****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
It's been a long time since an SRPG I've played hit this hard. Probably Fire Emblem Awakening on 3DS back in 2013 (that was 9 years ago, wow!). So why is Triangle Strategy so good? Multiple reasons, but I'll try to convey a few.The story is exceptionally compelling. Far more so than I ever anticipated. I love Fire Emblem to death. But this game has the story I've always wanted Fire Emblem to have. It's just soooo good!The battles have immaculate strategy gameplay. It feels so much more "strategic" than Fire Emblem. And that's not to bash FE, because I love that series, but there's no denying Triangle Strategy has much more depth. From archers gaining accuracy the more off angle they are from the front, to gaining range and power from elevation (and the reverse if at lower elevation), from elemental mages having AoE attacks which some enemies are weak to, to combos with elemental attacks such as freezing AoE, then Fire to melt the icy ground and turning to water, then Electric attacks traveling through the wet ground, to follow up attacks activating when sandwiching enemies with your units... the sheer complexity and depth on offer is staggering, yet, still rather user friendly.The characters are rich and multifaceted, grounded in reality and well voiced (speaking of which, nearly all dialog is voiced, which makes Triangle Strategy all the more immersive). Each character has good qualities and flaws, personal motivations and agendas, and there are so many characters spanning the Kingdoms and so many plot points developing simultaneously across the kingdom, it's never a dull moment.And the story... oh the story. It's remarkably gripping and almost pulls you inside the world with it. I feel like I'm in Norzelia myself. I've grown attached to these characters. I know them. I feel for them. I cheer their accomplishments and squirm at their dilemmas. This is the most spellbound I've felt from a story in a video game in years. Not even modern AAA games with professional voice acting, facial capture and focus on realism have managed to captivate me in the same way Triangle Strategy has managed to with nothing but 2D sprites and B-list voice actors. It's a testament to the cohesive narrative and vision of the developers.Idk what it is specifically, but something about this game makes it far more than the sum of its parts. It just hits hard, in a way I haven't felt since Fire Emblem Awakening (and yes, I enjoyed Three Houses also, even Fates and Shadows of Valentia, but FE Awakening just hit in a way those games didn't- not saying it's "better" necessarily, just that, like Triangle Strategy, it too came together as more than the sum of its parts).I cannot recommend this game enough. There is a lot of dialog. For sure. But to me, that's part of what makes it so engrossing. Because it's actually good dialog, good narrative, good plot development. Not wack C-tier JRPG tropey shenanigans, but genuine gritty story that almost feels reminiscent of Game of Thrones, strangely enough. It's a slow burn, but one that I can't help but savor.
