Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone (PSP) Review

Posted by Derek Robbins on 10.20.2008

Can Atlus deliver a quality role playing experience to a console sorely in need of one? Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone could very well be that game RPG fans have been waiting for!



It’s no secret that the Playstation Portable isn’t exactly a safe haven for RPG gamers. Actually, one could argue that for the most part it’s been fairly barren. Sure remakes of the first couple of Final Fantasies are great and all but to this point…is there anything we can really sink our teeth into? Well Atlus brings us a port of the GBA Tactical Card RPG Yggdra Union: We’ll Never Fight Alone to try to liven up the scene. Is it at all successful? Is it worthy of your cash? The answer, quite simply, is yes.

Gameplay

If you are un-familiar with Tactical RPGs or consider yourself as someone of the more ‘casual’ variety, this game may not be for you. To say it’s hardcore may be an understatement, but that’s what we have come to expect from Atlus over the years.

The game is fairly linear. You are presented with a variety of story and then you fight. Rinse and repeat several times. There really is no over-world, there is no town-hopping…it’s purely move one place to another. So where do you do this fighting after sitting through the game’s rather interesting narrative (more on that later)? You fight on a series of panels that are over-laid on a painted world map. You control units which represent armies and your main objective is to defeat the enemy force. You can lose your units, but if your morale – which acts as your energy, displaying the life-force of your entire army – runs out, you lose the game. You also can lose the game if Princess Yggdra or Milanor dies.

So you maybe thinking to yourself, “Gee this is sure like Fire Emblem!” Well…that’s where the similarities end. Before each round of combat takes place you must select a card for that turn. That card dictates the number of spaces you can move, the special skills that you can use, and also the amount of attack power you can use. To say the least, choosing the proper card for the proper situation takes a bit of strategy and can take a bit of practice. You are also allowed only one attack per turn, so it’s important that you figure out who would make the best attacker for a particular round.

It’s not an easy game to get into if you are less accustomed to the genre. That is to say, you can’t run in willy nilly and expect your troops to just whipe out everything. You have to take into account their strengths and weaknesses. Again, going back to Fire Emblem, if you’ve played that game this might seem familiar to you. The fighting system is a lot like Rock-Paper-Scissors. Swords will always beat axes, Axes will always beat spears, and spears will always beat swords. So if you go into battle as a sword user against a lot of spear users you probably won’t come out on top.

If you don’t pay attention to what you are doing you WILL lose, I can’t stress this enough. The game is not easy…and while it never gets too terribly difficult, it does make sure you stay on your toes the entire time. I really enjoy this, but at the same time, I really do wish they would have went with a more Fire Emblem style approach where you can have more than one unit attack per turn. Just sort of a minor complaint though. It’s hard to complain about the game’s linearity when it’s sort of a trait of the genre. So as a whole, if you like the way strategy games play you’ll most likely like the way Yggdra Union plays.

For those wondering, while the game is tough it’s nowhere near as tough as its Gameboy Advance counterpart. So if you had trouble with the GBA version of the game you may want to give this one a try due to its easier nature.



Graphics

Boy oh boy, I sure do hope you like cutesy anime style characters. If you don’t, you may find the graphical appeal of this game kind of annoying. It’s also kind of confusing that they went with such simplistic characters for a game with a relatively deep and intricate plot. Don’t get me wrong here, it’s not like I hate simplistic characters – the Disgaea games feature some of my favorite characters ever – but I kind of question the decision here.

Another thing that may bother you, though it doesn’t particularly affect me, is the simplicity in story telling. Similar to Disgaea or Fire Emblem the story is told through two-talking portraits. This is fine with me because, well, I’m used to it by now…but I can easily see why someone would complain. After all, this is a pretty lengthy game…staring at the same portraits for several hours would get pretty bothersome. Sure this may be a port of the GBA version but they probably should have considered upping the ante though.

Outside of these minor complaints, the game is far from ugly and is certainly serviceable. The little scenes – which you can skip by the way, if you were worried – that trigger when you start a battle are pretty neat looking. The characters may be pretty cutesie but that doesn’t mean they look bad in motion. The little scenes depicting the battles are really neat to watch, but of course…that gets tiring after a while.

In short, there really isn’t anything special here. Cute, but not special.



Sound

This game actually has a really quality soundtrack. The themes can be pretty up-lifting and are quite distinct. It’s not the best soundtrack of all time but I bet if I heard a track from Yggdra on my music player I assure you I would know where it comes from. It’s no surprise that the soundtrack is so pleasant, though. There are about sixty tracks in the game which were composed by Shigeki Hayashi and Minako Adachi. You can tell a lot of work was put into it and I can really appreciate that.

This is an RPG though and in these days…voice work has become quite prominent in the genre. I am pleased to say that the English voice acting isn’t bad at all. It’s not the best, you won’t be confusing the talent in this game with, say, Metal Gear Solid but…I never wanted to turn off my PSP’s volume due to the shrill voices of my party. I suppose if you are intent on keeping the experience pure you can always turn the game’s Japanese voice setting on. This was very nice of them to include and more games should consider doing that.

That’s something I would actually like to touch on. Why don’t more games with hardcore fanbases also include the Japanese audio? It’s obvious why Atlus does this – I mean, most of the games that they release are niche titles – but others would really benefit from it. You just know that there are people out there that want to play something like Fire Emblem in its native language. So yeah, props to Atlus for including this feature yet again.

The sound for this game is good all around.

Lasting Appeal

This is sort of a problem with games of this ilk. They are fun to go through so you can experience the stories that they have to tell – which trust me, you’ll want to with this game – but once you actually make it to the end of the game there really isn’t much left for you to do. Yes, Yggdra Union gives you forty-ish hours of gameplay but after that forty hours I wasn’t exactly reaching for my PSP to go at it again.

It’s hard to knock it for doing this though. Very few tactical RPGs have extensive replay value so I guess the only thing I could fault it for is being a part of a genre that isn’t necessarily built for instant replayability. Still though, you’re paying $40 dollars for a game that will take a bit of time. It’s better than paying $60 for a game that’ll wind up taking you five hours.

Pretty much par for the course.



Fun Factor

If you enjoy tactical RPGs you will enjoy this game. I’d probably most recommend it to those Fire Emblem players who want to try something a little more difficult. This game has some rather lengthy story segments so it’d be pretty bothersome to play through combat if it wasn’t at least fun…but once you get the ball rolling you’ll find it hard to put down. If you’re not a fan of the genre, this may not be your kind of game. The genre is pretty slow, plodding, and places an emphasis on thought as opposed to action.



Story

I know we don’t rate on this criteria, but this is an aspect of the game that should be talked about. After all, the primary reason a lot of us purchase Role Playing Games is because of the stories that un-fold, because we want more substance than just: “Enter. Save Princess. Leave” So how does Yggdra fair from a story standpoint?

Pretty well, actually. The story revolves around Princess Yggdra Yuril Artwaltz and her quest to reclaim her kingdom. This may seem pretty basic, but the cast of characters really help to make this story interesting. I found Princess Yggdra herself to be an extremely likable heroin and one the gaming world could use more of. The lead male protagonist, Milanor, certainly isn’t bad either.

Perhaps my favorite thing about the story though is that, as should be the case in more JRPGs, there are multiple endings. These endings relate to the actions that you take in game. There are three total endings, the first of which being what you could essentially call a game over, and the other two being significantly more satisfying.

I’m really happy that the story here isn’t stupid…combined with the fun, strategic gameplay I would say that Yggdra Union overcomes a problem that a lot of other SRPGs face. It’s either: “Gosh, the combat is boring.” Or gosh, this story sucks…why am I playing again?” it seems and luckily it falls into neither of those troublesome spots.

The 411

Yggdra Union: We’ll Never Fight Alone is a pretty solid port of a pretty solid GBA game with some nice upgrades to compliment the new technology. It’s a pretty hardcore game with a steep learning curve but if you like the genre you will most likely love this game. It may not be the definitive portable RPG, but on a portable system that is desperately hungry for them…this might very well be your best bet. It’s a cute, charming game that I won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

Graphics	6.0	Pretty standard affair here. The use of overly cute anime characters is pretty questionable and watching two portraits talk can get kind of old but this is pretty normale for a strategy RPG
Gameplay	8.5	Very fun and complex, you have to think your way through battles...which is a good thing. There is a very steep learning curve, though. So if you don't like the genre, be prepared.
Sound	8.5	One of the best aspects of the game in general. There are about sixty different songs in the game and the dual-track voice acting is a nice add-on for fans.
Lasting Appeal	6.5	It falls into the same pit as all SRPGs do. You beat it, you have no reason to continue, you stop playing it. Nothing wrong here, it's more of a problem with the genre as a whole.
Fun Factor	8.0	The battles were fun to fight through and you were given even more reason to play through them thanks to the compelling story. If you're a fan of Fire Emblem, you'll probably find this game particularly enjoyable.
Overall	8.3   [ Very Good ]

Screenshots
All 15 Yggdra Union Screenshots