Review for Mercenaries Saga Chronicles. Game for Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 18/01/2018
These are definitely hard times for lovers of Japanese-style tactical RPGs. If years ago the genre could count on a fair number of sagas, today practically the only ones left active are those of Disgaea and Fire Emblem, while Square Enix does not seem to want to carry on the vein of Final Fantasy Tactics now stopped at the A2 released about 10 years ago, much to the dismay of the fans. Hence, every now and then some independent developer embarks on the enterprise of exhuming the magic, with fluctuating objectives and results. While Cardboard Utopia with its Children of Zodiarcs started from a nostalgic incipit to build a more complex and structured game system, thus finding its own identity, with Mercenaries Saga the guys from Rideon Japan they aimed for a more essential and less ambitious product.
After the first chapter designed for the mobile market, two sequels were produced, which were also ported to Nintendo 3DS. Mercenaries Saga Chronicles is a collection that brings together the complete trilogy of the series: Mercenaries Saga: Will of the White Lions, Mercenaries Saga 2: Order of the Silver Eagle and Mercenaries Saga 3: Gray Wolves of War. Three games that share the same formula strongly influenced by the reference titles of the 90s. A real wink to fans of old Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, Vandal Hearts etc. remained dry mouth for years now.
But will nostalgia be enough to deserve our money?
Let's get right to the heart of the matter: if you're looking for a worthy descendant of the aforementioned titles, the answer is a sad "no". Each of the Mercenaries Saga chapters is quite generic and bland in many respects, while demonstrating a solid gameplay structure. Furthermore, between the three chapters there are hardly any substantial differences, and this makes them very similar to each other; this may not necessarily be bad news, as taken as a compilation they actually look like one big game. Given the great similarity between the titles, in this review we will treat them as a whole.
The game dynamics are, as anticipated, very similar to titles such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre, with arenas organized in grids, physical and magical attacks of varying scope, bonuses and penalties dictated by the positioning and orientation of the units, etc. If you are reading this review you almost certainly know what it is, and you will certainly find yourself at ease from the early stages of the game.
A semi-freedom system has been chosen for the development of your units. In fact, you will not be able to assign any class to the characters as you wish, but each of them will have a pre-established job tree. Once we reach Level 10 and 20 we will be able to advance in class and decide between two branches of specialization. A generic warrior, for example, will be able to choose whether to specialize more as a tank paladin or swordsman devoted to attack; however, nothing prevents us from learning the skills of both variants, with the due load of time and experience. Each class will then allow a discrete freedom of customization in the choice of various weapons and equipment, as well as in the order of learning and strengthening of the various skills. Considering the various classes available and the possibility of bringing only a maximum of six characters into battle (on a party that will gradually reach ten elements) we still find a good strategic depth.
Mercenaries Saga is indeed a derivative series, but in its small way it introduces some characteristic elements. First of all, the management of MPs is different from how we have always been used to: instead of being a fuel for various spells and techniques that starts from the maximum at the beginning of the battle and that can only be refueled with objects and abilities, here every character starts from scratch and he accumulates a certain amount automatically each turn. The amount of MPs supplied is defined by a specific parameter, which can be modified by the equipment just like the others. In choosing the equipment we must therefore also pay attention to this modifier.
In battle we also find the "aggro" parameter, which is basically the desire of the enemies to take out a particular character based on his actions: if one of your units continues to heal and resurrect the team, or is killing many opponents, your enemies they will focus on it to bring it down. In reality it is a parameter that affects much less than one might think, especially since any good tactical RPG player knows that he must manage all his units, but above all the most useful and active, in such a way as to prevent opponents from taking them down. .
Finally, in each battlefield it is possible to find treasures that can be hidden in particular boxes, or placed in special chests as visible as generally out of the normal range of the party. To reach them we will therefore have to subtract one of our units from the combat trying not to compromise our formation and the outcome of the battle.
Backed by its inspiration from the classics, Mercenaries Saga's gameplay is solid and is exactly the so-called toothpick that fans of the genre might expect. The only real problem on the gameplay side though lies in the random battles. Already at "Normal" difficulty during the campaign linked to the story, the game periodically presents jumps of difficulty that will force you to stop and gain experience in the so-called "Free Battle".
The problem is that these not only take place in the same arenas already visited in previous story missions, but also do not have a varied generation. Each Free Battle map will therefore always have the same enemies, in the same starting positions, and since you get more experience points the stronger the opponents are, you will find yourself facing the same battle several times, with a repetition effect that in the long run makes itself felt. If you really hate being slowed down by extra fights, there is still the Easy difficulty level that allows you to continue in the story without too many interruptions.
As already mentioned, the three chapters of the trilogy have a substantially identical structure, and the only thing that distinguishes them are the individual stories and the characters involved. Just a pity that from a narrative point of view, the titles offer nothing particularly interesting or incisive. The games take place in the same world, but they take place in different places from each other, practically never crossing the respective events (with a small exception in the third chapter). In each story we will impersonate a group of warriors involved in the power games between nations, and who will have to save the fate of the kingdom from the oppressive ambitions of the antagonist of the moment. Unfortunately, none of the stories strives to involve the player with particular themes or events, and serves more as a coherent enough glue to unite the sequence of battles.
If you are not in the mood for a title with an intrusive narrative presence and more focused on pure gameplay, this aspect could actually be in your favor, especially when combined with the quick jump function of the dialogues in the cutscenes.
Even from a technical point of view Mercenaries Saga certainly does not catch the attention. Having started out as a series aimed at the mobile market, the graphic aspect of the titles is certainly modest, and the style is very reminiscent of the productions of the 16-bit era. The 2D sprites that make up the environments and characters are cute, but they will certainly not leave you speechless for the quality of detail and animations. If you are used to the classic exponents of the genre, this simplicity might not bother you, but certainly the impossibility of rotating the view will be felt on more than one occasion. A similar speech can be made for the audio sector, with a soundtrack composed of a few catchy but certainly not memorable songs.
Both visually and musically we do not find differences or improvements between one chapter and another (apart from the portraits of the characters that in the third chapter appear more accurate), and if on the one hand this favors the sense of continuity, on the other it brings to the surface a certain reuse and monotony. Considering the starting product, for the porting on Nintendo Switch we could not realistically expect more than a congruous increase in resolution and adaptation to the 16: 9 format. A note of regret for the absence of touch controls, a feature that in a tactical RPG would have made the experience much more palatable.
It is clear that the intent of Rideon Japan was certainly not to revolutionize the genre, but to provide fans of the genre with pleasant and inspiring titles in honor of the golden days. The technical and narrative framework of the titles stands at barely sufficient levels and in no way manages to rival the most famous series in terms of creativity, but the core of the gameplay is solid and well-thought-out, although occasionally getting stuck in a certain repetition. If you are looking for a title with an engaging story or original dynamics, we do not recommend buying, but if you simply want to relieve your remaining itch for a healthy dose of tactical combat dissatisfied with the latest Disgaea and Fire Emblem, Mercenaries Saga Chronicles will be able to entertain you with its solid dynamics through its over 80 chapters overall, even considering the advantageous cost of just € 15 to which it is proposed.
► Mercenaries Saga Chronicles is an RPG-Tactical game developed by Circle Entertainment and published by Rideon Japan for Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 18/01/2018
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