Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone

Oct 8, 2008

Final Fantasy Tactics, Pokemon, Advance Wars and Magic: The Gathering are all relatively well-known games. On their own, each title brings a lot of fun to a wide range of gamers. However, what if you combined all of these into a single game? Would it multiply each game's appeal, or result in an unwieldy bomb? In Yggdra Union we find elements of each of the aforementioned games, and though it may sound wild in theory, the final product is another can of worms. It's an enjoyable game that caters to a very niche crowd, making it a game that's not for everyone.

The game follows the exploits of Princess Yggdra, freshly exiled from her kingdom after an invading force overthrows the military. As she flees, she stumbles upon some vagabonds and friends, who are willing to help retake her realm and restore peace to the land. It's a fairly cliched story that you've seen dozens of times before; unless you're really invested in what happens you can easily skip over everything without missing a beat.

The gameplay offers a lot to keep track of, making it a welcome challenge at times but also fairly frustrating at others. The level system will be very familiar to fans of Final Fantasy Tactics. You'll be able to level up characters through battles, with experience bonuses going to the characters who land special attacks or slay a given foe. As you progress, you'll also unlock new items, cards and abilities to help you on your way.

The combat has a rock-paper-scissors thing going on, much like Advance Wars. While one weapon class is weak against a given type, it'll be strong against another. This element really forces you to pay attention to what unit is going up against another. If you're not really focusing on what's going on during battle, you may find your forces quickly dispatched. Conversely, if you play to your strengths, you may find yourself giggling with glee as you lay waste to your adversaries.

Then there's the card system, which shares some similarities with other well-known card games such as Magic: The Gathering and its ilk. Everything in the game is dependant on these cards, as they'll dictate what you'll be able to do in a given turn. Movement, attack strength and special abilities are all dependant on the cards you select. You'll also be able to level up your cards as you successfully progress through battles, giving you some extra incentive to experiment with which cards you use in battle.

Another element to be mindful is that you can only take a limited amount of cards into battle. For each turn you take you use up one card, and once you run out of cards it's game over. Since the amount of cards you bring into battle puts a clear limit on the number of turns you can take, you'll need to find a way to eliminate as many units as you can at once, and get through battles as quickly as possible.

That's where unions come in, as you'll be able to land consecutive attacks on multiple enemies in a single move. These unions are a large part of the gameplay. They'll allow you to team up with close-by units, and the more that are in your union the more attacks you'll be able to land. What constitutes a union depends on both the gender of the lead attacker and the position of their allies. Male characters will be able to form unions with units positioned diagonally from them, while female characters can team up with anyone directly next to them. Enemy units will use this strategy as well and ruthlessly try to mow down your forces, so you'll need to form some smart formations to stack the odds in your favor. It brings an extra level of strategy to the game, forcing you to be mindful of the cost/benefit effects of your actions.

Even though Yggdra Union can be fairly fun, there are some issues that could really drag down your experience. A major problem is the huge learning curve that comes with the incorporation of so many elements. Even after spending hours playing there may be a handful of aspects that remain unclear. Another issue we had comes with the save system -- you're only able to save at certain checkpoints after a string of battles. The issue is that each battle is fairly long, making for a potentially frustrating experience if you happen to die and lose progress.

Yggdra Union brings a bunch of elements to the table but fails to excel in any one area. The overall package is somewhat tempting, but most of that appeal will only be appreciated by an incredibly niche audience. Its presentation, gameplay and story are all fairly derivative. There is a slight twist to the gameplay but it's not quite enough to set it apart. Though it offers a very decent strategy experience, if you're comparing it to other titles in the same vein, you could certainly do better.