
We are rapidly closing in on the Switch release of Tactics Ogre: Reborn on November 11th and Square Enix has today provided us with a whole lot more information on what upgrades they have made to the series' latest arrival.
The full details are available to read online (thanks, Gematsu), outlining the game's newest additions, user interface improvements and specific pieces of information on the game's different characters and classes. Most importantly (by our money) Square Enix's update shows how the game will work to improve your team customisation and battle precision through a number of new features.
On top of revamping skill rules and changes to item equipment, Tactics Ogre: Reborn will introduce new items called Charms, which look set to let you personalise your lineup to ensure that every one of your units is precisely to your liking.
Charms are new items introduced to give you more control over the development of your units’ stats. You can use charms on the party formation screen to improve and alter your units. Charms can be found during battle, and after battle as a reward.
Charm Effects:
- Raise a unit’s level by 1
- Grant experience points
- Permanently increase stats such as STR (strength) or AGI (agility)
- Change a unit’s element to another element (e.g., from air to holy)
This level of customisation is carried through into the pre-game set-up, with a new battle party screen letting you scout out the battlefield before playing as well as granting you the ability to save up to five different parties for quick selection.
While these changes should work to make the battles a little more user friendly, Square has also announced that they have worked to improve the enemy AI to better read your moves and place a higher focus on the game's approach to tactics - it does make up a good third of the title, after all.
The enemy considers the terrain, recognizing features such as narrow roads and wide, open plains, as well as the player’s movement, using this information to decide where the battlefront is and choose the best point to engage the player. In addition, how the enemy responds to the buff cards that appear at random creates an ever-changing battle that never feels repetitive.
For more information on the above features and many, many more besides, be sure to read Square Enix's full update over on Gematsu.
We can't help but feel that a written update of this size is something of an information dump, potentially suggesting that Tactics Ogre: Reborn will be a little too complicated for its own good. With a little over a month until its release, however - like all good tacticians - we're just going to have to wait and see.
What do you make of these new features? Choose to move, attack, use item or flee in the comments below!
[source gematsu.com]
Comments 25
Yeah that is definitely a Square Enix title for a game.
I said this on PushSquare already, but this game is in total my Christmas list this year. Lol.
@nimnio a while ago to be honest. It was in the direct as well I believe
This game is hard as is. Definitely heavily relying on the tactics aspect. But that's what I LOVE about this game. I wonder if you can turn perma death off.
@JimNorman
To be fair, the ogre games have always had an absurd level of important small details, encouraging a tremendous amount of micromanaging.
@nimnio
I feel like the ogre games will always be cult following games.
When "the knight from lodis," the tactics ogre gba (or was it ds) game came out, many of the people involved went on to make FF tactics. Guess which game actually got attention?
The ogre games will always be in the shadows of other classic rpg giants, but damn, I'd choose an Ogre game any day.
@Emmerichcoal
Ogre Battle 64 did not ever hit a difficulty point with me that I shut it off and move on (and I do that often with games). I do not recall any permadeath either.
I read over everything they're changing or adding, and wowzers is it a huge step up from Let Us Cling Together on PSP.
I already considered that game top tier strategy, one of the best in the genre. But they've truly streamlined the experience further and made it all even more accessible!
I cannot wait for this one.
It sounds complicated to read, but if they can make it feel intuitive / instinctive, it's going to rock!
An SRPG that is too complicated for it's own good? That's a thing?
I actually had to double back and read the line about the game being complicated.
Nothing about TO is complicated. It's on the same level as Final Fantasy Tactics, or potentially Triangle Strategy (haven't played this one to confirm). The information dump was immense, sure, but clearly it felt more geared towards those who knew the underlying systems a bit more than the newcomers.
And it was all about how the process has been streamlined where needed, and improved where possible.
Remember: this is a SRPG from 1995. The bells and whistles surrounding it might be new and appeal to modern day sensibilities, but the bones are nearly 30 years old and rock-solid.
Too many games to buy now.
Already got a Genesis Mini 2 reserved and Pokemon Violet.
That's more than I should spend on games.
@MattmanForever Yeah, the upscaling filter they used looks terrible. I'm going to skip this version unless there's an option to turn it off.
@msvt the PS version, if your character died in battle, they were gone for good. I remember restarting after certain characters died.
I'd like to play it but I'm not a fan of permadeath. I find it kind of a silly component as most people just reload their game if a character dies.
Is this game similar to FFT or FFTA? I love those games; this one looks very similar to them.
This was an amazing game, but I honestly prefer the Ogre Battle and Ogre Battle 64 games... Nothing else quite like those that I can recall. This one is like final fantasy tactics and other strategy RPGs, just a bit more complicated. Still awesome tho!
@Emmerichcoal
Yeah, that sucks. Maybe the and hopefully that is one of the updates.
In fact, that would be aa dealbreaker on whether I want to to buy and play this or not. I do not enjoy that kind of tension pressure when I am playing an otherwise, relaxing, game.
@Kiwi_Unlimited Knight of Lodis is so good!
@nimnio it has appeared in the many game “sizzle reels” before, at least in the Japanese directs.
@Jcdbengals From what I know, the closest thing to those games is Soul Nomad by NIS.
@philwhite in the PSP version, you had several turns to save a downed character. And even if they “died”, they had to die three times before they were gone for good.
@Dark_Isatari
I wish they'd just release an Ogre Collection.
I want to revisit all the games so much.
@msvt I'm assuming you will be able to "rewind" to a previous turn should you lose a character. It was a feature added to the PSP remaster.
@hefferj
That's better, thanks. I'm not going to pre0order, I want to learn more about it before buying it. OB64 was a favorite but I guess that one was a little different than the rest in the series.
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