Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis Preview
We spend some time with a fully-playable version of this upcoming strategy-RPG.
Though its popularity has never reached that of Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre is still one of the most highly regarded strategy console series. The most recent game in the series, The Knight of Lodis, continues in the footsteps left by its predecessors--it has an in-depth and involving storyline, shares the series' distinct visual style and map structure, contains a wealth of options, and features gameplay that's both simple and incredibly dynamic. In fact, it seems that Quest has managed to strike a successful balance between the strategy elements and the role-playing elements so that fans of either will have some motivation for playing The Knight of Lodis on the Game Boy Advance.
If you've played previous Tactics Ogre games or Final Fantasy Tactics, then The Knight of Lodis should feel familiar, but if you haven't had the pleasure of playing either, the game can seem a little overwhelming at first. The Knight of Lodis is essentially a turn-based strategy game in which the main character, along with a series of other characters, fight on an isometric map that has varying types and levels of terrain. Like a field general, you must maneuver your characters and place them on the map into positions that would enable them to attack a member of the opposing party or, at least, get out of harm's way. Sounds simple enough, and for the most part, it is--your main objective is almost always to take out the enemy, but you'll quickly find that running into a battle headfirst by moving your troops haphazardly isn't a useful strategy.
The positioning of your characters on the battlefield is as important as any other aspect of the game. At the start of each battle, you'll be able to select characters from your current group, which is made up of one or two special characters who are directly involved in the story, as well as four or five generic characters who assume the role of melee soldiers, magic users, and archers. Up to eight of these characters can be placed on one side of the battlefield--opposite of the enemy force--before the actual battle starts. In the initial parts of the game, this particular feature isn't quite as important as it is later because the enemy has low numbers and is usually weak, containing only similarly generic characters. But as you progress through the game, the prebattle character-selection feature becomes increasingly important because it will let you assess the battle and select characters who are the most adequately prepared to handle the task at hand.
When the battle begins, you can start moving your characters around on the map. When you select a character with the icon, a grid of blue squares appears on the map, indicating where that particular character can move. The number of squares that are highlighted in blue is often determined by the type of terrain. For example, if you're fighting on a map with sharp cliffs or just generally uneven terrain, then your characters can't move as well. Even if the map is perfectly flat, characters are somewhat restricted in their movements, depending on their class.
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- GameSpot Score9.1Editors' Choice
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- Release: May 11, 2002 »
- ESRB: Everyone
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