1996 · Career Soft · Role-playing · Strategy

Langrisser

Sega exclusive

Video game series

Released: 18 October 1996
Platforms: Sega Saturn WonderSwan
Genres: Role-playing Strategy
Developers: Career Soft
Publishers: Taito Masaya Games
Modes: Single-player

About

Langrisser (ラングリッサー, Rangurissā; originally spelled Lungrisser prior to the third game) is a fantasy tactical role-playing video game series created by Masaya Games. The main development team is Career Soft, first as Team Career within Masaya Games for the first three games and then as an independent studio for Langrisser IV and V. The series has a fantasy-Germanic setting, but draws on religious concepts like ditheism and sword worship for historical context. The series was originally released for Sega platforms during the 1990s, with the first two installments originally made for the Sega Genesis, followed by third through fifth installments (along with a remake compilation of the first two games) for the Sega Saturn. Ports and remakes were also made for other platforms such as PC Engine, Super Famicom, PC-FX and PlayStation during the same period.

After separating from Masaya following the release of Langrisser V, Career Soft would produce an unofficial successor in the form of the Growlanser series, published and owned by Atlus, while Masaya would go on to produce Langrisser Millenium with a different development team (Santa Entertainment).

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Langrisser is divided into Scenarios, each of which reveals a portion of the story through battle interaction. The series set itself apart from other tactical RPGs in its time with larger-scale battles, where the player can control over thirty units at one time and fight against scores of enemies.

At the outset of battle, military commanders are positioned on the game's map and units are hired. Combat always follows a system of turns. In the first two games, any unit can be moved at any time during the player's turn, but each unit can only be moved once. In the last two games, a clock was introduced and units were moved in turn according to agility.

Story

El Sallia, since time immemorial, has been influenced by the power of "gods". The evil gods were originally their own tribe, and over time one rose to power to dominate all the others. He was the dark god, Chaos, worshiped by the devil tribe. Conversely, Lushiris, a goddess of light, was worshiped by the humans.

Each god has its own avatar to exercise its power in the human world and prepare for its coming. Chaos' avatar is Böser (German: "evil one"), a prince of darkness who is really the trapped soul of a damned human. Lushiris' avatar is Jessica, a magician. Each avatar has been entrusted with a sword that carries the weight of the gods' powers.