The Gamer's Quarter

[SuperWes]

Apart from all the "real" games (console games) I've been playing lately I've also been putting a lot of time into Yggdra Union on the GBA. I pre-ordered it from GameStop and it came in just before Thanksgiving. Haven't seen it anywhere since, so it might be a rarity.

At any rate, unless my sources are wrong, the game's made by Sting, whose only other game of note is Riviera for the WonderSwan/GBA. I loved Riviera despite never finishing it, and, seeing screenshots of Yggdra I had assumed that it was a semi-sequel to Riviera that used collectible cards as an overt game mechanic rather than providing a "deck" of items to mask the fact that it's actually a card-battling game like Riviera did.

I was surprised to find out that Yggdra is a completely different game than Riviera - one that uses cards in a mostly un-card-battle game fashion, by basically making them stand for the number of tiles you can move in an Ogre-Battle/Tactics Ogreesque Strategy game. In fact, I'd say Yggdra Union is the closest we'll ever get to seeing another Ogre Battle, unless Square-Enix decides to pillage the remains of Matsuno's creations now that it's all they have left of him.

Did anyone else pick this up? If so, tell me what you think of it, and if not, I'd highly recommend doing so - especially to the Ogre Battle fans that I know are out there. The art is beautiful and the design is an extremely unique mixture of several different great-but-niche genres. It's one of those games that will likely end up underproduced, and won't ever have any imitators - leaving people spending big money several years from now to see it's unique take on the Tactical RPG genre.

-Wes
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[player 2]

I'd play it if I had a rom. There's no way I'm playing a game on my old GBA (regular) when I have a new Wii.
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Wii #: 8749 9109 9732 3653

"It is a peaceful way of understanding life, to play"
_Marcel Duchamp

[Isfet]

i'd been watching this game since it was announced and i've been meaning to pick it up. maybe i'll try tonight.

from what you've played, how is its presentation in relation to something like Riviera? is it easy enough to pick up and put down whenever? is it fairly short (for a TRPG)? either way, i think it would be nice to play something Ogre Battle-ish on train rides.

[BalbanesBeoulve]

Yeah, i've been looking forward to this game since it was first announced. I'm really glad Atlus brought it over.

I like it. It's pretty hard. And as someone who plays too many SRPGs it really messes with how I usually play these games. The one attack per turn thing really takes a while to get used to. And I can see the morale system really pissing people off. The weapon system in Riviera really pissed off people, but the system in this game is like 10x worse.


And yeah, you can save during battles. But as soon as you continue the save disappears. But once you or the enemy starts an attack you can't stop playing. You can pause it, but that's it. And an attack can include up to 5 units on each side, so you might be stuck there for a while. I really wish you could skip battles, or fast forward them. They give you stuff to do during the battles instead of just watching. LIke charging up for your card skills or using up the meter to increase your attack. But i'd still like to be able to skip them sometimes.

[Lackey]

I have to ask: what's with the word YGGDRA?
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

[BalbanesBeoulve]

The main character is called Yggdra.They just cut short the word Yggdrasill.

[SuperWes]

[JasonMoses]

I bought it, but I've only played about 4 missions in! Yggdra can't seem to win a battle, ha ha. I dislike the battle pacing to a degree, namely in the way that there's no indication of who's going to win if you're at the point where it's 1v1 and you're just watching the two sides repeat their attack animations over and over until one of them jarringly switches to their death animation. It's got really nice presentation, and I like the general feel of the game, but I'm not sure how it'll all pan out in the end. I'll probably finish Super Robot Taisen OG 2 first before really continuing with it, honestly.

[BalbanesBeoulve]

Right now, I'm on battle 17. That's about halfway through I think. I don't really like this game. Some battles make me really hate it. I liked Riviera much better.

[GSL]

Wes, finish Riviera, it's fantastic!

Also, since we're talking about unconventional GBA RPGs here (not to derail the topic too much), are the Summon Night titles worth getting?

[Shapermc]

[Nana Komatsu]

I played through the original Summon Night during one weekend. It isn't long, 10 hours or so, not too challenging, but I enjoyed it a lot! It was just fun to play and the story was cute.

[TOLLMASTER]

I want this game so bad. I spent some time with the Japanese rom, and it essentially does the obvious to the SRPG: make the movement options worth agonizing over. You don't have a large grid of squares, but a set of various lanes and choke points, which makes placement that much more interesting.

Unit types, card power ratings, etc. make it seem needlessly complex, but it probably makes more sense when the characters are gabbing in a language you understand, I'm guessing.

I haven't seen it anywhere yet, unfortunately. I might have to pick up Godhand like Shaper suggested, before my sister or brother need to "borrow" some more money. Not really in the spirit of the season, but...

[dessgeega]

currently speaking:

i played this a little. enough to use formations, which seem to be the heart of the game. the proper positioning of units seems to be the crux of strategy here - sort of like in nectaris, but more so here because you're only given one attack per turn and need to incorporate all the proper units into it. small maps, small armies, small battles.

the visual design, on the other hand, is huge and boisterous and loud. like i wrote in another thread, there are layers upon layers of text and icons and design overlayed on what is a pretty simple game. (much like in riviera.) but it actually works; it's sort of like an incredibly detailed etching, only with text instead of lines. it reminds me of sanvein.

having said that, though, i think it was assembled for an audience that's not me. kids with swords, lengthy, unskippable cutscenes, digital collectible cards. these things all get in the way, as far as i'm concerned. much like the visual design, actually! i'm currently on a lord monarch kick, though, so the game and i clearly have different goals in mind.

also yggdra has won nearly every battle i've sent her into.
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[BalbanesBeoulve]

Yeah, i really hate this game. It's hard to the point of being cheap. Too many stages are practically or literally impossible to beat until you lose the stage once and on the retry every enemy gets easier. Actually, the last 3 stages have been like that, and its pissing me off. One of them has this boss that rapes every single one of your units. Nobody can even damage him. I had to lose the stage and retry it before I could even damage him, and then it became pretty easy. So I guess the game expects you to either lose at least once, or lose on other stages multiple times so you can repeat them and level up. Both are horrible design decisions.

The next stage makes you sit through a long ass, 15 minute intro. Then not only does it stick a guy that is literally impossible to kill. Seriously. Its impossible to kill this guy. He has a skill that not only revives every one of his units, but when they revive they turn into the kind of unit you are weak against. Not only that, but he can use this skill multiple times in a battle. If that wasn't bad enough, you're supposed to get to a check point beyond these 9 enemies. Yet the first row of knights is impossible to kill. You can't get their morale past 1, they're protected from death. I'm on my 3rd try now, waiting for the damn intro to finish. I'm guessing I probably need to wait for them to come to me and then zig zag through the holes to the finish. Its great that the game never gives you any hints that the enemies are invincible.

Edit: Ok yeah, apparently all I have to do is sit there without moving and I'll beat the stage. God damn you Sting, the normal thing to do in this situation is to continue the story after your units die, not actually give a real game over.

Fuck this game. I'm still going to beat it, because it's pretty good when its not idiotically cheap. But fuck Sting. Now I see what pissed so many people off about Riviera in this game

[GrimmSweeper]

What I don't particularly like is that for portions of a game you're primarily using one unit to do all attacks, just because their weapon is best against EVERY ENEMY UNIT. I just completed the undine chapters, where you're fighting against mostly spear types. Your axemen unit can and will sit in the middle of them and literally take them out en masse.

Oh, I'll shift in the Knight or the Undine for Union attacks at points in an attempt to level them up, but not because they are stronger. It's the fact that the AI doesn't have any actual subroutines to consider not RAGEing into a stronger, water element attack that is completely negated by my Undine, or using a card attack that is Guarded by my Knight.

Yggdra's been sitting out these fights, again, because of her weapon type is weak versus spears. There hasn't been a good chance for her to be used in these situations.
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[JasonMoses]

The more I read this thread the less I want to play this game!

Good job guys.

Although, I'm skeptical that the game would force you to lose mission in order to win it after retrying. It seems more likely that Balbanes is missing something, although what that would be I have absolutely no idea.

[duckzero]

Do I like this game? Still do so far, and i'm 7 missions in. The only thing about this game is that it almost reveals too much about the cards. I kinda would have preferred to not know that the cards can also produce spells immediately, because for a while I did not know how in the world to use the spells. But with that aside, so far the game is fine, but I do like the card system, because it forces you to play a bit smarter than one would in Shining Force or whatnot.