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Triangle Strategy | Review Mega Thread

Draugoth

Gold Member
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Platforms:

  • Nintendo Switch (Mar 4, 2022)
Trailer:

Developer: SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD

Review Aggregator:

Opencritic (10) Reviews:

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Metacritic (12 Reviews):

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Critic Reviews


Checkpoint Gaming - Charlie Kelly - 9 / 10

We may be some time away from a new Final Fantasy Tactics, if ever. However, save the iconography, because Triangle Strategy is more or less that very experience that players have been looking for. It’s the most sweeping, expansive fantasy story I’ve played in some time, with plenty of engaging political intrigue that’ll whet many appetites. On offer is some of the best and most strategic tactics gameplay ever, rife with reward. So many setpieces, close call victories, and narrative moments will stick with me for some time. If you’re itching for a tactics game to amaze and move you this year, Triangle Strategy is it.

Nintendo Life - PJ O'Reilly - 9 / 10

Triangle Strategy is an absolute triumph for Artdink and Square Enix, a fantastic mix of satisfyingly strategic battles, an excellent choice-driven campaign narrative and top-notch world-building, all of which come together to form one of the finest tactical RPGs we've played in a very long time. There's an absolute ton of content here, with a huge story featuring multiple paths to take depending on the choices you make and several properly impactful endings to enjoy on return visits. Serenoa Wollfort's epic journey is a joy from start to finish, a grand and ambitious adventure that stands proud as one of the very finest examples of its genre on Switch.

Press Start - Shannon Grixti - 9 / 10

Triangle Strategy is pretty special. Through its challenging yet adaptive battle system it is approachable to newcomers to the genre while still offering an engaging challenge to veterans. Over the forty or so hours it took for my complete play through I felt like I got to know some wonderfully written characters through a story that took some surprising and unexpected turns, and since I had to fight so hard both on the battlefield and in conversation - the path I took and the outcome of the story felt truly mine. An excellent strategy RPG all around.

The Games Machine - Danilo Dellafrana - Italian - 8.2 / 10

Triangle Strategy knows how to tell an exciting story, and that's its greatest asset. The strategy mechanics are unfortunately inferior to the great classics from which it takes its inspiration, but the great replayability should keep you glued to the Switch screen for a long time.

Video Chums - A.J. Maciejewski - 8.4 / 10

Triangle Strategy masterfully accomplishes its blend of rewarding SRPG gameplay and engaging choice-driven story. If you're a fan of narrative-heavy games and tactical grid-based battles then it's a must-have game.
 
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Nautilus

Banned
Why didn't you include metacritic?

METACRITIC: 83.

Its currently 83 on metacritic If OP will not include it, I'll try to update regulary.
 
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jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Excellent!

Seems like Amazon isn't doing release date delivery though, so I'll get my copy next week. All the same, I'm kinda engrossed in Elden Ring at the moment.
 
Excellent!

Seems like Amazon isn't doing release date delivery though, so I'll get my copy next week. All the same, I'm kinda engrossed in Elden Ring at the moment.
I've dropped them in favor of Best Buy. Free shipping on everything as well. No membership required.
 

Lognor

Banned
Same score as Octopath Traveler, which was also a painfully boring slog that came nowhere near the classic games it superficially resembled.
Nah. I would not say that Octopath was a boring slog! The combat was a lot of fun in fact! The story was the huge letdown there.

And it sounds like this game rectifies the issues with a shallow story. I don't know if the gameplay will click with me though. I gotta try the demo.

Does anyone know if the demo progress transfers to the full game?
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
Nah. I would not say that Octopath was a boring slog! The combat was a lot of fun in fact! The story was the huge letdown there.

And it sounds like this game rectifies the issues with a shallow story. I don't know if the gameplay will click with me though. I gotta try the demo.

Does anyone know if the demo progress transfers to the full game?
Demo transfers to the full game so definitely try for yourself. I tried the demo and it put me to sleep. I played about an hour, and probably 50 minutes of that was just people I don’t care about standing in one place talking in circles. It was like the world’s worst YA novel.

The other 10 minutes was a battle against 2 scruffy yet lovable bandits who attack you for no reason. I’m assuming they will become good guys who join your party at some point.

Maybe I’ll circle back and finish the demo at least. FF Tactics is one of my all time faves and I really wanted Triangle to be good. But the writing/story/voice acting had the unmistakable stench of Octopath and that really me off.
 

Lognor

Banned
Demo transfers to the full game so definitely try for yourself. I tried the demo and it put me to sleep. I played about an hour, and probably 50 minutes of that was just people I don’t care about standing in one place talking in circles. It was like the world’s worst YA novel.

The other 10 minutes was a battle against 2 scruffy yet lovable bandits who attack you for no reason. I’m assuming they will become good guys who join your party at some point.

Maybe I’ll circle back and finish the demo at least. FF Tactics is one of my all time faves and I really wanted Triangle to be good. But the writing/story/voice acting had the unmistakable stench of Octopath and that really me off.
Thanks for the response! Well I will at least try the demo.

And I was hesitant to consider this game because years ago I tried FF Tactics and didn't "get" it. So maybe that actually gives me hope that I'll like this one. lol
 
Demo transfers to the full game so definitely try for yourself. I tried the demo and it put me to sleep. I played about an hour, and probably 50 minutes of that was just people I don’t care about standing in one place talking in circles. It was like the world’s worst YA novel.

The other 10 minutes was a battle against 2 scruffy yet lovable bandits who attack you for no reason. I’m assuming they will become good guys who join your party at some point.

Maybe I’ll circle back and finish the demo at least. FF Tactics is one of my all time faves and I really wanted Triangle to be good. But the writing/story/voice acting had the unmistakable stench of Octopath and that really me off.
It's definitely a slow demo; agreed. I'm just hoping the final package delivers. I didn't expect the reviews to be this positive.
 
Thanks for the response! Well I will at least try the demo.

And I was hesitant to consider this game because years ago I tried FF Tactics and didn't "get" it. So maybe that actually gives me hope that I'll like this one. lol
If you have had trouble getting into tactics games, the most approachable is Final Fantasy Tactics Advance on GBA. It's also on Wii U.
 
Does anyone know if the demo progress transfers to the full game?
It should, that's why I haven't jumped into the latest demo. I'm not buying this game right away, but I do plan to get it down the line, so I didn't want to get invested into the start of the game only to let it go cold on me for months.

I really loved the first demo of this game however. It is definitely more of a spiritual successor to Tactics Ogre than FFT. I do hope the full game allows you to grind to your hearts content, as I find that’s a big key to my enjoyment of RPGs.

I don’t agree with the Octopath criticism either, I loved that game. Octopath had phenomenal music and was the birth of this beautiful 2D-HD style, not to mention some overall great spritework. The boost battle system was a lot of fun and had me always planning fights out several moves ahead. The sub-systems like job changing with skill mixing, or the ability to steal/win rare stuff from town NPCs was fun to seek out. The voice acting was great, and almost all the eight individual stories had me hooked to find out more. The only thing I’d really knock it for is the lack of an overarching plot and lack of character interaction.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
It's definitely a slow demo; agreed. I'm just hoping the final package delivers. I didn't expect the reviews to be this positive.
Same. But again I am reminded of Octopath. Seemed like everybody (including me) was enamored by the game’s style. It got high reviews and I heard nothing but good things about it for the first week or so. Then it seemed like reality set in and almost everyone flipped on it when they realized it wasn’t in the same league as the classic games it was inspired by.
 

Saber

Gold Member
Good news then, I was kinda interested in this game. I'm fond of strategy turn rpg games, hope it's not too grindy or mechanic.
 

Fbh

Member
Nice.
Will probably pick this up since I'm waiting until I have a Ps5 for elden ring ( :messenger_crying:). I was already interested and enjoyed the first demo (haven't gotten to the second one yet) and some of these reviews are addressing my main concerns:
- Story is apparently good
- One reviewer mentioned he beat it in 40 hours which is great (I'm so fucking tired of bloated 70 hours long JRPG's)
 
Same. But again I am reminded of Octopath. Seemed like everybody (including me) was enamored by the game’s style. It got high reviews and I heard nothing but good things about it for the first week or so. Then it seemed like reality set in and almost everyone flipped on it when they realized it wasn’t in the same league as the classic games it was inspired by.
I'm pretty strongly opposed to excessive nostalgia at times so I'm not going to align with your opinions on that one. It's true that Octopath isn't as great as FFVI or something, but I enjoyed it. I think the episodic structure was a unique way to set up an RPG in this modern attention-deficit age, that I honestly appreciated. Gave me an end goal in sight so I could progress in smaller chunks rather than an 80 hour slog. The battle system was as good as anything on SNES, or better. The graphics were definitely better than anything on SNES. Music was okay. Story was okay. Seemed like an enjoyable 8/10 to me. No actual real deficits, just some areas that were a bit mediocre, amongst other elements that were very solid.

I saw a similar phenomenon play out with I Am Setsuna. I think it was a great game with a battle system on par with Chrono Trigger, a really unique setting, and a top tier OST that I had to import from Japan because it was so great. All the characters were fine, and had some minor touching moments. But people trashed it.

Or comparing Metroid Dread to Super Metroid. I think Dread blows it out of the water in almost every way. But people can't ever let go of Super Metroid.

I'll just try to judge the game for what it is and try to have fun. It was slow in the demo, so I can see some potential flaws. FFT wasn't flawless either though and when playing today, is missing many QOL features that make it feel cumbersome.
 

drganon

Member
I'm probably going to be getting this eventually. I liked the 2nd demo they put out and the positive reviews are encouraging.
 

Evil Calvin

Afraid of Boobs
Excellent!

Seems like Amazon isn't doing release date delivery though, so I'll get my copy next week. All the same, I'm kinda engrossed in Elden Ring at the moment.
I don't think they have done that for years (after they ditched the 20% pre-order discount and release-day delivery). I now just order from Target in the AM and pick up after work.
 

iHaunter

Member
Nintendo and idiotic names for things. Name a more iconic duo?

Sample: NEW 3DS...

Side Note: Is the game any good? Been looking for a reason to pick-up my switch.
 
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ANDS

King of Gaslighting
Reviews have significantly dropped the schools, but still strong reviews overall. Will likely get this to have something a bit more structured narratively in between ER frustrations.
 

FStubbs

Member
Same. But again I am reminded of Octopath. Seemed like everybody (including me) was enamored by the game’s style. It got high reviews and I heard nothing but good things about it for the first week or so. Then it seemed like reality set in and almost everyone flipped on it when they realized it wasn’t in the same league as the classic games it was inspired by.
Taking off the nostalgia filters, I thought it was every bit as good as the SNES games it was inspired by. The "thin plot" is no more thin than many other RPGs of that era, but it was a lot bigger in scope.
 

iHaunter

Member
So hyped for this!


I get that you have some kind of hate boner against Nintendo but this game made by Square Enix, the naming has nothing to do with Nintendo.
That's my mistake then. I generally do not like how they do things, it's true. No hiding that.
 

FStubbs

Member
So hyped for this!


I get that you have some kind of hate boner against Nintendo but this game made by Square Enix, the naming has nothing to do with Nintendo.
Triangle Strategy is actually rather inoffensive of a name compared to many jRPGs - even it's predecessor Octopath Traveler has a stranger name. But jRPGs and bizarre names is nothing new:

Infinite Undiscovery
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs the Soulless Army
Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel
Legend of Heroes VI: Trails in the Sky FC

And of course, the one non-gamers always think is strange:
Final Fantasy (anything past 1)
 

Lognor

Banned
If you have had trouble getting into tactics games, the most approachable is Final Fantasy Tactics Advance on GBA. It's also on Wii U.
Yeah, I"m pretty sure that's the one I played because I never played it on PS1 or PS2 or whatever Sony console it was on. I am a big fan of Fire Emblem so I'm not sure why FFT never clicked. Well since there is a demo for Triangle Strategy I'll give it a shot before making a decision.
 

Fbh

Member
Down to 81 on OpenCritic with 21 reviews. (Octopath is at 84 for comparison)

Looking at reviews it seems like the more negative ones didn't like the story focused approach. One review even says it almost feels like a visual novel with occasional tactical combat rather than a proper SRPG.
So those who didn't like the story focus in the demo should probably stay away.
 

Sojiro

Member
Very excited for this, forgot this releases this early in March. Reviews are looking solid, but I was already sold on the demo, can't wait to get into it.
 
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