A look back at: Langrisser II

Yep, another one of those Japan-only games, unless you count Der Langrisser, but then again I like the original versions of games more often.

So Langrisser II equals more plot, more action, more scenarios, more character interactions, basically it does what Warsong decided not to do. More units to use and actually making the archers a ranged unit are pretty nice changes, along with upgraded versions of standard fare, so having gladiators and phalanxes and dragoons makes them much stronger than expected. There's more classes to utilize, and much better opportunities for leveling up. Warsong didn't even allow for a proper level up after finishing scenarios, at least not that I'm aware of. Of course, make sure they are the right classes, I made a heinous mistake in letting Elwin have a knight class when that made him weak for a few scenarios, especially Scenario 16. Yes, this game does get significantly harder than Warsong did, despite having better mechanics. There's even bonus scenarios in the game which are super hard to come by and even harder to actually complete.

So yeah, more character interactions. This actually means that Langrisser II removes the permadeath mechanic altogether, which is pretty nice. Elwin, the hero, naturally cannot fall at all. Lots of images of characters, and you can see them bloodied up when you defeat or lose them like in Growlanser games. The fact that this strategy game manages to make many of the characters on the enemy side interesting is great. They are recurring, which I'm not really a fan of, but we see quite a bit of how they develop, just as much as the main protagonists. And yes, we do see the Langrisser again, in which four characters, three heroes and one villain, are only eligible to take.

Surely enough, some character archetypes are still present in this one. Liana and Lana are pretty much like Mina from Warsong, Elwin is of course like Garret, and Lester is a lot like Tiberon. Two characters actually return for this game. One is Jessica who is actually Calais from the previous game. The other is Bosel, who was only known as Ganelon in the last scenario of Warsong. Apparently these two characters, along with the Langrisser as usual, are recurring throughout the secluded franchise. The rest of the cast is unique, but remarkable for what this game offered. As hard as it was, I will admit I enjoyed it. And I still look back at Langrisser II almost primarily because of its excellent Genesis soundtrack. There are tons of great tracks here.

A look back at: Warsong

A tactical RPG that I looked at for a minute, didn't like it, and then decided to come back and actually play it. Oh, and it's for the Genesis, so expect some badass music I guess.

So Warsong, admittingly I still don't really like how the battles in this game go. So several controllable soldier units with strengths and weaknesses, as well as some, but mostly marginal, terrain differences. And the soldiers cost money, but this usually isn't a big deal. What is a big deal is how these things usually go, 10 health for each unit max, and commanders naturally are pretty much capable of taking units out on their own. Still though, the RNG makes for quite a lot of uncertainty.

While I will give Warsong credit for making pretty much every scenario unique, especially the twists when new units join battles, I still find the very first scenario to be really difficult. Great, make it nigh unwinnable, and that Garrett is supposed to escape. Also, the permadeath aspect actually is in effect for this game, although thankfully not for the first battle. Still though, Garrett, our main character and the only one that must survive everything, is the only one participating in combat dialogue, which pretty much means he seems to be the only one that matters. Which sucks because in this game he actually needs more commanders and units. And then there's the matter of leveling up, which only happens when a unit is defeated. It pretty much means that you need to get your commander's unit or units to kill other ones, so that the commander gains experience, and every 10 levels is a class change. Here's where it gets tricky, the class changes are pretty much permanent, so you mess up one and go to a class you regret later, there's likely no going back. So don't make Tiberon a Serpent Knight for example, as tempting as it is, there's not gonna be much water terrain in the endgame. And Garrett even does better as a Grand Knight rather than a King.

The scenarios naturally tend to be lengthy, and a few interesting characters like to show up in every scenario. Lance seems to be that one rival that always shows up, but then joins you with a really good class. Meanwhile, the number of villains is usually focused on each individual scenario, which is good because sometimes these villains don't actually need a whole lot of development for once. All in all, a game worth looking at past its horrible first scenario for at least some the other ones, and some interesting characters overall that don't really need a whole lot of depth.