Tactics Ogre
 

Hey cool, a reason to dust off and charge up those paperweights! Tactics Ogre has been thrilling thus far and despite the deceptive case, it actually has multiplayer. I'll be testing that out tomorrow with a friend!

This one has got significantly more stats for characters and a larger capacity for your arsenal. The combat system is familiar and easy to jump into. The biggest plus I've had is installing the game to the memory card. Its cutting down on the lag that War of the Lions had and making battles enjoyable to watch. The music is fantastic and there is a link avaiable here.

Its really complex, but the story and revamped game makes it worthwhile. Some subtle additions like the ability to take screenshots is awesome. I'll hope to upload some cool ones soon.

http://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/ar...5014531901.jpghttp://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/ar...2005026466.jpghttp://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/ar...2005032967.jpghttp://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/ar...55906_640w.jpghttp://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/ar...08330_640w.jpghttp://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/ar...15079_640w.jpg

Game looks great and I never really got into the original. I picked this up day 1 to both support it's release as well as get the Tarot Cards (I have a major hard-on for that artist). Heard nothing but great things about the PSP version.

In before bitching from Skills and his CFW problems! (which I would have guessed someone has patched by now?)

I've got this running on CFW [fat PSP-1000, 5.50 Prome-4 if you're curious] and have no problems with it. :3:

That said, the game itself looks REALLY nice. I haven't played much into it yet as I've been pretty busy, but from what I've seen so far, I'm going to enjoy it.

Its more difficult than I remember, but that's much of my gaming from my childhood when I reconnect with it at a later date in some fashion. I didn't bother with CFW on my 3000, but I've got a soft mod, so whatever.

Man, the Tarot Cards are grabbing a decent price on eBay already. We were supposed to get them here but I got fucked out of mine. Dunno if we didn't get 'em or if the employees just jacked 'em or what.

No bitching. I am using an extremely annoying work around that includes a four step process for switching back to 5.50 as needed. There is no fix yet unless you rip to ISO. And even then, the North American version will not run on 5.50, it needs 6.20 HN-C with Prometheus iso loader.

Keep in mind this is the patched, European, iso version.

Not the North American version running off the UMD.

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I'm halfway into Chapter 2L myself right now, and the revamped narrative really improves the weight of the decisions you're forced to make. Just unlocked Ninjas and Rogues myself and am going through a quick random battle or two to catch Denam up as a Ninja to everyone else's level, and enjoying Crafting. Only problem is I don't have any bloody katanas yet to use dual wield with.

Skills, in Canada they got short shipped a ton of the cards. My local had six pre-orders and got one set of cards (sitting on my shelf, son).

Figures. Shitty but not terribly unexpected.

How are they? I hear the art's great but the card stock is really shitty and flimsy.

Without pulling them out again I don't recall that being an issue, but I could be mistaken. I suppose I'm also not real familiar with actual Tarot Card build quality either.

21:37 <+Mo0> I have started two files in Tactics Ogre PSP, only to reboot before the initial story is over because I don't like the name of my character
21:38 <+Mo0> The default name is Denam, and I keep pronouncing it "denim" in my head
21:38 <+Mo0> And that bugs me
21:38 <+Mo0> Why do I care about this so much


21:39 <+Mo0> Both "Jay" and "Jasef" have proceeded to bug me within 10 seconds
21:39 <+Mo0> nutty names all his game characters Nathan, that name'd bug me to no end in a fantasy game
21:40 <+Ben[Laptop]> lol self naming
21:40 <+Mo0> "So my characters are Vashyron, Illyrio, Catiua, and Nathan."


21:44 <+Mo0> I'm still 20 minutes into playing Tactics Ogre and I haven't figured out what to name the main fucking character
21:44 <+Mo0> Skills why am I such a dink
21:44 <&Colonel_Skills> he comes with a default name, mo0
21:44 <+Mo0> But I don't LIKE the default name


21:50 <+Mo0> Okay fine his name will be Denam and I'll just live with him being named after a fucking fabric
21:50 -!- Mo0 is now known as Mo0spergers
21:51 <+Mo0spergers> hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng already regretting decision

I have an ISO rip of the North American version. From what I understand, it's not been patched [as various comments from the torrent I downloaded from state] however it seems to work fine so far on my system. Huh.

Are you absolutely sure it's the NA version ISO and not the European version ISO? The European version ISO has been floating around on torrent sites for the better part of a month and is what 95% of the releases are.

The European version got a patch that enabled it to be ran on CFWs about a week after it was first leaked, and most releases after that point were reupped with it already applied.

I don't think there's a difference in game between the two, unlike the Japanese and NA versions, which have changes in leveling and stat progression.

It's a role playing game, so why wouldn't I want to pretend I'm the main character, rather than have him have some goofy nonsense name like Tidus or Genus?

More difficult? In the original, if you died you were permanently dead, until you unlocked the Resurrection spell much later in the game. The PSP version starts you out with a supply of blessing stones, which can also be purchased for a very reasonable 2000 gold at any shop. Other than trying to save Cistina (stupid AI), I haven't had any major problems through the first battle of Chapter 2.

You should know as well as the rest of us that there's no more "role-playing" in a JRPG than any other linear video game. You might as well call the characters in Vanquish Nathan and Devin instead of Sam and Burns.

I'd do that, given the option. Well, the Nathan part at least. I might name the dog in Secret of Evermore Devin.

I ripped my own UMD and patched it myself, works fine. Same exact patch that was used on the JP and EU version, so no clue why the people putting up the US one are sleeping on it...

The tarot card stock is ass if you compare it to actual tarot cards which tend to be laminated and printed on stock that is meant to last a stupid amount of time. However they were meant to just be looked at, not actually used. The art is really good at least!

Also the original was more difficult if only due to the fact it was horribly unbalanced. Some of those balance issues are fixed (and some aren't *cough*Archers*cough*) so it is somewhat less difficult. Original had fights in the favor of the enemy, with special equipments / higher levels / same level enemies being stronger than you, but weaker when you made them join / prioritizing on killing units. Now it's more in your favor as most of those enemy benefits were taken away. Also I tend to notice the enemy AI just goes for doing the most damage instead of killing off near-dead units.

bitGAMER has both the PAL and NTSC-US versions uploaded, and the PAL one is pre-patched, but I grabbed the US one [cause it came out earlier on the site]. It doesn't SEEM to be mislabeled, but I could be wrong.

[edit] I just booted up my PSP and checked the game's code, it's showing up as ULUS-10565, so as far as I can tell, it's the US version.

Is this game as easy as FF Tactics Advance was? If so I don't want to waste my time.

Hmm, yeah. My bad. I thought the patch didn't work for the US version, but apparently it does.

My memory stick isn't big enough for the rip and the PS1 games I've got on it at the moment, but I might as well pick up a larger one soon. They're dirt cheap at this point.

You disgust me.

Even more than usual.

Says the guy who names his characters using internet monikers or terrible jokes. How many name combos was it you went through in DQ IX before settling on Boiling, Hot, and Tar?

No, enemies actually damage you in this game.

Took a while but my guide finally shipped. Was gettin' worried there for a moment. To Daravon and anyone else who picked it up (Nutty I think?), are there charts on the important stuff (class stats and skill crossovers, basically?)

The guide is a monster. 400 pages worth (imagine our shock when we got our DQVI guide too) and worth every penny.

Only 100 pages of it covered the main game. LOL however, yes, there's charts of terrain, classes, story characters, restrictions, and more specific by classes (20 pages worth), even a chart on what your answers will be by the cards. GOOD stuff. And then 70 pages worth of side quests. And then the rest were pages on skills & magic and armor & weapons. Its insane. But totally worth holding out for the psp version now that I've seen this. SD said we used to have the original but that guide was pretty thin and sparse. Good things come to those who wait apparently! :D

Yeah, I haven't played the original much so I have no point of reference, but flipping through the guide it seemed pretty crazy.