4.5/5 ★ – Cryophage's review of Triangle Strategy.

"Why doesn't every strategy RPG play like this?!" NOTE: I have only played up to Chapter VIII as of writing this review. If my opinions change on anything- the plot, to be specific- then I will be sure to update this review. So, the Octopath Traveler developers made a strategy RPG, huh? If you know me, you know I’m a simp for Octopath Traveler, so I was extremely ecstatic to hear news about Triangle Strategy! The game mostly lived up to my expectations, but some aspects were unfortunately not as impressive as I’ve come to expect from these developers. While the gameplay and presentation of Triangle Strategy is great, the plot and writing are disappointingly lackluster. One of the things I love about this game are how much inspiration this game takes from Final Fantasy Tactics. The top-down view, maps with depth and turn-based gameplay make Triangle Strategy feel like a refinement of the Final Fantasy Tactics series. Instead of having to turn on filters showing which spaces are close enough for enemies to attack or selecting enemies to see their movements and attack range, the UI allows for easy access to all of these things. A bar at the bottom of the screen shows which units move next, and pressing R lets you easily highlight that unit, allowing you to see their movement/attack range. When moving a unit, the spaces you can move them are highlighted with certain colors to indicate danger. These quality-of-life improvements allow for the gameplay to flow smoothly without having to pause to dive into menus or pausing to highlight a bunch of enemies to keep track of how close they are to introducing their spear into your liver. Triangle Strategy’s gameplay also features a lack of permadeath. The lack of this hardcore feature might turn off some players, but it actually made the game more enjoyable for me. Removing the consequence of characters being permanently removed from the party completely changes how I played the game and allowed me to enjoy Triangle Strategy more than any Fire Emblem game. Fire Emblem requires careful and cautious planning, since one wrong move can cost you a beloved member of your army. You can continue on even with sustained losses, but it encourages a minimum deficit style of gameplay, which might not be to everyone’s taste. Counter to this is Triangle Strategy, where I found myself taking bolder and riskier moves. I noticed myself making maneuvers that could result in a death and not even worrying about it because I was too busy planning moves for later on in the battle. In addition to the lack of permadeath, Triangle strategy also features several features that should become the new standard for any strategy-based RPG moving forward. When the player loses a battle, the game essentially resets your progress back to before the battle began, with any used items returned to the player's inventory. However, the game also lets characters keep the experience points gained during combat! One could argue that these features remove the consequence of failure, but these features make the game so much more available to other players who aren't as good at strategy RPGS. These features are so useful that one can't help but wonder why it took until 2022 to implement them. Unfortunately, the writing lacks inspiration. The plot-important characters are very basic, and most lines of dialogue feel simplistic and don’t deliver much emotion. Serenoa Wolffort is a boring and by-the-numbers protagonist, and the game’s Conviction System works against the game when it comes to establishing his character. I feel that the ability to choose your own dialogue options works best in first-person games or games with silent protagonists, like Skyrim and Skyward Sword. It allows you to put yourself in the position of the main character and get immersed in the plot more easily because the character has little to minimal personality of their own. By contrast, Serenoa does have an established personality that clashes with the immersion provided by the choice of dialogue options. of writing this, I’ve only played up to chapter 8, so the plot could improve greatly. However, the lackluster beginning of the story may drive people away from the rest of the game out of boredom if they don’t find themselves smitten with the gameplay. Thankfully, Triangle Strategy’s Conviction system and Exploration phase helps the game rise from the lackluster characters and plot. Before most battles, Triangle Strategy allows the player to explore the environments. These allow for a nice moment of peace, acting as a bit of something sweet to counteract the rich, fatty flavor of the plot. They also provide massive benefits to the player, since they let you explore the environment in which the upcoming battle takes place on, and also includes useful hidden items and pieces of information. Finally, these phases include several conversations- optional or non-optional- throughout the game that allows you to pick a response, which always affects Serenoa’s beliefs and morals. While this doesn’t make Serenoa himself an interesting character, these dialogues still allow for a sense of personal engagement as you have to consider how the things you say affect how others perceive you. The Conviction System and Exploration Phase massively affect what might be the game’s most important feature: Voting Phases. Throughout the plot, the party will be split on how to best approach a situation and determine how to best move forward with a group vote. You- playing as Serenoa- do not get to vote, but rather you must try to influence the rest of the party. They seem simple, but I was surprised how often I picked dialogue options that seemed like the best choice only to get countered by airtight logic. Almost as frequent was when I unlocked options- via the information gained in the Exploration Phase- that didn’t quite seem like it suited the situation. If you’re not careful, you might even accidentally push people away from your desired outcome. Persuading your party members requires critical thinking and understanding of the current situation, and possibly a bit of luck. I give Triangle Strategy an 8/10, and I would say purchasing it now is most likely worth it! UPDATE (03/26/22): The plot's definitely improved! Even if the characters are still relatively bland, the things happening around them is very captivating! I also enjoy how the plot is more grounded and realistic as opposed to more fantasy-oriented plots like in Fire Emblem. In my opinion, this is more than enough to raise the game's ranking up to 9/10!