Warsong

Warsong
Warsong
Developer(s)	Masaya Games (Team Career)
Publisher(s)	JP: Nippon Computer Systems ; NA: Treco ;
Composer(s)	Noriyuki Iwadare ; Isao Mizoguchi; Hiroshi Fujioka
Series	Langrisser
Platform(s)	Mega Drive/Genesis ; PlayStation ; Sega Saturn ; PC ; PC Engine ; 90xi Series Mobile Phone ; Virtual Console [1] ; PlayStation Network
Release	JP: April 26, 1991; NA: 1991; JP: April 22, 2009 (PSN);
Genre(s)	Tactical role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single player

Last updated April 22, 2019

Warsong, known as Langrisser(ラングリッサー) in Japan, is a tactical role-playing game developed by Nippon Computer Systems (NCS). The first in the Langrisser series, it blended tactical warfare with RPG elements, similar to the Fire Emblem series. It was initially released for the Mega Drive/Genesis console and the PC Engine (in Super CD-ROM² format), the former version being published by Treco in America. The PC-Engine version was released under the title, Langrisser: The Descendants of Light. It was later re-released along Der Langrisser (a remake of Langrisser II ) in a compilation for the Sega Saturn and PlayStation. That compilation was released for the PlayStation Network in 2009.

Tactical role-playing games are a genre of video game which incorporates elements of traditional role-playing video games with that of tactical games, emphasizing tactics rather than high-level strategy. The format of a tactical RPG video game is much like a traditional tabletop role-playing game in its appearance, pacing and rule structure. Likewise, early tabletop role-playing games are descended from skirmish wargames like Chainmail, which were primarily concerned with combat.

Langrisser is a 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.

Turn-based tactics (TBT), or tactical turn-based (TTB), is a computer and video game genre of strategy video games that through stop-action simulates the considerations and circumstances of operational warfare and military tactics in generally small-scale confrontations as opposed to more strategic considerations of turn-based strategy (TBS) games.

Gameplay

The player controls a group of heroes or commanders to accomplish some goals each phase. They are joined with non-controlled allies to battle with enemies commanders. Before each phase, the player can purchase up to eight army units from a single type for every one of its heroes. The type of the available army depends on the hero class (e.g. Griffons can only be purchased by Dragon Knights) and have different prices. At the end of each phase, any survivor army provides some amount of cash for the player to use next time.

After each battle, the winning commander gains experience that allows him to upgrade to a more powerful class. If a hero dies, he is lost forever.

During the game, you slowly acquire ally leaders, each of whom can hire up to 8 troops (each troop representing 10 soldiers) to fight in stages called Scenarios. Each scenario starts you out in a defensive position with enemies nearby and a goal to accomplish. Typical goals are, "Protect this person", "Destroy all the enemies", "Destroy the enemy leader (other enemies optional)" and several other types. You chose where to place your troops in the beginning, and the formations you want to fight in.

Along the way, you also acquire special items that can increase the power of your commanders. As your commanders gain experience, they can be promoted to different "classes" with new spells, and new abilities.

Characters

Note:. These characters and its information are from the Mega Drive/Genesis version

_{Classes in bold shows the initial class for that character}

Character	Notes	Classes
Garett	The main hero. He cannot die or the game ends	Fighter → Knight or Lord Lord → King or Magic Knight Knight → Knight Master or Grand Knight
Baldarov	Cannot gain experience	Sword Master
Mina	Mina first appears as an ally, then she joins Garett's group	Cleric → Warlock or Priestess Priestess → High Priestess or Saint Warlock → Bishop or Wizard Wizard → Arch Mage or Magic Knight Magic Knight → Ranger
Calais	Appears in the first phase as an ally, joins Garett's group after	Warlock → Cleric or Wizard Wizard → Arch Mage or Magic Knight Magic Knight → Ranger Cleric → Warlock or Priestess Priestess → High Priestess or Saint
Sabra	Appears in the first phase as an ally, joins Garett's group after	Fighter → Knight or Lord Lord → Dragon Knight or Magic Knight Knight → Knight Master or Grand Knight Magic Knight → Ranger
Tiberon	Appears in the first phase as an ally, joins Garett's group after	Crocodile Knight → Serpent Knight or Knight Knight → Knight Master
Thorne	Has the same classes as Bayard and Carleon	Fighter → Knight or Lord Lord → Magic Knight Knight → Knight Master
Bayard	Has the same classes as Thorne and Carleon	Fighter → Knight or Lord Lord → Magic Knight Knight → Knight Master
Carleon	Has the same classes as Thorne and Bayard	Fighter → Knight or Lord Lord → Magic Knight Knight → Knight Master
Lance	He first acts against Garett, then acts as an ally, finally joins Garett's group. Cannot gain experience	Dragon Knight

Items

You pick up a variety of magical items along the way during your quest, often accompanied by humorous quotes such as, "The power of the Cross is now mine!" or "It's the Mystic Orb. Take it with us! Go!" Each item gives the equipped commander a bonus (or minus) to attack, defense, both, or neither. Some items give the commander an advantage of some sort. Below is the list and effects of each item:

Great Sword: +2 to attack

Cross: +2 to defense

Wand: +2 to attack, commander's spells do +1 HP

Shield: +4 to defense

Warsong: +4 to attack, +4 to defense

Evil Axe: +8 to attack, -10 to defense

Dragon Slayer: +5 to attack, +3 to defense

Amulet: +2 to defense, commander's influence range is doubled

Orb: commander's spells use 1/2 normal MP

Note that the user of the Orb must be able to meet the full original

cost of the spell in order to cast it; the Orb gives the 1/2 MP benefit after the spell is cast. Think of it as a rebate. Also note that the bonuses only apply to the commander, not his/her troops.

Magic/Spells

Ah magic, the one thing an RPG can't exist without. Spells don't usually make a huge impact in Warsong; their use is more subtle. Healing spells are convenient, but usually not necessary. Destruction spells are used to soften or finish off units, rather than cripple them. Status affecting spells don't do much in the way of affecting anyone's status in Warsong; they almost always fail. Below is a list of all the spells of Warsong:

Healing 1 - 2 MP - Heals ~1 HP

Healing 2 - 4 MP - Heals ~3 HP

Healing 3 - 8 MP - Heals ~6 HP

Magic Arrows - 2 MP - Deals ~1 HP

Fire Ball - 4 MP - Deals ~2 HP

Fire Ball (BISHOP ONLY) - 8 MP - Deals ~3 HP

Thunder - 4 MP - Deals ~3 HP

Lighting Bolt - 4 MP - Deals ~2 HP

Blizzard - 4 MP - Deals ~2 HP

Tornado - 8 MP - Deals ~4 HP

Earthquake - 16 MP - Deals ~1 HP, destroys random walls

Sleep - 4 MP - Puts units to sleep

Paralyze - 4 MP - Same as sleep, basically

Confusion - 8 MP - Units attack their allies

Petrify - 0 MP - Turns units to stone (dead); only the Basilisks have this spell

You may notice that there are two Fire Ball spells. One is the cheap

one most classes get, while the other is the expensive, dragon-summoning version that is limited to Bishops.

A note on XP and spells: After a commander reaches level 5 in his/her

class, the range, area of effect, and HP healed or dealt of all spells increase by 1.

Story

The storyline follows the armies of Prince Garett of Baltia as they battle the Dalsis Empire and the monsters they unwittingly awaken, framed as a battle between the forces of good and an ancient evil that threatens to overrun the world.

Evil, in a general sense, is the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, though in everyday usage is often used more narrowly to denote profound wickedness. It is generally seen as taking multiple possible forms, such as the form of personal moral evil commonly associated with the word, or impersonal natural evil, and in religious thought, the form of the demonic or supernatural/eternal.

The story begins with an assault on the Nation of Baltia by the forces of the Dalsis Empire. King Alfador sees the castle will not be able to stand and urges his son Prince Garett to flee to the town of Sulras, both for his own safety and to gather reinforcements from Duke Carleon. He assigns the sword master Baldarov to go with Garett and protect him on the journey.

King, or king regnant is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, while the title of queen on its own usually refers to the consort of a king.

A duke (male) or duchess (female) can either be a monarch ruling over a duchy or a member of royalty or nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch. The title comes from French duc, itself from the Latin dux, 'leader', a term used in republican Rome to refer to a military commander without an official rank, and later coming to mean the leading military commander of a province.

Together they escape from the siege and journey to Sulras, meeting the cleric Mina on the way. The three of them help defend the town from a bandit raid in the night, and are granted some reinforcements by Duke Carleon. Before they can start the journey back, Sabra, one of Baltia's commanders, arrives to tell them that the Castle has already fallen to Dalsis and many of the other commanders have been taken prisoner. As he returns to the castle he is set upon by monsters in the woods, but he perseveres and eventually arrives at the castle. He leads a campaign to retake the Castle, freeing the prisoners. However, Dalsis has already taken the treasure Baltia was protecting, the magic sword "Warsong".

Garett then rushes to the aid of Anzel, one of Baltia's fortresses, which is also under siege. He rescues the fortress' commander Bayard, and begins his march through the Dalsis Empire towards Emperor Pythion's palace. Duke Carleon himself commits to the cause, joining the fight by Garett's side. The monsters that are encountered as they travel into Dalsis continue to become more vicious, numerous, and powerful as time goes by, and Garett realizes they are attacking the Dalsis forces as well as his own. He arrives at the palace and defeats Emperor Pythion, and the emperor explains that he awakened the ancient evil with Warsong.

A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from Latin: sedere, lit. 'to sit'. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static, defensive position. Consequently, an opportunity for negotiation between combatants is not uncommon, as proximity and fluctuating advantage can encourage diplomacy. The art of conducting and resisting sieges is called siege warfare, siegecraft, or poliorcetics.

An emperor is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife, mother, or a woman who rules in her own right. Emperors are generally recognized to be of a higher honour and rank than kings. In Europe, the title of Emperor has been used since the Middle Ages, considered in those times equal or almost equal in dignity to that of Pope due to the latter's position as visible head of the Church and spiritual leader of the Catholic part of Western Europe. The Emperor of Japan is the only currently reigning monarch whose title is translated into English as Emperor.

Garett retakes Warsong and begins his campaign against the evil, fighting ever more powerful monsters along the way and eventually tracking their source to the dark land of Seneferia. He finally gains access to a citadel in Seneferia that is the home of the ancient evil, and deep within the citadel he fights the embodiment of that evil, Chaos.

After slaying Chaos, the defeated being admonishes Garett by explaining that Order and Chaos were created by the world itself and Chaos was revived to help save the world from destruction by keeping it in balance. Chaos also says that it will return as long as humans continue to fight one another. The citadel then sinks into the ground as Garett and friends escape, and Garett wonders whether they have actually saved the world, or set it on the path to ruin.^[2]^[3]

Music

The music in Langrisser was composed by Noriyuki Iwadare and Isao Mizoguchi.

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References

↑ http://vc.nintendolife.com/games/megadrive/warsong
↑ GameFAQs Game Script http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/genesis/file/586591/14831
↑ Neoseeker Faqs http://faqs.neoseeker.com/Games/GENESIS/warsong_a.txt

v t e Langrisser
Main series	Warsong II III IV V: The End of Legend Re:Incarnation Tensei
Other games	Langrisser Schwarz
Related	Masaya Career Soft Gamania Growlanser