The turn-based strategy genre has enjoyed a renaissance of late, courtesy of companies such as SquareEnix, Koei and Atlus. Thankfully for Western gamers, most worthy Japanese turn-based RPGs are now blessed with an English language release, allowing us to fully experience the finest our Japanese cousins have to offer in this genre. However, it hasn’t always been this way. Many fine Japanese RPGs have never made it out of their native country, and as a result Western fans have either had to contend with reams of impenetrable Japanese text or wait for home computers to become sufficiently powerful that some form of emulated ‘fan-translation’ becomes a possibility.
Langrisser is one series that has experienced both sides of the coin. The first title, produced for the Sega Megadrive by NCS/Masaya in the early nineties, was picked up and renamed Warsong for US release by the now defunct Treco. Unfortunately it was virtually ignored by the gaming public, sealing the fate of the series in the West. In Japan, Langrisser was a massive success and went on to spawn sequels across multiple formats until the development team finally splintered in the late nineties.
Based loosely on Masaya’s late eighties RPGs Guyframe, Elthlead and Gaia No Monsho, Langrisser focuses on the struggle for the legendary Holy Sword of the title and its evil counterpart, ‘Alhazard’. The main character is a young prince named Ledin. The opening mission sees Ledin’s castle under attack from the superior forces of the evil Dalshis Empire, hell-bent on gaining the Holy Sword for their own. The first objective is to simply survive and escape the rapidly-crumbling fortress and flee the Kingdom of Baldea. Ledin gradually manages to attract support from neighbouring nations and eventually gather an army capable of reclaiming the Holy Sword.
The closest contemporary titles are probably Sega’s Shining Force and Nintendo's Fire Emblem. These games share the same top-down, 2D landscape, turn-based gameplay and separate ‘action’ screens whenever a combat situation occurs. However, they differ greatly when it comes to the sheer scale of the battles and the number of units involved. Shining Force and Fire Emblem see the player marshalling a small band of fighters – Langrisser on the other hand has an entire army to command. The player is given control of up to eight ‘commanders’ who in turn have eight units, ranging from foot soldiers to dragon riders, which operate under them. Each unit can be controlled individually (a very long-winded procedure) or can be assigned orders (defend, attack, hold ground, etc.) and these, in turn, are filtered down to their troops who carry out the relevant command when a turn is ended. Usually a combination of the two methods is required to succeed.
Another similarity to Shining Force and Fire Emblem is the experience system. Each enemy unit felled by your commanders (and their units) grants them experience points. Once they pass level ten they are ‘promoted’ and change rank. There’s a wide range of different character classes, ranging from Knights to Healers and Mages. Each promotion usually gives two different rank choices, resulting in several ‘progression trees’ for each commander. This means the game can be completed several times over before every single outcome is discovered. This adds immense replay value to the game, but also encourages the player to think tactically and slowly pick apart the opposing force, rather than rushing in for the quick victory (destroying an enemy commander also wipes out any units that serve under them, therefore robbing the player of potential experience points).
There are over 20 missions in all, and although many have the same objectives, some welcome changes of pace are introduced from time to time (defensive and escort missions being two examples). Each map offers a wealth of different terrain and careful use of cover is essential when it comes to winning some of the more tricky skirmishes. The battle system is basic, with simple rules governing many of the results. Knights on horseback are strong against foot soldiers but weak against archers, and so on. Once the player becomes familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of each unit under their command, fantastically tactical battles ensue that become shockingly engrossing at times – something to be thankful for, as many missions can last well over an hour (the supplied ‘mid-mission’ save is a godsend).
The artwork for the game is nothing short of stunning, created by manga and anime favourite Satoshi Urushihara, who does a good line in wide-eyed, pert-breasted (and often nude) female characters (see Legend of Lemnear and Plastic Little for examples). There’s nothing quite as risqué in Langrisser - instead there’s some excellently-realized female leads as well as some cool-looking male characters, complete with impressive armour and weaponry. In terms of conceptual design, the game simply cannot be faulted. In fact the quality of the artwork is so high you’d be forgiven for assuming that the game is based on an established anime or manga license.
Sonically the game is no slouch either. Noriyuki Iwadare provided the tunes, and managed to overcome the weaknesses of the Megadrive’s feeble sound chip to craft one of the most beautiful soundtracks on Sega’s 16-bit machine. It’s worth nothing that Iwadare went on to produce the soundtracks for Lunar: The Silver Star Story and the Saturn classic Grandia, as well as several other titles.
Thankfully for Western gamers, the English version followed shortly after the Japanese release. The translation is workmanlike, but no better (or worse) than an average 16-bit RPG port. Strangely, many of the character portraits were changed to make their features more ‘Western’ – ironic when you consider that today Western companies are falling over themselves to imbue their games with an ‘anime’ feel. There are also some entirely unnecessary name changes, though thankfully none of these alterations spoil the game in any way. It’s a crying shame that the game sold so poorly (despite two-page advertisement features in major American magazines like EGM – you cannot accuse Treco of under-promotion of the title). As a result American copies are becoming increasingly rare, but as a Westerner it’s the best way to play this excellent game.
Back in Japan, Langrisser was ported to NEC’s PC Engine Super CD with additional anime cut scenes, CD-quality music and slightly improved visuals. In the mid-nineties the game was released along with the second Langrisser title on the PlayStation and Saturn in the form of an expanded ‘Dramatic Edition’. The graphics and sound are obviously beefed up (yet still remain fairly average by 32-bit standards) but it’s the gameplay that takes the biggest hit – many changes are made to the game engine and mission scenarios, not all for the better.
Langrisser went on to spawn several successful sequels in Japan, with episodes appearing on the Sony PlayStation, NEC PC-FX, Sega Saturn, Nintendo Super Famicom, Sega Dreamcast and Bandai Wonderswan.
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