http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/games/popular/month/rpg/Playstation/strategy/?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss ]]> This Month's Most Popular Games Tagged 'rpg, Playstation, strategy' on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/css/logo.jpg http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/games/popular/month/rpg/Playstation/strategy/?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss ]]> en-us Vanguard Bandits is a Japanese strategic computer role-playing game (JRPG) for the PlayStation. It was originally released in Japan; later it was adapted for the PlayStation console, and it was translated for the American market by the video game company Working Designs. Released by Human Entertainment in Japan under the title Epica Stella, it was retitled Detonator Gauntlet by Working Designs before Acclaim forced the company to change it due to its similarity to the Gauntlet series of action-fantasy games. It was eventually released as Vanguard Bandits and included a bonus demo disc of Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete for PlayStation.

Vanguard Bandits is a strategy-RPG featuring tactical combat in a medieval fantasy world in which knights and soldiers pilot mecha.

This game takes place on the Continent of Eptina where numerous battles have taken place over territory, goods, and beliefs. In the midst of the conflict archaeologists in the Pharastia Kingdom discovered giant armored mecha that they called ATACs, or All Terrain Armored Combatants, that could be controlled by the thoughts of the pilot seated inside the unit's head. The Kingdom used the power of these ATACs to assume control of the entire continent, and then decided to use them to keep the peace in their new territories. Pharastia soon began to lose control as Coup d'etats and civil wars erupted which left it in a defeated state, with only their standing army remaining.

Vanguard Bandits is an RPG strategy game played on an isometric grid of squares with representations of all the player and computer controlled ATACs, similar to Final Fantasy Tactics and the Front Mission series by Squaresoft. Each character can move around on the grid, attack, and perform support abilities. All actions during that ATACs turn takes up AP (Actions Points), and attacks produce FP (Faint Points). If the Faint Points reach maximum, the pilot is knocked out and cannot perform any actions until he/she awakens, leaving him/her open to attack. When an ATAC unit attacks or defends from an attack, a detailed three-dimensional battle animation with music is shown over the normal grid. Between each battle is a story cutscene where the characters within the ATACs are represented on a similar grid and can interact and further the story line.

All-Terrain Armored Combatants, or ATACs, are the main fighting force of the various armies in the game; indeed, the entire combat system revolves around them. ATACs are large bipedal, humanoid (though one ATAC is a quadruped) mechs powered by gemstones. Despite their high technological complexity, ATACs still utilize traditional weapons such as swords and spears. However, they can also use special attacks such as fireballs, earthquakes, flying shards of ice and tornadoes, depending on their gemstone.

]]> 26 Jan 2007 12:32:16 An RPG from Konami, putting you in the role of the hero McDohl, son of one of the Scarlet Moon Empire's most powerful generals.
When your father leaves on an important mission as you finally become a soldier yourself, you begin to realise that that the glorious empire is vastly corrupt.
During a mission in which you have been asked to stop bandits in a nearby mountain, your best friend reveals a mysterious power, and is summoned to the court. He next shows up mortally wounded, asking you to take the mysterious power, the Souleater Rune, and stop it from falling into the empire's grasp.
From then on in you and your friends are fugitives, deciding to join, and eventually lead, the Liberation Army.

]]> 08 Feb 2007 12:35:53 Tactics Ogre is a Strategy RPG made by Quest and released by Altus. The game was innovative in its branching plotline. Crucial decisions made in the game determine the path of the story, the members of your army and the ending sequence. There are always multiple endings with radically different outcomes.

For eighty years, Valeria has been in constant strife, and its three leading ethnic groups all claim leadership. The three factions are:

Gargastan: While these people make up 70% of Valeria's total population, they suffer constant inner struggle between moderate and radical theorists on how government should best be handled. This weakens what would be a dominant majority.

Walstanian: An oppressed minority of Southern Valeria, making up only 10% of the population. Their suffering is the catalyst to the plot in Tactics Ogre.

Bacrumese: These are generally the more "elite" of Valerian society, making up a solid 20% of its people.

Mighty King Roderick, aided by the forbidden powers of the "Hell Gate," is able to dominate the people until Dolgare of Bacrum successfully leads his army to defeat Roderick and his dark powers. With the king dead, the charismatic Dolgare claims the throne as his own, and is able to end the struggle between the ethnic groups. Under King Dolgare, the rights of the people are preserved, and internal struggles in Valeria come to a temporary halt.

All is right until the entire royal family is lost due to a string of accidents. Because the late King Dolgare had no living heirs, the ethnic groups once again struggled for leadership: Bishop Branta of the royal court, Cardinal Barbatos, dictator of the Gargastan people, and Duke Ronway, representative of the Walstanian minority, all fought for control, but in the end, Barbatos and Branta stalemated. In order to preserve their power, the two men took separate measures: Cardinal Barbatos sought an "ethnic cleansing" policy and slaughtered thousands of innocent Walstanians and Gargastans, while Branta received aid from the Roslolians, the greatest order in all of Lodis.

The separation of the three races thus sets the stage for the beginning of the game. The player is greeted by a collage of scenes depicting the Roslolian Order's mysterious actions in Griate, home to Denim Powell, Kachua Powell, and Vice Bozek, the main characters. Denim and Kachua's father, Plancy, was kidnapped by the enigmatic Lans Tartare, and the three heroes seek vengeance against the dark knight.

]]> 17 Jul 2007 04:02:39