Story: The story behind Yggdra Union is simple, you are trying to take back your kingdom.  The game starts with a young woman running.  She hides in an abandoned fort and the owner of the fort, Milanor, returns to his fort to find it on fire.  The young woman escapes from the burning fort and Milanor blames the young woman for the destruction of his home.  The woman reveals her identity as Yggdra, the Royal Princess of Fantisinia.  Yggdra asks for Milanor's assistance in taking back the castle.  In return, Yggdra offers Milanor the castle that they will take back. Milanor accepts and they head towards the castle.  The two encounter the Bronquian army attacking Durant, a warrior of Fantisinia.  The forces join up and head to the castle.

Game play: The game play is really simple to understand.  The game map is divided into individual tiles.  To move, one must use cards (CLICHE!).  Each card has a specific move number to be shared by all your units.  For example, one of the first cards you get is “Steal” with a move of 12, meaning your troops can move a total of 12 spaces.  Cards also have an ACE type.  The ACE type varies with the card as well.  If the unit initiating the attack, once a turn, has the same weapon type as the ACE type on the card, then he/she can use the card's ability.  For simplicity, I will stick with “Steal” as the example.  “Steal” has the Axe ACE type, and Milanor has an axe, therefore if Milanor starts the attack with that card in use, he can use the skill.  Cards have special effects as well and sometimes only certain people can use them.  Sticking with the “Steal” card, it can steal an item that the enemy is carrying and only Milanor can use the skill.  Other cards allow for all to use it, “Sanctuary” for example can be used by all characters but must be used at Noon.  “Sanctuary” can restore your party members.  Each card also has a POWer value.  The POW increases as the units defeat enemies.  That is about it for the cards, now to battle!

 

Battle System: Battle is as simple as holding down a button.  Each weapon type has an advantage over another, the first relationship you learn is: Axes beat Lances, Lances beat Swords, Swords beat Axes and Scythes beat all three.  The weapon type table gets a bit confusing but it takes some getting used to.  The advantages move into battle and using the weapon types effectively will lead to victory.  It is easy to see the advantages in battle, thanks to a simple little picture.  This picture shows a symbol, for example, a grey X means that you or your enemy has a disadvantage.  A red star means a high advantage.  This is only a guess, I have taken down enemies with the red star when I had the grey X.  In battle is woefully easy, all you need to do is hold left or right.  Holding left fills up the bar that lets the team use skills, but makes your units fight defensively.  Holding right empties the bar and makes your units fight aggressively.  Unions can be formed with units.  These unions allow warriors to fight a single enemy multiple times, or fight 5 enemies with 5 of your own warriors.  Male characters have an X shaped Union Pattern, extending three spaces.  Female characters have a + shaped union pattern.  All allied units in the pattern participate in battle.  Later on, there are extensions that allow for the units in the Primary pattern to use their own patterns (1 space in length) to connect the union further.  It gets complicated but it is easy to understand.  Victory in battle means that the loser losses some morale.  Once the morale is depleted, then the unit is removed from the battlefield.  The other kind of units, Summoned, don't have a union pattern but can participate in battle if added in a union.  The possible summons are golems and skeletons.  The disadvantage with skeletons is that they sleep during the day and move at night. 

 

Review: Overall, this is a good game.  The storyline is solid and the gameplay is simple.  The game gets extremely difficult at times but that just makes it more fun.  If you played the GBA version, I still recommend getting this one.  There is something about actually hearing the voices, not just reading the text.  In any case, I give it a 5 out of 5. This game gets REALLY hard later on (watch out for Gulcasa), and that keeps it interesting and fun.