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The narrative structure here is tight, and there's no unnecessary dilution of the core crisis by shifting the player's focus into the shoes of multiple protagonists you're pretty much locked into the story from Serenoa's point of view and it makes proceedings all the more intense and memorable as a result. Producer Tomaya Asano, who also worked on Bravely Default and Octopath Traveler, has spoken in the past of how he wanted to take this game in a slightly different direction, away from some of the more traditional aspects of JRPGs, and it's a decision that's worked wonders for how the action in Triangle Strategy flows. Honestly, we're not going to detail a single moment of the story here as any spoilers would entirely ruin the impact of the thing, but Triangle Strategy just absolutely delivers on the narrative front. It's an impressively mature and complex campaign in many ways, too, one that manages to successfully mix its political and more fantastical elements, injecting plenty of real-world issues regarding religious manipulation of the masses, fabricated fear as a means of control, slavery and racism into its tale. This a game that sinks its hooks into you, introduces a fantastic cast of characters that you'll grow to truly care about, thrusts you into impossible situations and affords you the opportunity to make genuinely meaningful choices that affect who lives or dies and who and what will be destroyed as you make the sacrifices necessary in order to prevail. It may take its sweet time at points - we've already seen plenty of comments in the wake of the demo wondering if the game continues to feature so much in the way of lengthy conversations between battles (it absolutely does) - but the pay-off is so worth it. Of course, by the time the prologue is done here, that alliance has been all but shattered and what follows is a twisting, turning delight of a campaign that somehow never loses its momentum, slowly building to a fantastic finale that sees you get to choose exactly how you wish to see your version of Serenoa's story end. This one barely puts a foot wrong.Ĭaptured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)Īssuming the role of Serenoa Wolffort, players are thrust into the political landscape of Norzelia, where three kingdoms, Glenbrook, Hyzante and Aesfrost, are just about holding together an uneasy alliance that was formed in the aftermath of the great "Saltiron wars".
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Triangle Strategy is a fantastic tactical RPG that serves up an engrossing tale, top-notch battles, multiple routes through its excellent campaign and several wildly different endings that you'll absolutely want to dive back into the game in order to experience.
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Thankfully, now that we've spent some 50 or so hours with the finished product, we can report that Square Enix has fully delivered on the promise of its prologue demo. It's a setup that immediately engaged us, introducing a strong cast of characters, embroiling us in some fascinating Game of Thrones-style fantasy politics, and setting the stage for what we dearly hoped would be a grand tale full of drama, epic battles and tough decisions to come. Overall: 9.6/10.When we previewed Triangle Strategy's opening hours just a few weeks ago we came away suitably impressed by its slick mix of choice-driven narrative, detailed world-building and satisfyingly strategic combat action. If any of this sounds cool, trust me and buy it. The entire story is also very good, and as you see all of the questions you have unfold it leaves for a very powerful message.
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There are a LOT of cutscenes, but that's fine because it explains the story very well. The decisions are impactful, the design is interesting to me, and the characters are all very likable and well written. My thoughts on this game is that it's great. A multiple choice RPG with several difficult choices that will effect the ending (You can get an awful ending if you make the wrong choice, so choose wisely.) A strong political conflict with multiple cutscenes (This may be a turnoff for potential buyers which I understand.) If you like these, play this game, if you don't, play something else: (My personal thoughts will be at the bottom.) This game is a masterpiece, but I have to admit, it probably won't be for everyone.
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