Golden Cartridges and People of Lordly Caliber.

I was at Electronics Boutique today, waiting for the rest of my family to finish shopping or something, and guess what I found in the used games section?

Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber
and, though less important, the gold cartridge version of Zelda: OoT.

My greatest gaming regret, and, since i can't think of anything else off the top of my mind, perhaps even my greatest regret ever, was not buying Ogre Battle 64. I consider it well worth the price of 30$ I paid. No box, no manual, but the cartridge itself seems to be in fairly good condition. I absolutely loved Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, and I'm sure I'll love this too. Though the annoyances involving keeping your character's alignments in the right places is already bothering the heck out of me.

As for OoT... well, I already have three versions of the game(four, now), but with this purchase I have every single Zelda game ever released in America, every single Zelda remake ever released in America, and every single first shipment Zelda special ever released in America.

I rule.

What is Ogre Battle? Elaborate, foo.

Ogre Battle is a rather old series that goes back to the SNES. It's a bit of a tactical RPG although it has a unique battle system. The latest (or at least from what I know) game was for the GBA called Tactics Orgre: The Knight of Lodis which was a full tactical RPG.

"Geek Messiah".
I don't really think I have to say anything more then that.


And here is a Google picture search of "Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber", it actually looks quite good:
Google pictures of Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber

There are three varieties of tactical RPGs in existence, as far as I can tell. THe most common is the the one used by Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre: Knight of the Lodis, Disgaea, etc., etc. The insometric veiw, turn-based ones. The first game to use this system was Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, for the SNES.

The second variety is the one similar to Advance Wars. It's used by the Fire Emblem games, the Shining Force games, and I think maybe Bahamut Lagoon.

The third, and IMHO second best, is exclusive to the Ogre Battle series, as far as I know. Only two games have ever used it: Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, and Ogre Battle: Person of Lordly Caliber. I believe there may have been a Japan-exlcusive OB game, called Prince of Zenobia or something.

Unlike other tactical RPGs, this is real-time. But no, that's not a good way to describe it... it's not really real time, since you can pause, and issue orders and whatnot. When it's not paused, pretty much all you do is wait. It's most definitely not turn-based though.

You arrange your characters in units of five, usually, and you control those units on the worldmap by ordering them to move around. If they come into contact with an enemy unit, a battle will ensue. There is no direct control over this battle, at least in theory. You just sit there and watch your character attack. You can give them preset AI though.

I don't have time to explain it fully, since I need to be writing a big biology paper, but trust me, the games are awesome

And seriously. This series is responsible for two very different types of games, out of three in the genre. It's a far more innovative series then prety much any other, featuring far more depth and far more replayability then pretty much any other series on the market. With a few notable exceptions, of course.

I've never understood why it isn't more popular.

Originally Posted by lord-of-shadow

I've never understood why it isn't more popular.

Perhaps it's because people tend to stick to things they are comfortable with, especially when it involves putting out money for it.

Sound like a good find...

Though I am suprised you haven't had the gold version of OoT until now, l-o-s.

Oh, and btw, 'Person of Lordly Caliber' is the most ridiculous subtitle I have ever seen in my life.