Ogre Battle 64

Fight it out!

The third game released in the Ogre Battle line (yet stated to be the "sixth" in the story canon), Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber was released on the Nintendo 64 in 1999 (Japan) and 2000 (North America). It goes back to the Real Time Strategy style of game play that the first game in the series has and away from the similar to Final Fantasy Tactics gameplay that Tactics Ogre was.

The game takes place in Palatinus (north of Zenobia) and stars Magnus Gallant, a young nobleman who, instead of choosing to stick around the wealthy Central Division and live a life of ease in nobility, decides to make a name for himself by joining the military academy and eventually be recruited into the Southern Division army. What starts as Magnus merely trying to quell some rebels turns into a full blown revolution of the Palatinus kingdom, striking back against the Lodis Empire, and even prevent the second Ogre Battle.

Tropes used in Ogre Battle 64 include:

• 24-Hour Armor: If you catch an enemy in a tent, they will start the battle sleeping, but wearing full gear and in formation.
• Actually Four Mooks: Or three, or five. Sometimes two, in the earlier missions.
• Ambiguously Gay: In-game dialogue between Magnus and Yumil would seem to indicate this.

Yumil: "Magnus, I want you to be by my side. I want you to...be my knight."

• Arbitrary Headcount Limit: In both size of a unit and number of characters in the army.
• Bag of Sharing: Very slightly subverted, though, in that the amount of items a unit can hold is dependent upon the classes that compose it.
• Big Damn Heroes: When it seems like the rebel leader is going to be executed by Rhade, two knights just show up out of nowhere to save him. It's an even bigger CMOA when you learn it's Destin and Debonair from the first Ogre Battle.
• Can't Drop the Hero: Magnus is mandatory.
• Captain Ersatz: Danika is very similar to Persephone of Classical Mythology. Both were daughters of a Earth Goddess (Demeter/Berthe) who were lured to the Underworld and made Queen of it by another God residing there (Hades/Diablo) and trapped there once they ate a fruit grown there. Only difference is while Hades is actually quite just by Ancient Greek standards, Dialbo is evil, and Danika was corrupted by them, but gets better after you defeat her.
• Character Portrait: Even the messengers have a portrait.
• Color-Coded Armies: The enemy units always wear red no matter whether you're fighting for Palatinus or the Revolutionary Army. Even friendly units you fight during training are red.
• Combination Attack: With high enough morale and correct elemental typing, caster classes can do this. Soldiers in the same row attacking the same target can combine attacks too.
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: The computer has access to certain classes despite said characters never meeting the prerequisites of said classes. You'll see Paladins and Black Knights of a level WAY lower than that necessary to meet the class requirements. The computer is also not limited in his number of squads to deploy the way you are.
• Critical Hit: In addition to dealing double damage, it also knocks the recipient back a row, if possible.
• Defeat Means Playable: True for a few characters, such as Liedel and Biske.
• Do Not Drop Your Weapon: Defeated bosses topple over and let their weapon go.
• Escort Mission: You have one where you must escort protect Yumil, but thankfully, he does have four Black Knights protecting him, a high level melee class that you won't get until much later in the game, so he's not in much danger.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: It's one thing to summon denizens of the underworld to serve you, but to willingly give a person who doesn't like being used by you the powers of a demigod? The Holy Lodission empire ain't exactly run by geniuses.
• First-Name Basis: General Godeslas. Godeslas is his FIRST name. As one LP says "It's like if he went around getting called General Gary."
• Flash of Pain: The color is different depending on the element of the attack, too.
• Geo Effects: Certain units fight better and move quicker through different terrain, and a unit occupying a stronghold gets a defensive bonus.
• Guest Star Party Member: In an early mission, an uncontrollable Yumil leads a unit with four Black Knights across Mylesia.
  • Ankiseth, Magnus' dad also. He can cast combo magic (by himself) and comes with two Cataphracts. Ankiseth's squad can then join your army after this mission.
  • Similar things happen with both Europea and Carth.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: The base male class is a Fighter, that uses swords. The base female class is an Amazon, that uses bows.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Not just Magnus, but Ankiseth, Dio, Destin and Debonair too.
• In-Universe Game Clock: Night and day. Some events can be triggered only during certain times of the day, too.
• Informed Equipment: Weapons change, but no matter what headgear or armor you put on, a character's clothing remains the same.
• Invisible Wall: Even though some maps are linked (where the final fortress of one mission will become the starting point of the next one), you can't go from region to region without accessing the overworld. This actually proves beneficial for hunting down leaderless units.
• Job System: As long as a character fulfills the statistical and alignment requirements, they can change classes between missions or while not deployed.
• Luck Stat: Affects dodge and critical hits... probably. For females, also affects the chances of becoming an Angel Knight upon death.
• Monster Allies: Wyverns, dragons, hellhounds and plenty more.
• Multiple Endings: There are many different endings, with scenes depending on which characters you recruited throughout the game. The Golden Ending depends upon having a middling to high Chaos Frame.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Godeslas, but Baldwin comes in right after, and gets rid of any sympathy you might have for him.
• No Bulk Discounts: You'll end up buying a lot of Heal Leaves and Power Fruits for your army, and though you may have saved the entire region from a cruel and tyrannical oppression, you won't be getting a price cut.
• No Campaign for the Wicked: Like it or not, you're going to join the rebellion. Averted, though, in that you can make Magnus chaotic or play with a low chaos frame, capturing cities instead of liberating them.
• No Points for Neutrality: Averted. Many classes won't be able to promote to their respective upgrades if their alignments are too far to either end of the scale.
• Optional Character Scene: Bosses all have an introduction when you first encounter them. If you engage them using a character with which they have a relationship (usually Magnus), you'll be treated to a special scene between the two.
• Optional Party Member: Many characters depend upon having a high or low Chaos Frame, visiting certain places with certain characters, or having certain other characters in your army in order to be recruited.
• Palette Swap: The middle forms of the six elemental dragons are identical in appearance save for coloration.
• Player Personality Quiz: A series of questions asked in the beginning of the game will determine the composition of your starting army, as well as your first Elem Pedra.
• Plunder: Most enemies drop stuff after they die. Some items are rare weapons or components to unlock special classes.
• Point of No Return: Happens temporarily several times, though you can usually return much later in the game.
• Prestige Class: Most classes have an advancement that gives them better statistical upgrades during level ups, access to more gear, and more frequent or different attacks. Subverted though in that a character can change to any class whose prerequisite they match, even if it is not the improved version of their current class. The prestige classes are:
  • Knight -> Paladin
  • Valkyrie -> Freya
  • Phalanx -> Cataphract
  • Fencer -> Swordmaster
  • Wizard -> Archmage
  • Sorceress -> Siren
  • Angel Knight -> Seraph
  • Cleric -> Priest
  • Archer -> Diana
  • Ninja -> Ninja Master
  • Beast Tamer -> Beast Master
  • Dragon Tamer -> Dragon Master
  • Berserker -> Black Knight
  • And it's not counting the various monster evolutions.
• Previous Player Character Cameo: Destin shows up briefly in the first half of the game, and can later be recruited if you have a high Chaos Frame.
• Puzzle Pan: Not a perfect example, but the game will show you the stronghold you need to liberate at the beginning of each mission.
• Random Encounters: They're a bit uncommon, but they're the only way to get nonhuman characters into your army.
• Relationship Values: A hidden morale meter helps determine magical combination attacks.
• Rival Turned Evil: Dio, but only if you choose to stay silent at Frederick's execution. Dio will be thought to be dead, but then a chapter later, you see him take out Rhade, and then you finally meet him face to face two chapters after!
• Save the Princess: A gender inversion with Yumil during the second mission.
• Shout-Out: The high alignment version of the Hawkman is called the Vultan, after a certain Prince. All the other games of the series are named after songs from Queen. Except this one. But who provided the theme song to the 80s Flash Gordon film? Queen. Who appears in the movie? Prince Vultan of the Hackmen.
• The Six Stats: Strength, Vitality, Intelligence, Mentality, Agility, Dexterity.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: The story has its moments, but basically as the player you can choose either one, and you will be right either way!
  • This is shown in canon with Xevec, who argues with Magnus over whether they should work with defectors or kill 'em all.
• Soft Reset: Z + Start + A + B. It doesn't save a lot of time, though.
• Straw Hypocrite: The Holy Lodis Empire. These guys secretly give Godeslas the ability to summon Ogres just to test out how much power he could attain. This comes to bite Palatinus in the butt later as they come back and take away the kingdom's power of nobility under the claim they were using ogres, and they are to step in to take care of a land of "heretics". This gets even more hypocritical as right after that, they search the Eastern division for the gate to the underworld to summon MORE ogres.
  • Stupid mistake or deliberate plan?
• Traveling At the Speed of Plot: You can spend years traveling from region to region between missions, and nothing in the plot will change. In fact, since Magnus receives rare items for every birthday that's a multiple of 10, it's beneficial to wander around until Magnus is 99 years old.
• Units Not to Scale: Towns are like little sandboxes for your units to wade in.
• Visible Silence: Magnus does this often.
• You All Look Familiar: Somewhat justified, in that there are only so many classes available.
  • Doubly so for soldiers. You can have 200 of the pintsized fighters in your army base, but good luck telling one from another. Some of them are apparently even female.