Hello again!

In today’s article, I’ll write about the story of the Ogre Battle Saga right at the top, trying to avoid direct spoilers about the game. You can see this article as the background where the stories of the saga will unfold!

Remembering that this is the second part of a 3-part article, so if you haven’t read the first part of it here on Compass, it’s highly recommended that you do!

But well, without further ado, let’s get into the history of the Ogre Battle saga!

HISTORY

The story of the Ogre Battle saga takes place in different kingdoms, different continents and different times. The paths of the main and supporting characters do not always cross in the narrative of the same game.

As stated earlier in this article, each game has common themes usually found in stories about great wars, themes such as revolution, camaraderie, betrayal, loss, etc. are widely found in the stories of the Ogre Battle saga

What sets it apart from most of the stories found in games, however, is the fact that it adds a different spice by bringing as a backdrop a demonic invasion always on the horizon, waiting to be instigated by whoever it is.

There is a clear parallel about which allegory the ogre battle represents within the history of the saga as a whole and this is explicitly told to players within some dialogues, mainly in the last released games.

The Ogre Battle saga is not a young mystic, but she loves a little tarot and other mystical things.

The Ogre Battle, according to the game’s own lore, represents the darkness in the hearts of those who live by hatred and oppression and can only be brought back into the world when triggered by humans who are naturally violent, or who are in a state of violence. of deep despair, or even those who let themselves be driven by the hatred they feel towards other humans.

It is important to emphasize here that the story of each game – be it an Ogre Battle or a Tactics Ogre – is unique, but with each subsequent release, the events of the previous games are not only taken into account, but also directly impact the plot.

Those who want to follow the complete story of the saga will find the development of heroes and villains in equal measure, including with entire games dedicated to the development of the main antagonists and protagonists of the series.

Map of the Valerian Islands, where the story of Tactics Ogre unfolds. 

Although the stories are focused on kingdoms and on different people, I wanted to analyze the story in a more generalized way, so you will find from here a lot of spoilers about the history of the Ogre Battle saga, however I will avoid naming the games directly..

Thousands of years before the events witnessed by players in any of the games in the Ogre Battle saga, an entity known as the Grand Philaha created the world and the different planes of existence contained within and beyond it.

These planes are divided like the plane of heaven, where Philaha himself resides along with his servants (like angels), the mundane plane, where Philaha created all beings, including human beings, his favorite creation who were molded in his image and likeness and, finally, the Underworld where dark gods and very powerful and nefarious creatures, such as Ogres, reside.

To move between the three planes, people from each of them use the so-called Gates of Chaos.

With the help of the four goddesses created by Philaha responsible for shaping the world, humans prospered and spread across the world.

Demunza, Philaha’s brother who lost the fight to take control over the upper plane, became the dark god and is now considered king of the underworld, coveted the mundane plane and prepared an invasion of it with an army composed of 108 legions of Ogres. This invasion and the resulting battles became known as the legend of the Ogre Battle.

Demunza’s armies were simply too strong and numerous for the humans of the mundane plane to be able to defend themselves. To balance these forces, Philaha sent divine help in the form of sages and angels to help humans repel this aggression.

The humans’ defense was successful and the ogres were sent back through the gates of chaos to the underworld, properly sealed by the holy holy sword Brynhildr, forged by the powers of Philaha himself.

With the work completed in defense of the mundane plane, Philaha commands the return of the angels sent to help the plane, however, sensing that a next Ogre Battle may happen, the angels decide to leave the sacred sword Brynhildr in the mundane plane so that humans can ask for it. helps by reopening the gates of chaos to the plane of heaven through her power.

Diablo, also known as the god of destruction, is one of the denizens of the underworld who seeks to take control of the mundane plane and one of the commanders of Demunza’s legions.

With this invasion repelled, humans went on with their lives, expansion and wars among themselves, forgetting the materiality of Ogre Battle and turning it into a legend told from parents to children as an allegory for the dangers of the world.

And with this context we arrive at the stories told by the games, since this first Ogre Battle is not directly addressed in the game, which chooses to focus its narrative efforts on an era known as the era of Xytegenia, which occurred thousands of years after these events.

This era of Xytegenia is, in part, equivalent to the medieval era we know, but it is anachronistic, receiving influence from different known eras. And why does it get that name? It is due to the influence and power that the kingdoms of this continent possess, shaping the history of the world through their own histories.

The specific stories of each game in the saga are very political and what happens in one region of the continent directly impacts the others, creating an interconnected plot in all games.

One of the biggest antagonists in the Ogre Battle Saga is the Lodissian Holy Empire. The region of Lodis is made up of fervent religionists and is ruled by the pope of the religion of Filarhh, the sun god, based on stories told by the prophet Lodis.

This religious expansion. occurs by military force, where Lodis invades neighboring nations to impose Lodisism on its subordinates. During its expansion, the Holy Empire of Lodis has established several puppet states across the continent of Xytegenia and rules its territories with an iron fist, forcing all those classified as heretics to convert to Lodisism.

With an antagonist maintaining a status quo of incessant war in the region, there is an extremely fertile field for several political plots to unfold, with civil wars, genocide, alliances, betrayals and even a little demonic invasion here and there to not let the carnage too human and give players other reasons to take up arms in the game and stand up against what he deems to be unfair.

The stories of the Ogre Battle saga are very tasty and, from the first game in the series to the current one, the player’s actions during battles – who to kill, who to spare, which cities to liberate, who to recruit for your army, etc. – and the decisions he must make during the narrative are essential to write the story to unfold in the game.

This not only makes the story different for most players, but also encourages them to revisit it to experience other routes and other events that did not occur in their saves due to their decisions in the game.

In addition to the machinations of Lodis, players must resolve internal conflicts on a game-by-game basis, and sometimes also deal with the reopening of one or another gate of chaos, bringing an invasion of ogres and angels to the world.

Character development is another incredible facet of this saga, where even the smallest characters in the saga have an elaborate background that players can get to know, if they so wish, through sidequests and the encyclopedias present in the games.

Places like Xenobia, the Valerian Islands, Palatinus, Ovis and Lodis and the stories that take place in them impressed me thanks to the richness of detail and the care taken to create an interesting and deep enough narrative for me to completely immerse myself in what each location, every character and every story had to offer.

Many kingdoms together represented in one image.

All stories are powerful and there is a certainty that at least some of the characters will have some impact on the player, awakening positive or negative emotions (or even both!).

The characters being well written and having a high level of humanity in them makes the players always feel engaged with the story, regardless of the path they choose to follow in the game and there are few games that manage to do as well as the ones in the saga. Ogre Battle.

For you who played any game in the saga, which path did you choose? Were you satisfied with the outcome of your actions? I will carry these decisions and their impact on the game with me forever, wherever I go.

Now that the context of the game has been elaborated and I managed to talk about the story as much as I would like, avoiding giving too many spoilers, I would like to leave this subject and enter the new ones only in the next chapter of this article!

When we meet again, I’ll comment on the Gameplay and Gamefeel of the saga in general and especially how I felt revisiting it after so long!

See you around, my broders, until next time!