Brigandine: Legend of Forsena

by Atlus

Product Features

• Polygonal fight scenes enhance your perception of reality
• Exercise precise control over every aspect of your characters
• Massive battles alter the course of history
• For 1 player

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000009QD0
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: July 20, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,155 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The story takes place in a kingdom called Armeki. Located on the central plains of Forsena, Armekia finally brought peace to the land by finally defeating the country of Norugaldo, in the year 214. The long war was finally over.

However, in the second month of the year 215, King Hengist of Armekia was assassinated by Admiral Zemekis. Armekia collapsed and Zemekis proclaimed himself emperor and established the Estoregales. He was possessed by the desire to conquer the world and began his assault on neighboring countries.

You will become one of the Knights of the Rune and participate in the war. Your mission is to stop the war on the continent and bring back peace to Forsena. . .

This RPG/Strategy brings together the best elements of Ogre Battle and Dragon Force to deliver the definitive fantasy tactical simulation. Featuring, fully polygonal 3-D battle scenes, proportional sized characters adding realism, over 30 hours of game play for each of the five characters, multiple class changes even for monster characters, participate in side quests to enhance the story and gain special items.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I still play this sometimes today, May 21, 2010

By 

Mr.Snugglecakes "Rogue Esquire" (Concord, CA USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Brigandine: Legend of Forsena (Video Game)

There was once an era of video games where experimentation was the norm, where risks were taken and genres were born (or died). Games were made up of more heart and soul, each having a unique (if not always good) vision. While many games during this era were not commercially successful megahits that every kid on the block owned, there existed a special kind of game that gave a truly joyful experience to every kid who dared risk their precious $50 of summer savings on it.

Brigadine is one such game.

While essentially a fairly solid hexagonal turned based Strategy-RPG with leveling and class promotion systems, Brigadine manages to surpass its trappings and elevate itself above other competing SRPGs by providing what few could at the time - an Epic tale of a continent at war told through an open world format closer to sandbox style gameplay than anything else I've yet to see. Sandbox style gameplay in a SRPG? Yes, indeed it is true.

While I do not have the room to truly delve into every aspect of the game, I will highlight the main points below:

Pros
+ Can select from quite a few different Kingdoms to play at the beginning of the game - each with own unique plotline, style, and beginning characters.
+ Sandbox style game means you have a different game every time!
+ Each unique, named character in the game comes with their own anime portrait and backstory. This helps a lot towards making you care about them and their growth in battle.
+ Questing system for named characters allows you to assign characters on a journey. The results of which can lead to plot points, powerful new items, new allies (named characters), or stat upgrades. There are lots of other results, I was just naming a few common ones.
+ Questing system makes for strategic decision making. Do I send a powerful hero or specific plot trigger hero out on a quest, or use them to fight another battle?
+ Great item system, lots of different equipment
+ Multiple tier class promotion system. I hate SRPGs that only allow a class to upgrade into ONE other class, regardless. Makes it feel like a cop out.
+ 3d animation is available for fight cutscenes. I turn them off usually for faster battles, but they are offered.
+ Magic is not all powerful, and is balanced right to be strategic but not necessary.
+ Great load times!

Cons
- Limited AI. This is the PSX era. While good, it does fall pray to more straight forward tactics.
- Multiplayer offerings are limited... this is PSX, so no internet play. This game would have further trasncended if they did offer it.
- Wish there was a cooler intro movie.
- Certain units are fairly useless or have narrow usefulness. While some may argue, this is my opinion.
- Love the music, wish there was more though.
- Sound effects are sometimes a bit... rudimentary. When I 1-shot kill something, a limp sounding hit will ruin my enjoyment. Sometimes it ends up being just funny though.

Misc
= Japanese version exists that allows you additional scenario and "final boss" of sorts. While normally I wouldn't mention this, there exists some plot resolution issues for those that do not know of or have access to this version.
= Hard to find game. Very expensive.

All in all, this is one I was very glad I picked up when I was younger. Every time I feel like going and playing out my own epic fantasy war (like after reading certain George RR Martin books, for example), this is the title I choose.

Not too hard to get in to and understand yet with enough RPG depth and Strategic depth to satisfy cravings of both, this game is a true overlooked Gem for any RPG or SRPG lover.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Enjoyable Game, December 28, 2004

A Kid's Review

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Brigandine: Legend of Forsena (Video Game)

Brigandine is admittedly a simple game, however, it is possible that this simplicity is what makes it so endearing. You choose to be one of 5 countries and then your goal is to set out and conquer all of Forsena. The (main) characters are pretty interesting, and though their dialogue is limited, you get a sense of what kind of people they are. It's not the best game when it comes to graphics - the monsters have only have a few shapes just with a different paint jobs, and all the normal knights, not the leaders, look alike if they are the same class. The monsters themselves are vey interesting, being derived from all sorts of myths from around the world. The stories for the countries are simple, but usually cute, and if I may say so, Leonia's storyline is exceptionally cute. It is true that to win, you just need the strongest army, but it's fun to switch classes to learn different spells and figure out how to best approach the enemy. The beginning battles are the hardest and require the most strategy, but that's not to say the later battles require no strategy. One of my favorite things to do is to send surplus knights of mine off questing and seeing what they bring back. In my opinion, the quests are one of the best parts of the game because they are random, and getting stuff (or getting hurt) from the various adventures is somehow enthralling. I liked playing this game, and as side information to help people to see where I am coming from, my favorite genres are RPGs, strategy, and action, in that order.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best strategy/RPG ever made, October 20, 2009

By 

Mark Yake "MSJoeDaddy" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Brigandine: Legend of Forsena (Video Game)

This game is hands down the best strategy RPG ever made.

The classes for humans and monsters are the most balanced you will ever find.

After a while you will get too good at winning this, and you can play a harder mode in which you let the computer control every battle. It's very enjoyable to see the decisions you make in building an army reflected in almost every way possible when you let the computer take over the battles.

Truly a masterpiece in strategy, with a few setbacks that don't hurt the game too much.

I have literally spent 500+ hours playing this.