Mercenaries Saga 2: Order Of The Silver Eagle

 3DS
Metascore
70

Mixed or average reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. GameGrin
    May 23, 2016
    80
    Considering my expectations weren’t high, the game sat rather well with me and scratched my FF Advance Tactics itch which wasn’t satisfied with my gander at Blazing Souls: Accelate on the PSP. Whilst the game doesn’t have really any truly unique selling points, it maintains itself as being a rather solid SRPG with the music and graphics to match these expectations.

Awards & Rankings

25
#25 Best 3DS Game of 2015
41
#41 Most Discussed 3DS Game of 2015
30
#30 Most Shared 3DS Game of 2015

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 16 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 16
  3. Negative: 2 out of 16
  1. DomFass
    Jul 13, 2015
    10
    Hey! Like final fantasy tactics, or tactics ogre? What if they made a love child and produced it at a quarter of the price of any A+ title onHey! Like final fantasy tactics, or tactics ogre? What if they made a love child and produced it at a quarter of the price of any A+ title on the 3DS market? Well look no further because Circle has brought forth Mercenaries Saga 2! This title has so much bang for your buck in a tiny little package!

    Graphics-
    OK so it might not be the most shiny and awe inspiring game made but what it does have going for it is the retro style look of any FFT or OT fan would recognize. From the portraits to the battlefield, everything looks and feels like a throwback to the old PS titles. Its not a bad thing as the art work is nice and chracter job changes are visible. weapon looks also change as you progress and spells and abilities feel appropriate.

    Music/sound
    For a budget title there is quite a few tracks in here that flow with the game. From town cut scenes to the battles and boss encounters, the throw back feel of this game puts you right back to the old days of turn based SRPGs. Not too distracting and its charm is not lost while selecting commands. Spells and skills all have a retroey feel but looks good non the less, wont make any FFT summons blush but its does just fine on its own.

    Game play
    The real meat and bones of the title! This title takes a page out of TO and gives each side their own turn to act and stratigize, Turn base is great and doesnt meddle around with timed actions or anything, menus are easy to access and you can change the order of skills you will use in the battles to come, and oh boy there will be a list of skills to select by the end! Every person has 2 branches of jobs and skills of each are collected and used regardless of job they are, tho certain weapon skills can only be used by its targets weapons. Combat is fluid and you never really have to pay attention to magic levels as each turn you gain a certain percentage back which can be changed +/- based on gear and even magical gear which you can customize at will, provided you got the coin. Skills are gained from skill points after the battle is concluded. In free battle you can grind for SP and Money so that you can unlock weapon skills, spells, and attributes such as Strength up and Counter attack up! This can lead to some very broken combos when combined with certain jobs. Weapon and gear crafting is addictive! Like axes? how about an ax with ice attribute and petrify ability? why not add a Move +1 on it too, the sky's the limit once you unlock this feature. From easy to follow battles, skill learning/leveling, weapon crafting, job gaining, and magical item hunting in the shop (it changes after each battle) there is always something to do between story missions.

    Overall you can't go wrong for 5 dollars and you can easily sink 40+ hours getting your people leveled and skilled, making potentially game breaking weapons, and unlocking jobs. There is also a new game+ feature and a hard mode once the main story is finished. There is 24 chapters in total and 10 characters to play with and tinker to shape how you want them to play! This is a hidden gem and if you can get past the retro feel to it, you will find the game play to be addictive! I do wish there was a PvP feature but that's asking a lot out of a budget title like this.    … Full Review »
  2. ricklongo
    Aug 21, 2015
    8
    3DS-owning fans of strategy RPGs have a cool new way to scratch that waiting-for-Fire-Emblem-Fates itch: Mercenary Saga 2, a well-designed3DS-owning fans of strategy RPGs have a cool new way to scratch that waiting-for-Fire-Emblem-Fates itch: Mercenary Saga 2, a well-designed little package that's as addictive as one would hope for an entry in the genre. Better yet, it's a title that's as large in gameplay time as it is cheap to get.

    The game follows the titular Order of Silver Eagle and its members as they try to unravel a conspiracy to assassinate their monarch. The plot is pretty much what you'd expect, and truth be told, it's there more to add flavor to the battles than to wow anyone with storytelling. In this, it works, and it avoid some ultra-cheesy plot pitfalls seen in games such as Final Fantasy Tactics A2 for the DS.

    If you're acquainted with the genre, there really isn't much to say of the gameplay, except that it works very well and keeps you coming back for more. If you're not, here's how it is in a nutshell: you have to position your characters on a battlefield and engage enemies on different landscapes. Each battle may have a different win/lose condition, but most require you to wipe out the opposing army while making sure the same doesn't happen to yours. Eventually, new characters start to join your group, adding more and more strategic decisions pertaining to each unit's style of gameplay. There's no permadeath, meaning characters that are defeated can come back for more in subsequent stages.

    Between battles, of course, you get to level up your soldiers and buy gear for them, which is one of the more interesting aspects of the game (and of the genre as a whole, really). Each character class can be eventually evolved into more specialized jobs, with the additional perk that characters get to keep all of the abilities they unlocked on each job as they go after a new one. Aside from the regular weapon/armor shop, there's also a neat magic-item-crafting option, where you get to try and forge the perfect gear for each of the characters (be prepared to pay steep prices in the in-game currency, though).

    Mercenary Saga 2 is a surprisingly engaging little game that packs many hours of strategic fun. Its deepness doesn't really compare to more fleshed-out (and full-priced) entries in the genre, of course, but what's here should be good to last you quite a while. Design-wise, everything is in its right place, and the sum of its different parts makes the game very much worthy of a spot on your 3DS library.

    Rating: 8.0    … Full Review »
  3. night4
    Apr 5, 2018
    9
    This is the best of the 3, imo.

    I especially love that both of your mages get Earthquake, so you can gain boatloads of experience from a    This is the best of the 3, imo.

    I especially love that both of your mages get Earthquake, so you can gain boatloads of experience from a safe distance while whittling away at the enemies' hp.

    It has the best story of the 3 games, too. I was legitimately engaged in it to the end.    … Full Review »
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