Tactics Ogre: Reborn details skills, battiefield elements, Unit recruitment, the Wheel of Fortune, the Chariot Tarot rewind feature, and the World Tarot route change mechanic

Square Enix has provided more information on Tactics Ogre: Reborn that fills in newcomers and returning players on some of the basics in its gameplay.

As Units level up, they will gradually acquire Skills that function as one of the following four categories: Action, Support, Auto, and Special. Action skills are manually executed and consume MP. Support skills are passives that are always in effect as long as they're equipped. Auto skills are skills that may trigger automatically, by chance, when it is the Unit's turn; some examples of auto skills are MP recovery or increasing the distance of ranged attacks. Specific races have access to unique Special skills that consume MP to initiate; these can be powerful attacks, helpful debuffs, and such.

Several battlefield elements are explained in further detail, including terrain, weather, and buried treasures. Terrain can often affect hit rates, while certain weather conditions may restrict the amount of tiles a Unit can move. Sometimes, an event can happen during a battle; someone may be rescuable or a bringing a certain character into a battle can initiate a conversation from the opposing force. These events may affect the story down the road.

Although some key characters will join players as they progress the story, expanding their party size can also be done through hiring them from the shop or persuading hostiles by talking to them in the middle of combat. A Unit must have the corresponding recruitment skill, which is an action skill, in order to do so though.

The Wheel of Fortune system from Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together makes a return to Tactics Ogre: Reborn. It allows people to save characters they weren't able to save, and recruit previously unrecruitable characters from the previous choices that they made.

For those that are worried that they have made the wrong move in battle, the Chariot Tarot feature allows players to rewind turns. At the start of the game, people can only rewind up to 10 turns back, though this will increase further into the game.

One of the key features in Tactics Ogre is its expansive branching narrative. Normally, a single playthrough is not enough to see all of these plotlines and subsequent playthroughs are required to see how the other plotlines play out. With the World Tarot, it allows players to go back in time at a key point in the story to choose a different route in Tactics Ogre: Reborn. This feature can be used after meeting certain conditions.

Tactics Ogre: Reborn launches on November 11 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC (Steam).

For more information, please read the Asset Guide provided by Square Enix down below.

Skills

As a unit’s level increases, a greater variety of skills become available for each class. You can assign a unit up to four skills, giving them unique abilities depending on the skills assigned.

Skills are categorized into four types Action, Support, Auto, and Special.

Action

These skills can be executed at any time, similar to a weapon attack or magic Assigned skills appear as an action under the "Skills" menu Action skills require MP to use. Some give weapons a 100% hit rate and guarantee critical hits, while others enable you to recruit enemy units to join your party

Support

Simply assigning these skills provides a passive benefit to the unit. Some support skills increase max HP or MP, while others will automatically trigger counter attacks when attacked.

Auto

The effects of these skills have a chance to trigger automatically when a unit becomes active. No MP is consumed when they trigger. There are auto skills that increase MP recovery, and others that increase the distance of ranged attacks. The trigger rate of auto skills can be increased by acquiring skill trigger rate buff cards or by reaching a certain unit level.

Special

These are unique skills that only certain races can use. Assigned skills appear as an action in the “Act” menu. Special skills require MP to perform. These are skills such as breath attacks by dragon units and other damage dealing attacks that apply debuffs.

The skills that can be acquired differ depending on the unit’s class and race. Here are some of the skills that highlight the flavor they add to each class.

Wizard

Wizards are adept at using offensive and debuff magic, so they learn skills that focus on using magic more effectively. This includes skills that restore MP or extend the range of spells, allowing units to further specialize in offensive and support magic.

Rune Fencer / Valkyrie

Rune fencers and valkyries have a variety of weapons and magic at their disposal and learn skills to support themselves during battle. This class has a good balance of offensive and defensive skills, ranging from those that support magic to those that increase resistance to debuffs.

Knight

Knights act as a shield that can hold off enemy attacks. They excel at defense and can acquire skills that reduce damage dealt to friendly units. Knights learn skills that can be relied upon for leading the way and closing in on the enemy, such as those that can stop an enemy that approaches within a certain range, or reduce damage to their allies until the next turn.

Ninja / Kunoichi

Ninja and kunoichi are extremely nimble, with a long range of movement and the ability to traverse large elevation differences with ease, They acquire skills that reduce the enemy’s strength with their quick movements, such as the “Double Attack” skill that can be used when two one handed melee weapons are equipped, and a skill that increases the hit rate of the next ninjutsu move to 100%.

The Battlefield

The battlefield contains various elements that affect combat, such as weather and terrain. If you can make good use of these elements, it’s possible to gain an advantage in battle.

Terrain

Aside from the interiors and exteriors of buildings, such as forts, castles, and aqueducts, there is special terrain, such as plains, snowfields, and volcanoes. There can be various types of terrain within the same battlefield that have different effects on units. A typical effect pertains to hit rate, where the terrain of the tile the unit is standing on affects the hit rate of melee and ranged attacks

Weather

It may rain or snow on outdoor battlefields. The weather will change from time to time during battle, with rain falling heavily at times or snow ceasing. The worse the weather, the worse the visibility and the lower the accuracy of your attacks. Weather also affects the cost of movement on some terrains, affecting the maneuvering and tactics of both your army and the enemy.

Buried Treasures

When units end their turn on certain tiles, they may find items. Items are buried in various locations, some of which can be found by destroying obstacles or by burning grass or snowfields to expose the ground.

What happens on the battlefield

Various events occur in battle depending on the situation, such as the appearance of units under attack and surrounded by enemies, or special conversations between certain characters. The story can change dramatically depending on your actions and choices in such situations.

Appearance of units in need of rescue

Occasionally, units under enemy attack may appear on the battlefield. If you are able to keep the unit under attack on their feet and finish the battle with the target unit alive, you may see a change in the story that follows.

Occurrence of special conversations

During battles, special conversation events may occur when certain characters are present. For example, if you’re preparing for a battle with a certain character who has history with others in your party, you may want to select those characters to send into battle on the Battle Party Screen.

Recruiting Units

One way to gather new units for your party is to hire them from the shop, but you can also persuade many hostile units you meet in battle to join you and put these formerly hostile units and their powerful skills and special moves to use within your own army. In order to successfully recruit an enemy unit, you need a recruiting skill (an action skill) that corresponds to the unit you are recruiting, with recruiting skills of different classes needed depending on the race of the unit you’re trying to recruit.

It’s not just humans who can join your party; monsters you face in battle can be recruited and trained as well. You can change the name of a unit when you hire them in a shop, or persuade them to join you in battle.

Items found during battle

Battle Cards or Bags of Loot will appear in battle. You can pick up Battle Cards and Bags of Loot by moving to the tile where they appear and selecting “End Turn.”

Battle Cards: These cards have mystical powers. When acquired, the card’s effect is applied to the unit. There are three types of card effects, as follows.

Buff Card

These cards temporarily enhance the unit that acquires them, appearing at random after a certain amount of time passes, an obstacle is broken, or grassy or snowy fields are cleared with fire magic or the like. Acquired buff cards stack, and one unit can gain the effects of up to 4 cards. A unit can also hold multiple cards with the same effect. In this case, the effect increases each time. If you obtain a new buff card with 4 cards already stacked, the oldest card is discarded and the effect of the discarded card is lost.

Reset Card

These cards reset the effects of any buff cards that the unit has previously acquired, appearing at random after a certain amount of time passes, an obstacle is broken, or grassy or snowy fields are cleared with fire magic or the like. The reset triggers as soon as the card is obtained and does not stack. You can use this to your advantage by knocking back enemy units to a tile with a reset card to remove their card buffs.

Stat Card

When you defeat an enemy unit, either a stat card or a bag of loot will appear. If a stat card drops, it will permanently increase the stats of the unit that picks it up by a small amount. The effect triggers as soon as it is obtained and does not count toward the 4 buff cards a unit can hold.

Bags of Loot: Bags of loot contains the equipment and consumables used by defeated enemy units. When you acquire them, they will be added to your party’s inventory.

Wheel of Fortune

In Ogre Battle March of the Black Queen, the first game in the Ogre Battle Saga, the 22 major arcana tarot cards were a hallmark of the game’s tactics, visuals, and lore. Those tarot cards inspired the “Wheel of Fortune” system introduced in Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together, a feature also found in this latest entry.

Using the Wheel of Fortune, you can save characters you couldn’t save before or recruit characters who didn’t join your party because of choices you made, allowing you to experience parts of the story you might not otherwise have seen Wheel of Fortune.

The Chariot Tarot

In tactical RPGs, there are many situations that require a high level of concentration and patience, as the actions you choose could have irreversible negative effects on your subsequent moves. If you make a mistake, you might have to start all over again from the beginning.

The World Tarot

This game contains a branching story where you will often need to make key decisions that have a huge impact on how the game unfolds. However, due to the nature of the tactical RPG genre, your total playtime can become rather extensive should you try to experience the entire story. The World Tarot, which can be used after meeting certain conditions, allows you to go back in time to a specific point in the story and choose a different route than the one you have taken thus far.