Tactics Ogre

[Tuffty]

Next week I'll get my hands on a copy all being well. I'm really liking the idea of a game like this, something different from the games I've been playing mostly lately. And convenient enough for me to pass time on the train to work too. The level of micro management sounds rather daunting, but part of me is pretty stoked about it too.

[Tuffty]

It was posted out today! Should be here Monday hopefully. There's an interesting retrospective on it here. For example, did you know that the story was inspired by the Yugoslavia-Croatian Independance wars that were raging on in the early 90s?

[Tuffty]

Finally got it! Only played about 20 mins worth. Initially it has the same issue I had with FF:Tactics in that you really have to keep track of the narrative even at this early stage. I mean it's perfectly fine, it's just when they're throwing out names of nations and individuals I have to cast my mind back to see if I can remember if they've been mentioned already But with the background info you can read in game, I know it will click for me eventually. And luckily, you can revisit cutscenes as well, very handy. Really liking the dialogue.

Biggest difference I see right now between this and FF:Tactics is how smooth it is. I didn't pay as much attention to the slowdown of FF:Tactics so much, to the point where it didn't really even bother me after a time, but now this is silky smooth, it almost feels like night and day between the two. And already, the amount of skills and in-game mechanics to pay attention to is 

Impressive stuff so far. I found it funny and the written manual for this, a PSP game, is thicker than most console game manuals

[Tuffty]

Encountered my first gripe with the game. Escort missions!! First mission of it's type and after 4 tries I still can't get past it. The problem is that the person I have to protect must have a deathwish as she charges right into the bad guys when she's already a good distance away from me. So the more she moves towards them, the further away she goes from me and easier it is for the rest of the enemies to thrash her. She's literally out of my healing magic range everytime, it's impossible to save her. Healder her one time but it was due to sheer luck as she blocked an attack, but whatever I had healed her with was taken away very quickly with two enemies attacking her and she died soon after.

Kinda stuck in a rut with it, I'm not under levelled or anything, I just cannot protect her. Don't know what to do.

[Tuffty]

Word of advice for everyone. If you have new character classes that you need levelling up, don't put all of them in the same battle. The way the enemy AI works is that it will target the weakest characters within range and at their initial stage, your new characters are easy prey. I would only take one newbie class in with you amongst the rest of your strongest party members, and they will receive a fair amount of EXP at the end anyway even if they don't take any action. Keep them out of range initially, within range of your healers. As the battle turns in your favour, maybe you can then move he/she out and see if they can contribute.