The story of Triangle Strategy has you playing as Serenoa Wolffort, an heir to House Wolffort. House Wolffort is one of three nations on the continent of Norzelia. The three houses are in a political power struggle over the resources of the continent.
Triangle Strategy is a tactical turn based RPG that blends together elements from Final Fantasy Tactics as well the more traditional Final Fantasy series of games. The game consists of voice acted cut-scenes that play out and tell a beautiful and engaging story. These can be skipped if you so choose, but I would recommend watching them as they are very well done. Another reason to not skip them is that during these story elements, the choices you make will determine how future events unfold, as well as determine how your fellow party members will perceive you. Once the story elements play out, you’re treated to one of two areas of play, exploration and tactical turn based battles. Exploration consists of you walking around settings like towns talking with people to either gain information, open up side quests, or obtain items that will aid you in upcoming battles.
The second area of the game are the tactical battles. These battles often have dialogue at the start and end of them, which may change depending on if you win or lose the battle. Battles are won or lost depending on the terms that are given at the start. You place your party members where you want to on the battlefield with there being a grid that spans the entirety of the field. Once you place your character units, they each take their turn. You can either have the selected unit use an offensive or defensive spell, use an item, or just defend themselves. Depending on the character unit you are controlling, you may have the chance to move the unit out of harms way after attacking an enemy.
Once the selected spell, ability, or item has been used, you choose the direction that your character faces. This is used as a strategic tactic that can help you avoid attacks, or counter attacks; should your character be facing the enemy that attacks them. Speaking of counter attacks, the neat thing about these battles is that if you have an enemy unit that’s standing between two of your own units, both of your units can attack the enemy unit in the middle, even if it’s not the other units turn immediately after the unit you have attacked with or has gotten attacked.
Triangle Strategy has that 2.5D graphical style that is similar to that of the Octopath games and this is especially breathtaking to see while playing the game in VR. The in game camera is an almost isometric angle which brings the 3D buildings, set pieces, and characters to life in a very stunning and artistic way. When in exploration mode, you have NPCs and your player character that have that sprite look that just makes them stand out in their environment.
The 3D buildings look stunning and the animals running around, grass, trees, and plants that are dotted around the environments just add to the beautiful aesthetic of the game. Clouds moving across the sky, sunlight shining down through trees, fog that rolls in, it all just looks stunning in VR. Going into buildings you even have that 3D look, which again looks absolutely beautiful in VR.
I keep saying that it looks stunning and beautiful but this is the truth. The experience you get when playing this game in VR is unlike any other way this game can be played. Everything in this game just stands out to the point that you couldn’t get playing the game on any other platform.
Triangle Strategy has some of the best background music that could even rival that of most traditional RPGs. Character voices sound crisp and clear as a bell. Sound effects of the spells, items used, unit battle cries during battle, sounds of animals running around town, ambient noises of the environment, all sound really good. This is in part because of the speakers built into the VR headset and it gives an almost surround sound feeling. Each background track is unique and sounds orchestrated, while character voices have true emotion to them and don’t sound flat or bland. All of these elements come together to give you an unforgettable auditory experience. One that really needs to be experienced to really be understood and appreciated.
I don’t really care for tactical RPG games, as the story lines are usually boring and have rather bad acting when voice acting is involved, battles are repetitive, and the music only compounds these elements. But when I saw this game get the VR treatment, I was rather intrigued and left wondering just how well a tactical RPG would translate into the virtual reality space. Well Triangle Strategy VR was a very pleasant surprise. It might not have changed my mind when it comes to flat tactical RPGs like Final Fantasy tactics, but it gives me hope that more RPGs like this will make their way to the VR landscape.
If you’re a fan of tactical RPGs and have a VR headset, you have to treat yourself to Triangle Strategy VR. Even if you’re like myself and don’t care for them at all, you still should give this game a chance if you have the means to do so!
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
In addition to writing articles, Ryan Byers also creates content for his YouTube channel called "Obscure Games and Consoles", collects video games, and dabbles in video game development.