It shouldn’t be a surprise that most tactical and strategy RPG video games all share where they got their inspiration and origins from. It’s a game that everyone has at least played once and never tried again due to other players being unfair, the rules being a bit complicated or a mix of both. Sounds just like how TRPGs/SRPGs are in a way right? That game of strategic conquest is RISK. In RISK the goal is simple: global domination by any means necessary, be it through force or negotiation. TRPGs and SRPGs have taken various aspects from RISK to use in their own games. Some have favored the tactical battle aspects of RISK (Langrisser I & II, Advance Wars and WarGroove for example) while others embrace the conquering whole continents by force aspects of RISK. Much like today’s game up for review Brigandine The Legend of Runersia for the Nintendo Switch. Is the game an Alexander the Great or does it fall apart like a Nero? Let’s find out.
Story
The core of the game’s story is that there is a war going on among six nations for total control of Runersia. The war was started due to a series of events that happened in the year 781: the monarch of the Norzaleo Kingdom dying, the civil unrest in the Holy Gustava Empire due to the impending invasion by the Norzaleo Kingdom, Republic of Guimoule’s president has gone missing, revolution in the Mana Saleesia Theocracy, the sudden appearance of the Shinobi Tribe and the pirates of the United Islands of Mirelva taking advantage of the ongoing chaos to plunder the mainland.
Players will choose one of the six factions to conquer Runersia with. They follow them on their adventures learning more about the war, their reasoning for wanting to conquer the continent. The writing is pretty good as it makes you feel sympathetic to their each of their cause and the same time wanting to do what you can to stop them at the same time.
Gameplay
Gameplay for Brigandine has two phases: an organization phase and an attack phase. The organization phase has players moving their commanders to different bases and choosing which troops to bring into battle with them in the action phase. It’s here in the organization phase where you can choose your units that will join your rune knights in battle, see stats of your both yours and the enemy units, how many rune knights and monster units there are in each base, attack/defense power and more. Once planning is done, players can move their units to either near by empty bases or an enemy occupied based. If there’s an enemy occupying a base, then the attack phase begins.
Here we get a zoomed in view of the battlefield and units. From here it’s like any typical TRPG/SRPG: each commander (player and AI) taking turns moving each unit and attacking each other. Units have their advantages/disadvantages against each other and gain buffs/debuffs depending on the terrain they are in. Like I said typical TRPG/SRPG mechanics, but fun none the less.
Graphics/Art
Brigandine has some really amazing 2D art from Raita Kazama, who was the lead artist and character designer. Fans of his might previous work as an artist for the Disgaea and Xenoblade Chronicles series of games. The art has a Western feel to with some influences of Eastern art mixed in which works really well. The best way I can describe it is as if Kazama-san took inspiration from medieval Europe, Mesoamerica, Romance of the Three Kingdoms and mixed them all together. As for the 3D models used for the attack/battle phases, they’re fine. Not the most details in my opinion but they still look good.
Sound/music
From what I know about game development, music is usually composed along side the development of the other game assists. With Brigandine The Legend of Runersia however, composer Tenpei Sato, composed the music after the illustrations and the plot had been completed. This resulted in Sato tailoring songs to fit each of the six nations to match their looks, which makes for some really great music. And if some of the tracks sound a tiny bit familiar, that’s because Tenpei Sato used to be a composer Nippon Ichi Software and composed for games like the Disgaea series and its spin offs, Phantom Brave, Marl Kingdom and many others.
Extras
Not really so much of an extra, but its worth mentioning that Brigandine The Legend of Runersia has a high replay value due to being able to play as the other nations after finishing your first playthrough. The game also has Challenge Mode that functions as a sandbox that allows you to recruit any of the Rune Knights to your command. This is unlocked as soon as you finish your first playthrough.
While not bringing anything new to the table, Brigandine The Legend of Runersia is still a solid TRPG/SRPG that shouldn’t be passed up. From the six different nations to play as and see the game from their perspective and solid gameplay mechanics to really amazing detailed 2D artwork and music from that worked on several fan favorite games from NIS, everything is solid. If you’re looking for a new TRPG/SRPG to sink hours into, then give Brigandine The Legend of Runersia a shot.
