevent entering by mistake).
- Panel colours when selecting a destination have been adjusted.
- Added an icon indicating a successful Back Attack.
- Added a feature to automatically pause and create save data per turn in battles.
- Implemented gameplay tips during loading screens.
- Added a screen during battle preparation to show a list of deployable/non-deployable units.
- Added a feature to display guides about terrain effects during battles.
- Added a feature to allow the button guide information at the bottom of the screen to be hidden.
- Added a feature to show a character’s final destination prior to using an ability that involves character movement.
- Improved the display for buffs, debuffs and the number of turns effects will last on objects.
- Implemented a battle retry feature.
- Button assignments have been adjusted
The developers conclude:
"Based on these survey results, users have high expectations for the game’s story, the personalities of the characters, and the system for levelling up and improving characters in tactical strategy games. These are elements you may not have been able to enjoy fully in the Debut Demo.
However, in the final version of Triangle Strategy, you will be able to experience the events leading up to the invasion and what happens after you make specific decisions. The story will branch out in various ways, and many unique characters will enter the story. We hope you’ll look forward to it.
Lastly, our development team was very happy to receive encouraging results about purchase intent from those who responded to the survey!
We will continue to develop the game in an effort to meet your expectations. We appreciate your continued support for Triangle Strategy."
Did you like the look of the new footage shared during last week's Direct? Are you one of the demo players who have helped to shape the game's development? Let us know in the comments.
[source nintendo.co.uk]
Comments 38
I don't see anything about being able to increase the cursor speed... That worries me.
Being able to hold a button to increase cursor speed is such a basic feature I cannot believe it wasn't in the demo in the first place. I also hope they add an option to remove all those obnoxious AI targetting redicules, that's just way too much unnecessary clutter and frankly the AI behavior is something that I don't think should be privy to the player.
I'm still extremely salty I was not give the opportunity to give feedback on this game.
Very excited for this. Octopath is a gem, and this game looks to take the Tactics formula into the modern gaming world. March can’t come soon enough!
I’m really liking Squeenix’s whole policy of fishing for feedback with demos. So far the games they have done this for have been quite enjoyable upon final release. Looking forward to getting my hands on the final product.
Looking forward to this game. Perhaps more games should be treated this way.
May be a Mario Golf demo six months before release, and we would have got more content from day one.
My main issue with the game was the voice acting being pretty awful, especially the main character, so amateur and disjointed. As long as I can either change the VO language or at least turn voices off it'll be grand.
Why does the main character in these games always have to be an annoying American teen who clearly can't act?
Wow, this is so nice to hear! Great improvements. I'm sure this game will be awesome, I can't wait.
This, Rune Factory 5 and Zelda are the games I'm looking forward the most in 2022, so far.
@Expa0 Do you mean this?
'The cursor speed on the World Map is now faster when selecting events'
If not, I'm sure they'll improve upon that, being so annoying.
I love this policy that Square Enix has introduced of taking demo feedback into consideration.
Bravely Default II was improved by doing this and as we can see so will Project Triangle be improved by it.
Ugh this looks so pretty. Only bummer is that the world is still a bit blocky. It would've been nicer if it was slightly more realistic in that sense, but that is nit-picking.
@Old-Red Same here, but you can change the voice acting. Can't remember if you can turn it off completely, or that it was to Japanese voices, but either one of those at least.
This game, based on the demo, is even better than Octopath. Loved every moment of the demo. The first half of 2022 is stacked with big games, jeez. With Arceus, Horizon, Forspoken, Ghostwire, this, and Kirby all so early, it seems next year is guaranteed to be a huge one. And I’ll be honest, the Square titles are honestly the most exciting for me.
I really loved the demo. Clearly inspired by Game of Thrones, in a very good way. Seems like great themes and layers to the story. The combat was challenging, but rewarding... but kinda slow. Still, I loved it! Played it twice to see both outcomes, I was amazed how differently the story branched.
I wonder if I should go for the happy ending first for a nice first experience, or happy ending last to give me happier head-canon. Hahah
Needs to look more like Advance Wars. 😜
Those are all great QoL improvements, but I am still baffled about their story point choice in the demo. Seems like a weird way to advertise your game, with a huge story turning point and a long cut scene before any sort of gameplay.
PLAYERS: "Reduce loading times."
DEVELOPERS: "Wooooaaaaahhhhh... what an idea!!!"
@Daniel36 I agree – it made it feel very incongruent with the 2D-HD aesthetic of the rest of the game. I wish they had stuck with a more painterly or hand-drawn style of map like they did in Octopath.
lol simulation mode...for casual players?
After finding Octopath boring once the first impression wore off, I don't have high hopes for this one. They're going to change the name, right? Or are they sticking with it like Octo?
@BloodNinja I'm glad someone else agrees. I was SUPER hyped about Octo, and adored the demo. The world and aesthetic seemed so ripe to be great. But then when I got into the full game, I expected it was going to open up and become a big epic like classic RPGs. Instead it was just a loop of grinding, tiny dungeons, and hour long boss battles with not much real story development, side quests other than simple fetch/search quests etc. It felt like it could have been so much more but it just somehow became very flat and one-note and I got bored by the third "tier" of the story. It never became an epic adventure. And those endless boss battles were terrible.
This game seems solid but the same thing worries me.
I hope they release a "final" demo like with previous games in order to evaluate the QoL improvements. While I liked the original demo overall, it was understandably rough around the edges. I didn't finish it and honestly wasn't that impressed with the story showcased; IMO it should have started at the beginning instead of somewhere in the early middle.
@NEStalgia That's...slightly worrisome to read. I have Octopath backlogged and don't know much about it other than it's beautiful and requires a fair amount of grinding.
@NEStalgia Exactly! And I was really hooked on the graphics, but the battle system was too tedious for me. Music was good, too. Just wish the game part was better LOL
Triangle Strategy should do a Fire Emblem Three Houses crossover event!
I feel like that would be the perfect way for Nintendo to promote Triangle Strategy, while also renewing interest in Three Houses for people who still haven't picked it up and would consider buying them together since they're both tactical strategy RPG's. Plus, then we could see some Fire Emblem characters depicted in beautiful pixel art form!
I also hope Square Enix reprints Octopath Traveler copies around Triangle Strategy's launch. As someone who still intends on purchasing Octopath, waiting to purchase both HD2D games together sounds perfect to me.
My main problem with Octopath was for an RPG it felt too "videogamey". Hard to get invested in the character stories when you can trigger them in any order, and the world map will even tell you the recommended level for each chapter before you play it. There was no sense of tension or danger.
I loved the Triangle demo because it progressed in a much more organic way. The properly branching paths should help avoid the Octopath problem and make it more replayable to boot.
@Tyranexx Octopath was such a disappointment. It's not unfair to say it was my most anticipated Switch game at the time. But while the demo hints at a great adventure awaiting, that adventure never materializes. There's some decent stories for each of the 8 protagonists, but the whole thing is an extremely dry experience that focuses on the battles, with very very bare bones fetch quests, all dungeons are tiny (read a few hallways) that serve only to act as a boss precursor. The main game is really just damage sponge bosses with battles that can literally last an hour or more of "almost get wiped out by an area attack, heal, chip at them, almost get wiped out by an area attack, heal, chip at them. And inevitably dying 45 minutes in and having to start again." and plenty of outdoor grinding in the small trails to try to gear up for it. It never really becomes very narrative other than the sequences when you enter the town at each chapter and focuses mainly on combat.
I've compared it to SaGa, or maybe Etrian Odyssey in the past. Very dry, technical, and battle focused. It's not a storybook adventure like Tales, Xenoblade, DQ, or FF, SMT. If you love RPG battles and stats above an adventure, you'll love it. If you love the story adventures of RPGs, you'll find it pretty minimalist.
I have much the same complaint about Bravely Default though. Bravely is SOMEWHAT more story-based with somewhat more exploration, but ultimately boils down to small grindy dungeons and centered on boss battles as well. Technically I probably like Octopath's gameplay slightly more than the SUPER grindy Jobs system of Bravely but I hate that it follows the same structure of Bravely. I just can't quite click with it. Too dry.
It's a good game for fans of the SaGa type structure, which is a particular niche, but it's not the game it appears to be at first glance. Which is a shame, because it really could have and should have been. The demo hints at a Chrono Trigger level adventure pending. Instead you get SaGa with slightly more dialogue. It's a really good SaGa type game, though if you're into that. But I group SaGa with roguelikes as too repetitive to enjoy, personally.
@BloodNinja Exactly. I think the gameplay was competent. But ultimately it appears to be a genre it's not, and is instead another, much more niche RPG sub-genre. A cheaper to make one... The battle system was ok, but there was just a lack of content and progression, and a huge lack of exploration. Like Bravely, it's just small connecting paths with limited geography, minimal exploration, too much damage taken vs. healing available meaning you can't really stray far from "base" often, and dungeons were mostly non-existent. They existed just to whittle your health and supplies down before facing damage sponge bosses. Over and over and over in a loop.
@NEStalgia Yeah, no thanks. I learned the same thing you did and just put it down. I’m still happy with Dragon warrior 2, anyway 🥳
My main problem with the demo was having to sit through extremely lengthy dialogues before actually starting to play. I didn’t need an extensive overview of each protagonist and their family over 12 generations, just wanted to test out the gameplay.
@NEStalgia Interesting feedback indeed. While I do prefer JRPGs with a story focus, decent gameplay mechanics, including some modernized grinding, go a long way with me too. Never have experienced SaGa at all. I do have a few EO entries backlogged, but they're more modern (IV and both Untold games, respectively). I do enjoy the Bravely series (though I haven't played Bravely Default II yet; just the 3DS entries) and, while those games do feature grinding, it's modernized enough (battle speed, encounter slider) that I didn't find it to be a major chore. And Bravely Second did make it easier to grind out jobs, though I only maxed out roughly half of them. I also enjoy the fourth wall breaking in the Bravely games, though I suspect there's little to none of that to be found here.
The minimalist story and fetch quests (ugh x1000 on the latter) are worrisome to me, as are the spongy boss fights that may or may not waste my time. I think what I'll do is try my hand at the game since I have it already. If I get sick/fed up with what I'm playing, I'll likely move on. Life is too short for wasting time on something I'm not enjoying.
Still need to play Octopath, I like the idea of lots of little stories intertwining, and the art style is amazing but not found the time to play it yet. I found the demo of triangle weirdly awkward and enjoyed it less than expected. Hopefully these QOL changes will make all the difference, am still looking forward to it and will get on Octopath soon.
Apart from graphical style, I have no clue why this keeps getting compared to or why Octopath Traveller keeps getting mentioned. It's bizarre!
@Tyranexx It sounds like you may like Octo a lot more than I did. Especially since you like the Bravely series. I kept trying to get into it but the whole formula, in both games, just feels completely wrong to me. Especially the focus on boss battles with little sense of exploration before it. Except for Bravely the only reason I made myself suffer the gameplay was to see the story which was otherwise fun. Octo lacks that. It's not that I didn't like what character arcs were there, it's a much more serious tone, but it did feel minimal. Maybe the structure hampered it further with going round-robin through the 8 characters. It leads to a permanent "To be continued..." feeling each time you wrap up a chapter. But honestly if I wasn't unhappy with the grindy bosses, or lack of geography I might have been ok with that. But if there's one thing I hate it's the feeling of a game wasting my time and having to redo things. It's why I hate Soulsborne and roguelikes. And a game with lengthy boss battles that wastes all that time if you fail will lead that list!
People that love it love it, and I think it sounds like you might be more apt to love it, so maybe no need to worry. If you get through the first two "tiers" (you keep going through each of the kingdoms iteratively so that there's like "castle town tier 1, castle town tier 2, castle town tier 3 - forest town tier 1, forest town tier 2, forest town tier 3, etc." If you survive the first 2 "tiers" without getting entirely bored, then the game probably clicks for you. For me I got through the first "tier" and was like "yeah, this game is awesome, I love this!", then kind of slogged through the bosses of the second, and by the time I got to the third , I was like "oh....so this is all there is....it's just this again..."
@NEStalgia "But if there's one thing I hate it's the feeling of a game wasting my time and having to redo things."
This. So much this. I didn't feel this was really an issue in the Bravely games I played - ignoring the second half of the first Bravely Default that people like to complain about, but I didn't feel this was too detrimental since there were differences - but I certainly am trying to be better about not muscling through a game that I feel no longer respects my finite time after a point (if it ever did), though sometimes I still stubbornly hang on if I like the plot. Seems like we're on the same wavelength regarding roguelikes; thanks to the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon titles, I learned long ago that they aren't my cup of tea. Though I'm still sometimes tempted to try out Hades.
I think I'll tackle the game tier by tier and see if it still clicks for me each round. I know it's a longer one, so there might be a short break or two scattered in. I'm certainly still willing to give it a shot, but for how long depends on the impression it leaves. The input is appreciated!
I wonder if the "Hard" difficulty is the same difficulty as in the demo or even more difficult. I would love a more hardcore strategy game.
@Tyranexx Hades.... they say it's the roguelike for people that dislike roguelikes. My take on it is that it's still a roguelike. Since I do Game Pass I got to play it. I really enjoyed it in a Diablo 2 type way....at first. Powered my way through the first section boss. Retrying wasn't so bad. Finally got past her. Died to a grunt in the next area and had to start again. I thought at least they'd keep the boss beat, but no, they didn't. After a few more passes, I'm like "nope, did this already, not doing it again." If they'd kept the bosses beaten I may have spent more time with it and liked it, but it just descends into the feeling of doing the same thing over and over just because.
You may still have a more favorable opinion of Octopath than I did since you have a better opinion of Bravely. Edea was the only reason I powered through that first game, lol. Just beware those bosses in Octopath. The first tier of them aren't so bad, but the iterations in the second and third tier, and those devastating area attacks get tiring.
@NEStalgia I'd probably try Hades on the cheap if I get the chance, though I don't think I'd buy it at full price anytime soon. The repetition with some of those games is partially why I'm on the fence. The main story for the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon title (Blue Rescue Team on the DS) I played wasn't bad at all, but it was the post-game multi-floor dungeons and grinding that killed it for me. Not to mention the very crappy recruitment rating, or to wipe out a few floors from the bottom of a 99-floor dungeon only to 1. lose half your items and gold, and 2. have to do everything over again. I've heard more recent titles have become less of a grind-fest, but I'm just not ready to take another chance.
Oof, thanks for the warning about the AoE attacks; those are usually no joke and, no offense to those who do like this mechanic, are sometimes implemented in a cheap manner. /Stares at earlier Final Fantasy titles Edea was one of the best-written characters, though I liked all the main cast outside of some of Ringabel's flirting; seemed way too stereotypical lol.
@Tyranexx My Mystery Dungeon experience is much like yours. I kind of enjoyed part of...I don't remember which one it was, early on 3DS, but I also burned out on it fast. I tried the remake last year and could barely get past the beginning. It just bored me to tears. Around the same time Chocobo Mystery Dungeon was cheap, so I bought it. At first I loved it, it did everything so much better than the Pokemon versions, and felt like a proper RPG. And then I got to some of the frustrating antics in the lava dungeon and more or less rage-quit. Which is a shame because I absolutely loved that game at first.
And yeah, Ocotopath bosses can do some very very cheap area attacks. I may have been underleveled too often because I expected the dungeons to be more than 3 hallways at some point, but I remember always being stuck in the "everyone is 3hp from death and 1 is dead, revive, heal, heal heal - oh they're back down, revive, heal, heal, oh, now 2 are down" battle against the tides pretty often.
They had the chance to fix this for Balan Wonderworld and they didn't. Square Enix always care about their own games first before any others I see.
@NEStalgia I did try the demo for the Switch remake for Red/Blue Rescue Team. It was a direct hit in the nostalgia to be sure, but stepping back it was really just the same game with a modern coat of paint. I'm sure there were also plenty of QoL improvements too, but I wasn't willing to grab the full version of the game. The irony is I thought I'd enjoy the Mystery Dungeon spinoff games back in the day over Pokemon Ranger, but thanks to the crap mechanics I ended up liking the latter spinoffs more. I'm pretty much conditioned to avoid anything resembling a roguelike at this point.
... We'll see how long my patience holds out with some of the cheaper boss moves in Octopath. XD I don't mind challenging situations, but only when it's fair and isn't an endless tacky revive loop like you described.
Imagines if balan wonderworld did the same thing.
Pre launch patchnote: game has been scrapped and will never be published.
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