Retro-gaming Review: Ogre Battle

....or revisiting a game of my youth.

So I'm currently replaying through Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen. The game itself is a unique combination of RPG and Strategy (Real Time Strategy). You are the leader of a rebellion against an evil empire. As you travel the land toward the heart of the empire, you recruit several powerful characters to your cause. Seems simple right? However, this is just a cursory explanation. The real complexity of the game isn't apparent until you look at the main map screen and the individual character screens.

On the top right of the overworld screen for each map, you'll see a gauge and a sun dial of sorts that tracks the progression of day to night and vice versa. The gauge is your reputation with the people of the land and the actions you take and the units (a collection of your soldiers) that you use to liberate cities will raise and lower your reputation. Each unit has up to five members, and each member has a charisma/charm rating (CHA) and an alignment rating (ALI) - the higher the alignment, the "holier" or more goodly your character is. Therefore, it is important to show the best side of this rebellion to the people and have good units liberate cities.

On the other hand, some people like myself prefer to have armies of darkness (vampyres, werewolves, liches, etc.). This game allows itself to be played both ways. So in my case, I'd liberate the city with my good soldiers (paladins, knights, samurai, etc.) and then use my werewolves and wizards to hold the city.

It should be noted that this is not an simple, pick up and play. After the first few stages/maps (or "scenes" as they are called in-game), each map begins to take longer to clear. So barring a blitzkrieg on the enemy's capital city, you should expect to take about an hour or so per map. Again, this is purely optional, but to get the most out of the story and all the little sidequest items, you'll have to commit yourself and your time to this game.

For a decent walkthrough, check this FAQ.

As a side note: This game is apparently incredibly rare to find in the United states. According to various articles (you can see one here) , there were only about 25,000 copies released in America. And I just happened to pick up one of them (hey, it was a great summer game). Right now, a complete copy of the game can be found on ebay for about $150 dollars, or around $60 for the game itself (no manual, no inserts). No, I'm not planning on ever selling this game.

Now for the nostalgia -

As I noted, this game took time and commitment to play. I still remember spending hours on a Saturday just trying to clear stage after stage, until finally I beat the game. The ending was spectacular and seemed to nicely wrap everything up (I'll not spoil it). So I restarted and played through a second time, this time trying to get more of the little sidequests accomplished...and this time I got a completely different ending. Yes, there are multiple endings to this game, depending on who you recruit and even if you are male or female.

Another fond memory for this game involves my younger brother. I had just gotten my wisdom teeth removed (they had to be taken out via surgery) and I was home recovering (read also: doped up on anesthetic). I woke up to find my younger brother playing Ogre Battle on my SNES in my bed room. He had come in to check on me and thought he'd play some videogames while hanging out. So I'd get up and mumble suggestions to him every so often and then fall back asleep. Random memory, eh? Well, it was a preview of things to come. While my brother definately prefers sports games and racing games (Gran Turismo, for example), he's always had a knack and a soft spot for strategy games (Lords of the Realm, etc.). Maybe Ogre Battle was that nudge down that path.

So how does this game compare to memory? It is even better than I remembered. Call it age, call it maturity, but I understand more of the technical aspects of this game now that I'm older, and find myself enjoying it even more. If you can get a copy of this, do so! I've read that they just re-released it on the Nintendo Wii virtual console. It's worth playing, especially if you like games that take longer to beat.

Well, that ends this trip down memory lane. Next time, I'll either do Secret of Mana or Kirby Superstars.