In for the long haul with ‘Tactics Ogre’ remake

There's plenty of high-minded dialogue to chew on in "Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together," re-released last week on the PSP. Fortunately, it's good stuff. (Games Radar / Square Enix)

I’ve spoken before about the hazards of being a die-hard gaming generalist — someone so preoccupied with new experiences that he or she rarely unearths the rich, creamy stuff at the end of a game.

It’s the pits, really. As a rule, today’s games bloom like onions, and when you chronically peel only the first few layers, you’re often getting the most shallow, introductory stuff — tutorials, hand-holding and awkward on-screen prompts. The meatiest bits often aren’t served until halfway through or later.

(That’s what it’s really all about, people. Food metaphors. Cream, onions and meaty bits.)

Consider the dramatically revamped “Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together,” a top-to-bottom remake of an SRPG that first appeared in 1995 on the Super Famicom. Released stateside as a shoddy PlayStation One port in 1997 and then abandoned, the game had been all but hand-delivered to earnest Internet curators, who dutifully circulated English ROM hacks in developer Quest’s stead.

Even studying the game’s history (and its place in the “Ogre” franchise) requires a commitment.

So it’s been a long road to the title’s re-release last week on the PSP. Fortunately or un-, the genre has remained stubbornly true to its roots through the intervening years.

SRPGs still require you to move your army of tiny dudes across rectangular, grid-based battlefields, attacking, defending and casting attack and support magic as you see fit.

The games still ask you to choose which direction you’ll be facing while computer-controlled enemies take their turns.

They still scratch your inborn itch to customize by allowing you to assign jobs to each member of your army — warriors, archers, wizards and other bread-and-butter stuff at first, but later ninjas, juggernauts, necromancers and more.

And they still require simply enormous outlays of free time.

I’ve logged just north of 15 hours with “Let Us Cling Together,” and I’m still uncovering new gameplay loops. The crafting system, which lets you create stronger weapons and armor, finally has breathed purpose into the strange warfront detritus I’ve been accumulating (“log,” “bundle of herbs,” etc.) all this time. The monsters I’ve just started recruiting have their own sets of jobs, and I can auction them off for cash.

Distracting though they are, these mechanics, coupled with a legitimately compelling and magnificently translated story so far, amount to window dressing for what is, in truth, a refined interpretation of the same SRPG battles we’ve been fighting for years.

So what hooked me this time? How have I been able to settle down with “Tactics Ogre,” with its (adorable) 16-bit sprites and (excellent) MIDI soundtrack, when I can’t even bring myself to finish the dazzling “Dead Space 2”?

Part of it comes down to a gauche, almost primordial hunger for progress. The game teases its astonishing breadth with aplomb, dangling new jobs and skills and items in front of you to the tune of backslapping beeps, ticks and swooshes. Remember that craving for persistence and advancement that “Call of Duty 4” popularized so ruthlessly in 2007? It’s exploited to greater effect here, and though it’s a plainly evil mechanic, it doesn’t feel quite as manipulative, given that RPGs largely invented the concept.

(If you choose the story branch illustrated in the video below, you’re a bad person.)

Thankfully, the game has the technical finesse and narrative chops to back up the grind. Though it’s too early for me to judge the story as a whole (I’ve already suffered one major in-game betrayal, and I suspect there are more in the wings), I’m pleased to report that “Let Us Cling Together” is handily the most spit-polished RPG I’ve ever played. Load times are practically nil, relevant information is almost always in front of you when you need it, and mistakes are incredibly easy to remedy.

Will I finish it? I’d love to believe I will, but it’s hard to say. There are reportedly dozens of hours of play on offer, and the next three months are stuffed to bursting with AAA releases.

If I do wander, it won’t be this game’s fault. Anyone who has ever mined an ounce of satisfaction from this war horse of a genre will find something to love here.