Although both Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre have far fewer stats, character classes, and spells than Squaresoft's better-known Final Fantasy Tactics, they are much better games in my opinion: the gameplay is more balanced, and the fact that you can send up to ten soldiers into each battle (as opposed to five in FFT) means that the Ogre games give you a lot more strategic options. One of the best things about both games is the fact that you must work hard to properly balance your army, because each character class has its own strengths and weaknesses. You can also equip your units with a wide array of weapons, armor, and healing items. Similar to most RPGs, you will gain access to more powerful spells and weapons in later battles, and your units also get stronger and more powerful. And the story focus means that you will gradually learn about various secret agenda, backgrounds, and grudges your soldiers have under your command. Character development of these units takes place in the form of lengthy dialogues or cut-scenes that happen right on the battlefield, making the games even more fun. For example, that powerful mage you just gave a ton of spells to might suddenly reveal his allegiance with the other side, and turn his coat in the heat of a battle. Talk about biting the hand that feeds :)

There are nice real-world touches that translate into tradeoffs you must consider when "upgrading" units or changing their class, since every "customization" has drawbacks. For example, units that have more carrying capacity will move more slowly than others. Unlike Final Fantasy Tactics (but less so in Ogre Battle), the units in Tactics Ogre are relatively expendable as you can recruit new soldiers in most towns. Completing each game will take you over fifty hours, and you will likely want to play them all over again due to the presence of a nonlinear battle structure, multiple endings, and tons of secrets in each game.

The battles take place close-up in an attractive 2D/3D isometric perspective where you clearly see all the units involved, as well as terrain details and elevations. When you are not fighting, you move your whole army from a world map, which shows cities, towns, temples, and other man-made structures as well as rivers, forests, and mountains. Although they both look "dated" by today's 32-bit console standards, Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre remain highly playable, highly addictive, and superbly designed games. Definitely "purer" and in my opinion more playable than Final Fantasy Tactics, the most well-known game from Quest, both games are must-haves for every strategy/RPG fan – and anyone who think that console systems cannot furnish challenging strategy games. Two thumbs up, way up!