Triangle Strategy Review – Near-Perfect Conflict

About a year ago, Square Enix announced a new game, tentatively titled Project Triangle Strategy, with the caveat that it should release sometime in 2022. The release date was fixed relatively quickly, and “project” disappeared from the title. According to the first information, it seemed like a dozen more pixel strategies were waiting for us, but the Ardtink studio on the Norzelia continent played out a slightly more complex struggle of the three kingdoms for depleting salt and iron resources, which is not limited to the conflict itself.

• Platform: Switch
• Publication date: March 4, 2022
• Producer: Artdink, Square Enix
• Distribution: Enix Square, Nintendo
• Genre: step-by-step strategy
• Czech location: Not
• Multiplayer: Not
• Data to download: 6.3 GB
• Game time: 30 – 50 hours
• Availability: 12+
• Sales version: digital
• Price: 1,499 CZK

imbalance

I outlined the history of Triangle Strategy in the previous preview, so it’s very brief. Your alter ego in the form of Serena Volfort, who is also the heiress of the Wolffort family, brings a young bride Frederica Esfrost to her country from a neighboring kingdom, but all preparations for the wedding are stopped by Serenoa’s health problems. In addition, you will soon find out that this is just a “little thing”, because you unwittingly fall into a complex conspiracy that consists of the two main sources of the continent and which has its roots in the past.

People die in a way that I’m not afraid to compare to Game of Thrones.

After the terrible war for salt and iron that took place centuries ago, the kingdoms decided to work together to ensure prosperity, friendly actions and the sharing of the mineral wealth of each of the nations. But behind the scenes of seeming prosperity, tensions still reigned, which now escalated into an armed conflict.

If you look at the trailer and the screenshots surrounding you, you might think that a game with a serious story cannot look like this. I admit that at first glance it may seem that this is so, but in fact the opposite is true. People die in a way that I’m not afraid to compare to Game of Thrones, and whatever you do may not be enough, because in one decisive act, the delicate balance between the three kingdoms of Glenbrook, Esfrost and Chizante will take control and complete the carousel of events. which will make Serenoa grow up very quickly. Luckily, he won’t be all alone in solving problems.

Good gold mentor

One of the main game mechanics that plays a very important role in the Triangle Strategy and influences Serenoa’s beliefs are dialogue questions. At certain important turning points, NPCs will ask you how you will continue to cope with the help of the people of Norzel and how you will deal with political disputes. Each of these decisions strengthens your character’s reputation and beliefs. However, unlike other games, this isn’t really just a cosmetic feature that makes you feel “good”, but whatever you choose has incredible power afterwards. Most often at a time when you and your colleagues need to make some important decisions.

I recommend that you carefully follow the views of Chamberlain Benedict Pascal, who served the Wolffort family from his youth. He is a very good political and military strategist who seems very cold, but always cares about the welfare of the family first. Roland Glenbrook is the second such “voice” of Triangle Strategy. In addition to being a close friend of Serenoa, he is also the second crown prince of the kingdom of Glenbrook. He acts bravely and often zealously, but he also gets frustrated by the situation, and even if he is a hothead, you will often agree with him.

Whom to listen to in the finale is up to you, but you will not always agree with the opinion of the character you like, with whom you want to be on good terms. Very often I had two opinions. Beloved truth or choose, in my opinion, the best path.

Each decision strengthens your character’s reputation and beliefs.

So over time, the main lines of the story will reach important decisions and each member of your group will have one vote. Your beliefs will play a key role, as will the information you gather along the way. If you are not tempted by the quick resolution of the conflict and have gone through all the optional dialogues and talked to all the characters, you will have enough knowledge to guide your reasoning. Before voting, you can talk to everyone and try to change their mind and get a concrete result. It’s nice to see everyone standing behind you, but of course I faced the opposite and my friends eventually agreed and voted for me. But disappointment soon proved to be the right decision.

The main thing is to understand what it is

Your beliefs and choices are a really interesting approach to presenting a story. Once you start taking them seriously and watching side mini-stories, you will find that every corner of this world is important for a common understanding of political tensions and ties between countries. Also, there is huge potential for replaying Triangle Strategy because the subsequent branching of the story is really huge.

I was a bit taken aback by the fact that tactical strategy only really fights occasionally. At least from the beginning, although in my opinion their frequency is not quite high until the end. From the very beginning, the game is more focused on creating atmosphere and understanding the situation, but you don’t mind, because the visual presentation in HD-2D is absolutely beautiful, and the dubbing is believable in both Japanese and English. Especially in such games, it seems that the dubbers are playing on purpose.

Fortunately, fights are constantly becoming more frequent and more difficult.

Fortunately, fights are constantly becoming more frequent and more difficult. All of a sudden you control a lot of different characters in them, strategically move your friends/pieces so you can best attack your opponents and basically use your weapons in combination with the terrain to your advantage.

All of them have individual abilities. So the choice of characters to use in combat largely depends not only on your playstyle and the weaknesses of your opponents, but also on the terrain mentioned. Among the allies you will find classic soldiers, mages, cavalry, as well as archers riding giant eagles, pests, as well as a combination of these. You will meet many other friends along the way thanks to side stories. For me it was the healer on Hossabar and the balloon girl Piccolette.

The battle also offers other interesting options, as you can gain an advantage by attacking from a higher position, backstabbing, or surrounding your opponents and then attacking from both sides, allowing your friends to make a secondary attack from the opposite side. By successfully using advanced combat techniques, you will also receive fame points, which are a resource needed to purchase certain items that you can only get in battles. The combat system of Triangle Strategy is almost perfect, and the fact that it indirectly forces you to use better tactics is just the icing on the cake.

You can upgrade multiple characters for each character, but they are different. Some can add a few points of attack, defense, speed, and others to enhance magic or luck. But you can take everyone one level up by learning new skills and then giving them a chance to change careers and expand their skills and stats even further. But all the characters have enough depth, so building a personal relationship with each is not a problem.

Cubes don’t mean Minecraft

The beautiful HD environment of Triangle Strategy, combined with beautiful magic effects, only enhances the overall atmosphere. For this reason, the characters presented in the style of pixel art, I was a little confused. Thanks to this, unfortunately, I did not avoid fits of laughter at the most tense moments. Especially when each of the important characters on his card is drawn beautifully and in great detail. But I would recommend to easily ignore works of art because they reveal quite a few beliefs that a person is dealing with.

The beautiful HD environment of Triangle Strategy, combined with beautiful magic effects, only enhances the overall atmosphere.

The plot of the game makes you move forward and there are not many moments when you can relax. In fact, you can only jump to your own camp, where there are various merchants, but over time, this camp will recruit new characters and you will be able to engage in training battles and improve your playstyle. Or spend earned resources on new equipment, improve your performance. Or just review all the information you have received so far. There are really a lot of lyrics in the game.

Triangle Strategy is often compared to the successor to Octopath Traveler, which I don’t know I haven’t played the game, but if you like really well crafted strategies with a plot that isn’t sewn together with a hot needle, then this is the game for you. Personally, I feel like I’m stuck in this world for a few years because I just won’t forget the dozens of hours spent in the Triangle Strategy conflict.