#5 - King's Bounty: Crossworlds
(Rugged Knight main hero, Check. Undead unit army, Check. Giant frog boss, Ch-Wait what the?)
King's Bounty: Crossworlds is an expansion pack update to the expansion of the original game, Armored Princess. It is essentially the same game but with more content and more units. It also adds extra quests and a faction based arena like mode also. This is definitely the best version of this game to buy, period although if you want to enjoy the story in sequence, play the first, first.
King's bounty is another HoMM like game, more similar than Disciples. The combat is more influenced by the recent HoMM V with it's hex-based battlefields. However the reason I rate Crossworlds more highly than Disciples is because it is simply the better put together game. It has a nice loot system for one. Armies you can gather are alot more varied, although you play through the game with only the human faction you can get different armies, such as undead, orcs, elves, dwarves and more. A great addition is giant cinematic boss fights, with a giant enemy taking up the whole part of the screen. They are fiercesome and really toss up the enemy encounters that are at times repetitive.
(It's not that I hate you HoMM V, it's just that your long frustratingly difficult missions crushed my soul and cast me away into darkness.)
#4 - Langrisser series (Der Langrisser)
(Then perhaps I should just stop talking here..)
Oh, Langrisser, Langrisser. If I had a child he would be a bad ass named Langrisser. The first game named Warsong (blah) in the US is a decent game, but the Japanese only Der Langrisser, the sequel to the first is by far my favorite. The series has a standard grid based combat system with your heroes able to do attacks and magic based on their class. The unique thing here is each hero on the map also has control of smaller army units which you must fight with in order to defeat the other enemies. This adds a mix of good ol' strategy and RPG elements.
Combine this with an engaging plot that forks in certain points depending on your actions which can result in far different plot and endings and the main characters class is changeable at the beginning of the game (meaning different classes you can be promoted to for you and all your heroes) for a game with great replayability. In fact it is a game you should play multiple times because of the way you can change the plot based on your decisions so you won’t be playing the exact same game again. A SNES game that feels really ahead of it's time when I think about it. If only more of these games had been translated and it definately would be one of my favorite series.
Oh, and if I didn’t mention it earlier and you didn’t pay attention to the screenshot, Der Langrisser has an unofficial translation of the game on the internet, kick ass.
#3 – Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume
(If looks could kill.. well they wouldn't need those awesome weapons, now would they?)
Oh man! Damn, in my haste I almost forgot about this awesome little gem! Easy to see why, since it's a DS Turn Based Strategy and that makes it the only DS game on this top ten list. Part of the console expansive Valkyrie Profile series, you would think this title is one of those japanese-englishy titles that sound complicated and has little to do with the game, but not so much actually. You are Wylfred a young mercenary who is out on a quest to prolong his borrowed life while on a quest to kill a Valkyrie who indirectly caused his family to suffer. As you can see the plot is a dark tale that is also based on the Norse mythology and as such is extremely interesting and unlike the stories you would usually find in this kind of setting.
Gameplay wise it is very similar at first glance to a standard grid-based game of this type. But, this isn't exactly true. There is a very tactical position based combo system in this game and mastering it is the key to succeeding in sometimes extremely challenging fights. The other unique thing is the feather plume you receive in the game, itself. It allows you to power up one of your recruitable companions to his or her 'fullest potential' giving them game-breaker like power. The exchange you ask? The reaper is a hard trade. That said character DIES after the battle is over, permanently! In fact, the more you use the power the more your character powers up and the plot is affected and split by the main characters corruption, or not, if you are skilled enough to not bite the forbidden fruit. Perhaps the difficulty and a handheld release pushed it back from the publics eye, but for those unafraid of a little challenge (and if you enjoy strategy games, why would you?) Buy this game.
# 2 – Brigandine: Legend of Forsena
(Someday they'll learn that this is why you don't bring a sword to a dragon fight.)
Brigandine, more than an awesome type of armor, it is also the name of a TBS playstation game. It is a sandbox-like empire based game with hex style battles. It also combines genres of Strategy, Role Playing Game and pokemon-like monster evolution. (What?) That’s right. You have your lords which are unique heroes; they have classes which can be promoted to higher more powerful classes, much like the Fire Emblem series. Also, like in the previously talked about Der Langrisser your heroes using rune power points, each can control a number of recruitable monsters and beasts; such as ghouls, dragons, centaurs and giant plant tentacle monsters to name a few and they all have 1-2 evolutions with different paths that can become different monsters, so it provides a lot of replay, being able to find different monsters and how they sync with each other. Dragons for example being great front row fighters while centaurs rain arrows from behind.
You start the game by picking one of five different nations (six if you use the secret cheat code.) each nation has a different motive for fighting, from power to the defense of what is left and even just Kekfa-like clown madness! Some nations are in a better position at the beginning than others, providing challenge, but at the same time each has weaknesses to overcome for balance.
It is difficult to get into so expect to be beat down a few times before you get the workings of the combat. The battles are also done in that bad playstation 3D that you love or you hate, thankfully for some that is an option to replace these with regular map attacks. Also, if that wasn't enough, if you have lords that are simply too weak to go into direct combat with, you can make them power up indirectly by taking on random quests, that give you items, increases stats, or even you can find hidden heroes to join your side! ..Or you might just get hurt and have to rest up afterwards.
Despite my rambling on, you just need to know that this is a fun well made game that's worth picking up. I'm actually on my third playthrough right now!
# 1 - Romance of the Three Kingdoms (X)
(Awesome profile shot of the founding of Shu)
(Note: Although these screenshots are in japanese, the PS2 version of this game is in full English.)
When I think of Strategy games; the name I think of is Romance of the Three Kingdoms (RoTK), an empire themed game based on the writings of the same name - of which is a novelization of the famous Three Kingdoms Chinese war. If I wasn't writing this list at the moment I would be playing this game right now, this second. I choose the tenth installment specifically because of the RPG elements found within it, while the other games on this list as well as the other games in this series have things in common with it gameplay wise, none can compete with the way this game is played. Being a ruler, founding a city, growing your kingdom and conquering the land - all of this is a stable of the series however this game changes the way you do this by having one thing that is so different. You choose from a list of hundreds of characters from the Three Kingdoms, from the mighty fierce-some Lu Bu to the cunning Cao Cao all the way to minor warlords who originally left little impact on the lands; you control their fate as you play through the war. Also, if all those choices weren't enough for you, you can create a custom character too. Damn.
(Suddenly, the world shook from the Three Kingdoms to the very heavens as Commander Martha Stewart was recruited to the Wu army.)
As I said, you can choose to be a ruler of one of the factions and the game really makes you feel like you are running a government, letting you order your aligned warlords into performing tasks for your empire such as recruiting soldiers. Being the leader, governing as they did in history or decide to carve your own past through it changing the events of the traditional story or you can be a minor warlord serving under a famous lord (Choosing any of them in the history mind you) as they set duties for you to help your kingdom. Though at any time can you go and join someone else’s side. You can be leaderless and roam the land making friends out of the different warlords and watching the battles from afar. The game really makes you feel intimately part of it and lets you do as you want. You can even cause peasantry to rebel and take over a town creating your own custom nation. Creating alliances, destroying enemies, dueling famous warriors, sabatoging cities to wreck the gate before your main force comes to attack. The possiblities are immense and it would take me hours to explain all the details. (And believe me, this is a series I sit around and talk about for hours.)
(Don't know what Lu Bu is shouting, but it's judging from the dramatic speech-bubbles, it's probably bad ass.)
If you are a fan of strategy games or even a history buff you owe yourself the pleasure of tracking down this title and playing it for the next months or even like me, years of your life; you will not regret it.
In conclusion: I picked this genre of video game simply because it is my all-time favorite type of game. You might have noticed that I put a range of older games to newer games because I wanted a range of different types of Turn Based Strategy games and because I honestly think these games deserve the spots they are given. There is of course that this is a diminishing genre as well, there are less modern examples of TBS than old-school games and this is something I want to change. I want you readers to look at this list so you can see how great these games are and you will want to play them and you can show game companies that the public wants this type of game. It’s not a genre that should be just forgotten!
I hope you enjoyed this list, if you have any suggestions or comments, please go ahead and give me the lay down; if anything I take in your thoughts with as much care as you do mine. Until next time!
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