- JP release: 14th July 1999
- NA release: 5th October 2000
- PAL release: 26th March 2010
- Developer: Quest
- Publisher: Nintendo (JP), Atlus (NA)
- N64 Magazine Score: 87%
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The third game in the Ogre Battle series – and also the final one in the main series (there were some handheld spin-offs), this was the first one to not be multiplatform. The series is a real time strategy heavily focused on tactics that you prepare before battle in terms of unit training, levelling up and picking formations. Person of Lordly Caliber (the first subtitle in the series to not be a Queen song) is a great example of how the N64 can do great 2D graphics.
![](https://djcube.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ogre-014.jpg)
The story is quite fascinating: you play as a promising recruit that picks a job far away from the capital of the country. You fight rebels who try to kidnap the prince. However, things aren’t black and white: the rebels have good reason, although Magnus thinks that their attacks and killing are too far. The prince is also sympathetic to the cause, much to the dismay to his bodyguard (who is trying to train his sympathy out of him, due to orders form his family). Magnus is conflicted with his orders and does offer to spare the lives of the rebels.
![](https://djcube.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ogre-011.jpg)
During the story, you’ll take charge for many battles. The battles take a top down view with you ordering your leaders into positions. Health will recover if they’re in towns, so you’ll often fight for control of them, with your main goal usually being the enemy stronghold. It took me a while to get used to the interface (it took me far to long to figure out how to get more troops into the battlefield).
![](https://djcube.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ogre-018.jpg)
Once you encounter an enemy troop, a battle will take place. These are all automatic, with you only having control of select special abilities. The placement of your squad and how their powers compliment each other is very important. One thing I did find odd is that many fights would end prematurely. This made sense for enemies fleeing, but when I was fighting an enemy in a stronghold, I’d be winning, be pushed back and have to attack again.
![](https://djcube.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ogre-006.jpg)
Between battles is where you will do a lot of organising: training up units, placing new troops into groups, reorganising those groups and so much more. There’s a lot of depth to the system and I found myself interesting by the kind of troops, along with the overall world and story. A glitch on the map screen (likely an emulator issue) meant that I did stop playing sooner than I’d have liked, but this isn’t my kind of game so it probably wouldn’t have been long before I reached a battle I couldn’t get past.
It’s an excellent game which took Japanese developers Quest an eternity to put together, and all of that effort shows. The expense of the hefty 320Mbit cart it fills and the fact that publisher Atlus’ wonderful Snowboard Kids 2 never made it to Europe suggest that we’re not going to see a PAL version of Ogre Battle 54, but it’s definitely worth getting hold of on import. There’s nothing else like it on N65, and it’s more than big enough to keep you playing for most of the two years it’ll take to write the sequel.
Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #50
Remake or remaster?
A remake/remaster collection of the Ogre Battle series would be great for fans of the genre.
Official ways to get the game.
There is no official way to get Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber, not even on Nintendo Swich Online, despite the game releasing on the Virtual Console.
Re-releases
2010: Wii Virtual Console (also the first release in PAL regions)
2017: Wii U Virtual Console
N64 Games by Date
1997: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1998: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1999: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2000: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec