La Pucelle: Ragnarok

I first played this game as La Pucelle: Tactics, back when George W. Bush was president of the United States and the PS3 hadn't even come out yet. A friend lent it to me, and I enjoyed it so much that after I returned it, I stayed on the lookout for it at my local game stores to finally buy it for my own. I still have it, along with the PS2 I played it on. But I bought it again here on Steam because these days it's easier for me to play on the computer, and because I was curious about the changes with Ragnarok. The changes and the extra story are minor, but I think the most mechanically useful in this day and age are the ones made for people who want to skip the constant battle animations and have the option to skip past a cut scene already watched. Gaming time is more precious than before, and the padding for extending a game as a desired effect has now become more about streamlining to maximize the fun parts, and not need a game to hit a minimum of 60 hours to be worthwhile. The additional story of Prier as a Demon-Lord was, however, a miss for me. I was under an impression that it'd be something that happens *after* the story, and instead it is actually something that supposedly takes place within the original narrative, in a disjointed 'this happens back in that chapter you just played where it didn't,' rather than having been added in throughout the narrative. It also causes in places a few retcon issues, which is especially noticeable if you play the original narrative very recently or have a good memory. Also annoying is that you don't have your full team that you did at the end of the original story, or what you equipped them with; those items vanish into the aether. With the changes to the way the purification works of creation multiple chains of 're-action,' the game's puzzle of purification became both more challenging and also easier. I like doing the purification puzzles, and so it was more fun, although at times it did make some maps that are meant to be challenging battles into a breeze of combo-purification miracles. For me, this game is something fun for what it is. I remember the story a bit more fleshed out and surprising in its minor story twist, but then again, I first played it when I myself was only a little older than Prier, and now that I'm on the cusp of 40, the story and characters read differently with that distance of time. It resonates more with nostalgia and a story that shaped my own concepts of how to write something that seems like an inevitable showdown between good and evil and instead strives to speak of how to break cycles through love and hope. If I played it for the first time now, I doubt I'd have made it past Chapter 1. People who enjoy turn based games, think-four-moves-ahead tactic challenges, shoujo Japanese stories, and the Nippon Ichi 'you can stay here forever grinding through the Dark World' games will like this one. You will have to be forgiving of the graphics, which were pixel art made for CRT TVs that would have softened all the edges to blend better, and without that display the pixels are harsh and unlovely.

This is a good game if you love grinding. The pixel art and set pieces are nice. The story leaves a bit to be desired, but it can be fun at times and isn't really what you're here for. Very interesting experience, I look forward to playing disagaea.

It's a Nippon-Ichi game, so expect everything that comes with that, good and bad. The main story isn't actually as long or grind-intensive as the Disgaea series, but this deluxe version adds more in the way of post-game to it, as well as a few other little extras. It also doesn't have the microtransaction nonsense of the most recent DIsgaea games. There are a lot of fun aspects to this game, both the original and the Steam version, and I recommend it to anyone who likes N1 games (or J-tacticals generally). Also, if you're old like me, you'll appreciate that the text has been sharpened and made high-res, much easier to read than the PS2 era.

Prier is my spirit animal

great port

like final fantasy tactics and pokemon had a baby and that baby was a chibi

Another one of those games I played when I was younger and never completed it. Working on that now.

It's a NIS classic that i'm glad that I can play again.

the "gimmick" of this game is all about giving you extra moves without passing a turn, every time you "purify a portal". exploiting this mechanic can save your butt when you are underleveled, or completely break the game is you are very powerful. this mechanic IS the game. if you dont like engaging with that, you wont enjoy the game