Yggdra Union: If they stopped loc'ing shit like this and made more Tactics Ogre

[MachinaWeapon]

...everyone would love Atlus again.

Yggdra Union
Players 1
Genre: TRPG
Developer: Sting
Publisher: Atlus
Platform: Game Boy Advance (11/06)







Synopsis: From the creators of Riviera comes Yggdra Union, a very typical tactical RPG that borrows much from said game. Unfortunately, there's not  much new in the veins of innovation, rather combining separate concepts into a strange amalgam with fairly high difficulty.

Controls: 6.5/10 Yes, it's possible that somehow the controls are fucking screwed up. The irony is that in battles, the where one has the least amount of control, having to activates skills is a chore, but we'll get into that later.

Sounds: 8/10 The musical score, though tedious at times is is crisp and enjoyable. If you're go to play the game, I suggest you play with the sound up, it's well worth it.

Gameplay: 3/10 You may find yourself on gaming websites reading reviews praising Yggdra Union for it's overall gameplay. These people are either 1) Not being serious, 2) Being paid off by Sting or Atlus 3) Masochists. Yggdra Unions gameplay is a failed amalgam of card games, TRPG elements, and Rock Paper Scissors. The cards govern your not only your skills, but your overall power per turn and movement. Skills with defensive and recovery skills generally have lower movement and power grades, while offensive magic and and attack skills are much more powerful. It's unfortunate that you have to sit through bothersome tutorials for such simple battle mechanics, because regardless of what you're made to think, the battle system is nothing more than said elements combined with absurd one-sided difficulty in order to put on the appearance of a learning curve.

    The game never true gets better, but becomes a little more bearable once you accept that luck and overpowered enemy units have more effect on your battle than your skill or tactical prowess ever can. Of all things, the magic units of the game so much more powerful than ALMOST EVERY OTHER UNIT IN THE FUCKING GAME. And because many of the game's early battles pit you against them, you'll quicker throw the game away than spend as much time thinking about your next move as an opponent of Bobby Fisher. You're only allowed to attack once per turn, which sucks until you're able to establish "unions, formation that allow several member's parties to attack consecutively. However, the Rock Paper Scissors handicap is never outweighed by what would seem like more innovative concepts the game could have used like fatigue or elevation (sure, terrain's there, but it's hardly more than a generic pain in the ass).

   There's also the concept of interweaving the interface into one singular functioning unit, which takes away from their individual usefulness. Unions require diagonal or vertical adjacency, which means you're going to have to waste a higher movement card to properly align  your army across simple, restrictive maps. The game's AI has superhuman luck, making it next to impossible for a naturally disadvantaged unit to power through a superior unit regardless of planning. The skill bar also determines your aggressiveness in battle, and because skills drain the bar (you have to pull back to fucking charge it in the first place >:O ) , and most can only be activated by a specific Ace (the leader or head unit of the union), weapon type, or at a certain time of day, you have to spend minutes at a time planning for a 15 second battle sequence. And it just so happens that the bulk your party grows in a way that they're disadvantaged up until you obtain your first magic user, and even then by a lack of strength in numbers (which is the FUCK THEME OF THE GAME). In a rather retarded twist, this is the only game I've ever played where the bad ending is actually much more difficult to obtain than the good one. :|



Graphics: 8/10 The field map interface is flat and boring, which is rather disappointing considering the amount of effort put into the many TRPG that have appeared on the GBA, as well as previous systems. However, the battle screens look very well, and maintain a great amount of detail. This is especialy true when card skills are utilized.

Replayability: 3/10 You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone willing to play this game again unless they have no life. More power to you if you manage to stay awake through the first half of the game, let alone the hell that is the middle on to complete the game.

Overall: 4/10 The most enjoyable moments of this game equate to "watching" the battle scenes and the long sequences given to skills. There are much better TRPGs on the GBA in the vein of familiarity (Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Tactics Ogre, Fire Emblem) to waste your time on than this travesty of a cart, with much more rewarding results.