A Plethora of Portable Tactical RPGs
If you like portable gaming (or the PSP, at least) and tactical RPGs, it seems like this fall will be a good time to practice your time and money management skills. With four titles in the genre on the PSP as well as one (and maybe more, I probably missed some) on the DS arriving in the span of two months, tactical RPG lovers like myself are the recipent of a veritable embarrassment of riches.
Dungeons & Dragons Tactics for the PSP is a tactical game based on the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 ruleset. As the name implies, the developers of D&D Tactics put a lot of work into the combat system, and being grid- and turn-based like other tactical RPGs is a good match to how you would play D&D on the tabletop with miniatures. My biggest disappointment with D&D Tactics so far is the lack of some character development options I had hoped would be there — there is no multiclassing and druids can’t shapechange, just to name two. Also, the interface feels a bit clumsy in the face of the large amount of information involved in a D&D game. But D&D Tactics is a competent adaptation of the D&D 3.5 system to the PSP, and is probably worth it if you love the system.
Jeanne D’Arc for the PSP is set in an alternate history which puts a fantasy twist on the Joan of Arc story. While it doesn’t do anything truly new to the genre, it is very well executed with attractive graphics, anime cutscenes, a solid story, and good (though not extensive) voice acting. The game system is a straightforward implementation of standard tactical RPG concepts, with character customization based on collecting and combining skill tokens, while the level designs have a pleasing amount of variety in their layout and objectives. All in all it’s the best tactical RPG I’ve played in a while, though not by any means the most challenging, and I’m looking forward to a sequel, or at least a future title by the same developers.
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness is an update of the original Disgaea to the PSP. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it when it drops next month, but in the meantime I can safely predict that it will probably be spending a lot of time in my PSP over the next year or so. Disgaea and its siblings are hardcore in a way that encourages, if not requires, a lot of time investment, and that seems like a perfect match for a portable system as you can pick it up and put it down any time you want. They’ve even added a few things, including new stages, one-on-one multiplayer battles, and the ability to play through the entire game (with an alternate story) as Etna after she “accidentally” kills Laharl. (I always liked her better anyway…)
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War Of The Lions is an update of the original PS1 Final Fantasy Tactics, and it’s nice to see this classic of the genre getting a re-release… and on a portable platform no less. As with the Disgaea update, the new FFT has added content including anime cutscenes, new characters, and multiplayer battles. It’s been a long time since I’ve played the original (I can’t find the disc, and if you could see my room you’d understand why) and I’m really looking forward to this as well.
And finally, Luminous Arc is a DS title from Atlus. I don’t really have much to say about this one at the moment, because I got distracted by Jeanne D’Arc. So far, it appears to be competently implemented (as any Atlus title usually is) with an uninspiring story and a typical battle system. Still, if you don’t have a PSP or don’t take it everywhere, Luminous Arc on the DS should keep you busy.
The only problem with all this is… when the heck will I have time to play them all, especially with Guild Wars: Eye of the North out now as well, and lots of other great titles arriving in time for the holidays? Sometimes it’s tough being a gamer…
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