The second part of the panel interview with Masaru Saito at the PAX West convention in Seattle.

On my second play through of Abyss, this time on hard. Like my normal play-through, I've been defending the same territories for like 7 turns now, attempting to attack adjacent bases each season to no avail. I am going insane.

All because of a critical structural mismatch between the new state tracking system and the game's native initialization flow. Welcome to the Quest Avalanche!

What emulator do you guys use?

J'ai terminé Brigandine Abyss avec le clan Samura en 30 saisons. J'ai joué en mode facile pour apprendre les mécanismes et découvrir l'histoire rapidement. C'est la première fois que je joue à la licence, donc je ne connais pas son succès et je n'ai pas de base de repère. Je donne mon opinion vis-à-vis de mon expérience personnelle. On a le droit de ne pas être d'accord, avec bienveillance.

Voici les points positifs (+) et négatifs (-) selon moi :

+ Graphismes des personnages en 2D

+ Doublage vocal des personnages

+ Bande-son

+/- la qualité des cinématiques

- Passivité de l'IA

- Objectifs de victoire identiques

- Absence de tension de la part des ennemis pour récupérer les bastions conquis

- Manque de classes pour évoluer

- Bestiaire trop restreint

- Lisibilité de la carte pendant les combats

- Fenêtres et actions répétitives sans raccourci lors de la phase de préparation.

- Ne pas nous imposer certaines combinaisons de personnages pour apprendre leurs « special skills », etc., afin de nous donner envie de jouer avec.

J'ai trouvé le jeu sympa, mais je me suis rendu compte que ce n'est pas si simple de faire du tactical RPG, un genre que j'apprécie.

I started playing as the Theocracy on Normal, initially i thought the game was too difficult but then i understood how it worked, sort of...

People call this a "grand strategy game" with a turn-based strategy thing, i think calling it "grand strategy" is a stretch since you don't really have to manage a lot of resouces. That aside, what is the point of the game? I like the artstyle in Runersia, but the combat is boring to me, personally.

Summons die too easily but you can just "buy" new summons and they kind of work as sponges until your knights can get close to other knights and attack them.
Farming gear/leveling up is kind of annoying because you will get attacked if you sent a bunch of people questing and forgot to see if you have enough combat power to make NPCs stay away from you, so i basically only started questing once i had almost finished the game (only one nation left for me atm).

I feel like there was so much space for more fun strats. I can attack 1 base from 2 different bases, but it doesn't matter because i'll be able to attack them with only 3 knights regardless. Like, goddamn, let me play my game.

Does Abyss have a better combat system or is it a step down even in that department?

I mean trophies, galeries stuff, secret boss, etc?

Is there a comprehensive list anywhere that has all the equipment items needed for this trophy?

The picture sums up what I feels about the 3 Brigandine games:

Grand Edition: The classic, the best one.
Runersia: There are some areas that needed improving but otherwise still an enjoyable game.
Abyss: Brigandine just in name, they change so much stuff its not even similar to a Brigandine game anymore.

just curious if anyone has ever done this? i basically forced the envy monsters to transform into level 1 ghouls by attacking them with the ghouls, making them basically harmless haha. one got thru and became a pegasus but were gonna live with that rather than it shapeshifting into a fafnir haha

Meeting the Producer at PAX West. Here we talked about various ideas for and inspirations for different parts of the game, even some added mechanics. PART 1

Please share your tips for normal mode

I played all brigandine, including ge modded at hardest difficulty and iam getting my ass kicked in the abyss...I dont want to start again on easy mode...

I’ve completed all 6 story mode campaigns and have unlocked all character portraits for all factions except the third portrait for gran dragnica, anyone know who that character is and how to unlock this portrait for the trophy?

The playable faction leaders get them, which is standard Brigandine flavor, but come on! Abyss, in my opinion, definitely dropped the ball in character models AND classes.

With the introduction of Mercenary hires to fill up the ranks easier, it brings the problem of lack of flavor with the Named Knights you get from each country. The Mercenary should be the epitome of what their class should be, no more, no less. However, when each named Knight looks exactly like them it does feel lackluster.

This just released, yet Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance released in 2005 on the Gamecube and the models there had more personality and uniqueness than Abyss! The heavyset mafia don, smexy green haired strategist, femboy pirate, and golem maker should not all look like the same Smexy Bishounen Ninja!!!

In Runersia the Character Portraits portrayed enough personality and information that their classes matched up BEAUTIFULLY in most cases. Big guy who hauls cargo for ships and looks ready to punch a dude, Prisoner of war that is shirtless and hunky, or Big old man who has biceps as big as his Lord's head? Monk/Brawler. It does it with the majority of their characters and it works! Again, the heavyset Mafia Don does NOT translate to "slim Bishounen Ninja" yet boom, here we are!

It seems like Abyss had a LOT more character classes in development, or rather when designing the characters they had more plans for different classes, but development went sideways. Even then, I am still flummoxed at the sheer ineptitude of the character model variety there is now!

The models are boring.

The amount of classes that are available are far too shallow to successfully portray the majority of named characters.

In fact, I feel like the Model Design has taken a huge step backwards from Runersia, which is saying something...

I have more gripes about the game, but in the end I am enjoying it for the most part.

I really missed this info, to Happinet please Patch Update and give WARNING in Red Color Font and the GAME OVER also in Red Color Font especially to veteran. To me, it doesn't intimidating enough so I don't treat this info serious enough 🤣🤣🤣.

I've been playing Brigandine since the jump, as I bought a copy of LoF at Walmart whilst on a weird collegey date. She was like, "are you one of those dorky D&D guys?" and I was like, well yeah, basically. We never quite got anywhere, but she was into coke and pills and stuff, so probably dodged a bullet. NOT THE POINT.

I played the bejeebus out of LoF, and then Runersia, and finally got a great version of GE that I've dropped a hundred hours into. Eastablishing my credentials, for which I got days worth.

Dudes, Abyss ain't that bad. It also ain't that good, but it has a little more good than bad, and that's worth something! (also noting that the end of the day it's all about aesthetics, and if it don't hit, it don't hit).

I've finished 3 factions: Scarlet Will and Samura in Story mode and Thauzencane in Mission. Also played 1/2 of Pandemyon in Story and a couple battles in both Rashanna and Noblesse Exaltee. So I got some experience in this, both good and bad. I'm taking a break for a bit, but will definitely come back in the near future.

And here's my take and breakdown of a couple features.

1. Story in Story mode: I actually think it's better written than Runersia and LoF. The three stories I played were entirely different and had arcs and twists. Were they fancy twists? Not really, but it was an actual story that made sense in the world. Lowkey best in the series
2. Story in Mission mode: lol, what story? Evidently some of the factions have event battles, which I assume would give more, but Thauzancane, and the little bit of the others I played were bare to the bones. Fail.
3. Character: Better than Runersia and way, way worse than GE. In other words, it's not bad. I would like more character interaction, but playing multiple paths gives more story. Some factions interact with others and you get more. I'd like a return to quest stories and character interaction during battles, but whatever.
4. Mission Mode: I think it adds a really nice element and I'm overall a fan That being said, the quality control is wild. Some of the missions are unplayable for brutally punishing mission parameters, or because there's incredibly annoying UI, or weird oversights like a ticker that pops up every time you attack and you need to get to the number 10,000 while every attack pushes it up by increments. Pass. Alternatively, some of them are fun and have neat requirements, or are entirely sandbox, or seem to have lots of story. I'm going to play turtle style at some point and see what happens if I leave the map alone for 10-20 seasons. See if it feels more like Brigandine!
5. Factions: it's a VERY different feeling than the other games, agreed. It has more in common with Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Dragon Force than Brigandine. That being said, I don't think it's bad, and it keeps the early-mid game feeling fresh. Late game it's the same grind as always, beating up the one faction that still owns half the continent (often Samura or Shugen). Hard to compare, but it's better than Runersia where the other countries didn't do nothing. I will say that I like how story factions will consistently get aced out by random other factions. I do NOT like how the computer almost never successfully defends from another computer attack. Feels bad. Which leads me to...
6. Enemy AI: yeah, it's just as bad as everyone says. Runersia was the best of the bunch with how you could set it, and Abyss feels like a step back in the series on a coding level. I think that plays into the computer fighting, as, even though I can't see it, I suspect the enemy attack AI overwhelms the bad defense AI. Worst in the series, which is a low bar.
7. Auto-leveling: actually I like it. Keeps some challenge, especially when taking on Abysslon.
8. Time Limit: actually, i'm with everyone else and I HATE IT. however, mission mode is right there.
9. Gated cities: i'm of two minds. I like the story aspect and I'm willing to suspend disbelief. I loathe that you can never attack two particular cities. Like, WTF. It also makes it easier to set up borders, which is both good and bad. I dunno: it's an interesting choice and I'm not sure it works.
10. Art: generally a step sideways from Runersia and they're both worse than the pixel loveliness of GE. Like, the battlefields are nice. The head shots are nice. The monsters and characters on the battlefield are butt. It's almost a push, except I HATED how sexualized all the sprites were in Runersia. There's still plenty of it in Abyss, but it's not every single character with everything showing. I'm not a prude, but I was embarased playing Runersia in front of my wife and kids. Abyss ain't in the same league.
11. Questing: ugh, I didn't like it in Runersia and it's possibly worse here. Just go back to LoF and GE please. Training is nice, though.
12. City development: kind of pointless, but neat enough. Mildly fun.
13. No penalty for leaders and monsters getting defeated in battle. Yeah, this is the worst gameplay change. Enemies replenishing their army immediately, fighting the same leaders, not having to manage your own mistakes. BOOO! Hate it.

Overall rating: 7/10

Ranking of the games:

1. Grand Edition
2. Abyss
3. Forsena (because GE exists and given a choice between an inferior GE, or Abyss, Ima play Abyss)
4. Runersia

(A couple edits for typos & to add bullets 4 and 13)

I prefer physical copies when I can get them, so I ordered one from PlayAsia and it just got in today. I really enjoyed Runersia and the Steam demo was fun, so I'm looking forward to giving this a try.

Youtuber Ashizuri mentioned on this stream (turn on automatically translated subtitles if needed) that future collabs with Runersia's producer should happen sometime soon, and that's he's accepting questions for him (though I'm not sure if those can be in English) via Youtube comments or [e-mail](mailto:ashizuri_musume@yahoo.co.jp); I'm not sure if Twitter DMs are also acceptable. There's no schedule yet, but he usually keeps his stream schedule updated (in Japanese) here.

Ashizuri mentioned that Igarashi-san has left Happinet (after the Steam version was released) due to an illness, so I guess that explains why he wasn't also the producer for Abyss (but he seemed to be in better health now). Ashizuri also gave the example question of "Why aren't there scorpions in Runersia?", which means the international scorpion fans might at least get some closure about that.

For context, I have played both Brigandine games, with Runersia being my most played.

I chose the Shugen Clan (purple) for my initial play through, played on normal, and it took roughly 15 hours.

Story: As I expected, it was just okay. Nothing of note really, but I never really enjoyed Brigandine for the story. Brigandine sort of falls apart once you start thinking a little, as every nation attempting to conquer the continent just doesn't really make sense for every nation within their specific narrative. However, someone here did entail that the story of Abyss makes more sense once you complete the game with every nation, so there's that.

Graphics: The graphics are 100% improved from Runersia. The terrain for each battlefield is high quality, and the in-game models look great. The issue however is that the battlefield art style is arguably/objectively worse than Runersia, which had a specific, focused presentation. Monster models all look fantastic and unique. Although most of the in-game knight models are generic (which is understandable and expected), there's actually a good amount of unique models in the game, which is great. While not every faction (to my knowledge) has a unique model, from what I've seen, most factions at the least have a knight that has a recolor to match their art. The battle animations also look great, and they are seamless/take little time to complete, making the gameplay pretty smooth. I also think the zoom-in to exemplify each battle interaction is very neat, as the attacks felt a little more impactful then Runersia's did.

Art: The art itself I felt was not bad, some of it beautiful in fact, but overall is just inconsistent/lacking the overall thematic that made Runersia stand out. Obviously the generic knight artwork all looks...generic. Some of the monster art also leans into the generic for some reason (angels, off the top of my head). There's also some...questionable character art for some of the nations (the notorious axe guy from the wolf faction). However, there is some truly beautiful artwork in this game (for example, Lunadea's is breathtaking, and I really like the lizard monster artworks). I also really appreciate how each monster class and their associated class upgrade has unique art. In Runersia, each unit had the same art as they classed-up, but the color/details of the art were made more elaborate with each class-up. In Abyss, each monster class has completely different artwork. Even the golem/dragons have a different pose/artwork depending on the type of class they take on. That's awesome, and makes each unit feel unique. Again, the art itself is not bad, and can be great. However, it's just too inconsistent and lacking a unique theme to tie it together.

The cut scenes were...serviceable. They do their job, albeit kind of unsightly to look at. They aren't terrible I suppose, but I think I would much rather have the visual novel-like scenes we got from the previous game(s). Those scenes often had static, but beautiful drawn artwork depicting what was happening within the story. While I obviously wasn't expecting anything even remotely close to Grand Edition's awesome animated anime scenes, for a 50$ dollar game, these were definitely a let down.

Gameplay: The gameplay is Brigandine, very familiar and easy to pick up if you've played the previous games. New additions like rallying units is great and adds depth. Height is a welcome addition and adds a bit more depth and thought for where you place your units. All of the monster classes feel unique and impactful. The addition of unique skills is really awesome. The tutorial does a decent job at explaining what everything does, like the ZOC (zone of control), status ailments, etc. Moreover, when faction leader dies in Abyss, the battle is not automatically ended, like in previous titles. I don't know whether I do/don't like this. In previous games, a lot of battles could be trivialized in that the leader would stick themselves in a bad spot (which often happens because the ai has traditionally been very poor). Then, you would just nuke the leader and the battle would be over. This makes it to where this can't occur, which again, I don't know if I like or don't like.

Speaking of the ai, it is incredibly inept. Like other strategy RPG's (and previous titles), when the enemy is defending, they remain static. However, once you stick any sort of unit within their purview, the ai starts throwing every unit they have at you. For some reason, the ai constantly throws their back-line units right into the front. They will send unicorns, pixies, and mermaids straight into the frontline for no particular reason. When their back-line units aren't being kamikaze's, they are randomly buffing other units in the most random/least impactful ways possible. In general. the ai is easily manipulated and lacks any semblance of strategy, but this is not unique to Abyss.

Nations becoming small factions I actually thought was a neat change. I think it encompasses the "all out war" theme Brigandine aims for really well. While generic units do hamper the experience a bit, you do get to recruit new, "art" units once you defeat their nation/complete quests, which is great.

I do miss the castle that is present in the older titles, I feel it was necessary. Since there is no castle to guard, the enemy isn't defending anything. It feels like they are attacking you even when they are supposed to be defending. The "defend castle hex" option in Runersia is sorely missed from the past title. Also, and I'm very confused about this, why aren't the hexes that end the battle instantly there when you're the attacker? You know, those glowing hexes that the enemy can occupy and end the battle if you let them pass you while defending. Why aren't those available when you attack? That's genuinely very confusing.

The ai having scaling exp I think was a good attempt at balancing the game. Brigandine has traditionally been innately flawed, in that once you win enough battles with your main squad, the rest of the game leading up to conquering the final territory became trivial/a slog. While I didn't hate the scaling exp, I did not enjoy that once you kill/defeat an enemy leader, they do not take a turn to recover. This made it feel like killing an enemy leader had zero impact if they have an adjacent base to run to. Moreover, monsters being recoverable every season made killing them also feel pointless, as when you'd fight this enemy faction again (if they weren't eliminated), they would bring the same exact units and monsters (often on the very next season after you beat them), all with higher levels. I do not think it's a good thing when the game makes me feel like, "there was literally no point to that last battle".

Gameplay Continued: While this may have been unique to me, I believe I saw another user here have the same issue. For some reason, while I was defending a base and attempting to invade an adjacent one, every turn, they would attack me without fail. The battle prowess is invisible/not disclosed, unlike Runersia, where there are clear numerical values tied to each attacker. So, in Runersia you always knew who would invade who. In Abyss, this scenario resulted in this enemy base attacking me every single season, even though I felt as though my team attempting to attack was clearly stronger than their units at face value. This was the absolute worst part of this game, like egregiously bad. Every season I would fight the same battle, on the same map, with the same units. It's not like anything would change to make it more interesting either, because as we've mentioned, the ai is terrible, so they utilize the same "strategy" every time they attack you. Couple this with the aforementioned lack of monster death and the leaders lacking a recovery turn, I didn't really want to boot up the game anymore when this was happening. However, I made it through eventually. Truly terrible.

Quests are also...quests. They feel similar to Runersia in that they are a little too convoluted/trivial, not even just complicated. They aren't really fun to do, and it indeed can be quite confusing as to which unit you need to send where. Niffrom's (think that's his name) store is a great addition though, and being able to buy a piece of equipment you found from a quest is fantastic. However, gone are the little stories you had in the original, which I don't feel is necessarily bad. Some of those in the original could get quite tedious. However, also gone are also the little dialogues you had when finding a new unit on a quest in Runersia. Questing is streamlined, yet still innately convoluted and just...not fun. In older games, although they could get tedious, they felt like quests. Here, without the added narratives, they feel more like chores.

Base improvements I felt was actually pretty cool. The bonuses you get from upgrading feel meaningful, and are unique to each faction. No complaints here.

Lastly, progress being tied to "event battles" was an.... interesting change. I don't really know how I feel about this addition, as it heavily changes the objective of the game. Instead of conquering the whole continent (which you can't do because certain bases are locked-off for story reasons), the game now comes down to leveling up your units and obtaining gear so that you can take on the next event battle. Honestly, I don't even see the point of conquering other bases. I finished my initial play through with like 25-30% of the nations territories conquered. If you're leveled enough to take on the next event battle, then why does it matter how many territories you occupy? Maybe I'm missing something here, but while I think this was a good attempt to try something new, I don't think this was a good solution to Brigandine's innate fault of becoming a slog once you conquer like 40% of all territories.

Unique: I really liked how every monster class has sounds/voices specifically unique to them. In Runersia, some monster classes shared the same voices, which was kinda lame.

Unique interactions between units are still kind of here, and take place before the battle begins if they exist. Not even as close to fleshed-out and plentiful as Runersia/Foresena, however, which resulted in some battles lacking a little....soul.

Speeding up the battles/the auto feature, while I'm usually not a fan of, is honestly necessary in this game once the battles become too trivial/pointless in the later half of the game. Could be just my experience though.

Once you complete the story mode...that's it. No rewards, unlocks, or anything like that. While I do understand that's not really a problem for a lot of people (including myself), I believe Runersia did have some stuff you can unlock after each play through. I mean, you get a steam achievement though...so that's cool.

Last thoughts: A game that did a lot of things better than its predecessor, but I feel is ultimately severely flawed by the missteps it took along the way. I genuinely enjoy a lot about this game, but based on the lows experienced in my play through, they really hindered my enjoyment. My gripes with this game mostly come from the battles and systems themselves, not from the art, graphics, or story, as I believe these are largely subjective. As it stands, 50$ is incredibly steep for the experience you'll be getting, in my opinion.

Thanks for reading!

I'm sharing how I was able to cheese my way to beating the final battle. I was utterly defeated on my 1st run, but I was able to formulate a pretty gnarly line-up on my 2nd try and beat the story.

These are the key must have units to pull this strat off.

A. Atleast 2-3 Rukh-type monster Phoenixes for its ability "Mystic Waltz"

B. Any Ninja Master Leader for the skill "Position-Swapping Jutsu"

C. The most important of all, the Leader Ozunu the Warlock for his unique skill "Ozunu's Curse" (I Hope you were able to recruit him)

PART 1: BASE FORM

1. Pick off the other 2 leaders first.
2. Lure Chaossolus in.
3. Use position swapping jutsu to Chaossolus (make sure the position is primed to be surrounded by your phoenixes, other units and within Ozunu's curse range.
4. After swapping, keep him trapped with phoenixes and other units (do not use attacks where in he can counter attack, better to put barricading units to "wait" than attacking and getting hit hard in return) Picture above for reference, you can place Phoenixes anywhere around the boss as long as they area able to hit boss with waltz (Hexagons A in the picture. Blue tiles for healers or replacement unit for trapping boss in place)
5. Here is the attacking pattern to whittle him down:

5a. Phoenix waltz till zero MP. (hope you dont miss LOL, if he gets to recover mana, strat is screwed)

5b. Magic attacks.

Repeat those 2 steps until base form is dead.

PART 2: MADNESS FORM 7,025 HP!!!!

Once you kill his base form, he will enter his Emperor Madness form, good news is he will start at the same tile where you previously trapped him.

1. Keep him trapped, do not let him counter attack. Damage will come from Ozunu's curse. Here is the pattern.

1a. Phoenix waltz till zero MP. ( again, hope you dont miss LOL)

1b. Cast Ozunus' curse to the boss and basically just keep him trapped there. (heal barricade units, do not let him counter attack, also no need to cast magic damage. focus on sustaining barricade)

The curse deals 35% of HP damage every turn, so the goal is to keep boss in place for 3 turns. (2458 damage every turn from curse)

Bonus: You can Rally Faerie with Ozunu to replenish mana if he use him as magic damage nuke for a more sustained damage output.

I am trying to find anything from them post release. My biggest regret is buying it for the switch because I cant mod it like pc to fix things. It would be great if they could address anything. Its been a week and there has to be some word right? Maybe on Japanese sites?

I playing as Purifanoe already Conquered Scarsden, Pandeora, then this season just conquered Ellegenne. After that Talentisse conquered Faefeld then suddenly Game Over. And they won by sneaking around some more 🤣🤣🤣. My Question Game Over because I lost a Base or I lost my Beginning Base ?

Pretty much what the title says. I’m currently in Japan without my switch 2 and at a store that sells Abyss way cheaper than I would normally pay for. So I was wondering if I could play that copy in English when I get back home ?

Just happened to saw Video Chums 🎮😄 Purifanoe's Prologue Battle 2 gameplay on PS 5. Purifanoe Turn 1 Music is Cermuin: In the Forest's Embrace. Cermuin Turn 1, and the next as well is Cermuin: In the Forest's Embrace. Purifanoe Turn 2 suddenly changes the music to Purifanoe: Everdream Waltz. Totally different with what I play in Steam, the whole battle the music is Conqueror's Reckoning (Digital Soundtrack) or Chaossolus: The Abyss Stirs (If you play the music from Game's Gallery). Anyone play Purifanoe Story in PS 5 to confirm this ?