Platforms:
English:
SNES
PS1 (port)
Wii (Virtual Console SNES version)
Japanese:
SFC
Saturn
PS1
This is one of my favorite games and is the source of my avatar.
The gameplay is very unique. It isn't grid based. You create squads and the squads move around the battlefield liberating towns and encountering enemies. When a squad gets into battle, each unit has a select amount of actions per battle. The specific action used depends on the placement of the character and/or the target. You can also set the strategy of the group to go after leader or weakest etc... Once each unit in both squads has finished all of their actions, or one squad has been destroyed, the battle ends. Whichever unit did the most damage in the battle is declared the winner. The unit will keep fighting as long as the squad leader is still alive.
Alignment and reputation are attributes that are very important and unique to the game. Each unit has an alignment and charisma rating. Alignment is basically a good or evil scale. Low alignment characters can recruit into wizards, ninjas, evil ones etc... High alignment characters recruit into knights, clerics, and valkyries to name a few. Alignment goes up when you defeat enemies of a higher level or lower alignment than your characters. Conversely, it lowers if you defeat enemies of a lower level or higher alignment. Alignment is somewhat tied to reputation. You want to liberate towns with higher alignment units because doing so will raise your rep. Certain battles in the game will require low alignment units to raise rep. Ideally you want a mix to get more diverse classes. Many of the most powerful magic classes are low alignment. Your low alignment units will tend to be more powerful and a few levels higher than your high alignment.
There are several possible endings depending on your reputation and actions taken during the game. Some story characters are only available by having a certain reputation. For example, you can basically recruit the devil to your side if you have a very low reputation.
For one who is new to the game, the system can be fairly complicated, but once you get it down, it has a lot of depth and so many options to customize your squads and characters.
