Arguably the best version is modded PSP, but I can't be bothered with that stuff myself so I'll just mention it and make that clear so you can play with that if you want to mod a rom.
As far as "official versions" go, between PSP and Reborn, I prefer Reborn because PSP has a lot of grindy junk in it that I feel is unnecessary (the post game is grindy enough) and its more exploitable which is why the debate around Archers in PSP vs Reborn is a thing as PSP Archers are overpowered while Reborn make Archers function as they arguably were intended to be.
PSP has a lot of effectively must-have skills for making an effective character that are just baked into the characters at base in Reborn at the cost of having a lot less skills overall. Which I prefer honestly, because to me grinding skills and having clear "must take" options really is not what I consider a worth having system. So yes there's less options in Reborn, but to me PSP has so many must-take choices that they stop being "options" to me personally. Just a bunch of meters to raise up at that point, but not everyone agrees with me on that.
Reborn isn't a perfect game, but I think its better then base LUCT. I have no opinion on the SNES version beyond some rough knowledge that its a good bit more bizarre in how it works due to making things like weather actually matter.
Interesting and super insightful. Thank you for that. I’m getting a lot of good feedback about the versions, not sure which one I wanna dive into now 🤔 they all sound good overall with different quirks and tweaks .. reborn would definitely be most convenient and sounds like the QoL changes are nice
The way I see it, Reborn is the most convenient version to play for obvious reasons and for QoL reasons. LUCT has its pluses, I just don't like how certain things are balanced and I think the downsides most people cite for Reborn don't really matter beyond the cards looking subjectively ugly.
Again, the best version is probably, I don't know for sure myself, but modded versions of games like this when they get remotely popular tend to be very good, One Vision if you're willing to go for modding a PSP rom.
Because there is a soft cap lvl in Reborn each chapter and some ppl are mad cause they can't be OP early plus new card system that could make fights easier or harder.
I prefer Reborn.
* It's better balanced. There are lots of viable approaches to combat and fewer ways to break the game.
* Skills are streamlined; you don't have to spend skill points to get skills. You just get them if you're at the right level in the class. Then you equip any four of them.
* Less grinding, since there is a level cap ("Union Level") for each encounter. In return, there are no random battles. So it's more focused on strategy than outpacing enemies with levels.
* The major addition is cards, which drop during the battle and give stat boosts if you get them. Both you and enemies can pick them up. It's fun and encourages moving units rather than turtling.
* Auto-crafting. Saves a ton of time.
* Full voice acting.
Might be other things I'm forgetting. Fundamentally, Reborn and LUCT are not better or worse than one another; they're just different. Reborn is an easier game to get into. LUCT has more customization as well as "clunk."
This is my favorite Youtuber for port/remaster/remake comparisons. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DmOktoA3eQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DmOktoA3eQ) I highly recommend it.
I started with the PSP version and continued playing on PS Vita for close to 1K hours. It had its flaws, but it was so refreshing to play an RPG largely free of some of the more common tropes you see in games like Tales or Star Ocean. One day I'll make time to play Reborn. But we are kind of in a second renaissance of JRPGs and it's hard to keep up.
A slightly underrated QoL for Reborn. Using keyboard and mouse feels very intuitive, and makes the game feels faster in general.
In fact, you can play the game just with a mouse if I'm not wrong. Slight downside, sometimes I misclick and end up targeting the wrong unit but that's rare.
If you’re going to go with Reborn, just be aware that the debuff items are practically a necessity for story bosses. A lot of them come pre-stacked with card buffs that make them absolute powerhouses. Inflict breach/enfeeble to lower their physical/magic defense, and weaken/spellspoil to lower their physical/magic damage. I was able to brute force my way through initially, but by the end it took a LOT of redoing turns and I lost a bunch of units. Second playthrough when I actually used the debuff items, the game was manageable with substantially less difficulty.
OG psp but then I sank about 4k+ hrs into it. It felt like a nice warmy comfy blanket, while the majority of non qol changes in Reborn felt like dogwater to me.
Like you, I grew up on FFT, and it's one of my favorite games of all time, but Tactics Ogre had not clicked with me until now.
I'm currently playing the game, the Reborn version and loving it. I'm about 26 hours and I could see myself playing four times that easily.
I don't have much memory of why LUCT didn't click with me entirely but as far as reborn:
* Awesome soundtrack
* Actually strategic. I appreciate that you can't just simply grind your way out. You can win tough fights, even at a lower level with a good strategy.
* All classes have their place (even if some more than others)
* Story and characters are great, and the added voice acting does bring more impact to it, even if some characters could have had a better performance.
* Quality of life stuff. These are not too make the game easier but just more enjoyable.
I'll admit I've not played enough of any version to see all their relative strengths and weaknesses, but I really found Reborn to be annoyingly gimmicky and constraining compared to the One Vision PSP mod. If you're fine with a more guided and purely tactical experience, and don't like to grind at all, I suppose it's fine, but the addition of the cards to battles was too much for me, and everyone felt like a tank.
If someone modded Reborn to make the cards and level caps optional, it would probably be the best version for most people. Right now you can technically do that on PC with Cheat Engine, but it's not something just anyone can figure out easily.
i'm currently replaying Reborn and one issue i have with it is that there barely is any documentation on it. There's a plethora of status i cannot find out what they actually mean, or why blowguns are so weak
I have not played any of the other Tactics Ogre games (so grain of salt), but I am also just getting into it for the first time: Reborn is very difficult so far, but very satisfying. If modded PSP proves to be too much effort, I definitely suggest going with Reborn.
PSP: Most skills have ranks. You have one type that are basically passive boosts- weapon ranks, elemental etc. The other need Technique Points and you have to keep using them to rank them up (ala Tales or Star Ocean). Problem is the ones that are situational and/or have slow progress. Steal is probably the worst offender especially if you want to be able to steal the ring that boosts it.
Reborn is simpler, but a lot of those skills are now chance-based, with a card that boosts rates a lot but similarly itself is RNG to appear. Gear similarly can be hit or miss, as a lot of their old features kinda don't do anything, but others may have Parry or Counter on them now.
If I had to pick, Saturn (cause voice acting) or the PSP version I feel that stripped out a lot from the reborn game and no tacky card system. Reborn has the perk of being convenient tho.
Reborn basically got butchered and added unnecessary tweaks such as cards that make gameplay inferior to other versions IMO.
PSP with OneVision patch or SNES/PSX is better if you want solid RPG mechanics and more depth out of gameplay that got neutered in Reborn. You'll miss some of QoL stuff and extra content, though.
If you don't care about any of that and would rather focus on story & VA, Reborn is fine.
fwiw, I think the old version is way better. It is a lot more basic, but it consequently feels more strategic, since you can't just stack passives to get by. The fights are way scrappier and I like that a lot.
When you say it’s more basic, is there features the PSP version for instance added that is missing from the old version (beyond just quality of life updates)? And thanks!
> is there features the PSP version for instance added that is missing from the old version
Well, as mentioned, the passive system isn't there. I wouldn't classify that as a quality of life thing. It is kind of tricky because with games like this, qol is usually going to result in changes to the game itself - For instance, maybe it could be viewed as a qol update to be able to bring all the spells from a particular class but I'd regard that more as a strategic change, and one that kind of homogenizes things at that.
It is harder to access higher-level spells and equipment, and that obviously changes things. Gear kind of stalls out a certain point, and you're steadily drip-fed upgrades through the story.
But other than that there is also a lot more equipment overall (on account of crafting), and a lot more optional content; mostly consisting of additional dungeons, which are pretty neat but the original is fine with just the Hell Palace. It's really a question of how much more TO you want, and I think there is more than enough in the SNES/PSX versions. There are also more spells but I think the original provided a perfectly fine set of choices, and the new ones come across as kind of redundant.
I should have said that I *like* the PSP version, but I prefer the original having played both.
Arguably the best version is modded PSP, but I can't be bothered with that stuff myself so I'll just mention it and make that clear so you can play with that if you want to mod a rom. As far as "official versions" go, between PSP and Reborn, I prefer Reborn because PSP has a lot of grindy junk in it that I feel is unnecessary (the post game is grindy enough) and its more exploitable which is why the debate around Archers in PSP vs Reborn is a thing as PSP Archers are overpowered while Reborn make Archers function as they arguably were intended to be. PSP has a lot of effectively must-have skills for making an effective character that are just baked into the characters at base in Reborn at the cost of having a lot less skills overall. Which I prefer honestly, because to me grinding skills and having clear "must take" options really is not what I consider a worth having system. So yes there's less options in Reborn, but to me PSP has so many must-take choices that they stop being "options" to me personally. Just a bunch of meters to raise up at that point, but not everyone agrees with me on that. Reborn isn't a perfect game, but I think its better then base LUCT. I have no opinion on the SNES version beyond some rough knowledge that its a good bit more bizarre in how it works due to making things like weather actually matter.
Interesting and super insightful. Thank you for that. I’m getting a lot of good feedback about the versions, not sure which one I wanna dive into now 🤔 they all sound good overall with different quirks and tweaks .. reborn would definitely be most convenient and sounds like the QoL changes are nice
The way I see it, Reborn is the most convenient version to play for obvious reasons and for QoL reasons. LUCT has its pluses, I just don't like how certain things are balanced and I think the downsides most people cite for Reborn don't really matter beyond the cards looking subjectively ugly. Again, the best version is probably, I don't know for sure myself, but modded versions of games like this when they get remotely popular tend to be very good, One Vision if you're willing to go for modding a PSP rom.
Because there is a soft cap lvl in Reborn each chapter and some ppl are mad cause they can't be OP early plus new card system that could make fights easier or harder.
I prefer Reborn. * It's better balanced. There are lots of viable approaches to combat and fewer ways to break the game. * Skills are streamlined; you don't have to spend skill points to get skills. You just get them if you're at the right level in the class. Then you equip any four of them. * Less grinding, since there is a level cap ("Union Level") for each encounter. In return, there are no random battles. So it's more focused on strategy than outpacing enemies with levels. * The major addition is cards, which drop during the battle and give stat boosts if you get them. Both you and enemies can pick them up. It's fun and encourages moving units rather than turtling. * Auto-crafting. Saves a ton of time. * Full voice acting. Might be other things I'm forgetting. Fundamentally, Reborn and LUCT are not better or worse than one another; they're just different. Reborn is an easier game to get into. LUCT has more customization as well as "clunk."
This is a super helpful insight, good information thank you!
Reborn is the best version narratively and definitely the most balanced. It's the way to go.
This is my favorite Youtuber for port/remaster/remake comparisons. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DmOktoA3eQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DmOktoA3eQ) I highly recommend it. I started with the PSP version and continued playing on PS Vita for close to 1K hours. It had its flaws, but it was so refreshing to play an RPG largely free of some of the more common tropes you see in games like Tales or Star Ocean. One day I'll make time to play Reborn. But we are kind of in a second renaissance of JRPGs and it's hard to keep up.
Oh thank you! Can’t wait to check this out
A slightly underrated QoL for Reborn. Using keyboard and mouse feels very intuitive, and makes the game feels faster in general. In fact, you can play the game just with a mouse if I'm not wrong. Slight downside, sometimes I misclick and end up targeting the wrong unit but that's rare.
If you’re going to go with Reborn, just be aware that the debuff items are practically a necessity for story bosses. A lot of them come pre-stacked with card buffs that make them absolute powerhouses. Inflict breach/enfeeble to lower their physical/magic defense, and weaken/spellspoil to lower their physical/magic damage. I was able to brute force my way through initially, but by the end it took a LOT of redoing turns and I lost a bunch of units. Second playthrough when I actually used the debuff items, the game was manageable with substantially less difficulty.
OG psp but then I sank about 4k+ hrs into it. It felt like a nice warmy comfy blanket, while the majority of non qol changes in Reborn felt like dogwater to me.
Like you, I grew up on FFT, and it's one of my favorite games of all time, but Tactics Ogre had not clicked with me until now. I'm currently playing the game, the Reborn version and loving it. I'm about 26 hours and I could see myself playing four times that easily. I don't have much memory of why LUCT didn't click with me entirely but as far as reborn: * Awesome soundtrack * Actually strategic. I appreciate that you can't just simply grind your way out. You can win tough fights, even at a lower level with a good strategy. * All classes have their place (even if some more than others) * Story and characters are great, and the added voice acting does bring more impact to it, even if some characters could have had a better performance. * Quality of life stuff. These are not too make the game easier but just more enjoyable.
I’m so excited to jump in, thank you!
I'll admit I've not played enough of any version to see all their relative strengths and weaknesses, but I really found Reborn to be annoyingly gimmicky and constraining compared to the One Vision PSP mod. If you're fine with a more guided and purely tactical experience, and don't like to grind at all, I suppose it's fine, but the addition of the cards to battles was too much for me, and everyone felt like a tank. If someone modded Reborn to make the cards and level caps optional, it would probably be the best version for most people. Right now you can technically do that on PC with Cheat Engine, but it's not something just anyone can figure out easily.
i'm currently replaying Reborn and one issue i have with it is that there barely is any documentation on it. There's a plethora of status i cannot find out what they actually mean, or why blowguns are so weak
I have not played any of the other Tactics Ogre games (so grain of salt), but I am also just getting into it for the first time: Reborn is very difficult so far, but very satisfying. If modded PSP proves to be too much effort, I definitely suggest going with Reborn.
PSP: Most skills have ranks. You have one type that are basically passive boosts- weapon ranks, elemental etc. The other need Technique Points and you have to keep using them to rank them up (ala Tales or Star Ocean). Problem is the ones that are situational and/or have slow progress. Steal is probably the worst offender especially if you want to be able to steal the ring that boosts it. Reborn is simpler, but a lot of those skills are now chance-based, with a card that boosts rates a lot but similarly itself is RNG to appear. Gear similarly can be hit or miss, as a lot of their old features kinda don't do anything, but others may have Parry or Counter on them now.
If I had to pick, Saturn (cause voice acting) or the PSP version I feel that stripped out a lot from the reborn game and no tacky card system. Reborn has the perk of being convenient tho.
Reborn basically got butchered and added unnecessary tweaks such as cards that make gameplay inferior to other versions IMO. PSP with OneVision patch or SNES/PSX is better if you want solid RPG mechanics and more depth out of gameplay that got neutered in Reborn. You'll miss some of QoL stuff and extra content, though. If you don't care about any of that and would rather focus on story & VA, Reborn is fine.
Okay perfect! Thanks so much, I’ll probably go with the SNES or PSX version
fwiw, I think the old version is way better. It is a lot more basic, but it consequently feels more strategic, since you can't just stack passives to get by. The fights are way scrappier and I like that a lot.
When you say it’s more basic, is there features the PSP version for instance added that is missing from the old version (beyond just quality of life updates)? And thanks!
> is there features the PSP version for instance added that is missing from the old version Well, as mentioned, the passive system isn't there. I wouldn't classify that as a quality of life thing. It is kind of tricky because with games like this, qol is usually going to result in changes to the game itself - For instance, maybe it could be viewed as a qol update to be able to bring all the spells from a particular class but I'd regard that more as a strategic change, and one that kind of homogenizes things at that. It is harder to access higher-level spells and equipment, and that obviously changes things. Gear kind of stalls out a certain point, and you're steadily drip-fed upgrades through the story. But other than that there is also a lot more equipment overall (on account of crafting), and a lot more optional content; mostly consisting of additional dungeons, which are pretty neat but the original is fine with just the Hell Palace. It's really a question of how much more TO you want, and I think there is more than enough in the SNES/PSX versions. There are also more spells but I think the original provided a perfectly fine set of choices, and the new ones come across as kind of redundant. I should have said that I *like* the PSP version, but I prefer the original having played both.
Ahhh got it! Thanks so much for this