Hello lovely Hiveans !
I already talked a bit about why I started gaming again due to this JRPG. Today I will talk a bit about my first impression of the game Triangel Strategy. Thereby, I will only focus on the story aspect in these post here, as I have enough to say here already. In the next episodes I will then talk about the fighting system, graphics, character classes and skills and other aspects that I already detected that a worth a mention.
Starting A New Game
After launching the game, the menu appears. It features 3 options: New Game, Load Game and Options. I can't say too much here, as it looks like a common menu, but what I already found very nice, is that the background is a video that shows the main characters moving through different scenes. There are a total of 32 little clips which show a huge variety of the game settings.
They include sceneries like castles, mines, fields, harbors, libraries from different biomes, such as ice, desert, Forrest and more. There are even different weather setting and several scenes also show combat techniques and social interactions. This first view on what the game offers looks already very promising and raises hopes for a vast range of various locations and places to be visited.
The options are separated in 5 runners. The first one covers settings. The covered text languages are: English, Fresh, Italian, Spanish, German, Korean, Japanese, as well as simplified and traditional Chinese. Audio only offers English and Japanese. As I will go with English anyway, it is no problem for me, but others may actually wish for more audio languages too. Perhaps there will be downloadable packages available one day. The text speed can be set to instantaneous, normal and fast. This only states how fast the text appears, not if the text is on auto mode. This can actually be set in game at any point.
I personally choose audio and text language in English and set the text speed to normal. I am no fan of instantaneous text, but I like that they thought of these 3 possibilities here.
The other menu points are very simple. In camera setting, the axis can be changed, as well as the camera rotation. In addition, an automated slow camera rotation can be activated to start during events. In graphic settings, the brightness and depth of field can be adjusted and in voice setting the individual volume of voice, music and sound effects. The battle settings are a bit more complicated, but I skip them here for now, as they don't tell me too much at this point.
Under Load Game a total of 10 save slots can be found and one auto safe slot. It is only possible to safe outside a fight, but at any point in this case. During the fights, there is only the auto safe. This is quite practical, as fights can last up to 1 hour or more in some cases.
There are 4 difficulty settings: Very Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard. It is quite important to say, that there is no permanent death to be expected in this game, So no matter how many characters are defeated in a fight, they will all reappear afterwards. They will keep all experience that the gathered in a fight until they got defeated.
As far as I read, the difficulty settings only influence s the enemy AI. Thus, they try to protect their backs, exploit your weaknesses, plan combined ally attacks against your characters and lay out traps in strategic places. So you need to plan ahead perfectly and make use of positioning and skills properly.
As there is no permanent death to be feared, I choose the hard difficulty for a start. I love the challenge, and I don't have to fear to reset a whole fight if I do a mistake at one point. Also, as there is rather more text than fighting to be expected, I like to extend these fighting periods to as long as possible and get into the very details of strategic fighting. For me, playing it on an easier mode provokes a player to skip these great strategy elements and rather hack and slay through the fighting. But again, I love that there are so many choices.
Chapter One - Game Setting
The game starts with a crude introduction and structure of the playable world and an explanation of the political situation. Thus, it is clear that the story will be about some kind of fight between three big regions on the northern Continent of Nozelia. They represent different climate zones and are the Kingdom of Glenbrook, the Grand Duchy of Aestfrost and the Holy State of Hyzante. All of them have a nice characteristic too and offer an essential resource.
All 3 parties were engaged in a war that roamed throughout the whole realm for many years, called the Salt-Iron-War. After that war the Nirzelian Consultium was formed and the realm was in peace for many years and peacefully shared the overall resources.
JROPGs actually offer a common starting setting, such as a predestined hero, who lacks of self-esteem and gets into the middle of a steadily increasing dispute of some powerful groups, or a hero that lost his memory and wakes up to a totally unknown world. There are several scenarios too, such as a mighty power tries to take over the world, or a corrupted king wants to improve his influence by starting a war against its neighbors. This setting here is a classical stereotype. When I read so far, I was actually a bit disappointed, as I expected something more special. I already expected to read, that I will play a noble that gets in-between the front lines and is going to safe the continent from a might enemy and tries to unite it completely, or just two states against the third. As you will read later, you will really play a noble, but the exact storyline is still not known and unclear.
Nevertheless, the starting setting should not say anything about the quality of what follows. I personally have nothing against a stereotypic start and hope that the rest evolves in far more unexpected directions. Still, my aim is the evolving stories in-between the character and the strategic fighting system and story twists are too early to judge at this point. There is a saying: Never judge a book by its cover. But I still have this tiny feeling of being a little disappointed. They could have gotten creative here ^^
Chapter One - Actual Story Begins
The game starts in the Kingdom of Glenbrook, the Mediterranean medieval biome that lies in the middle of the northern continent. It begins with a scene in the streets of Wolfort Castle. What I like here, is that they start every larger scene with a little introduction overlay that shows the coat of arms, name of the kingdom and exact location. It may be common to many people out there, but this was not present in many older JRPGs and regarding the high amount of story, which includes area names, various parties and more, this is always great to know and help with the orientation.
As you can see in the guide in the lower right of the screen, the whole scene can be skipped, the test fast-forwarded or automated, and the guide can be also blend out completely. This is really great !
It is the little things like these, which make a game a little comfortable and opens the possibility to adapt the game experience to one's liking. Again, for many people out there this may be nothing too special, but as an old school JRPGler, who experiences all kinds of weird and annoying settings already, all these little adapt possibilities and details are highly appreciated and really cool to have.
The main character of the game is introduced here. It is Serenoa, the Future Lord of House Wilfort. I said that I expected a noble after the introduction scenes of the game and this is exactly what was delivered. There are rumors on the street that some kind of big event is planned on that day that will shape the future of the kingdom. Serenoa is ready to tackle it and will be accompanied by Benedikt, his House Steward. A noble at the beginning of is career, accompanied by his Steward. This is quite stereotypic, as well as the corresponding character modelling. The text passages don't reveal too much information and rather read like real life conversations and seem to fit very well. If a character is not introduced at the moment of appearance, his name is also not revealed.
As I already befriended myself with the idea of a stereotypic basic story, I can't complain here any longer. The way the story is told is wonderful too, as it does not sound too fictitious, where writers tried to put in all necessary information in such a way that the text looses its believability. I like the overall presentation a lot. It feels quite natural and not forced. I really hope it goes on with this way of storytelling throughout the whole game. I really like some surprises and open questions that stimulate my own imagination.
The next sceen takes place at the habor. A ship arrives with two more charackters, one lady with pink hairand one with black hair, accompanied by some soldiers.
The lady reveals herself as Frederica, Sister of the Archduke of Aestfrost. She is accompanied by Geela, her Attendant and Tutor. They came all the way to Glenrook as their new home and motherland, and it will be a momentous day for Aestfrost. Yes, a second couple of noble and companion and this time female. It's not hard to guess what will happen here I suppose and what the event of tremendous importance for Serenoa and also Frederica may be.
I already mentioned that the whole story is a bit stereotypic and so far every guess I took before an event, came true. I really hope that this stays not like this. This would really weaken the storyline in my opinion, as no one likes a predictable outcome. Maybe it's just me, who tends to read the undertone of the conversations, and the text in great, just too properly.
After both parties got introduced, they were brought together in the very firs fight of the game, which served as a fighting tutorial. Therefore, Trevis, the Bandit King appears with the aim to attack the new arrivers. Serenoa enters the scene just in moment and defends the ladies, not knowing yet who they are.
After the fight, they figure out who they actually are and head to Wilfort Castle together. This closes the First Chapter.
I will skip the whole fighting tutorial here, and focus on the whole fighting mechanics, character classes and other features in the next episode. This post here got already quite long and will be focused on the story, who it is told and how it fits in general.
First Impression - Story !
So far, my first impression on the story of triangle Strategy and the way it is presented is a positive one. The player can choose from a variety of text languages. The text past can be set as wished. In addition, it can be set to auto, fast-forward and skipped completely if wished. If someone likes to, the whole tool display can be hidden too. This is really cool altogether, as the player is free to modify the way the text is displayed completely as he wishes. Unfortunately, only two voice setting are available yet, but maybe more will be downloadable in the future. The voice setting in general is really well done and sounds super professional. The music is great too, by the way. But for the sound, I only can talk regarding the first chapter so far. Still, I am confident that this will stay for the rest of the game too.
The dialogues are really well done too. They seem very realistic and do not feel like someone wanted to put as much information in it as possible. Thus, for me, they are very realistic and leave a lot of room for interpretation and the own imagination. So far, it is really well done. I hope that it will stay like this for the rest of the game. Dialogues are supported by character expressions and movements. All were not overdoing it and seem fitting all the time.
The only negative thing, for me, is that the whole plot is very stereotypic for a JRPG and thus also a bit predictable. I am a little bis disappointed with this stereotypic story, but it does not mean yet, that the rest of the game will be as predictable as the first chapter. If the quality of the story-telling stays like it is throughout the game, this point is easily bearable ^^
My Verdict: 8.5 out of 10 Points 👍
All screenshots were taken by myself, ©
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