Released a few years ago by the company Square enix Japanese RPG Octopath Traveler quickly gained popularity among JRPG fans, so the announcement of a new project from the production team Tomoi Asano in a similar style was only a matter of time. The presentation took place in the February program Nintendo Direct, and it came as a surprise to many. The fact is that despite the design similar to Octopath Traveler, Project TRIANGLE STRATEGY turned out to be a tactical role-playing game that evokes associations with such classics of the genre as Tactics Ogre and Final fantasy tactics… The novelty is scheduled for release in 2023, but its demo version is already available for everyone. can be downloaded from eShop… We have studied it and will tell you about our impressions.
The plot seems promising. Three large states are fighting among themselves for power over vital resources. Their constant skirmishes and bloody wars last for years, and once the truce reached is violated due to political intrigues and all sorts of conspiracies. Of course, it is too early to judge about the ability of the story to drag players for tens of hours, because we saw only a fragment of it, but from first impressions it seems that the world is well thought out here and the characters are adequately spelled out, so the further development of events in the full version promises to be very interesting.
The demo takes place immediately in the fourth chapter, in Winterholm castle in the kingdom of Glenbrook. After the first scene on the engine, the player gains control over the character and the opportunity to wander around the surroundings, as well as talk with his comrades-in-arms. Only key dialogues are voiced, and all secondary conversations are presented exclusively in text. In some situations, the authors give a choice of answer options, which will affect the worldview of the protagonist, which can develop in three directions: utility (Utility), morality (Morality) and freedom (Liberty). The developers rely on this system in advertising materials, claiming that elections will have a direct impact on the plot, and when making the most fateful decisions that can change the fate of entire nations, the hero and his allies will vote on the so-called Libra of conviction. From the demo, it is at least clear that the desire of different characters to be in your group will depend on the choices.
Later, the game offers to go to the global map. In addition to the main task, there you can see another marker that leads to a scene in another region, but then you need to go back and finally join the battle.
The concept of battles will be familiar to fans of the already mentioned Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics. The characters move around the squares, and after the end of the turn, you need to choose the side in which the hero will look. In some situations, this choice can be crucial, as units take more damage if they are attacked from behind. In general, the combat system practically repeats all aspects of Final Fantasy Tactics, but it also has its own nuances. Instead of the usual mana or additional energy, heroes use special points that are spent on class skills and various spells. Their number is displayed next to the character’s avatar in the form of yellow pebbles. At the beginning of the fight, each fighter has one point, and then their number is replenished with each round. Thus, strong spells or powerful skills that require two or three yellow stones cannot be used immediately. This approach balances battles and removes boring item-based mana management.
Another interesting nuance of this game is the “secret weapon” system, which is available only once per battle, but can be used at any time. In the demo, only one option was presented – an option that gives two yellow pebbles to the selected hero. However, it appears that there will be other variations in the full game.
The interaction of the elements also promises to be an important element of the combat system. Fans of role-playing games could see something similar in Divinity: Original Sin, where, for example, all enemies standing in a puddle received electricity damage if the player struck there with lightning. It’s about the same here. At the very end of the demo, a character appears who controls the weather, but, unfortunately, it was impossible to test him in battle. However, the developers have already confirmed that such interactions will be an important part of the gameplay in the full version. This is evidenced by the description of the weather next to the designation of the conditions for victory.
In addition, the use of the elements will allow you to change the placement on the map. In the demonstration, it was shown that fire can burn a wooden house, freeing a point, and flood the area engulfed in flames, using an ice spell. The flooded area, in turn, is suitable for a lightning strike …
The developers have tried to make the game comfortable and as friendly as possible. The function of each icon is intuitive. For example, next to each skill, you can see a designation that immediately makes it clear which skill it is – defensive or offensive. During movement, the radius of action of enemies is highlighted on the cells, so you can always easily understand how safe the chosen place is. Also, the developers have provided an optional acceleration of animations in battles. At the touch of a button, characters begin to move quickly, which saves time in some not-so-important fights. All this suggests that experts from Square Enix want to make their project enjoyable for players and devoid of distracting elements from the plot or gameplay. The developers plan to make further improvements to Project TRIANGLE STRATEGY based on audience feedback on the demo.
As for the graphics, they are the same as in Octopath Traveler. The gorgeous pixel style is perfectly integrated into the three-dimensional space and is combined with volumetric shadow effects, various highlights and beautiful effects. It’s amazing that such an interesting combination of pixel sprites and volumetric graphics has almost never been found anywhere before.
Those who play Octopath Traveler will surely notice right away that the new game uses a free camera that can be rotated in different directions. For this reason, the artists had to draw twice as many sprites to display the characters from different angles. If in Octopath Traveler the characters had four angles (two side, front and back), then intermediate options appeared here and there were eight of them in total.
The Project TRIANGLE STRATEGY demo was mostly delightful, but not without a negative element, which is especially noticeable after the release of the new generation consoles. It’s about loading times between scenes, exploration and battles. It’s not as bad as in Pillars of eternity on Playstation 4, but given the compactness of the locations, I would like the black loading screen to take much less time than now.
It is also worth noting that the demo is not translated into Russian. And the lack of Russification even in the PC version of Octopath Traveler makes it clear that you shouldn’t count on localization this time either.
Project TRIANGLE STRATEGY is something to be believed, especially given the small number of tactical RPGs on consoles. Pleasant visuals, an interesting combat system and an intriguing plot make you eagerly await the release of the full version of the game. By the way, the father of Final Fantasy Tactics Yasumi Matsuno has already praised the Project TRIANGLE STRATEGY development team led by producer Asano and wrote that he is looking forward to the release of the new product. It should take place in 2023, but in the meantime, you can go through the demo yourself.
see also: Top 30 Best Anime Winter 2023 – Part 3. Dr. Stone: The Stone Wars, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime – Season 2…
Add to our Telegram channel using this link or search for it manually in the search by name gmradost… There we publish what is not included in the news feed. Also subscribe to us in Yandex Zen. And do not forget that now on our site you can hide news by category, switch between different types of emotions, use a dark theme and display publications with a feed instead of tiles.…
