It seems that as more classic/retro games are making a comeback, developers and publishers are digging deeper into the well of nostalgia and bring up some of the more unknown, weird and forgotten series. One of those series that has been brought back with a remaster is the Langrisser series. Langrisser was a series of tactical JRPGs (similar to Fire Emblem, Advance Wars etc) that started out in the early 90’s and only saw one release in North America under the name Warsong. After that the games stayed over in Japan till about 2015 when Aksys Games localized the 3DS game Langrisser Re:Incarnation Tensei, which had a totally different art style and no connection to the original games other than the name of the sword the game is named after, Langrisser. Then back in July 2019, Nippon Ichi Software America announced that they will be localizing and publishing a HD remaster of Langrisser 1 & 2, which was released in Japan that same year, for a Western release in 2020. Fast forward a year (and an outbreak later) and Langrisser I & II have finally been released.
Holy Sword
Methodical yet fun gameplay– I enjoy Chess. Its really one of the few traditional board games that requires both skill and the ability to predict your opponent’s moves even before they know what their move is. But over the years I fell out of it, mostly because as you go deeper into the intricacies of chess, you have to memorize opening moves, mid game strategies, end game, and even the quirks and playstyles of your opponents. Plus when you’re match against a player that about the same skill level as yourself, matches tend to drag on, sometimes for hours. And there’s no timeouts, take backs, redos, restarts, etc etc. This can get pretty stressful. So what does chess have to do with video games, or with Langrisser I & II for that matter? A lot actually. Chess is a game about strategically moving pieces around the board, trying to trap and checkmate the opponents King. It’s very methodical game. Langrisser I & II gameplay is a lot like chess, very methodical. From choosing where to place your heroes and their troops to deciding which troop type will join them for battle, what class to have them as and of course their placement on the battlefield of not just the heroes but their troops as well as you are able to move them freely too. And that’s just the first Langrisser I. Langrisser II boast more of the same as the first game, and not to give away too many story spoilers but also has three different factions to join through out the game, leading to three different endings, four if you decline joining any of them and become your own faction. Now speaking of stories….
Very interesting stories- Both the stories of Langrisser I & II are pretty interesting. In Langrisser I it drops you right into a middle of a battle as the Dalsis Empire has invaded the Baldea Kingdom in search of the holy sword known as Langrisser. Prince Ledin, his vassel and teacher Volkoff and knight captain of the royal guard Narm are tasked to flee the castle to call for reinforcements. Ledin’s father, King Illzach stays behind in order to defend their escape. As soon as Ledin and his companions reach allied lands, he learns that not only has the castle been overrun but that the Empire have executed his father. Wondering why they have done such a thing, he leads a counter attack in order to take back the castle and free those who have been captured. As he and his allies attack Empire troops stationed at the castle, monsters appeare out of nowhere and start to attack both the Empire and Ledin’s forces. Once the castle has been cleared, he learns from the court mage Jessica that the Empire has taken the holy sword Langrisser and plan to unleash its power to unite all the lands under the rule of the Dalsis Empire. She also explains that by unleashing the power within Langrisser, monsters and demons have been released as well. Its up to Ledin and his allies to stop the Dalsis Empire from unleashing the dark powers that Langrisser holds and to avenge his father’s death.
In Langrisser II, it has been centuries since the events of the first game and the war for Langrisser has been come a legend and Langrisser itself a fairy-tale. Players take on the role of a traveler named Elwind. Along his journey he joined by an amateur mage named Hein and they travel together for a while. They decide to stop at Hein’s childhood village for the night when suddenly the troops of the Rayguard Empire have entered the village to kidnap a friend of Hein, Liana. Elwind, Hein and the local dutchy chase off the troops of the Rayguard Empire and save Liana. Liana has no clue as to why she is being hunted by the Rayguard Empire. As they travel they meet the mage Jessica and learn about the Empire’s true goal: to unit the two swords Alhazard and Langrisser and unit the contennet under the banner of the Rayguard Empire. It’s up to Elwind and his new allies to find Langrisser and put a stop to the Empires’ plans and save the world….or bring it to ruin. See Langrisser II gives players the ability to switch sides at key points in the game and depending on which side they choose they get different endings.
Updated HD graphics- Much like other remasters, Langrisser I & II received graphical upgrades. Gone are the 8-bit sprites and the character portraits of 90’s pretty boys and kawaii girls and in their place are 16-bit HD sprites and the character portraits of this generation pretty boys and kawaii girls. The battlefields also have been updated to match the 16-bit HD sprites. The new illustrations for the character portraits look really cool and are a nice touch to bring a retro/classic game like Langrisser in to modern day. However if you are a fan of the artist Satoshi Urushihara and his works, the game give players the option of switching over to the original art style. Though the sprites will still be the 16-bit HD sprites and not the original 8-bit sprites.
Remastered soundtrack- Curious as to what the original soundtracks, well sounded like, I went in search for the soundtracks for Langrisser I & II. To my surprise they actually pretty good. I honestly was expecting something a bit more simplistic since the games have a medieval European feel. Instead they had a more hard rocking tune. In the Langrisser I & II remasters, that same hard rocking tune is still there but remaster. You have pop synthesizers, guitar solos, rolling drums, etc. Everything that a modern JRPG has in its soundtrack is in the remaster. I honestly like them both. But if you do have a preference you have the ability to change which style of music plays during the game.
Quality of life improvements- Like with most remasters/remakes, there will be quality of life improvements. This includes fixing bugs/glitches, adding features, taking away features that are not needed, improving gameplay etc etc. In the case for Langrisser I & II, the ability to skip the battle engagement animations has been added. Also the option of having the cut-scenes advance automatically, fast forward, rewind and skip have been added. They might sound like small things but when you’ve seen the same battle engagement animation several times and just want to move on to the next turn, these new features speed things up.
Special rewards for having a demo save file- While demos are starting to be come a thing of the past, there are few games that offer them as a quick glance of the game. Some demos will even give you special unlocks, items or other things that you can carry over to the final games. Langrisser I & II have demos for each game and completing said demo will net you gold and CP for each of the games. This is a really smart move as not only will players have a chance to check out the game but if they do decide to buy it, they will already have some money and CP to start out.
Evil Sword
No versus mode- As much fun as it is to beat the enemy AI, pitting your wits and smarts with a living opponent is even more fun. Recent tactics games have started adding in a versus mode so two players can battle and out maneuver and out strategize each other. That would have added more replay value to Langrisser I & II but unfortunately there’s no versus mode here. After beat the main campaigns for both games there’s little replay value other than going through them again to go down different paths.
Save scrumming- Save scumming, we’ve all done it before in video games. When something doesn’t turn out the way we like it, we usually reset the game, load up the last save file and try again till we get our desired result. In Langrisser I & II, there will be a lot of save scrumming. This mostly due to wanting that perfect run, wanting to go down a certain story path, or possibly about to lose and you don’t want to start all over again from the beginning. So expect to be backing out and restarting the stage when things don’t go your way.
Langrisser I & II are decent remasters that not only remain faithful to the original 90’s Genesis versions but also add in modern touches. The gameplay is methodical and fun, being able to skip the battle animations and have the cut scenes automatically move forward makes getting through the games much faster and easy. Having the ability to choose between the remaster soundtrack and art style and the originals is nice. The ability to carry over save data from the demos to the retail game is something that more developers should do. As for the stories, they were very interesting and with the fact that each have multiple paths you can take (and multiple endings in Langrisser II’s case) warents multiple playtroughs to see them all.
Be aware that you might be doing some save scumming if you’re trying to go for a perfect outcome or trying for a certain story path. It’s also a shame that Langrisser I & II doesn’t have any multiplayer as its much more fun to conquer a live player than an AI.
If you’re looking to flex that brain during quarantine and re-live an epic adventure from the 16-bit days of gaming, then Langrisser I & II is a go to game. As I mentioned earlier there is a demo up on the eShop so download it and give it a shot.
