Console Strategy Games galore!

[jvgfanatic]

Since I'm a huge Culdcept fan (been playing since Saturn) and an avid console strategy game player (with a bit of PC gameage as well) I thought I'd build a list of strategy games I've had the pleasure of playing. I re-type this list whenever I provide it so I'll try to tailor this to the culdcept player...unfortunately very few of these games provide a Culdcept-like experience. There are far more strategy games than I have listed here, I'll try to stick to those I can describe.

Note that a "J" following the title of the game means the game is Japanese only. An "E" means the game got a Euro release but no US release. Games with no notation are available in the US.

PS2 - because most players have one of these.

Cardinal Arc (J) - Probably the most Culdcept-like game I'll write about in this list. It even uses cards from earlier Culdcept games (in addition to a few of it's own cards). The battlefield is a variously shaped grid of squares, each player (max 2) starts in a different location on the field. As each player (summoner) moves they fill squares with their color. The number of squares that are filled is the amount of Mana you have for summons. Summons can be minions, spells, or locations/places (defensive walls, healing points, etc.). Each player is given a set of cards to work with, each piece on the board has a movement allowance (summons also color squares so mana is built up fairly quickly) and battle statistics.

Cardinal Arc is a game in the Neverland series of games by Idea Factory. It isn't half bad but I'd recommend buying it at a discounted price as it lacks the depth of Culdcept. There are over 200 cards in the game.

Quite playable without knowledge of Japanese, some of the cards will give you a little difficulty but their effects should be apparent after a few practice runs.

Coloball 2002 (J) - Another game with mana and summoning. You have a "hand" of creatures (not really cards but you could consider them as cards until they are summoned) that are used to do battle on a spherical battlefield that is laid out like a big soccer ball. You can place creatures on the vertices of the hexagons on this field. Each hex is a different terrain type and you gain mana of that particular terrain each turn.

Combat is a bit of a dice rolling affair in this game though the die are actually spinners, it's the same function. You either hit your opponent or you don't. There are around 500 unit types in this game (though there are many "pairs" that are similar).

Very playable without knowledge of Japanese.

Venus & Braves and Seven: Molmorth no Kiheitai (J) - Beatifully illustrated games that play like no other strategy game. Essentially you have 3 rows of characters when facing an enemy. After a round of combat between the front row and the enemy you have the option to "rotate" your lines so the 2nd row becomes the front row and the front row drops to the back (3rd) row. Characters perform different actions depending on what row they are in. Strategically rotating and "staying" as well as group composition are keys to success. The stories and artwork are beautiful, check out some screenshots if you get the chance.

Disgaea, La Pucelle, Makai Kingdom, Phantom Brave, Disgaea 2 - I really don't need to say anything about these games, do I? Plenty of info out there.

Black/Matrix II (J) - 3D version of the classic Black/Matrix games. Not entirely sure I like the 3D feel of this title and it's not just because I happen to like 2D. A lot of detail was lost. It also doesn't feel a challenging as its Saturn (and GBA) counterparts. It should be noted that the 2D intermission artwork is well done.

Somewhat playable without Japanese though story plays a large part in the B/M games.

Generation of Chaos (J) - Lots of games in this series. They are slightly above average Dragon Force mixed with Romance of the Three Kingdoms games. A fairly steep Japanese language requirement will keep all but the most hardcore away.

Let's move even further away from Culdcept by talking about some non-fantasy games. These games are rooted in either historical or modern military gear.

Daisenryaku 1941 (J) - Fast paced Pacific theater WWII wargame. Played out on a 2D, hex-grid battlefield this game is quite accessible with no knowledge of Japanese games. Of course, my opinion of that is slightly skewed since I read most strategy game kanji as if it were my native language anyway.

Some of the great things about this game: the battles are fast paced, you don't muck around in a lot of stats; you can rename units with the English names (sweet); branching storyline means you can have multiple playthroughs; loads of unlockable units.

The game is well done but it isn't what I'd call "pretty" but most Daisenryaku players don't play the games for their looks.

I've got to run now but I'll add many more games to this list as I find the time. Having to sell almost all of my collection when I moved to the UK was extremely painful. At one point I had over 250 strategy games for consoles. I'm down to a handful now. I'll try to get the bulk of my former collection in this list. Cheers.

[unspoken]

Hey Jvgfanatic,

Just thought i'd mention there is a PSP US land edition of Generation of Chaos, which i happen to have. athough I haven't played it. (As you probubly know the game is fairly intracat, but the US version has absolutly no training, or help mode, just BAM either know what your doing or die, and the intructions aren't much help.) I've tryed figuring it out a few times, but the learning curve is a tad to steep for me.

[jvgfanatic]

Yep, I'll get to PSP games (there are about a dozen) in a bit. You are correct about GOC for PSP being a tough game to learn. In addition to the reasons you listed the game also has a fairly cumbersome interface. To NISA's credit they do provide a free, 5 meg starter guide online in PDF format.

The thing that helped me with GOC was getting over my obsession with doing everything correctly. I just played despite a loss here and there and before long the mechanics started to sink in.

[jvgfanatic]

More on the non-fantasy PS2 front...

Standard Daisenryaku (J) - This game is actually two games, both with different subtitles I'm not going to bother with. They are somewhat lame so avoid them as a first Daisenryaku choice. These are WWII based and offer a very story-centric strategy game. By the way, there have only been two Daisenryaku games to get localized to English. Know what they are? Answer: Iron Storm for the Sega Saturn and Dai Senryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics for the XBox.

Gaika no Gouhou: Air Land Force (J) - Fantastic modern military strategy game from Koei. It's Japanese only but highly playable in English. There's even a FAQ for the PC version that applies for the most part to the PS2 version. Very fast paced and fun.

Sentou Kokka Kai: New Operation (J) - A bit of a disappointment given how excellent the PSX version of the game was. The difficulty is all over the map here and beginners will likely get discouraged. The game ain't pretty but I normally don't knock strategy games for that, after all it's all in the play. This one however just did not impress.

There are some other PS2 titles that are worthy of mention: Neo Atlas 3 (J) which isn't really a strategy game but has trading/exploring elements that lend the game to the genre; Growlanser Generations which I think of more as an RPG than an SRPG but there are those who differ; Super Robot Taisen: Alpha 2, Alpha 3, Impact, and MX - All (J) excellent games, I love me some SRT. There has only been one Super Robot Taisen game released in English and you can bet we WILL be talking about that one later...

Oh, and just because I have to toss an Euro release in here...Robot Warlords is a game released as Velvet File in Japan. This is a cool looking but very slow paced Mech strategy game. I've only trudged through one level of it but it looks as if it actually might have some depth to it.

What the hell, let's go for broke, another Euro release: The Seed is an Artdink publication. They are the great minds behind (don't laugh, these games have their cool points) Aquanaut's Holiday, Tail of the Sun and Notam of Wind. Their motto has something to do with thinking outside of the box and some of their games actually suceed in doing so. I am enjoying The Seed despite its flaws. Basically you design and build spaceships that battle it out in real-time strategy. When ships engage in battle you just sit back and watch them do their stuff and it does look somewhat grand.

There are some other PS2 titles I think I've forgotten...

Front Mission 4 - Mech strategy that I just didn't care for (and I've loved previous entries in the series, particularly part 3). The colors in this title are bland and I found the link system to be somewhat unwieldy. Meh, it bums me out to no end that I didn't like this one. I know FM5 sees a return of Linking but it also appears to do good on the mistakes made in 4. I will hopefully give it a chance soon.

More to come...

[Captain Garak]

jvgfanatic said:

More to come...

I hope so... This is an excellent thread, JVG. Personally, I'm most interested in games that I can play, too (not being a Japanese reader, or an owner of anything other that US versions of consoles). I've appreciated the suggestions you made a couple of years ago (can anyone say Disgaea?), so I hope that something pops up on your list that I can play, too!

[unspoken]

jvgfanatic said:

Y To NISA's credit they do provide a free, 5 meg starter guide online in PDF format.

The thing that helped me with GOC was getting over my obsession with doing everything correctly. I just played despite a loss here and there and before long the mechanics started to sink in.

Ahhh! Thanks a lot! I'll look into that. Being a strat/rpg fan, and a fan of some of the other games NISA's brought to this side, I gave it a chance, suddenly discovering I had no idea how to play it (Never played the series or dragon force either) was a bit of a let down. My instictive desire to not make a mistake is hard to overcome, but harder for me, is not knowing how to win, or how to move, or what the desitions i'm making mean, or just where i'm headed. I move the peices and have no idea what i've just done haha.


A lot of the games you mentioned I haven't heard of, but that doesn't surprise me, being a american, and having no understanding of japanese. Wish they would bring a few more of these titles over hear, but, that is the chorus of every gamer of any type. Anyway, keep at it. Always nice to hear of something else to look for, or forward to.


Speaking of other games. One series that i've always enjoyed is fire emblem. Good grid RPG/strat, with the interesting element, that is at once fun and frustraiting that once a character dies, they remain dead. Trying to find a way for all your troops to always survive is taxing, but fun.

[jvgfanatic]

I hesitate to leave the PS2 so quickly as I'm sure I'm forgetting a few such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII, VIII, IX, and X which are all quite good in their own rights though I admit a real love of VIII and X. Also the PS2 has a version of PTO IV (that's Pacific Theater of Operations) which isn't as good as their other English version of the game, the Saturn's PTO II.

Anyway, if I remember other PS2 titles (and I'm sure I will) then I'll come back to it. Until then...Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS:

Since you bring it up, unspoken, we'll start with Fire Emblem - GBA. Truly a great series of SRPGs that began many years ago. We finally got our first English version with Fire Emblem for gameboy advance. They all pretty much play the same so my descriptions will hold true pretty much no matter which FE one picks up. Yes, as you say, once a character dies in this game they are gone for good. I really love that aspect of the game. It's fast paced and based on who you use in the game the most your style of play can change with each playthrough. There are tons of hidden conversations that are opened by positioning two characters next to each other on the field. All of this means more depth than is immediately apparent in the game. Some players may be turned off by the fact that the game is saved after every move however you can restart battles from the start.

Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis - GBA - Very excellent rendition of the TO games. This one is rather hardcore and the battles can be a bit more drawn out than some other games. Lots of customization/recruitment options make for another game with varied play styles. Definitely worthy of your SRPG dollar. You can train your army in training fields but there are downsides to that. There are several "awards/titles" in the game that are given based on style of play. Over-training your troops will give you a somewhat lame "award" if I remember correctly.

Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon - GBA - This is a remake of the Shining Force that (I believe) was on the MegaDrive. This is a fine remake, what it lacks in gameplay depth it makes up for in fun factor. The game does offer its own challenge and even allows the player to level up (by escaping from and re-fighting battles).

Rebelstar Tactical Command - GBA - Though it feels a bit "unfinished" this game is one of the finer SRPGs on the GBA. It's deep, very deep, just not long. You take control of a team of rebels trying to overthrow an alien incursion. You control pretty much every aspect of your team's movment and combat. I love the ability to set a unit up to take opportunity shots should an enemy wander into a line of fire. This game is from the makers of X-Com, if you've played that game then you've got some idea of how the combat works in this game. Pretty great stuff here.

Mech Platoon - GBA - Real time mech combat, feels pretty generic but of course that curse is hard to avoid in RTS games. It's really not that bad, not great but it plays well enough. Has a great FMV intro.

Advance Wars and Advance Wars 2 - GBA - I shouldn't have to say much about these two games, they get enough press. They are simplistic but really fun Modern/Future TBS on a square grid. The Fog Of War feature is busted all to hell in the first game as the enemy always knows where you are but it appears fixed in the second game. Another nice improvement in the second game is that the enemy's movements aren't as scripted as they were in the first and thus play the same move twice (by reloading a save) and you might see a different behavior. Neat.

Advance Wars DS - DS - I wish I didn't let the little things bug me sometimes but alas, I just could NOT get into this game because of an issue with how the sprites are scaled on the pseudo 3D battlefield. Instead of drawing smaller sprites the dev team scaled them and thus they lose pixels. Ugh. Still, it plays well enough if you can get over that.

There are a ton more GBA/DS strategy titles I'll be covering next. Until then I've got to go. Cheers.

[unspoken]

I like the first advance wars best personaly. The computers fog of war cheating aside, I just didn't like what happened with 2 enough to get into it. Athough fog of war may have been better, the opponets got there arms beefed up to include all sorts of weapons which, through the coarce of the game you're never given controll of. And unless i'm just remebering inncorectly, they did away with defesive campaigns and made them all blow everything up missions. I didn't care for the neo-tanks either, they seemed a bit unballanced. Also they removed my favorite reason to leave battle animation on, the CO's crying or cheering depending on the outcomes. Another thing I loved which they removed was rank. I'm a rank gold dragon on the first game, and slowly lvling that rank up was one of the things that kept me playing the game. The two part co powers nerfed my favorite co in the game, Eagle, while almost everyone else got additional powers. I still play the first game, and haven't touched AW2 since i beat it.

[jvgfanatic]

AW 1 did have some charm over AW 2, that's for sure.

On with the GBA/DS Strategy games. Here are some more:

Battles of Prince of Persia - DS - If you like cards combined with turn based strategy then this is your game. It has several unique features. While I don't necessarily like strategy games which restrict control of your forces to random events, this game avoids pitfalls that those games (Read LoTR:TA for GBA) by allowing you continue the turn until you've moved all of your units. The graphics may not be the best on the DS but the game itself is damn fun.

Black Matrix Zero (J) - GBA - Great portable rendition of the Black Matrix games. Played on a 2d isometric grid with some fantastic artwork. I actually like this version better than the original Black Matrix on the Saturn (which I loved). The levelling up and the casting of magic is handled uniquely. Magic casting is tempermental based on essentially things that are like biorhythms. There are times during a given fight when it costs a fortune to casts spells, there other other times when its easy. It's a great game with a moderate Japanese requirement.

Mage Knight: Destiny's Soldier - DS - I had read a lot of mixed reviews (mostly message board comments, actually) about this game so I was a little bit wary of it. Turns out I'm very pleased. While the mechanics of this board game turned video game are somewhat complex they are not overwhelming. You can choose from a number of initial starting characters and the dialog, whoever you chose, is very well written. This is high compliment coming from a person who prefers to avoid video game stories altogether.

The game is played on hexes and each unit's stats (and skills) are dependent on how much damage they have taken. For example, a unit will slow down if it is damaged. Line of sight is taken into account as well, a feature I rather like. The game is very detailed and despite the lack of skirmish mode (the story mode is quite long) it wins my approval.

Daisenryaku DS (J) - DS - Modern day, hex based combat that takes place in the middle east. A mission mode (each battle is independent of other battles with no story) with 50 battles and a scenario mode with branching storyline and units that carry experience from one fight to the next. I love the Daisenryaku series and this title comes through with flying colors. There is a bug however in which you will lose saved units if you complete Scenario Mode before completing mission mode. Easily worked around by playing Mission Mode first (which makes sense anyway). I've spent many hours with this title and have not played all the battles yet.

SD Gundam G Generation DS (J) - DS - Not a bad strategy game with a heavy Japanese requirement and BIG ROBOTS. I like the Gundam and Super Robot games however I've yet to see a single episode of any of the anime. Go figure. This one allows you to combine 3 units into a team which is obviously more effective. There are many hidden conversations and units (and stages, for that matter) which are uncovered based on who you have in what team and who talks to who. Nice game.

Super Robot Taisen Original Generations - GBA - If you like Fire Emblem and you like Big Robots then you should DEFINITELY look into this title. The only price you pay when a unit is destroyed is money which means you don't have to worry about sacrificing a unit if your strategy is sound. You get experience and cash that you can spend on stats, weapons, etc. Each weapon is levelled independently by you so you can play however you'd like. This is the first Super Robot Wars game in English! Get it now. Part 2 comes out November 21st in the US.

Napoleon (J) - GBA - Very weird RTS with very bad graphics set in Napoleons era...with aliens. Not a bad game really but it does have a rather steep Japanese language requirement.

Harumph, I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. If so let me know. There are perhaps some English GBA/DS strategy games that I've overlooked. I'd like to know about them.

[jvgfanatic]

I'll get back to DS/GBA/PS2 games if I think of any that I'm forgetting. Anyway, on to the love/hate relationship with the PSP. I happen to really like the thing despite its design suckage. One can improve the feel of the unit with these silicone rubber cases they sell but heck, this isn't a review of the PSP. Instead, let's take a gander at some PSP Strategy Games!

Daisenryaku Portable (J) - Sorry to give the Daisenryaku series such airtime but I really, really do like it...a lot. This is one of my favorite games in the series. It's modern military combat in the far east on a hex grid with a branching story mode and units that level up between battles. It also has a 50 mission long mission mode that is very similar to the mission mode in Daisenryaku DS. I wrote a faq for this game which is woefully incomplete, I'll get around to finishing it one day.

Mobile Suit Gundam - Giren no Yabou (J) - A mouthful of a title and one hell of a game. Probably one of the more complex console strategy games ever. I'm saying that as a lover of complexity too. This one is deep. It can be muddled through with a faq and a sound knowledge of the Mobile Suits contained within the game but it is fairly Japanese intensive. Some great anime clips and very solid strategy gaming to be had here. Editions also appeared on the PSX, Saturn, DC, and PS2. This is a mix of the best of all of them including the bonus disc material that came out for the PSX version.

Spectral Souls - This is one that came out in the US. The Japanese version's load time were bad, and when I say bad I mean BAD. It wasn't that they were long...it is just that no matter what happened on screen it involved a load time. I mean, if one person was talking during a 2d dialog scene it would have to LOAD the next persons text before that person could respond. It was ridiculous. Well, they've sped the loads up for the US release and all in all it's not too shabby. It plays a bit slow but if you turn off battle animations it isn't too bad. There are still load times but let me say now that the game is so good it just doesn't matter. Honestly. If you like Fantasy SRPGs then there is no reason to keep yourself from enjoying this game despite the flaws. It's deep and solid.

Field Commander - Take the cute out of Advance Wars, add 3D stylings and you basically have Field Commander. The AI is really boneheaded in this game but it does have infrastructure support and even a keen play-by-mail sort of thing...when the servers aren't crashing. All in all a fairly solid title particularly if you can find it at a discount. It has a game editor though you have to use prebuilt maps.

Daikoukai Jidai IV: Rota Nova (J) - Ah yes, this one is also available on Nintendo's DS. It's a sailing/trading simulation set in the age of exploration. There are plenty of treasures to find and cities to trade with. I have spent a lot of time in the game but only working on the trade mechanics. A friend has translated the manual and I'm slowly converting that to a FAQ. So far I don't find it as fun as Uncharted Waters (SNES) but it's still quite good. Quite a heavy Japanese language requirement.

It's a start, there are still a handful of PSP games to talk about.

[jvgfanatic]

More PSP

Super Robot Taisen MX Portable (J) - This is very nearly the same game that we received on the PS2 plus an extra stage or 2. In addition, Banpresto increased the challenge by giving the enemies higher stats (particularly hit points). This only served to make the stages last longer and didn't really add any play value to the game. If you've played MX on the PS2 then you can pretty much avoid this one.

Generation of Chaos - Another Idea Factory game released in English by NISA. This game is complicated and is not made any easier by it's lack of a tutorial. The manual is only as effective as manuals can be when they are too thin. NISA does have a mini strategy guide available in PDF format for free. Much of the information in that guide is reproduced in the faq available at gamefaqs. Despite its problems it is a relatively deep strategy game that blends Romance of the Three Kingdoms with Dragon Force.

The game's biggest problem is a very clumsy user interface. This only exacerbates the game's difficulty.

Sakura Wars 1 & 2 (J) - This isn't so much a strategy game as it is an anime interaction game with bits of strategy style play. If you like Anime then you've probably at least heard of Sakura Wars. Well, in this collection you can interact with a nice story in the Sakura Wars world. In fact, the game's bridge gaps in the anime. There are full translations available online for the Japanese illiterate.

More to come, I'm sure