Your commanders are determined by the story, but strategy comes from hiring and positioning the right troops, before making sure as few people as possible die in the battle that follows. The level design may be a personal highlight, but of course it’s the well thought out mechanisms by which Langrisser IV functions as a tactical RPG that really holds everything together. Every scenario is justified by the plot, and individual objectives not only give the levels a strong sense of variety, but allow the game to tell its story through the way you play it. This works thanks to some sharp dialogue, interesting characters, and branching storylines, but the game’s main strength is how the narrative effectively ties into the gameplay. Langrisser IV is a war epic, telling a tale of conflicting nations, power mad tyrants, and mythical swords. It’s perhaps worth noting that developer Career Soft went on to create both the Growlanser series and Shin Megami Tensi: Devil Survivor, so Langrisser is about as similar to an Altus game as you’re going to find without the actual logo on the box. If you enjoy the style of writing found in something like the Persona games, then Langrisser is likely to satisfy you in the same way. Nothing has been re-interpreted or re-written to feel more ‘Western’ and as a whole the game is thematically more mature than your standard RPG. The dialogue has a very direct feel because of the way it’s been translated. The story is really interesting, and it’s nice to enjoy a game that someone, somewhere, fifteen years ago, presumably thought you wouldn’t. Along with Policenauts, Shining Force III Scenarios 2 & 3, and most of the Fire Emblem series, Langrisser IV was never officially released in English, and if you get your hands on the fan translation then you’ll be asking why the hell not. These days it’s only a handful of games that aren’t released in the West (and most of these are pretty terrible) but Langrisser IV belonged to a period when we were denied things we might have, y’know, actually liked. From start to finish this is an epic and engrossing adventure, and one I’m surprised hasn’t appeared on more ‘hidden gems’ lists. Do you like obscure tactical RPG games from the 1990s that were never released outside of Japan? Probably not, but Langrisser IV’s appeal isn’t as limited as you might think.
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