Just Finished: Gladius! Raves and a final Question Inside!

[ATB]

What a triumph of turn-based strategy for the console.  

It took me 50+ hrs to finish Ursula's quest and I never got bored...once.

It's the first true TBS game (not including games like KoTor, etc) I've played since hanging up my PC and I'm so glad I made the trade for it.

A+ game!

<Spoiler question below>

After Ursula's quest  you see the ending which would have us to believe that there's a sequel in the works. However, my question is, since Valen's quest is 'advanced' does it continue the story started in Ursula's or is it a retelling of the same story?  I need to know whether to try to play through as Valens or not.

Thanks!

<End Spoiler>

If you're in to tbs games then Gladius is a must own!

[vagabond]

After Ursula's quest  you see the ending which would have us to believe that there's a sequel in the works. However, my question is, since Valen's quest is 'advanced' does it continue the story started in Ursula's or is it a retelling of the same story?  I need to know whether to try to play through as Valens or not.

I think Valens is just considered advanced because he isn't as strong a character as Ursula so the early going is a bit tougher. There is a Valen quest for a time before he meets Ursula. But once they meet it is the same. I didn't play the Valens one all the way to the end again, but I think there are a few differences. I get bored with a game, no matter how good it is. So rarely for me worth the time to play over. But, if you liked it give it a try.

[Draco]

Unfortunately, the sequel was cancelled by Lucasarts for lack of sales. However, that was their own fault for failing to market the game. However, Lucasarts has pretty much gutted its game division anyway so we'll probably never see a sequel, which is a real shame.

As to your questions, the ultimate "end" of the game is the same, whether you play as Ursula or Valens, but how you get to that end is different depending on which campaign you do. There are really only subtle differences to them.  In Ursula's campaign, the end centers around the pursit of the thief who broke into the Temple in Nordah. In Valens' quest, you'll finally be able to enter that temple in Imperia that is off limits in the begining of the game.

I thought the Valens quest was "harder" not because Valens was a weaker character (I don't think he is), but becuase starting off in Imperia is overall tougher because of the greater variety of units, and the abundance of Heavy units early on, which can be challenging if you're new to the game.

I would recommend playing through the other campaign with the swing meters off (you can disable them in the options screen).

Meters off creates a WHOLE NEW set of strategies that must be implimented.  You cannot rely on critical hits all the time;

With Meters Off, a weapon's Accuracy rating becomes the most importan stat, and you really start thinking about  your armor choices (because some really affect accuracy).  Also, class pairings are incrediblly important. You can't send Langston the Minotaur into every battle and expect him to mop up, even against the light units.  Also, units like the Satyr are more useful because getting the team stat boosts from crowd favor is important.

While I hated the Cyclops in the regular game, I used him all the time in my Meters Off campaign because of his 99% accuracy. Also, Langston's stock plummeted because so many of his cool abilities are -10 and -20 (!!) to hit.  

Give it a try!

[Gratch]

I put about 40 hours into Gladius when it first cam out, but never finished it.  

Thanks to this thread, I picked it up again this weekend at Gamestop's "Buy 2 Used Get 1 Free" deal.  Hopefully I will get all the way through this time, but it's not very often a game can hold my attention for that long.

[vagabond]

I thought the Valens quest was "harder" not because Valens was a weaker character (I don't think he is), but becuase starting off in Imperia is overall tougher because of the greater variety of units, and the abundance of Heavy units early on, which can be challenging if you're new to the game.

I would recommend playing through the other campaign with the swing meters off (you can disable them in the options screen).

Meters off creates a WHOLE NEW set of strategies that must be implimented.  You cannot rely on critical hits all the time;

Valens was weaker, Ursula could put up that defensive spell of hers. Can't remember the name and she was basically invulnerable unless she got ganged on by 3 at once or something. You could put her on top in the hold mountain ones and she wouldn't get knocked off. Valens was tough, better than most of the other units but not nearly as good as Ursula. She could take a ton of punishment and she was faster.  Turning the crit meter off adds strategy in some ways and removes it in others. If you really really need a crit to finish something off I could really concentrate and usually make it. This was fun and made the game tense. You remove that factor. Also without the crits you are gonna just get knocked around more and make the battles take longer.  Not really going to make you more likely to lose or anything.

[RamPanther]

Yes! Yes! Yes!  Gladius was an excellent game!  The fact that it sold very poorly on EVERY console is just another indicator that the average American console owner has absolutely no taste and the attention span of a.....oh, forget it.

Its a shame that Gladius 2 (which WAS a possibility) is just as dead as Beyond Good and Evil 2.