Langrisser I & II Rapid Review
Fast Facts
Title: Langrisser I & 11
Developer: Chara-Ani
Publisher: NIS America
Website: https://nisamerica.com/games/langrisser
Genre: RPG, Strategy, Adventure
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Age Rating: PEGI 12
Release Date: 13/03/2020
Price: £49.99 – Rapid Reviews UK were very kindly provided with a review code for this title.
Langrisser I
I’ve never played a Langrisser game before. That being said, at first glance it gives me some good Fire Emblem vibes, so I’m excited. Let’s see how it turned out!
Starting off with Langrisser I, you encounter Lucilis, the Goddess of Light, who asks you a series of questions. These questions seem to impact your stats. You are then able to select “easy start,” which starts you off with extra money, items, and CP. Just so you know, the game is not dubbed into English, and features Japanese voice acting only. Personally I don’t care, but I’m well aware that’s a deal breaker for some people…
You start as Ledin, a prince fleeing from his castle, which is under attack. Will he be able to save his father? You’ll have to see for yourself!
Graphically, it’s obviously no Fire Emblem Three Houses, but it’s got classic-style graphics with some pretty legit music. The combat is turn based tactics, and the animations remind me of Yggdra Union a little bit. You start the battle with commanders, and are able to hire mercenaries to help you in battle. There’s a weapon triangle similar to Fire Emblem; infantrymen beat spears, spears beat cavalry, and cavalry beats infantry. Unfortunately, you don’t seem to be able to keep your mercenaries from battle to battle, and keep having to buy their services each time. You also seem to only be able to use one type of mercenary per commander in battle, which is unfortunate.
Thankfully you’re able to grind; however, this requires you to lose story progress by going back a chapter or more. You are able to keep experience, gold, etc. though, so it may be worth it to utilize this feature. There don’t appear to be any “extraneous” battles you can use to grind outside of going back in the story-line.
You’re able to get rid of multiple enemies at a time if you defeat the commander of that squad. This is helpful when your HP is low and you’re at risk of being defeated. You can use a character in better health to defeat the enemy commander and get rid of their squad mates at the same time. Another good thing is that your characters’ HP is restored when they level up – a useful feature for if your character is in danger of defeat. Unfortunately you can’t use items to restore HP/MP, so you’re out of luck there.
What’s a bit unfortunate is your inability to use abilities after moving. Another unit could be in danger of being defeated, but unless you’re already in range you won’t be able to heal them that turn. What’s nice is that should you reach game over, you’ll retain all experience that you earned in that stage, even though you lost! You don’t, however, receive experience for just attacking enemies like you might in other games. Enemies have to be defeated for you to earn experience, or you must use some spell like healing to earn experience.
There are different class branches you can change to upon earning enough CP, which is earned from leveling up as well as being the MVP character of a battle. These classes all have their specific skills that you can equip on to your characters.
An event that occurs at the end of Chapter 5 was fairly predictable in terms of the plot, which was fairly disappointing. All I’ll say is that it was obvious from the very start of the game that this event would happen. I wish it was a little less predictable. There are multiple plot paths you can take; the plot seems fairly standard and bland until a certain plot line happens. But even then it doesn’t make much sense as to why that happens in the plot (plot line E).
The battles do become more difficult, with annoying AoE spells from enemies. You really have to strategize once you reach a certain point. Once you’ve cleared the game, you’re able to use that clear save to restart the beginning of the game with levels, equipment, as well as money carried over. And in new game plus, you can play in challenge mode, where the enemies get stronger the more times you beat it. I finished one playthrough of Langrisser I in eighteen and a half hours. I plan on returning to it after beating Langrisser II. But for now, let’s proceed to the sequel!
Langrisser II
As with Langrisser I, you have the option of playing with easy start, with extra money, items, and CP.
You play as Elwin, a traveler who saves a girl in the process of being kidnapped. What do her attempted kidnappers want with her? Find out in Langrisser II!
When it comes to the second game, it seems the only difference is in the music and in the greater number of routes. The second game also took half the time the first one did, and seemed easier, at nine hours for one playthrough compared to the first game’s eighteen. Other than that my criticisms and praise are essentially the same: a decent enough tactics game with a fairly boring plot. If you’re really into tactics games I’d get it and give it a try, as I think it can be challenging enough.
Rapid Reviews Rating
You can purchase Langrisser I&II here
