Brigandine (Playstation 1)

[Anastasia]

For the sake of clarity and easy to dissect discussion, I will use categories to distinguish between the game's points:

Vital Statistics

Story

Graphics

Sound

Gameplay

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Game type: Strategy RPG, hex based system.

Publisher: Hearty Robin in Japan, Atlus in the USA.

System: Playstation 1 + Memory Card. Each save takes 3 blocks. Not Dualshock/Analog compatable.

Brigandine is your typical stategy RPG on first glance - you develop units, fight on a map, power up generals, etc. It draws from both the Ogre Battle Series and Dragon Force, so it may be easy for the selective RPGer to dismiss it with minimal contact.  This would be an error, however, as Brigandine brings enjoyable, addicting gameplay and a high fun factor.

Story: The continent of Forsena is split into six kingdoms, each going through cycles of war, peace and uneasy tension. Yet after Almekia, the kingdom in the center of the continent, defeated White Norgard to the north, peace has reigned for a year. With General Zemekis at the helm of the army, Almekia stood triumphant with peace for all.

Until Zemekis staged a coup, killed the King and banished his son, and established the Esgares Empire on the ashes of Almekia. With ambitions to rule the entire continent and the Death Knight Cador at his side, he touches off anothe era of conflict.

Past that, you choose a country and see the story unfold from it's POV. The main plot is supplimented by the story of each individual kingdom, be it Prince Lance and New Almekia's struggle to reclaim his birthright, King Dryst's mad march to destruction and conquest along with his killer doll, or even Queen Lyonesse's trials to maintain her peaceful, religious kingdom and protect the beleaguered people of Forsena.

Each plot is entertaining enough with the overarcing story, though none save perhaps Caerleon's is truly groundbreaking.  The characters tend to be stereotypes by and large, with a few sparks of personality that work well enough without being unique.  Fun stuff, though not novel worthy by any stretch.

Notably, a flaw in the game shines here. The translation of the game is extremely literal, ala Wild Arms 2. Reading a few of the knight profiles will quickly tip the player off to this. It's a shame, as it dampens a few of the best scenes in the game with awkward prose.

Graphics:

There are three areas that should be seperately considered for the graphical score here; the world map, the battle maps/sprites/portraits and the battle clash polygonal hells.  The world map is drawn in lush colors and smooth, neatly showing Forsena down to little rivers, mountains and quirks of the land.  It's nice enough to look at, and not grating once you get used to it. As far as it goes, it does what it needs to do with flying colors. Once you get into a battle, each unit and the map is done with sprites. Each are solid style and not heavy on blurriness or unappealing. Each character also has a small portrait, which is rendered on the status screen. Not super clear or colorful, but it's nice enough and the style isn't bad. Makes for a fine setup to the battles...

Which is by far where the graphics die. When two units come into conflict, it switches to a side view where the action happens. Problem is that it's rendered in early 32 bit polygons. That's right, the stuff Battle Arena Toshendin is made of. While the characters are indentifiable here, they are, simply put, ugly as fuck. Once you've seen them, you may wish to disable these altogether. Giving the players an option to skip these salvages points with this reviewer.

In all, the graphics are nice enough save for one segment. It's a shame that they bungled that important part, but at least it can be disabled.

Sound:

Each country has two musical tunes, one for the map screen and one for battle. Along with various tracks for questing, events, and so forth, there is an acceptable musical variety, with the caveat below.

The filler tracks for quests and so forth are passably pleasant, but none will earn a place on your playlist. For pure mood music while your knight bumbles off on this or that, it does it's job. As for the other segment of the music? As I mentioned, each country has two distinct tunes. This is where they put the effort in, as each matches it's country nicely; as well as being superb tracks in their own right. None of them grate on you, even after a full playthrough. For my two cents, that's the sign of well done music indeed.

Gameplay:

This is the meat and bones of the game, and where it outshines so many other entries into this field. The gameplay is, simply; easy, fun and addictive. Why?

Each country has a selection of Rune Knights with Rune Power. This is needed to control the troops of each army: Summoned monsters. The higher the rating of the Rune Knight, the more/stronger fodder he can manage in combat. From there, you make your army and go to town on the other nations. It sounds simple, and it is once you get used to it. It's also reasonably deep and highly addictive. The joy of getting your main attacking group up to leve 30 across the board is fun, as is making that group able to defeat an entire country in a few blows.

Or, on the other hand, leading a raw group of monsters against a seasoned enemy assault, striving to hold your territory versus a vicious attempt to snatch it away. The tension, the scraping to use your resources just so, just so, just so...that you can repel them and save the day, is wonderful.

Out of battle, there are a few things you can do on the side - mostly, questing. You can send idle knights off to explore the land, and they will have adventures based on that. If you are lucky, they may gain a stat boost or come back with a magical artifact, or if not; become cursed, sick, or knocked out of commission for a month. It's not supradeep, but it adds something more to the game. 'tis funny to have your Doom Knight of Terror turned into a little duck by a fairy, too, if you're unlucky.

Overall, Brigandine is a game that lives on it's appeal via battle system. If you cotton to the system, you'll end up playing it at least a few times through.  If not...you may not get as much out of it, but it's clear that the gameplay is the crux of it.

(Side note - My first review, and I'm feeling the waters as well as trying a format, so feedback on it is welcome.)