review | Triangle Strategy – PlaySense

review | triangle strategy ‘Gorgeous. War never changes. These prophetic words, which we usually associate with the Fallout franchise, actually sum up the triangle strategy perfectly. This new tactical RPG from Nintendo and Square Enix takes us to a fantasy world where noble houses play a game of tactical chess to gain control of as much land as possible and (literally) over corpses. No, this isn’t Game of Thrones in RPG form, but Triangle Strategy’s themes and events often remind us of the hit TV series’ glory days (with subsequent seasons aside). We would like to explain to you why this game is really worth picking up.

based on war

Welcome to Norzelia, a world where three great nations squabble over who is the greatest: Glenbrook, Aesfrost and Hyzante. Every nation has its strengths and weaknesses, but there is no doubt that each one really needs the other if the empire is to thrive economically. Long ago, these nations lived together in peace, but everything changed with the advent of the “Saltrium War”, a war so fierce that the entire empire was on the verge of collapse. A necessary truce was called, to restore peace. However, behind that peaceful facade, sinister plans are being hatched and it isn’t long before the empire is shaken again with the next bloody conflict…

You follow the events through the eyes of Serenoa from the house of Woolfort, a noble boy who is betrothed to Frederica Isfrost in order to promote relations between nations. However, this participation is the beginning of a chain of events that will leave a huge impact on the empire. We’ll do nothing about it: the story is simply wonderful. Political duel, interesting characters, exciting confrontations and epic battles: Triangle Strategy has it all! At first, it’s all a little confusing, with a lot of names and jargon being called at you at a fast train pace, but once you’re aware of the way things are, you’re on to a great adventure. Be warned: the game has a large number of text scenes, so if you are not reading a lot of things that you like, you should stay away from this title.

What makes things even more exciting is the fact that you have a huge influence on how events unfold. After all, at different moments in the story you are presented with difficult choices; Choices that greatly affect the course of the story. Although some important events will always be covered, you can go through several gameplay processes that will be different each time and will have a different ending. In addition to the main events, there are also optional stories and character stories to explore. You can go through this without obligation if you want more background on specific characters or specific events from a different perspective. These are recommended, because the characters in this way are well developed. If you only follow a “mandatory” story, this is often not the case. It takes a quick 30 hours to play, but that can of course vary a bit if you ignore the optional stuff.

war strategies

Triangle Strategy, as the name suggests, is a game full of strategy. The strategy is in the story-based options, but also in the actual gameplay. The gameplay consists of two parts: exploration and discovery of villages or towns and battle pieces. When exploring, you have to walk around a specific room and gather information by entering into dialogues. This information not only enriches the story, but can also be important when you have to convince your comrades of your point of view during the above dilemmas. After all, you don’t make choices alone, all members of your aristocratic group get to vote. You can try to get them to see you in a proven way, but they will make the decision in the end. This is a really fun concept, as it adds extra tension and tactics to the most nerve-wracking moments in the story.

Either way you look at it, you will eventually have to untie your sword and go to the battlefield. So the triangle strategy has a lot of battle scenarios that you have to survive in one piece. The combat is turn-based and isometric, comparable to Final Fantasy tactics: you always have a group of fighters at your disposal and you have to move tactically across the battlefield to achieve victory. By the way, this collection is quite extensive: throughout the story you can recruit a lot of diverse characters in four classes: melee, archer, mage or support. Despite these “vulgar” categories, each character presents their own unique abilities. A magician can be very specialized in a certain type of magic, where one warrior has a sword, the other has a spear, etc. The range is large and you are free to choose the characters you want to use.

The fights themselves are also varied and very hot. Every scenario is different and you will have to adapt to new circumstances each time if you want to win. The user interface is clear and gives you enough information about the different terrain and characters. You can also level up each character individually, which unlocks new skills for you. With enough money and resources you can also upgrade their weapons and increase their ranks, making them stronger. It’s a very in-depth system, but that too, like the story, was pretty overwhelming at first. It will take you some time to learn everything, but once you click, you will surely feel satisfied. However, it is unfortunate that you often have to wait so long before you can take the next fight: about 80% of the game consists of cinematic scenes, which makes the gameplay (combat) seem somewhat secondary.

art of war

Triangle Strategy is the latest ‘HD-2D’ game, a term introduced by Square Enix in 2018 with Octopath Traveler. The 2D patterns are rendered in a 3D world, providing a perfect blend of ancient and modern RPGs. While this style certainly has its charms, not everything is perfect. Dynamic resolution ensures sprites and animations are sometimes very sloppy. Background assets appear shimmering in some scenes and that’s clearly not a nice looking one. This is especially true if you are playing the game in hand mode (720p) and less noticeably in docked mode (1080p).

On top of that, the game is technically good: it gets a steady frame rate of 60fps and we haven’t encountered any bugs. In terms of sound, Triangle Strategy is very good, but at the same time it is not very high level. The music and sound effects fit the mood of the story well, but they don’t either. The game’s dialogues are almost entirely in Japanese and English, and you can easily switch between them. The Japanese voice actors do a great job, while the English dubbing is exactly what you can expect from most English dubbing: not bad, not good, just a mid-level “meh”.

reviewed in: Nintendo Switch