Triangle Strategy Review

[Eliwood8]

If I didn't know any better I'd say Triangle Strategy was targeted specifically at me. It features tactical-RPG gameplay similar to Final Fantasy Tactics or Fire Emblem, the lovely HD-2D art style first seen in Octopath Traveler, and the kind of morally gray political intrigue you'd find in modern fantasy novels. So yeah, I'm probably predisposed to liking this game just based on its premise, but the final product really is a delightfully engaging strategy game that challenges your wits and convictions. Just stick with it through the first few hours.

 

The story takes place in Norzelia, where three nations have established a relatively new peace. Each country has control of a valuable natural resource, so open cooperation and trade is vital. Naturally, everything starts going to hell once the game gets started. The main protagonist is Serenoa Wolffort, a high-ranking lord from the kingdom of Glenbrook with close ties to the royal family. Your journey takes you to the other nations as well, the duchy of Aesfrost and the holy empire of Hyzante, where different ways of life offer pros and cons for the people and the ruling class. Ultimately, your choices dictate what kind of person Serenoa is, what his convictions are, and how they align with these three nations and your allies' morals.

 

I have to admit, the game throws a lot of information at you early on. Even as someone who reads a lot of fantasy novels, with endless lists of characters and their relationships with each other, my head was spinning in the first few hours of Triangle Strategy. Thankfully the game provides a handy chronicle of all these details in the menu, so you can always refresh your memory on places and historical events. This is not a game for players that skim through cutscenes, though.

 

 

The most important hook in Triangle Strategy is the branching paths system. During major decisions Serenoa will consult with his allies and advisors to decide how to move forward, and you can even talk with them to convince them to follow whichever path you prefer. These scenes unfold with a dramatic vote at the Scales of Conviction that weigh each option. Despite being introduced early, the branching paths don't come into play too much until about a third of the way through the story, but once they do, oh boy. You'll be faced with some agonizing decisions, and having to stand by your choices is an intense experience. You'll both dread and anticipate every time the Scales come out, because you know something serious is about to happen. There are plenty of times where you're forced to consider the lesser of two evils rather than a "good" and a "bad" path, which also nicely adds to the game's replay value. It's good to see a game where the choices have some weight and aren't just slight variations of one path.

 

But while the setting is solid and the decision system is engaging, the characters themselves leave a little something to be desired. They're not bad, but most don't quite find the kind of personality and charm found in recent Fire Emblem games. Some of them are pretty flat, or at the very least don't get further fleshed out until you've raised their levels and have used them in battle for hours and hours. The antagonists are also perhaps a little too antagonistic. The whole concept of the game wants you to agonize over whom to trust and what path to take, but some of the villains are moustache-twirling-levels of villainy, so of course you won't trust them. For a game that wants to emphasize morally gray choices, it would have been nice to have more morally gray characters (and granted there are a few standout morally-gray characters, and they're great, but the game could've used more of that).

 

 

Finally I should get to talking about the gameplay, though maybe that's appropriate since the game can feel a little lopsided at times and weighted toward cutscenes instead of battles. Nevertheless, once you're actually in a battle they are delightfully crunchy tactical challenges, especially by the end of the game. In a lot of strategy games your characters end up feeling like wrecking balls by the late game, but not here. You'll need to carefully plan your moves and weigh each character's strengths and weaknesses. Don't worry though, there's no permadeath so you can be a little cavalier in how you play.

 

Each character has a unique class and unique abilities (you also can't change classes but you can upgrade them to unlock additional abilities). You'll need to consider the standard elements of strategy games—turn order, environment, attack range, etc.—and manage each character's TP, which allows them to use skills. Another key feature here is the follow up attack system, which allows you to deliver an extra attack if you surround an enemy with two of your characters in a pincer formation. Beware though, because enemies can do the same to you. Since each character acts independently in the turn order based on their speed, you may inadvertently put a character into peril by pushing them forward without backup. On the other hand, clumping up makes you an easy target for magic attacks. At every second you'll need to consider these kinds of challenges.

 

 

Triangle Strategy does a great job of gradually raising the stakes on you. Early on, while you're still learning the basics, the game takes it easy on you, and risky plays aren't punished. But around the same time that the story takes off the gameplay takes off the kid gloves and you'll need to carefully consider how to approach each map. There's a good amount of variety in maps and encounters as well, so you're not just defeating every enemy in each battle, which makes every chapter feel like a fresh challenge. Sometimes caution is key and sometimes the game won't give you the luxury of moving forward slowly, so you'll need to adapt to each battle. For a strategy fan, the whole gameplay structure is excellent. There's enough meaty tactical thinking involved to get your brain churning, but it's also not so tedious that you need to exhaustively track stats or things like accuracy and terrain effects. It's very easy for a strategy game to be unwelcoming to players, but Triangle Strategy finds a nice balance while still pushing you with challenging and engaging encounters.

 

Like a lot of strategy games, the roster of characters is far larger than the number of units you can actually bring into battle, so you'll inevitably leave some back at camp, never leveling up. Since each character has unique abilities there are actually tons of strategies you can come up with, though admittedly it's hard to not use the more basic characters you get early on—they're just useful in virtually every scenario. Of course, that means there's plenty of replay value if you want to try out each character, plus you can obviously replay the game to experience the branching paths and multiple possible endings. It's also nice that one playthrough of the game isn't terribly long—around thirty-five hours or so if you're fighting optional battles to ensure your main characters are properly leveled—so playing through each path isn't an overwhelming time commitment.

 

 

As I already mentioned, I was excited to see the return of HD-2D sprites, like those found in Octopath Traveler. The art style is a little less diorama-y in Triangle Strategy than that previous game, and since the enemies are mostly human characters you don't get quite as much variety of sprite-work as in a standard RPG, but the blend of classic 2D artwork and modern HD sensibilities still looks great. The soundtrack is also excellent and helps hammer home the grand drama of both your political and combat maneuverings. The voice work, however, isn't quite up to par. The dialogue is written in a somewhat formal, stilted way, perhaps to convey a feeling of courtly dealings, but the effect doesn't quite land. The voice work seems to have been given the same direction—a lot of the delivery is stiff or just unnatural, and just doesn't quite bring the characters to life. It's a minor complaint though, and the voice acting is still good, just not necessarily great.

 

Triangle Strategy is a satisfyingly balanced tactical-RPG experience. Though it comes across as dialogue heavy and strategy light in the first few hours, the story progresses in engaging ways that force you to make hard decisions while at the same time evaluate and perfect your combat strategies. There's enough depth here to satisfy strategy fans but enough wiggle room that you don't have to be a master tactician to get the most out of the game. And with the wealth of strategic approaches and replay value found here, players may grow to become tactical masterminds just by exploring every branching path that Triangle Strategy offers.

 

Rating: 9 out of 10 Strategies

[Link, the Hero of Dreams]

No joke, this game has been one of my favorites, despite Square’s odd moments this year.

[DLurkster]

After on and off weeks on the final chapter, I beat the a few minutes ago. Sunk in over 120hrs and that was on playthrough. (Yeah, I could of been 30-40 game but I trained every character to recommended level in mental mock battle, add that with trial and error with how to win actual fight made my playthrough that long)

 

Scales of convictions didn't make dread almost at all but yeah towards the end sure maybe. VA, I thought at least to my expectation it was alright. I wasn't thinking how they sounded or delivery too much. I have obviously heard better but again I wasn't expecting anything Last of Us performance of course!

 

Yeah, great game, setting and gameplay.

 

In my playthrough Serenoa and Frederica never got married. I wonder if it's like that for all the paths no matter how it ends for the player

 

I will play the other paths to see how different the other paths later this year or when I have time.