- Triangle Strategy Nintendo Switch Review – Is It Worth It?
- Triangle Strategy Review
- Triangle Strategy – Review After 100%
- Triangle Strategy Nintendo Switch Review!
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Triangle Strategy Nintendo Switch Review – Is It Worth It?
hello everybody zeon over here from,nintendo life and the day has finally,come where we can share with you our,full massive review of triangle strategy,on the nintendo switch now this review,was originally written by the,spectacular pj oreilly for,nintendolife.com but was reworked into,this video by me,[Music],when we previewed triangle strategys,opening hours just a few weeks ago we,walked away subtly impressed by its,slick mix of choice driven narrative,detailed world building and satisfyingly,strategic combat action its a setup,that immediately engaged us introducing,a strong cast of characters embroiling,us in some fascinating game of,thrones-esque fantasy politics and,setting the stage for what we dearly,hoped would be a grand tale full of,drama epic battles and tough decisions,to come thankfully now that weve spent,some 50 or so hours with the finished,product we can report that square enix,has fully delivered on the promise of,its prologue demo triangle strategy is a,fantastic tactical rpg that serves up an,engrossing tale top-notch battles,multiple routes through its excellent,campaign and several widely different,endings that youll absolutely want to,dive back into the game in order to,experience for a game with a name as,basic as triangle strategy it really,does so much right assuming the role of,sarah noah woolfort players are thrust,into the political landscape of norzelia,where three kingdoms glenbrook heisent,and s frost are just about holding,together an uneasy alliance that was,formed in the aftermath of the great,saltyrian wars of course by the time the,prologue is done that alliance has been,all but shattered and what follows is a,twisting turning delight of a campaign,that somehow never loses its momentum,slowly building to a fantastic finale,that sees you get to choose exactly how,you wish to see your true vision of,sarah noahs story end,now it may take its sweet old time at,points in the way of dialogue but the,payoff is so worth it this is a game,that sinks its hooks into you introduces,a fantastic cast of characters that,youll truly grow to care about thrusts,you into impossible situations and,affords you the opportunity to make,genuinely meaningful choices that affect,who lives or dies and who and what will,be destroyed as you make the sacrifices,necessary in order to prevail its an,impressively mature and complex campaign,in many ways too one that manages to,successfully mix its political and more,fantastical elements injecting plenty of,real world issues regarding religious,manipulation of the masses fabricated,fear as a means of control and touches,on slavery and racism in its tale,honestly were not going to detail a,single moment of the story here as any,spoilers would entirely ruin the impact,of it all but just know that triangle,strategy absolutely delivers on the,narrative front the producer of the game,tamoya asano has also worked on bravely,default and octopath traveler and spoke,in the past about how he wanted to take,this game in a slightly different,direction away from some of the more,traditional aspects of jrpgs and its a,decision thats worked wonders on how,the action in triangle strategy actually,flows the narrative structure here is,tight and theres no unnecessary,dilution of the core crisis by shifting,the players focus onto the shoes of,multiple protagonists youre pretty much,locked into the story from sarah noahs,point of view and it makes proceedings,all the more intense and memorable as a,result youll be given ample opportunity,to hop around the world map between,battles and watch how events are,unfolding in other regions and with,other factions through short cut scenes,but the main thrust is always kept on,house wolford and the escalating dangers,that you and your allies face as the,story progresses the core gameplay loop,here consists of lengthy narrative,elements big beefy battles and short,periods of exploration that allow you to,wander around the games beautiful,little dioramas and its a loop that,works so well in keeping the player,invested at all times in whats going on,across a lengthy campaign much has been,made of the scales of conviction choice,driven aspects of triangle strategy in,the build-up to release and to this end,the game also manages to fully deliver,on its promise in these instances youll,be given two or three different,resolutions to a major plot point the,situation is carefully explained in,detail characters in your party voice,their opinions and then youll have the,opportunity to attempt to convince any,who are wavering to stand with you,before everyone casts their vote and a,decision is made that branches the,narrative out in a different direction,as neatly illustrated by a timeline map,showing you how youve diverged from the,main path its incredible stuff that,both directly affects the story and,works to give you enough agency that,youre kept completely involved in,whats going on to the point we found it,hard to put the game down playing just,one more hour here and there to see how,the next big dramatic point would,actually play out so in terms of the,story beyond some hilariously over the,top dialogue and places and a few rough,edges to the english voice acting all is,truly well and good but what about the,combat one of the biggest elements of,the game well triangle strategy serves,up a feast in this respect too with some,excellent set-piece battles that,introduce lots of well-designed systems,that are underpinned by genuine tension,thanks to the games consistently,excellent world building you arent just,fighting alongside a bunch of random,npcs here youre going up against it,with your dearest friends and comrades,characters that you actually care about,and thank goodness theres no permadeath,either or we may not have been able to,take it at this point the tactical rpg,elements here play out in a fashion that,final fantasy tactics and advanced wars,fans will recognize immediately with the,games turn-based battles taking place,on a grid system that highlights where,your currently selected party member can,and cant move during a turn strategic,layers are then piled on with each,member of your sizeable entourage,wielding a suite of upgradable powers,and abilities that youll need to make,full use of in order to come out on top,of encounters youll want to plan in,advance to make use of the games clever,follow-up attack system whereby putting,one unit on each side of a foe,instigates a double assault a move,thats invaluable in taking troublesome,enemy battle mages and healers down,quickly as well as taking advantage of,high ground whenever possible as attacks,from higher up deal extra damage you,also need to consider employing various,well-timed elemental combos of magic to,soften up packs of enemies use a mages,powers to soak an area with water or,melt an icy patch into a puddle for,example then zap the place with,electricity and frazzle a bunch of foes,at once theres opportunities aplenty,here for the strategically minded and,always another way to approach a problem,when you take the time to really sit,back and consider all of your options,triangle strategy also does a wonderful,job of feeding you lots of useful,information in a user-friendly fashion,showing you which enemies can assault,you from any given spot when you hover,over a position giving you a preview of,the damage youll dish out with any of,your attacks and allowing you to,simulate entire moves before committing,to them fully minimizing your chances of,making horrendous errors of judgment,during battle,however we still want to point out that,we made plenty of fatal flaws during our,time with the game so dont feel bad if,you still do as well youll be given the,opportunity to sort your troops,pre-fight mulling over your options and,choosing which combatants from your,constantly evolving roster you wish to,take into action the game continues to,help out as much as it can here even,flagging up recommended party members,an
Triangle Strategy Review
triangle strategy starts slowly pressing,new game leads to a series of,unappealing events youre introduced to,your character sarah noah wolford and,his extremely boring retainers and,fiance youre given a bunch of narration,about the recent history of a fantasy,land whose most interesting,characteristic is that there isnt much,naturally occurring salt theres cut,scene after cutscene introducing,character after character with almost no,context its awkward and frustrating,with very little other than the,marvelous 3d pixel art to keep it,motivating but despite an unappealing,start over the course of its 40 plus,hours that slowness becomes a virtue,growing into one of the most effective,and entertaining examples of the,tactical rpg form fire at will a reward,to whoever fails prince roland,[Music],ah,theres more of them dont worry this,isnt one of those it gets amazing after,the first two dozen terrible hour kinds,of jrpgs almost every part of that,frustrating start fades away some,problems almost immediately the,mundanity of the setting turns into a,tense extremely human political drama,the overwhelming number of characters,provides fertile ground for intrigue as,seemingly major characters can be,dispatched once the story gets violent,while minor characters step up it slowly,reveals a decision system where,expressing beliefs gathering information,and understanding character,relationships all become important,combat never becomes overly complex yet,somehow always feels perfectly tuned and,the main character,well the main character just always,makes jon snow look exciting by,comparison sorry about that such is the,way of house wolf the grounded human,story of wars over resources and,ambition may not sound exciting but in a,genre thats usually filled with mad,mages or ancient gods threatening to,destroy their respective worlds its,refreshing to play a game focused on,human political machinations in a land,where magic exists but not everything,revolves around it there are complex,three-dimensional characters who turn,brutal and violent or try to find,redemption it would be easy but not,unfair to compare triangle strategys,story to game of thrones in many ways on,the other hand the four main characters,of triangle strategy suffer because they,are all too similarly boring the young,lord sarah noah his betrothed fredericka,his advisor benedict and his best friend,prince roland and most other party,members are all kind responsible and,excruciatingly,painfully polite at all times i,understand,this requires careful consideration in a,genre filled with flamboyant and,memorable characters in games like fire,emblem final fantasy or persona its,almost shocking to have a set of main,characters be so aggressively dull and,yet here i am,fetch the scales benedict,we shall decide our path together that,said some personality and differences in,character motivation come out in the,scales of conviction system whenever,house wolford faces a major choice the,seven main party members all discuss and,vote on it you can influence them,through dialogue options and by,gathering information but the results,are binding and can go against your,wishes so the stakes are high in one,campaign i had generally focused on,being kind and honest which led to,difficulties when i wanted to make a,choice of whether to play along with a,corrupt offer while my retainers all,voted to be honest and expose the,corruption immediately as time goes on,these choices take on more and more,importance to both the future of the,characters and the world it is time to,cast our votes the voting and conviction,systems end up being very clever ways to,manifest your choices all the little,dialogue decisions you make end up,combining to both subtly lead serenoa,down particular paths and unlock,powerful side characters and flashbacks,for them on the downside the conviction,system is masked for the entire first,playthrough which did lead to some,confusion over whether i was supposed to,know what was happening or not,the quiet confidence of triangle,strategy is most apparent in the combat,system which initially felt like,something from a perfectly generic,tactical role-playing game but as the,campaign went on it increasingly,impressed me with some of the best level,design and difficulty tuning ive ever,seen in a tactics game the combat form,is similar to final fantasy tactics or,fire emblem you have a party of 8 to 12,characters that you move in turn around,a tile-based map each character has,different skills and stats that reflect,their personalities benedict is a,supporting class who can use skills that,make your characters stronger tougher or,faster but does little damage on his own,roland is a fast moving cavalryman who,can do a lot of damage but doesnt last,long if he gets isolated you dont stand,a chance,there are small tactical considerations,like terrain advantages and damage type,vulnerabilities but these are minor,features and dont add up to for example,a combo system like that in disgaea and,the progression system doesnt allow for,creating super powered characters like,those in final fantasy tactics nor is,there anything like fire emblems,friendship system to encourage combat,choices beyond simply do the most damage,in other words theres no hook instead,triangle strategy has simple effective,progression characters get slightly but,noticeably stronger in ways that allow,some temporary advantages but then,tougher enemies also pick up their own,strengths and while you cant completely,reshape your characters there are enough,progression choices via items and weapon,upgrades that can tweak them in,important ways like improving their,magic resistance or making certain,spells easier to cast but every time i,thought i found a major advantage like,picking up the powerful archer archibald,i watched as the enemy forces got strong,enough that what i had previously,thought was being overpowered became,simply another useful strategy,the tactics genre is one where balancing,difficulty is essential and thats,proven demonstrably tough to do so its,extremely high praise when i say the,triangle strategy on the default normal,setting provided me with exactly the,level of difficulty i wanted at almost,every turn when i got stuck on those,harder fights they were interesting and,worthwhile optional battles i could,engage in to level up a bit or else i,could just experiment with changing my,characters formation and roster those,are the exact sorts of tactical,decisions that i hope to make in games,like this triangle strategy also rises,to the occasion whenever a major plot,battle occurs both in combat design and,also aesthetically the music which is so,important in this genre is generally,perfectly fine but in some of the big,battle themes it goes above and beyond,theres also some unique character,dialogue that happens during these,fights which is especially useful,because the villains tend to be the ones,who carry the campaign in terms of,personality we do not take kindly to,thievery here in wolford you will pay,for your crimes it may not put its best,foot forward immediately but once,triangle strategy gets going its,shockingly successful at what it does,try to do it fulfills the promises of a,story based on real world ideas like,resource competition and the ambitions,of nobles and those human stories manage,to overcome even a massive wet blanket,of a main character it allows for,meaningful choices while also including,a voting system for party members that,can override your desires based on the,groundwork you laid yourself in,fascinating ways and underlying all of,that is its combat which is simple,well-designed and appropriately,challenging in all the right ways,triangle strategy may be quiet in its,greatness but thats still great,for more check out our reviews of,pokemon legends archaeos and ruined king,and for everything else stick with ign i,shant hold back,[Applause],your defense is crumbled,you
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Triangle Strategy – Review After 100%
all right,[Music],whats going on everybody mortum here,this time bringing you my review after,100 for triangle strategy a story heavy,trpg that released for the switch back,in March however recently saw a release,on PC specifically steam which is where,I am checking it out at now to get the,usual stuff out of the way I review,games after 100 all the time to set me,apart from other reviewers on YouTube,and while that does include the,achievements it also includes a lot more,though in the case of triangle strategy,the achievement list is incredibly,thorough but if youre interested in,everything else I cover and youre not,already subscribed if you go to my,Channel first video youll see is a,video explaining all of it but with that,out of the way lets actually dive into,this thing triangle strategy has a,pretty unique style to it of course the,sort of HD 2D Graphics I believe its,called that we see on display here and,no surprise there really as this is from,the same people that worked on Bravely,Default as well as octopath traveler,which have a very similar graphical,style but broadly speaking What triangle,strategy really is is a t RPG that meets,a narrative game so theres a lot of,tactical based combat however its not,really the focus most of the time this,game has a very heavy emphasis on the,story and a lot of the combat oriented,stuff really doesnt open up until you,get into subsequent playthroughs which,well get into in just a moment but,first lets talk a story setup not gonna,go really into spoilers here however I,do want to cover kind of the basics of,the plot setup our main character though,we will be playing as many of them in,the combat sections is Sarah Noah set to,be married off to a rival Nations other,Noble House really to cement cooperation,between the two Nations that kind of,thing because we are in the nation of,Glenbrook however there are two other,nations and all three of these nations,were at War 30 years prior to the,beginning of the game in a conflict that,was centered around resources but our,character Sarah Noah due to his fathers,failing Health takes up his fathers,mantle and the Lord of a certain area of,Glenbrook can you answer to a King that,presides over the entire country if you,will but as you might imagine the piece,that has found the three nations doesnt,exactly last long otherwise we wouldnt,have much of a story to tell and you,have to work away through this conflict,while making the best decisions as you,can which brings me to the paths through,the game there are three main paths,through the game however there is an,ending that you can only get if you take,specific actions throughout the story,which is considered the true ending,youll hear it referred to as the golden,route sometimes however if all you had,to do was make those decisions it would,probably be pretty easy but rather the,game at least on the first playthrough,requires these decisions to be made,through voting every time theres a,major choice to be made you and the,closest companions in your retinue will,all vote on it and youll have to,persuade these characters to vote your,way which works off of the conviction,system the conviction system is largely,hidden on your first playthrough however,on subsequent playthroughs A New Game,Plus the game will actually tell you,whats what but on your first run youre,not going to know anything about whats,going on based on how you talk to people,and actions you perform youll,accumulate points in three different,convictions morality utility and Liberty,and your ability to persuade the,companions that you have is down to your,actual morality score as well as picking,the appropriate options but again all of,that is hidden from you on your first,playthrough which means that first,playthrough you might get saddled with a,choice or two its not really up to you,because you get voted against which can,be a bit of a bummer when it happens,though this is a thing that new game,plus pretty much completely alleviates,because at that point your values in,each of those scores is so high that you,can basically persuade anyone to do what,you want in terms of the vote however,the first playthrough is a very tightly,controlled experience through this,system and it goes even a little farther,than that because it actually bleeds,into the progression systems as well,there are a ton of optional characters,throughout the game that youll only get,if you certain conviction thresholds or,pick specific paths through the game so,in order to recruit every character,possible youre going to have to go,through all of the different Paths of,the game and by the time you do that,your scores should be more than high,enough to get the rest of the companions,but again not something youll be able,to do on your first run however even,then each and every one of those,characters has a few different upgrade,routes promotions as well as their,weapons and these require materials that,the game very tightly controls on your,first playthrough so youll only be able,to promote and strengthen a handful of,units which brings me to one of my first,major points for this game that well,talk about a little bit later but all of,this kind of combines into a system that,doesnt really feel like it opens up,properly especially on the combat side,of things until youve played through,the game at least once which I think,could be a little off-putting for a lot,of people who are only going to play,through a game the one time but from,there lets talk about progression a,little bit as I mentioned there are,promotions and weapons promotions are,basically pretty simple every character,has two promotions they can even,actually get to a veteran and Elite,version of whatever their class is this,requires them to be a certain level as,well as have the appropriate metal which,allows them to be promoted these,promotions come with base increases to,their stance making them more effective,but it also grants them more tactical,points or TP and these are the resource,that are used to power their abilities,and managing them is a decent part of,combat if you expect to actually use,your abilities regularly and when they,get promoted they have more of them we,also have weapons this is of course,going to give us things like more damage,that type of stuff but you use materials,to increase these things like Stone,Timber that type of stuff you also need,special materials to upgrade your weapon,tier which will then allow you to pick,up passive things to further increase,your characters stats and then last but,not least in addition to all of this,stuff there is a vendor which youll be,buying a lot of your materials from,especially your promotion upgrade,materials called the sundry shop the,sundry shop also sells what are called,quietuses which is is a weird word but,these are effects you can use in combat,as the player you can open up a menu and,then click on quietest and then use it,and itll have some bigger effect than,normal you can use a certain amount of,these per combat as well and these are,bigger abilities that can absolutely,change the flow of combat though again,on a first run youre likely not going,to be using it very much now that weve,talked about the basic systems I did,want to mention though that each,character has a relatively limited,progression if it sounded like what I,was saying was a lot it really isnt,its two promotions which require an,item and a basic level up as well as,upgrading their weapons all the way up,most of this is passive stuff that,youll just kind of do as you play the,game a little more and it really just,results in more damage being done so,its a relatively simple system as far,as progression goes but the resources,around it are tightly controlled however,in addition to this the characters,themselves are also kind of bound to one,role you will get a ton of characters,there are roughly 30 or so and each one,of them has a pretty set role they have,set up abilities set pro
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Triangle Strategy Nintendo Switch Review!
triangle strategy as you know is,developed by square enix but its also,worked on by art dink a studio from,japan which was founded in,1986. that might not ring a bell but,they worked on a very famous strategy,game that was published by maxis known,as a train there have been other,releases but by far this collaboration,with square enix is the biggest today,and with asano producer of bravely,default behind the wheel there are many,who have purchased and pre-ordered this,game well in advance of any review let,me tell you right off the bat you made a,fantastic choice but thanks to squaring,nintendo for the review copy his,triangle strategy going to reach the,pinnacle of this genre mountain or,struggle scaling it and end up wrecked,angle ouch lets find out,without spoilers the narrative of,triangle strategy is centered around the,kingdoms of nazalia the three of whom,make up the titular triangle best frost,hyzant and glenbrook with the main,protagonist serenoa being a part of the,latter he is heir to house wolfort one,of the three high houses of glenbrook,and best friend of roland the prince of,the region throughout the storyline,there are a number of major choices that,youll need to make using whats known,as the scales of conviction these,choices range from destinations to,vastly important story changing,decisions its up to you to try and,influence those in your group to the,choice that you wish them to make to do,this you might have to wander around the,local area getting extra information,about the two three or even four choices,available all the while gauging the,information you receive to try and help,you make the decision yourself you can,then go back and reason with your group,making several choices to try and,convince them based on the characters,that youve come to know its not simply,a case of choosing the option thats,unlocked from the dialogues that youve,been on you genuinely have to think,about this character how theyve been,built up over the game and which,persuasive statement theyre most likely,to respond to initially it felt like a,system that was just there to decorate,an arbitrary choice but as i progressed,through the game i found that i was able,to choose the right responses much more,accurately to persuade my group because,the storyline had done such a good job,of crafting solid and specific,characters for each and every one of,them triangle strategy is a story,behemoth with multiple branching choices,whereas a lot of rpg stories focus on,one key theme or idea the triangle,almost feels like a metaphor for the,lore of these three kingdoms which is,weaved throughout the entire game there,are at least three or four moments where,these narrative strings come together to,form a real eureka moment for some the,level of storytelling might feel a bit,too much particularly in the earlier,parts of the game youll be sitting,through more dialogue than you will,combat on the contrary though by the,time i fought my first battle i felt,like i had a good understanding of who,these people were and why they were,fighting in the first place with the,constant references to the salt iron,wars which ravaged these three kingdoms,and with this younger generation coming,up forgetting some of the hard learned,lessons of the past something which in,the current climate hit home even harder,triangle strategy then isnt a story of,right and wrong and incredibly difficult,decisions which operate in grey areas,left me painstakingly weighing out the,pros and cons and when 20 hours into the,story i found myself faced with the,consequences of one of my earlier,decisions i felt genuine remorse not,something i expected and really its,incredibly impressive throughout the 50,or so hour-long campaign youll build up,a mighty army theres a specific icon,for when a new person wants to join your,retinue and selecting it will bring up a,story segment of how theyre introduced,to you it gives you a brief origin story,almost of where they are and where,theyve come from the combat then is,tactical turn-based combat reminiscent,to many genre classics with such a large,character selection to choose from you,can choose up to 10 for each fight and,then place them on the battlefield,youll want to make considerations for,elevation direction and obviously enemy,position,[Music],when battle commences the game offers,you whats known as simulation mode this,allows you to play out moves without,playing out moves so you can see their,consequences and the amount of damage,theyll do there are also color,coordinated areas on the floor so that,you can see exactly where and when,youll be within the enemys reach a,subtle but incredibly important mechanic,is that your characters will level up as,you play during combat they might gain,an entirely new ability but if the,fights too difficult you can simply,retreat and retain all of that,experience to fight another day combat,is expertly balanced and you will rely,on every single class in the game take,the spy ana with her surmount skill to,get up any height who can then throw a,poison dagger from behind for critical,damage and disappear entirely for two,turns or roland with his lance that can,pierce two enemies in a straight line,and as the battles rage on your,characters might be engaged in fierce,dialogue and further exposition now each,fight has a set objective sometimes this,might be to kill one specific person or,others to survive these set goals change,the way that you have to play and your,approach to them will also evolve as the,game goes on personally i found that the,archers are a hugely powerful class,especially when combined with that,elevation they can be devastating in a,fight now leveling happens from combat,itself and when you have new lower,ranked players join your team it can be,tempting to leave them on the bench but,experience gained is much higher in,those latter fights while potentially i,would have preferred the experience to,just be evenly spread amongst your,entire retinue this is better than,nothing during combat your players have,access to whats known as tp these tp,are represented with a small glowing,symbol these are what allow you to use,your special abilities you wont be,relying on magic or any stamina and at,the start of each turn you gain back one,more of these the controls are so,incredibly easy you can use the bumpers,to quickly switch between all of the,roster and the simulation mode is,inspired until you get your hands on,triangle strategy yourself its really,difficult to articulate why combat feels,so different here but to sum it up i,think its the personal touch the,feeling that you know these people but,also that your decisions could quite,literally change the outcome of their,lives and mark my words it will if you,pull off particularly difficult,strategies youll be rewarded with,quietest points this is one extra system,which isnt discussed a great deal but,back at your encampment you can spend,these to unlock permanent skills that,can be used once per fight and youll,also be rewarded with medals which are,the currency used to upgrade your,characters this advances their base,class and unlocks new abilities and with,every single character having their own,skill tree for you to advance as well,using raw materials gained either in the,training area or through combat theres,a solid rpg base to the whole game,finally then there are a series of,investigations you may have a set piece,of information that youre trying to,uncover and youll need to question the,local populace gradually uncover more,clues and even find hidden journals now,you can choose to not do any of that you,could move on and just say you found no,evidence only to find out that it has a,massive impact on the storyline,thankfully you can save and load at any,point and you may well find yourself,going back to try and change the,outcomes but with triangle strategy nine,times out of ten youll genuinely be,able to thats not to say that decisions,are right or
Triangle Strategy – Nintendo Switch Tech Review – Final Fantasy Tactics for the New Generation?
nintendo switch is quickly becoming a,dream console for rpg fans and with the,release of triangle strategy we might,just have another classic for now,triangle strategy is a switch exclusive,a true grid based strategy rpg in the,vein of tactics yoga on super nes or,final fantasy tactics on playstation 1.,the game pays tribute to the absolute,best in the srbg space,but,much like square enixs work on octopath,traveller a more traditional top-down,style rpg in the mould of final fantasy,6 triangle strategy instead adds a,modern twist to the strategy rpg,thanks to unreal engine 4s feature set,tricks like depth of field god rays and,ambient shading combined with more,traditional 2d sprite work it creates a,glorious mixture of old and new a hybrid,style,so just how does it look and run on,switch and is it a fitting tribute to,the classic srpgs that came before it,lets find out,to take it from the very start triangle,strategy is well a strategy role-playing,game from developers square enix and art,dick its produced by tomoya asano best,known for his more recent work on,bravely default in 2012 and of course,octopath traveler in 2018. theres a,stylistic through line in his work for,sure reviving older rpg design,conventions with modern visuals a style,thats been dubbed 2d hd,character illustrations on the other,hand come courtesy of akihiko yoshida,whose exhaustive credits stretch back to,tactics ogre and more recently games,like the excellent near and final,fantasy 14. the high pedigree behind the,project is clear the goal though,to create a spiritual successor to the,strategy games of old in particular the,ps1 classic final fantasy tactics from,which it borrows a lot of its design,elements,[Music],ive mentioned final fantasy tactics a,few times already and for good reason,for context final fantasy tactics,released in 1997,just as the mainline series hit a kind,of commercial milestone with final,fantasy vii,ff7 was of course a blockbuster moment,for ps1 and so interest at the time was,sky high for anything to do with the,series even an offshoot like tactics,sadly the original ps1 release of,tactics only received a us localization,and so for uk based final fantasy fans,like myself,this really was an import job and,playing it for the first time the visual,style the world even the localization,felt entirely different to ff7s,yes potions elixirs summons and chocobos,gave it a link to final fantasy law but,clearly the game had a very different,discipline to game design,its story for a start was more formal in,turn,focused on warring kingdoms nobility and,the power struggles therein,the presentation was entirely different,too,the pre-rendered backdrops the 3d models,that defined ff7 were replaced with the,inverse method,fully 3d environments while the,characters were displayed as sprites on,a grid,so yes back to triangle strategy a game,released 25 years after tactics,and the visuals have obviously moved on,triangle strategy does take the same,approach to its map design as its,inspiration though all the drama the,combat even exploration is contained to,these 3d chessboard-like arenas built on,tiles,theres a stylish hard cut to the,perimeter of each area,where you see the world map sprawl out,to the horizon,and much like octopath travelers use of,unreal engine 4 a shallow depth of field,creates this,distinctive effect of tilt shift,photography,a high quality depth of field like this,was obviously never possible on ps1 with,tactics but here it results in all,sprites all world detail looking like,miniature models actually in this sense,we also see a similar trick in the,upcoming direfield chronicle just,announced,here we have another big square enix,strategy rpg announced for pc,playstation xbox consoles and switch,coming next year so itll be interesting,to see where they take this idea next,the basics of triangle strategies combat,are straightforward and should be,familiar to any fans of tactics ogre or,fire emblem within a turn you get to,move a character across the battlefield,and then make your attack of choice,there are some twists to the formula,though so for example a pinter attack on,an enemy results in extra damage dolled,out by a nearby ally player each,character also offers a unique set of,abilities too your options grow as the,game progresses but each has their pros,and cons,the camera is user controlled much like,final fantasy tactics but you have the,option to pan around with fine,increments of movement too,rather than at fixed angles the basic,template is exactly what wed expect,then but the delivery on a visual level,is something else texture work on the,tile terrain are pixelated almost by,design to blend in with the sprites,but just as with octopath traveler,dynamic shadows and ambient shading are,used to add depth cast by the sprites,and geometry,theres atmospheric scattering to,simulate clouds passing overhead god,rays are used sparingly,theres even a form of cloth simulation,on flags planted across towns also were,treated to fully shaded water that has,light refracting realistically onto,nearby geometry,all combined theres no other srpg,looking quite like this,the choice to blend 2d sprites with,modern rendering techniques works even,so there are a few drawbacks to engaging,all these visual effects on switch,notably youll see the sprites appear,a touch blurry at times especially,playing switch on a tv,the choice to adopt unreal engine 4 to,apply taxing settings on nintendos,handheld,means a kind of compromise is in place,in overall native resolution,in battle that means the core gameplay,renders at between 1280×720,and,1600×900 as a result with a 30kps target,while docked,on the plus side we get crisp 1080p,menus overlaid during battle,while the artwork is gorgeously,presented for each character,as for handheld play on switch,well that resolution range lowers to a,720p maximum target as youd expect,with dynamic resolution scaling pushing,image quality down at worst to 1066 by,600.,[Music],for anyone coming from octopath traveler,the unreal engine features will be,familiar and likewise the trade-off,square enix makes in overall image,quality to achieve them on switch in,some respects i almost wish we could,instead have a clean no frills version,of the game,no depth of field no ambient occlusion,just the raw sprites presented on a,clean 3d grid,just to make the action more legible,having a pure 1080p rendering of a,battle would have helped hugely too,but then in doing all of that wed,likely trade out the games key visual,hook with its depth of field aon more,also on the performance side its worth,noting the game runs at 30 fps and does,it extremely well,there are very very occasional frame,pacing issues in hitting this 30 fps cap,far less regular than it is in octopath,traveler so on balance the performance,side is a success,you might notice a big hiccup just after,initiating a big move but again,since most of gameplay unfolds from a,static camera angle its hardly a major,gripe,[Music],[Applause],a big final highlight of the game so far,is in its story its dialogue,since the backdrops are limited to these,small chessboard-like arenas the,dialogue has a lot of heavy lifting to,do to tell its story to sweeten the deal,most of the text is fully voice acted as,well,just as well too its opening chapters,are dense with exposition but there is a,payoff to all,free roaming sections are included which,was never an option in games like final,fantasy tactics,but here youre unshackled from the,square grid to freely explore each small,area to talk to villagers find treasure,and gather clues,exploration is rewarded and every,snippet of info you get makes a,difference actually one major early,decision relies heavily on these clues,two convince other party members into a,majority vote on where to go next it is,time to cast our votes do we journey to,the grand duchy of s frost or the holy,state of heisend the final result with,triangle strategy is a satisfying,tri
Triangle Strategy Caught Me Off Guard… | Review
Triangle Strategy Review – Noisy Pixel