Tactics Ogre

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together is a 1995 tactical role-playing game developed and published by Quest Corporation for the Super Famicom. It was later ported to the Sega Saturn (1996) and the PlayStation (1997), the latter released in North America in 1998 by Atlus USA. The second entry in the Ogre Battle series, the story takes place in the war-torn kingdom of Valeria, where protagonist Denim Powell works in a local resistance force against occupying powers, ending up caught in the ethnic conflicts driving the war. Battles are turn-based, taking place on grid-based maps from an overhead perspective with a focus on positioning and using character class abilities. Production lasted two and a half years, with Ogre Battle creator Yasumi Matsuno acting as director, writer and lead designer. The storyline was inspired by conflicts in Europe and Asia, based heavily in personal and political drama over the fantasy-themed narrative of Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen. The gameplay, inspired by the video game Solstice, uses a chess-inspired combat system in contrast with the real-time battles of its predecessor. Hiroshi Minagawa was art director, while the characters were designed by Akihiko Yoshida. The music, composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata, used the narrative as inspiration and remains fondly remembered by the composers. The Super Famicom release sold 500,000 units in Japan and met with positive reviews. Later ports also met with strong sales and reviews, with many praising its gameplay and narrative. The PlayStation version was met with criticism for technical issues. It has since been remembered as one of the best in its genre. Matsuno left Quest Corporation after completing Tactics Ogre, joining Square (later Square Enix) and developing Final Fantasy Tactics (1997) and other titles set within its universe of Ivalice. Quest developed further titles...