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Yggdra Union's now on Steam! FAQ What is it? The best game of 2006, 2008, and 2023. How much does it cost: I dunno, like $20. What's new? Looks like a decent amount of stuff, that's probably been around in one form or another since the latter JP-only ports. Rewind turns, autosaves, conversation log, item finder hints, motherfucking Flunky, unequip equipment, turning off Item Break (the skill), and something called a Trick function, which seems to have various effects like disabling crits, union formation reversals, or skill gauge max. I haven't seen it yet. Gonna marathon the game this weekend and see what's up. Looks like a bit more in the QoL and difficulty tuning as well and KB/M + Controller support too. In the spirit of porting this game again, I'm just going to steal an old post and make some updates to explain the game. Excuse the old PSP screenshots, the PC version looks pretty crisp. Spritework has a filter but it can be disabled:  Yggdra Union is a strategy game initially for the GBA, with an enhanced port for PSP, which also got ported to the Switch (JP only) and now Steam. It's very well received for those who know the game, but I think it's very much a cult classic. It drops you into a top-down grid of the map. Normal stuff - blue dudes, red dudes, maybe even green or yellow dudes. Sometimes your goal is to defeat a specific target, but other times it's to reach a specific town or even just explore the map. You've got various foot-troops, some mounted knights, maybe an Undine (mermaid). They all have different weapons, and have different traversal options. You've seen it.  But then it has a plethora of different mechanics that all interact - first, what you can do on a turn is decided by the card you pick. This changes your movement availability, as well what ability you can use in combat. You got something like Steal,  which is incredibly high movement, and lets one specific character steal while in battle.  Shield Barrier on the other hand, has half the steps as Steal, but can grant any single character limited invulnerability in battle - it's incredibly flexible. Once the card is picked, you can use as much available movement to get into position, and positioning, or Unions, are a titular and important mechanic.  While you only get one attack per turn, just as your opponent, the formations you and your enemy are in will bring in extra units for the attack. Pretty simply, anyone 1-2 squares away horizontally/vertically to a female unit will join the battle, or equidistant diagonally to a male character will join. This works as an attacker or defender, so having a good defensive position is as important as forming a strong offensive union. Once battle is joined, the combat will proceed through different phases - charge, counter, and sortie.   Different effects can come into play here, but the majority of your time will be spent in the sortie phase, and you'll watch both sides trading blows, and routing the enemy soldiers until only the two heads, or leaders remain. Basic effectiveness is based on a fire-emblem like weapon triangle, but class compatibilities, special items, cards, and more can rapidly shift or overpower any of these effects. During this time you can also choose passive or aggressive tactics, as well as unleash your card skills depending on if your leader and union requirements are met. These range from the aforementioned steal and shield barrier, to various elemental attack effects, summoning temporary units, defeating specific units in combat, affecting battle stats or effectiveness, or straight up winning the battle.  And that's where more fun comes in. Units don't have a traditional heal meter, and instead rely on morale.  If you win the fight, you don't lose any morale, plain and simple. It doesn't matter how knife's edge that victory was. However, the amount of morale the defeated side loses is based on what happened in that combat - overall strength variations, surviving units, card effects, terrain effects, etc. Certain levels are based on doing swift, specific defeats on certain units, and they're prepared with high defensive stats and well defended terrain. If your characters run out, in general they'll retreat with an exp penalty. Your main characters retreating means game over. Managing the morale is also important, because it doesn't naturally regenerate (except on the new easy mode). This leads into another big part of the game. Items in game can be given to people for morale recovery. Some, like the medallion, are a basic restorative. Others, like a fancy sword, are well sought after by swordsmen, and maybe thieves who could pawn it off, but aren't too exciting for the wizards and the like. But using it for morale restoration means you can't use it in battle, and many equipable items are extremely powerful in battle.    Some will let you instantly win any one on one encounter. Some will make you immune to, or vulnerable to certain attacks or unit types. There's an incredible amount of utility they can bring, and nearly all of them have positive and negative effects on your base stats as well. They're also restricted as to who can use them, which brings a lot of subtle, or not so subtle, development to characters. Item management is also one of the key aspects of the gameloop too, as you mostly need to find them while on the battle map - using up precious movement to explore. And the game's presentation is loving phenomenal. Everything, from unleashing card skills, events happening on the battle map, everything about combat, and so forth, is presented with bombast and flare.    It's got great style, an awesome soundtrack, and everything is animated and vibrant. There is a sequel to the game, Blaze Union, and a spinoff with the same engine, Gloria Union, but they never made their way stateside to my dismay. Either way, this game rules, and if you like strategy games you owe it to yourself to play through. Now the game's cheap, and if you have a Steam Deck - portable! We're living in the future.
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Feb 9, 2023 00:42
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 04:39 |
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We're never getting a Riviera: the promised land remaster so i guess this will do
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Feb 9, 2023 00:58
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I'm pouring one out for Riviera. While I wouldn't dare hope for a localization of the other Union games, I'd still pay money for a remaster of any of the other Dept. Heaven games. Riviera especially in an underrated gem.
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Feb 9, 2023 01:09
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even in 2023 Yggdra's Jihad is censored to Crusade smh
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Feb 9, 2023 01:21
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If this sells well, I'd be really surprised if they didn't do Riviera too; I could see a lot of people picking it up on Steam in a $15-20 price range. The other Union games might be more of a stretch, but who knows.
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Feb 9, 2023 08:09
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They should translate Blaze Union. Better yet, they should pay me to do it. ...But for now I'll settle for buying this game for the third time.
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Feb 9, 2023 08:38
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I don't know what Sting's been up to since the PSP days (probably mobile garbage), but I wouldn't mind if this jump started a little bit of anything worthwhile from them again.
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Feb 10, 2023 01:20
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they did the utawarerumono sequels, those were pretty good
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Feb 10, 2023 01:21
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And that sort of thing is what they've been doing in general rather than mobile, collabs with other devs or srpg spinoffs of small jrpg series. They did a neptunia one a while back and are put out a fairy fencer game last September.
Motto fucked around with this message at 01:26 on Feb 10, 2023 |
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Feb 10, 2023 01:23
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yggdra union rules, sting forever
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Feb 14, 2023 04:47
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I think they remastered Knights in the Nightmare for Switch, Japan only
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Feb 14, 2023 04:58
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 04:39 |
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I wonder if it's just some rights thing between them and Atlus, or just technical or cost issues that dissuaded them from doing NA switch releases. And what changed for Steam? I think there are a few parts that went unlocalized or got a quick rough pass, generally in the opening demo scenes, but I haven't seen the originals in a while so I can't quite confirm.
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Feb 14, 2023 16:54
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