As always, first and foremost, thank you, everyone, over at NIS America for hooking me up with a review copy of these games. I say games because while you buy them together they are two games in the same series.
First I will get the stories out of the way. In Langrisser 1 you play as Prince Ledin. After your home country is attacked you set out to retrieve the sword that was stolen and you are bound to protect as it can be used to unseal the forces of darkness.
In Langrisser 2, you play as Elwin, a man trapped between two warring factions and it will be your job to figure out the best way to bring peace to the world.
The games themselves play basically the same way. They are strategy RPG’s from the bygone era when the likes of Shining Force and such were just getting started. You move your characters across the map and different characters are better against other unit types. Enemy charging you with horses? Defend yourself with spearmen. Counter spearmen with regular infantry or take down those pesky flying enemies with bowmen. Is it better to take down individual soldiers one at a time or to aim for enemy commanders so the whole squad retreats? These are all choices you will have to make in each battle and those choices I never got tired of making.
This game has seen many upgrades from the original version from sound to visuals and even new characters. This helps when you are trying to see the over 20 endings both games offer and well over 500 outcomes for each character. The games have great replay value and as a fan of old fashioned RPG’s like this, and someone that missed the original release I truly appreciate the ability to bounce between the remastered and original art styles. This is one of those series I didn’t know I missed or wanted until now, and I am happy I found out. The game is beautiful, the sound is great and any fan of the genre should pick it up. 9/10 from me, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
