Revisiting My Favorite RPG, Ogre Battle on the SNES

Ogre Battle is my favorite SNES game. It has a unique gameplay style and can be a ton of fun to play. It is a fascinating RPG in a story that we’ll unfortunately never see the ending of. We’re left to speculate on how it all started and how it will end.

It can be fun to look at the four games and make educated guesses about the game’s world. We hear about a few countries but don’t know much about them. In some minor ways, it reminds me of Shadow of the Colossus, where the player isn’t given much information about what is happening.

I know that Isn’t a good comparison, but it is the one I’m going with. There is so much that the player isn’t told. It is up to the player to find the other parts of the story that aren’t explicitly stated in the game. It is one of the many things that I like about this game.

TLDR: Ogre Battle is my favorite SNES game!

Narrative

The story is pretty simple. Most of it happens before the game starts, and the rest is largely up to your imagination. You don’t get too much information about the continent, and you get even less about the world beyond this game.

Twenty-five years before the game starts, the continent of Zetegenia was made up of five kingdoms. The Highlands and Zenobia are the only two that matter, but you do visit all of them. Endora, the Empress of the Highlands started a war of unification. She takes over the continent with the help of Rashidi.

Endora is being controlled by Rashidi and becomes a tyrant. Rashidi’s ultimate goal is power and he wants to bring a demon called Diablo back. This ties into the Legendary Ogre Battle that you hear about during the game.

You’ll hear about the battle, the heroes who fought it, and where the final battle took place. There are a few people who warn you against turning to the darkness or becoming evil. Once you get to the sections of the game in the Highlands, the people will say that you’re the Ogres from that battle.

The end of the game culminates with a battle. You’ll fight Prince Gares, Rashidi, and Diablo. There are thirteen possible endings to the game. The one you get is determined by your reputation, alignment, charisma, items gathered, and the characters you’ve recruited.

Gameplay

Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen is a Strategy RPG or a Tactical RPG, depending on who you ask. It plays like an auto-battler, as you don’t have much control over the battles. You can put your units in the best position to succeed and intervene with Tarot Card attacks, but for the most part, you won’t be in control of the battle.

Battles take place depending on where the units meet. If one unit is stationary, the battle takes place on the terrain the defender is on. If they’re both moving, the battle occurs on neutral ground or on the terrain between the two units. The losing units get knocked back, and if there is a draw, both units get knocked back on the world map.

So, how do you win battles? You can kill all the enemy characters in a unit or do more damage than your opponent. Tarot Card Spells do not count as damage, but they can end a battle.

Boss fights are a little different. In a boss fight, you have to kill the leader/boss character. This can be a little tough, but you can use the Tarot Card Spells to level the playing field.

Some of the Bosses can be recruited to your side. There are also several characters that you can recruit if you have the right alignment/reputation. Here is a list of the optional characters:

• Aisha – Found on the Island Avalon, all you have to do is say Yes and have more than half full reputation.
• Ashe – Found in the Slums of Zenobia, all you have to do is say Yes.
• Canopus – Found in Sharom District and is one of the more annoying/complex characters to get. Liberate Latingurue, Liberate Bah’wahl, say yes to any of his questions, liberate the hidden Roshian Temple west of Parcival (Where the boss is), Receive the Wing of Victory from Yulia, and return to Bah’wahl and say Yes when asked. This will also let you recruit Gilbert.
• Debonair – He is the boss in Slums of Zenbonia and can be found in Shangrila. Once you defeat the boss, and if you’ve recruited Norn, then you can recruit him by selecting Yes.
• Deneb – This is an interesting one. She is found in the stage Deneb’s Garden. To recruit her, you have to forgive her, accept a fetch quest, buy the Golden Bough in the Daspola stage, and then bring it back to Deneb. If your reputation is low enough, she will join you.
• Fenril – Found in Organa. You need to have a high reputation, have the Star of Heroes, and have your character with a high alignment.
• Fogel – Found in Shinguld. Same as Fenril.
• Galf – I don’t recommend getting him unless you’re trying for a specific ending. He is found in Antanjyl. You need to have a low reputation and alignment and have Brunhild in your inventory. He will ask you to hand over the sword; if you do, he joins your party.
• Gilbert – Found in the Sharom District. If you recruited Canopus, you can recruit Gilbert.
• Lans – Found at Castle of Warren. When you liberate a hidden town, he’ll join you.
• Lyon – Found in the Slums of Zenobia. You can hire him for 20,000 goth during the stage and 5,000 if you revisit the stage. I never found him all that useful.
• Norn – Found in Diaspola. Defeat, refuse to kill, and answer yes to recruit her.
• Rauny – Found in the Valley of Kastro. You have to liberate a Roshain Temple in the southwest part of the map, have a good reputation, and answer yes to recruit her.
• Saradin – Found in the Balmorian Ruins. Liberate Wan Kayo to hear about the BELL in Kalyao. Liberate that town, have the Star of Heroes in your inventory, and have a good reputation to receive the BELL. Liberate a Rochain Temple west of Kannyate, use the BELL, and answer yes to recruit him.
• Slust – Found in Musplem. Same as Fenril and Fogel.
• Tristan – Found in the City of Malano. You need to have finished Slums of Zenobia and Revisit Kal Robst on an island west of where the boss was to receive the KEY and liberate Bel Chelry. Your reputation doesn’t matter here, and you need to answer yes.
• Warren – Found at the Castle of Warren. Beat the stage.
• Yushis – Found in Antalia. Liberate the hidden Roshian Temple northwest of Shad Dobul. You need to have a high reputation and answer yes when she asks to join you.

You don’t have to recruit any of them, but it will affect the ending you get. You can always create your own units if you don’t care about the ending. I think this is more fun, but I tried to recruit as many as possible while maintaining a good reputation for this playthrough.

This is a good time to talk about the different tactics you can set for each unit. There are four tactics, each with their own advantages. Here is a breakdown of them:

• Best – with this tactic, the unit’s characters attack who the game thinks is the enemy’s best character in a unit. I don’t always agree with them.
• Strong – This tactic has a unit’s characters attack the enemy character with the most HP.
• Leader – with this one, your unit goes after the enemy unit’s leader. Once it is defeated, it defaults to strongest or best.
• Weak — This tactic has a unit’s characters attack the enemy character with the least HP.

The only time the game prompts you to change your tactics is in the Pogrom Forest. This is the first time you fight undead characters, and you’ll need to change tactics to anything but Strong if you have a Cleric in your party. On Weak, Leader, or Best, the Cleric will cast heal, and it will target all of the undead characters. This is normally when I switch all my units to Leader.

The above tactic only applies to Ghosts, Phantoms, Skeletons, and Wraiths. Vampyres, for some reason beyond my understanding, aren’t affected in this way. They act like regular characters. I’ll expand on this in a bit.

There are a ton of characters in this game. You can recruit all of them during the game. Some can be found in random encounters where you can fight or recruit them to your cause.

There are two base units. The human characters start as either Soldiers or Amazons. They can be promoted to a different unit, depending on their alignment. Here is a list with the upgrades in parentheses:

• Soldier
• Amazon
• Knight (Paladin)
• Samurai (Samurai Master)
• Ninja
• Valkirye (Muse)
• Cleric (Shaman, Monk)
• Witch
• Wizard (Mage, Sorcerer)
• Wild Man (Evil One)
• Doll Mage (Doll Master)
• Beast Man (Beast Master)

There are also monsters and special characters that can be recruited. Some of these will be familiar to you if you’re coming to this post from my Tactics Ogre review. Here is a list of them with the upgrades in parentheses:

• Angel (Cherubim, Seraphim)
• Imp (Demon, Devil)
• Dragon (Silver Dragon, Gold Dragon, Platinum Dragon, Black Dragon, Tiamat, Zombie Dragon, Red Dragon 1, Red Dragon 2, Salamander)
• Giant (Titan, Fire Giant, Ice Giant)
• Hawk Man (Raven Man, Eagle Man)
• Mermaid (Nixie)
• Octopus (Kracken)
• Wyrm (Wyvern)
• Hellhound (Cerberus)
• Gryphon (Cockatris)
• Werewolf (Tiger Man)
• Skeleton (Wraith)
• Ghost (Phantom)
• Golem (Rock Golem, Iron Golem)
• Farie (Pixie, Sylph)

Characters have different attacks depending on where they are in the formation. The characters in the front will use melee attacks, while characters in the rear will normally use ranged and magical attacks. However, some units will still use melee attacks but will have fewer of them if placed in the back of a formation.

There are also a series of characters that need items to be upgraded. These include the Crown, Book of the Dead, Dragos Stone, and Pumpkin. Here is a list of them and what base unit they need to be upgraded:

• Princess (Amazon and Crown)
• Halloween (Pumpkin and Rotten Pumpkin or Pumkin+)
• Vampyre (Blood or Blood Kiss)
• Sorcerer (Staff)
• Lich (Book)

A note on Vampyres, Werewolves, and Tiger Men. They have a day and night form. During the day, Vampyres appear as a casket. Werewolves and Tiger Men will appear as Fighters.

The character’s alignment determines what part of the class tree you’ll unlock. These can also affect your overall alignment. This will determine the ending of the game.

There are some hidden locations in Ogre Battle. They can be unlocked by getting the holy sword Brunhild. There are seven Chaos Gates in the game, which unlock a few new locations. Here are the maps that have Chaos Gates:

• Valley of Kastro, leads to the Sky Island Muspelm. It is located on the southern part of the map.
• Kalbi Penninsula, leads to the Sky Island Organa. It is located in the north on grassland near the lake.
• Balmorian Ruins, also leads to the Sky Island Organa
• Antalia, leads to Antanjyl, where you can recruit Galf, but he’ll want Brunhild. This gate is located on the north part of a mountainous island in the western part of the map.
• Fort Allamoot, leads to the Sky Island Shiguld. Located southeast of Allamoot on the island that is half desert and half grassland.
• Musplem has a gate that leads to Organa
• Organa has a gate that leads to Musplem

When you fight on the Sky Islands, be careful of getting knocked off because you will have to redeploy that unit. However, when you knock an enemy unit off the island, this can work in your favor. High Sky units will be fine unless you kill the units that let them fly.

These are optional locations. You don’t need to defeat the enemy here, but you’ll get more money, improve your alignment, and recruit other characters. Usually, I skip these, but I wanted to talk about them a bit.

I should mention the differences between the game’s SNES and PS1 versions. I’m playing the SNES version and using the names from that version of the game. If you’re playing the PS1 version of the game, location names, items, character names, and key items will be different.

In some towns, you’ll find a shop where you can buy items. These are things like Heals, Revives, and other stuff like that. You can also recruit characters in the towns; these recruits will be two levels lower than the lead character of the unit.

You’ll also come across equipment in the game. These are equipable items like swords, axes, shields, and armor. Some of these weapons give your characters special attacks like holy damage.

Overall, I love the gameplay in Ogre Battle! While the combat isn’t the same as other RPGs, the real-time strategy parts are very fun. I also like making the units to use in battle and learning the different strategies to beat each stage. There are also a bunch of secrets in the game, and finding each of them is very enjoyable.

Endings

There are quite a few endings to Ogre Battle. The one you get depends on a few factors, like the special characters you recruited, the items you’ve found, and the reputation meter. Here is a list of the endings and how you get them:

World Ending

• Reputation Meter needs to be almost full.
• Have all 12 Zodiac Stones, Brunhild, Grail, and Mystic Armband
• Recruit Tristan, Rauny
• Have the following recruited and alive to see their endings: Lans, Warren, Canopus, Gilbert, Yushis, Fogel, Fenril, Slust, Debonair, Aisha, and Saradin.
• Don’t recruit Galf.

Emperor Ending

• Reputation Meter almost full.
• Player’s character must be male.
• Have Brunhild, Grail, and Mystic Armband
• These special Characters need to be recruited and alive: Lans, Warren, Canopus, Gilbert, Yushis, Fogel, Fenril, Slust, Tristan, and Rauny.

Emperess Ending

• Same as Emperor, but Player’s character must be female.

Hierophant Ending

• Reputation meter almost full
• Player’s character must be male
• Recruit Rauny
• Tristan and Lans must be both recruited and alive.

Priestess Ending

• Same as Hierophant, except the player’s character must be female, and Rauny must be recreated and alive at the end.

Sun Ending

• Reputation meter almost full.
• Player’s character must be male.
• Tristan and Ashe or Lans need to be recruited and alive.

Moon Ending

• Same as Sun Ending, but the Player’s Character must be Female, and Lans isn’t needed.

Chariot Ending

• Reputation meter half full and Tristan must be recruited.

This is the ending I got on my playthrough.

Hanged Man Ending

• Reputation meter is halfway full.

Death Ending

• Reputation meter must be low or empty.
• Player character’s Charisma must be between 30 and 60.

Tower Ending

• Reputation meter must be low or empty.
• Player character’s Charisma must be lower than 30.

Devil Ending

• Reputation meter must be low or empty.
• Recruit Galf.

Fortune Ending

• To get this ending, complete the Dragon’s Haven Stage. This is only accessible by

You might be asking what the cannon ending is. Well, there isn’t one, as far as I can tell. You get a glimpse of what happened in the first Tactics Ogre. There is a cutscene where Lans discusses with Tristan, now the King of Zenobia, where we learn that Lans is in Valeria to find Brunhild.

That is the only glimpse of what happened in the game’s canon. It would suggest that one of the good endings happened, but it is still unclear. The only characters that return in the next game are Lans, Warren, and Canopus. It isn’t clear if these are the same characters, though.

Visuals

There are two things to talk about here: the maps and the battle screens. The maps of each level look like an above-average SNES game. I would compare them to Actraiser. The battle scenes look very good!

10/10. I love this game! It can take a while to figure out how to play the game, and the auto battles might turn some off, but it is one of the best Tactical/Strategy RPGs out there.

Pros

• Great graphics on the battle screens
• Great story and characters
• Multiple Endings
• Tons of hidden characters, items, and other secrets

Cons

• Limited control over combat
• Average map screens
• Hard to rebuild your reputation, charisma, and alignment

Conclusion

This is my favorite game on the SNES and one of my favorites of all time. I love the Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre games, and sadly, we won’t get an ending to this series. At this point, it is an abandoned franchise that Square Enix seems to not care about as far as making a new entry. They seem okay with releasing Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together remakes.

In some ways, I’m glad that they’re willing to keep that game alive. New players can discover it and hopefully get more interested in the series. However, the other games in the series are being ignored. They’re stuck on the retro consoles I adore but are less accessible to players who got into the Tactics Ogre Reborn.

I’m glad I can go back and play these games on original hardware, but others don’t have that luxury. This is my favorite game in the series, and at some point, I know that my copy is going to break. I’m not sure when, but I’m not looking forward to seeing what the price will be for either the SNES version or the PS1 version.

If you’re looking to play this game, I would emulate it. That was how I first experienced the game back in the 90s, and it should be available somewhere on the internet or a flash cart. No matter how you experience Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, it is a game worth your time.