One of the best games on N64.
Gameplay gets a 9.5 out of 10. It is truly an incredible experience, which you notice straight away with the battles. Although this is an RPG with turn-based battles, this RPG does it differently. This is not Final Fantasy, there is no bar that needs to fill up before you can move. In fact, you don't move at all. The battles are totally automated, with the player only able to give general instructions such as "attack weakest" (my personal favorite). This makes for exciting and unpredictable battles, since you never know exactly how they will turn out.
Another incredible aspect of the game is the magic system. There are 6 basic "elements" of magic to choose from, which is pretty standard fare for an RPG, but what sets Ogre Battle 64 apart from the rest is that you can actually combine spells to make totally new ones. One I remember vividly was a hybrid spell called Atmosphere, which was an ice spell and air spell combined. The effects looked amazing, and this system allows for a huge amount of different spells to cast.
Another facet of the gameplay is the class system. There are dozens of classes for each individual character to choose from, each with different spells and abilities. The player can choose which classes suit their play style the best, and build a powerful, well balanced army from the ground up. Not only that, each individual character (which you'll collect over 100, including non-human characters) has its own stats, right down to alignment. The possibilities of micromanaging your strategy are endless.
Yet another dimension of this game is the story. Players can advance through the story at whatever pace they choose. This can have consequences however. If you blaze through the game as fast as you can, just tearing up every army in your path and conquering lands without caring about the people or your army, you'll get different reactions from characters and a worse ending than if you took your time and paid attention to the actual citizens of the kingdom and did your best to make them better off than they were before you arrived. It's features like this that make Ogre Battle 64 a truly great game.
I give the graphics a 9.5 out of 10 also. This game just looks gorgeous on the N64, with each major character individually drawn, maps and areas that look lush and alive, spell effects that look incredible, and cutscenes that are well done too. Little finishing touches, such as the camera zooming in on a character that is about to deal a critical hit in a battle, also help make this game look great.
For sound, I am tempted to give a 10 out of 10. I bought the soundtrack from the game because it is just that good. Several of the songs are remixes from the original Ogre Battle on SNES, and there are also several new ones that are just as nice to listen to. With any game, great sound can really make for a memorable experience, and Ogre Battle 64 consistently hits this concept dead on. Sound effects are also very well done.
Controls are also very well done, as I never felt I had to fight with the game to get it to do what I wanted.
In all, I give this game a 9.5 out of 10. Every facet of this game comes together in a complete, well polished package that constantly delivers great and memorable experiences. It is an exciting, interesting, and very deep game that can just suck you in for hours. Again, this is a wonderful game that you'll pick up and never want to let go.