Tactics Ogre: Reborn PlayStation 4 with Free Upgrade to the Digital PS5 Version

What's to say , the greatest turn based tactical rpg ever ported to modern consoles. It's great , it's challenging , unforgiving and has permanent character deaths that can and will change the story .

I played the original Tactics Ogre on the PS1 since 1998 and it's my single-most favorite game. I spent hundreds of hours with the original release. While I love this game, it is dated by today's standards. The equipment and inventory system was mixed. Each character had 4 slots to use for equipment and consumable items. Need to bring some MP boosting items for your mages? Well you're going to sacrifice equipping a wand/robe/ring/headgear for one consumable item. While the customizability was fun; albeit impractical; have a Cleric equipped with a spear? You can do it. The leveling system was earned PER action in battle; cast a heal = earn exp, hit an enemy = earn exp. Of course you earned more exp if your target was a higher level than yourself.I also played and really liked the additional story content, World system of the PSP remake in 2010. However, I was not a fan of the skill grind, or the class level system. Class level system meant your characters did not have individual levels; the class they were had levels. So instead of hiring a fresh recruit to level up as a dedicated caster or melee, you hire a new recruit and when you switch them to the class you want they'll instantly be the level of your current class. Each new class introduced starts at level one and must be leveled up and earn skill points for that class to unlock its abilities. While this was annoying at least earning exp was PER battle conclusion. Experience points are evenly distributed to the classes in the battle (multiples of the same class earned more - this could be annoying when your enemies' levels scaled to your highest class level).Now comes, Reborn.Oh boy, it polishes up what the PSP remake did and returns to the original's character levels instead of class levels. In addition, the skill point grind is removed; your class unlocks abilities at varying character levels (albeit, at the loss of customization with cross-class skills learned from other classes). For the old school original diehards; you can grind out weapon skill levels (which are capped at your character level).One change that has pros and cons is the union level. Your characters' levels are capped and will incrementally increase the level cap as the story progresses. This is a pro in that your enemies won't be higher level with much better equipment that you would have, but can be a con if you're stuck on a particularly challenging story encounter at level cap - you can no longer out-level your way out of a difficult encounter.Finally, the voice acting. For the most part, the voice acting is great - but there are a few characters that just sound a little mousy. It's a small gripe, but it's a welcome change for me... as my eyesight isn't quite what it was when I played the original 24 years ago...If you've never played Tactics Ogre, but you're a fan of the isometric strategy RPG genre; get this game. It has been often imitated, but never duplicated. The closest was Final Fantasy Tactics; but even that gem pales in comparison. Your protagonist in Tactics Ogre can make decisions that impact the story path you take, the characters you can recruit. (In one path, you'll have a staunch ally with a character - but in the other they're your sworn enemy. Or a character may decline joining you due to the choices you made previously). This is where the World system comes into play, after you complete the story for the first time this system is unlocked. World lets you travel back to 'anchor points' in the story before/after several decisions you have previously made. This lets you go back to playthrough the other fork in the roads you previously diverged from - with all your already recruited characters/levels/equipment obtained!So have fun and rest assured that a blind playthrough can be exceptionally fun, because when you're done you can go back to try and save this character, or recruit another!

As described, arrived on time, I'm enjoying it.

I never played the original Tactics Ogre, but I loved Final Fantasy Tactics and this game definitely reminds me of it. So far put in about 15 hours to get into chapter 2 and it's fun. Doesn't feel too grindy so far. There are some housekeeping issues that can make buying and equipping items tedious (no option to equip best items so you have to go through each item one by one, have to keep exiting the shop to equip items), but I think that's just the nature of how the original was designed. I think FF Tactics improved on some of these issues. I got PS4 version to play on PS5. PS4 version comes with free PS5 digital upgrade. Game runs well on PS5, no issues so far. Voice acting pretty good. Overall happy with game so far and looking forward to finishing it.

Old school strategy RPG, feels like Final Fantasy Tactics, but different enough to stand apart. I personally like it a little better, but even if you don't, I think any FFT fan will like this. Or, just any fan of strategy RPGs in general.

I know- the title offers a heavy expectation. I was amazed that after years of looking for something similar to the days I spent pouring hours into Final Fantasy tactics(Both PSP and GBA) I finally get a lively feeling of nostalgia. This game is basically the grandfather of the previously mentioned series, and lives up to all expectations. The sprites are similar, gives you that good old days type of vibes. You will need to learn the ins and outs of classes and system but afterwards the game does play out well and very smoothly.I have spent around 40 hours in my first play through and can say I still have a lot more to go after and complete. Hopefully this gives space to more long hours of play through and maybe even one day a reborn/remake of my favorite series of all time.Give this game a try if you are into a very nice strategy rpg type of game, similar to fire emblem and the sorts.

Final Fantasy tactics is one of my favorite all time games since it came out on the original Playstation. I've always wanted more FF tactics but never found one that rivaled it in terms of overall enjoyment. Somehow, I managed to miss the both original Tactics Ogre, as well as it's PSP remake when they were released.Tactics Ogre is the closest game I've found to replicating that FF Tactics experience. The gameplay is almost identical but the leveling, skills, and job system is where there are some noticeable differences. It's similar but it does take some time to get used to. I still think that FF Tactics gets the edge but there are a few things that Tactics Ogre does better. I don't really like that there are level caps and enemies scale to your level but it didn't break the experience for me as I still have enjoyed this game thoroughly.The story is fine, but I didn't find the characters as memorable as FFT. It does get a huge plus as you can make choices that affect the story and which characters you can recruit but ultimately, Tactics Ogre is essentially Final Fantasy Tactics but just not quite as good.

So before anything let me say I've played the original version on the Super Nintendo back in the day and loved it. Now I know there was also a PSP version of the game although I've never played that one. When I played Reborn I immediately recognized the style and felt nostalgic about the experience all the while seeing all the new stuff from the spoken dialog to the new options and features in the overall game. Needless to say the game won my heart all over again.