fire emblem killer number... 4?

langrisser 1 isnt real it cant hurt you
(this review is mostly langrisser 2 related)

no fluff. straight fire. straight meteor. we're going straight to 100 kills with this one.

I completed both games in this collection for Switch. Warsong on the Genesis has been on my backlog for a long while - and still is - but I wanted to play both remakes since it may be a while before I went back to the OG for the Genesis (Warsong is Langrisser 1 in NA.)

These are great strategy games with rock-solid game design and progression systems, offering a long series of well crafted battles and many leaders to choose from, each of which has their own upgrade paths. One could play these games several times with different mixes of characters and troupes and have the battles play out differently. From a nuts and bolts gameplay standpoint, I really enjoyed both.

But dear lord, the misogyny in the writing and art is so awful. The men are hulking buff guys in armor with take charge attitudes. The women are reduced to pining after them in clothing barely more than lingerie, begging just to stay by side of their men and not be a burden. In-game, Narm is a raging badass riding and leading dragons into battle. In the story she's deferential, wanting only to please her man while trying not to have her breasts fall out of her barely-there clothing.

I really liked how these games played. I really hated how they treated women. From the art and clearly-new translation, I suspect how the women are handled is a new addition. I'm gonna chase down Warsong on the Genesis and hope it fares better in that department.

The first game has such a bog standard story that it makes the plot of the first Fire Emblem seem intricate. It's the typical destroy evil story, without many surprises or originality. Barely anyone in the party has much of a personality. It's by no means bad, and i enjoyed myself, it's just not standing out at all.

The many alternate routes are a nice addition, but sometimes feel forced narrative wise, like some of those old marvel 'What if?' comics where someone does illogical actions completely out of character just to get a bad ending. It also ends up with fighting many of the same characters in slightly different settings. I completed all the routes and by the last few it became a bit tedious, even with the built in 'go to the chapter with the branch off point' function it has.

The combat is an unique twist on the Fire Emblem formula, each character gains spells and equipable abilities through a skill tree. They can also field a few mercenaries that function as anonymous meat shields and become stronger/heal when close to their commander. Killing an enemy commander kills of the whole attached squad. This makes the map feel like a huge ongoing battlefield with actual armies, more so than what Fire Emblem recently tried(and failed) to do with Battalions in Three Houses. The game is a bit on the easy side, but as a huge strategyrpg fan it was an unique system to enjoy.

Also a great asset is the option to change into the original art and ost. 90's anime art has a certain charm that the new art has trouble replicating (and everyone has HUGE shoulderpads). It might be because i'm a 90s kid and grew up watching stuff with this artstyle, but Imo the vibe of the games fit the old art way better. At the very least i'm glad the option is there.

Langrisser II also doesn't have the most exciting plot, but i saw some characters i really liked. It does have a lot more alternate routes to complete, really tapping into what makes this series unique. I probably finish those routes as well, and it is going to take a while.

A classic turnbased strategycollection to enjoy for fans of the genre. It might even be a perfect introduction to the genre, because of it's lower difficulty. It is also completefriendly with the different routes. You will have a good time with it if your expectations for the story aren't too high going in. They are remakes of SNES titles after all. Not worth full price, but a good pick up target when on a (steam) sale.

Langrisser 1 Remake

Turn based strategy game where your commander units are function like normal characters in games like this but each one can spend gold to hire units of soldiers before battles start, with the options available to them and the quantity available depending on their class and promotions. Hired units will be much weaker if they leave the command range of their leader and if they are adjacent to their commander they will heal some of their health at the start of each turn. Hired soldier kills will give their commander experience and if your commander or an enemy commander is killed all of their hired soldiers are lost with them. It's one of the better games on the Genesis and the sequel's Super Nintendo upgrade Der Langrisser is one of the best games on the SNES.

This version adds new branching paths with multiple endings and new stages to the original Genesis title. New CGs and added JP voice acting (not translated though when out of plot scenes). You can use old character and map art and music (except for combat animation), new art is hit and miss depending on the character but the new style is pretty generic. Hero characters now fight with whatever kind soldiers instead of awkwardly by themselves. New opening questions like in the sequel give equip/skills but effect little as they are mostly just going to give you equipment and skills that are soon to be replaced anyway. Missions can have some objective changes, usually being easier as the first map has an easy escape and time limits are removed. New health system is less intuitive, in the old game everyone just had 10 health with each representing a soldier in the unit. Too easy to level/promote, and you can go back to past areas in the story to follow branching paths with your levels kept. The battle animations are much worse, even in the old Genesis version it would show the soldiers meeting in combat where melee units could be killed by archers before reaching them leaving bodies on the ground, the terrain of each side effected the look of the fight where units would have to charge up or downhill if you had elevated positions, this follows more of an Advance Wars style where all units just stand on a side of the screen and attack at nothing towards the middle of the map while damage numbers show up. Maps look like a bad mobile and no longer have as many terrain differences. About halfway through the first playthrough it becomes so easy that you don't even need hired soldiers to easily win, defeating the main mechanic of the series. They also removed the treat command which was used for commanders to slightly heal themselves (and in some entries recover some MP) and replaced it by having everyone fully heal when they level up, making the game even easier and magic overpowered.

The new branching paths are mostly terrible (now that I've played Langrisser 2 I see that some of the branching maps are just random copies of maps from Langrisser 2 with different enemy placement). There was never much story to begin with in the first entry outside of a very simple retaking of your shortly inconvenienced Kingdom followed by holy sword defeats chaos god plot, and the paths add mostly nonsensical story turns where you will often end up playing on similar or the same maps as before fighting very short battles. There are five paths with each having two variations. To get a branching path you reach mission 11 of the 20 and then can start doing or not doing things that can put you on another path, a few missions after that it can split again. The two alternate options on each of the five paths could change very little, on one actually effecting nothing but a few random lines of dialogue.

Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1454915983735361537

Langrisser 2 Remake

Langrisser 2 holds up better than the first but that isn't at all thanks to anything the remake does and is just from it being a better game. The story path splits are a bit more logical and can come from a wider variety of actions, there are more characters that get a bit more backstory, there are more characters to use on route splits, 75% of the playable cast doesn't primarily promote to the same horse mounted unit.

It did feel much more balanced throughout where I never would have had an easy time never even hiring soldiers once I reached the midpoint of the game (though just nuking everything with the Meteor spell about 3/4 of the way through causing the mage to level up and regain their full MP so I can do it again was still massively overpowered).

Neither game is ever really bad but there's no reason not to just play the original on the Genesis/Mega Drive and the sequel on the SNES (or both of them on the Saturn if you read Japanese).

Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1457624454805159939

Having never played the original games, I was quite excited to check this remake out. However, I was pretty dissappointed with it. The story and timeline mechanic is fine, but I don't feel like there is much strategy involved. I was basically able to steamroll any given mission with no opposition. Compared to games like Fire Emblem or Tactics Ogre, I never felt like I had to think about my turns or put together a strategy more complex than "run them over with my superior units". Maybe I missed something but as it stands, I was very much let down by these games.

Vamos lá, eu só joguei o 2 por enquanto, então tudo oque falo é em referencia ao 2.

A arte dos personagens no antigo só perde para a nova em ombreiras bizarras e por ser um pouco datada, a arte antiga é muito bonita além de ser estilosa, e na nova arte alguns personagens ficaram com roupas muito estranhas ( e reveladoras d+) como a Jessica, a Cherie tadinha nunca teve roupa mesmo, e A Lushiris(Lucilis eu esqueci como é) é feia que dói, em comparação com a antiga.

Os "sprites" do personagens no campo ta realmente legalzinho, com algumas coisas estranhas, só fico triste dos soldados não terem cores diferentes, tipo o inimigo é verde, e seus aliados branco/cinza e que a única coisa que muda no comandante quando muda de classe é a montaria e a arma que usa( na linha do lord podia ao mesno colocar um escudo pra diferenciar ne meu).
O mapa é muito bonito, mas parece que diminuirãm o mapa, usar a versão antiga do mapa contrasta muito estranho com a unidades desenhadas :) .

A mudança no gameplau é muita, da pra dizer que está mais balanceado, tirando o fato que você recupera toda a vida e mp ao subir de nível, as magias agora são muitas e variadas, e não tem como farmar que nem doiodo com heal porque além de ser em só uma pessoa em vez de área, não tem a opção de "descansar" como no antigo que recuperava um pouco de mp de 30% da vida, alias os status são bem mais detalhados e "númerosos" pq tipo o antigo era só literal AT23 DF21, eu não sei se estou maluco mas as unidades de longa alcance não podem mais ser chamadas de longo alcance, o range delas foi reduzido -_-, as batalhinhas/confrontinhos são muito demorados totalmente dessincronizados os maluco toma dano antes da animação do outro de atacar, além de outros ter só um ataque e ficar parada o resto do tempo vendo os cara morrer de infarto, além de, eu sei que foi para balancear o jogo ou sei lá, mas o soldados só surgem no canto da tela e fica batendo de longe, no antigo era muita mais legal e broken kkkk, tipo algumas classes eram panelonas pelo simples fato de atacarem primeiro do que o oponente e era muito mais rápido nó.
O sistema de nível e árvore de classes é muito interessante, em vez de chegar no 10 mudar de classe e ir pro 1 novamente, você ganha CP para avançar de classe podendo trocar no menu quando quiser, e sem equipamento exclusivos todo mundo usa oque quiser.

A inteligência artificial, ebaaaa -_-, muito burra mano.
Tipo no antigo eles amavam muito mais a própria vida do novo, no comando batlle os soldados avançavam só se não fossem ser muito danificados, mas agora eles são que nem o ataque dos cavaleiros malucos (salve brasão de armas) tive que ficar no comando defend o jogo inteiro para que eles não se destruíssem que nem idiotas e não matassem um comandante que eu tivesse farmando nele, os summons parecem que não escutam os comandos direitos não, eles avançam mesmo com o defend ligado mano bizarro, os comandantes ainda são que nem louco na frente de suas tropas mas agora os fracos fisicamente que os magos também fazem isso e atacam que doidos os outros quando estão sem mp ( a Jessica se mato umas 3 vezes nos últimos capítulos onde ela vem junto ).

As músicas WoW, algo muito difícil de errar, eu nun sei nada sobre músicas além de curti-las, a maioria ficou super fiel a original, e outras eles apenas mudaram algum instrumento( eu acho) e deram mais toques I like mucho.

As novidades de rotas, não faço ideia ainda e tipo me demorou 44 horas só pra finalizar a rota B, vou voltar 3 capítulos para fazer rota A, mas o resto meu amigo vai demorar a vida inteira.

Overall this is a really good SRPG. I have cleared the light path in L1 and Light/True Light/Empire/Independent paths in L2, and have clocked in over 100 hours.
Pros:Original art by Satoshi Uruhshrara is goddess-tier. Like there are some sexy waifus ;-) and ridiculous but awesome shoulder pads for either gender. Great color contrast and thick dark lines... but if you're a pleb who doesn't get art and the concept of color contrast, you can always use the new crappy designs if you want ;-p
Character personalities are mostly likable and believable. Many of the "bad guys" aren't that evil when you learn more about them. Select any music style from any release of Langrisser.
Deep strategic combat with huge armies to manage. Of note is the mercenary system. 1 battle save (I would have preferred 2 but 1 is way better than none.) Branching storyline with differing objectives in battle depending on which faction you side with. You can grind if you want...
Cons:...but there is WAY too much grinding to get the perfect epilogue for all characters. 100 kills is doable but hard, especially when some characters join late game.
Mercenary AI is bad. Troops move in order of commander, but this often leads to Commanders that join later getting their troops cut off due to crowding. Also they can't understand things like walls and other unpassable roadblocks. This can be solved by manually moving all mercs but that takes a lot of time. Minor Characters/generic troops don't have the option for Urushihara art.