When I hear the phrase “card-based combat”, I usually cringe, and then go run in the opposite direction and hide. To be fair, my only past experience with card-based combat was Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, which I found downright unpleasant (this from a huge fan of the Kingdom Hearts series). Therefore, when I received my copy of Atlus’s Yggdra Union, I was a little apprehensive. The game was described as being a tactical RPG, but the “card-based combat” that appeared in the press release frightened me.

Luckily, the cards haven’t stopped me from enjoying the game thus far. I’m only a few hours in, and while it hasn’t been the most engaging tactics game I’ve ever played, it is very enjoyable and easy to get into. The massive amounts of tutorials that take place early in the game might be an annoyance to veterans of the genre, but Yggdra is much more accessible to newcomers than, say, Final Fantasy Tactics (which scared me away from tactical games for a good ten years).

The title refers to Yggdra, a young princess caught up in an epic battle to reclaim her rightful kingdom. Yeah, not the most original story, but I’m interested in seeing where it goes. I’ve noticed that the story tends to be the weakest part of many tactical RPGs, which I find kind of sad—in my opinion, any role-playing game should have a heavy focus on story, regardless of what the battle system is like. Still, like I said, it’s early, so it’s possible that the characters will continue to develop and I will fall in love with them.

My biggest wish is that the actual battles were a little more hands-on. At the beginning of each round, the player chooses a card that determines how many steps the team can take, what skill they have, and how strong they are. That’s all fine and good, and the use of cards is actually implemented well in this case. However, once you choose to fight an enemy, everything is essentially left up to skill level and sheer luck. On the battle screen, the player can choose how to fight in the “passive-aggressive” system (cute, Atlus, real cute); if you fight aggressively, you will attack twice as hard, but the aggressive meter runs down fast. While you choose passive, the aggressive meter refills while your attacks get weaker; or you could just fight normally and hope for the best. That’s pretty much the extent of the actual battles, and there were a few times I found myself losing for no apparent reason, which is really frustrating. I’m really hoping that they give me more to do as the game goes on.

As a whole, though, I am already liking Yggdra Union more than I thought I would, so that’s something. Right now, my PSP is sitting by my side, and I’m excited to progress even further in the game. We will have a full review for you in a few weeks, and the game comes out in about a month, so you have some time to decide whether or not a card-based tactics game is for you. However, at the moment, I’d say things look promising.

Related Articles:

New Yggdra Union PSP Screenshots

Second Unemployed Ninja Game Coming to DS

Atlus Dungeon-Crawler Coming to PS2 and Wii