G-Craft/ Front Mission

I am going to go ahead and open with a revelation. While I love JRPG’s I have always struggled to get into strategy RPG’s. I can't really explain why, it seems like something I would really love. But everyone I have ever picked up to play I just didn't really connect with. Well, all except one. Front Mission 3 captured me in a way that I can not really express into words. I love Mecha, in particular the realistic style of the genre, like Gundam. The setting and fictional political struggle immediately had me hooked. I have since replayed and beaten the game at least five times and I was excited to take a look into the other games in the series. Was it a one hit wonder for me? Or is there more down the rabbit hole than I could have imagined? Come with me on the journey as we complete a Front Mission/ G-Craft retrospective.

It always starts as a dream right. Toshiro Tsuchida having just left Masaya, a Japanese developer during the early 90’s, where had served as producer on a few games that likely inspired the company's seminal work. Theme influences like Assault Suits Valken, a side scrolling mech game and gameplay influences like Langrisser, a strategy RPG. Toshiro had an idea for a new game, but his new company G-Craft needed capital to make that idea reality. In 1993 he Approached Square for funding. Square was initially skeptical of the idea, their usual fair being fantasy settings, they were intimidated by the mecha influence. The idea was definitely outside of their wheelhouse and during the industry climate of the time they were reluctant to take any risks. But Toshiro persisted and a deal was struck in the fall of 1993, which resulted in the release of Front Mission on the Super Famicom.

In the world of Front Mission wars of the near future are fought in Mech’s called Wanzers. This term is an amalgam of two German words, wander panzer or walking tank. It is a turn based tactical RPG with a linear based story progression. Cutscenes, character portraits and text boxes move the plot along between battles which play out in a variety of environments. These play out similar to digital style comic games, with dialogue choices that may, depending on the entry, change the plot to varying levels. One innocuous choice could produce a whole different scenario, but most of the time this is not the case. Wanzers are customizable and there are a variety of weapons to choose from. They fall into four categories based on range and each limb and body segment on the mech has its own stats and life bars. Indeed the mech’s are fully customizable and it can be intimidating with just how much freedom you have to build what you want, provided you have the money.

Every entry in the series is connected to each other, although usually not directly. In the first game you play as Lloyd Clive who is a member of the OCU military (Oceania Cooperative Union) political faction. The story starts out pretty hard as Lloyd is investigating another political faction's facilities, his platoon is ambushed and his fiance seemingly is killed. To make matters worse his squad is blamed for the initiation of hostilities and war erupts between the two factions on Hoffman Island. Loyd must cut through the government coverup on both sides to uncover the truth and end the madness of war.

Beyond the Mecha influences, the near future setting might be one of the series greatest strengths. Politicians are the real enemies in these games, as they vie for power and influence, not caring who they kill or maim in the process. It is the soldier caught in the madness of these wicked men who shines as the hero in these games. The mood of the game is dark, the world of Front Mission is a gritty and repressed place. But enough light hearted character moments are included to make the world seem bearable. As stated the big draws are the level of customization, which makes the games very replay-able, coupled with the intrigue, political drama played out in the background behind these very human characters. The game has been re-made twice, first for the playstation in Japan, then the DS and more recently for the Switch so it is very accessible if you want to give it a go.

So what do I think of the game? Well as previously stated I love the third entry and the DNA of what makes it great is here. However, some core ideas have yet to appear. For instance the grid display for movement is here but the red grid for attacking is not yet present in older versions of the game. This can make it more tedious to plan your attacks until you learn the firing patterns of each weapon. The touch screen options on the DS version smooth out the gameplay, making for a faster experience, however it still can feel slow and tedious to play. The story grips me but the gameplay needs an update for my modern sensibilities. Unfortunately the 3-D remake on the switch does not seem to address any of these elements. This game needed more than just a 3-D coat of paint to make it stand out but unfortunately that seems to be all it got. The battles just drag on and you don’t really have any options for speeding things up. Also unlike latter entries if the main protagonist falls in battle it is game over. So you have one unit in your group that you can not really use because if he is engaged and RNG screws you over then you could potentially have wasted thirty minutes on a battle or more. This game could have been remade with three and fours modern sensibilities and been incredible, but as it is the remake is a missed opportunity. It is not bad, it is just difficult to go back to considering how far the genre, even the series, has progressed.

Now here is where things get a little weird as Front Mission has two types of entries. All numbered titles are strategy RPGs, but the series has several spinoff titles that move into other genres. The next game, subtitled Gun Hazard, is the first spin off. It swaps genres and is more of a mech run and gun. This game is very reminiscent of the aforementioned Assault Suits Valken. In fact playing them back to back Gun Hazard feels more like an Assault Suite Sequel than a Front Mission One. Indeed the story happens in an alternate timeline and is not even related to the main series plot in any way. I was not even sure if I should include the game in this video, since while published by Square, G-Craft did not develop the game. Instead it was developed by Omiya soft, with several of the staff from Masaya on hand to program and plan the game. I decided to include it anyway because I am sure someone in the comments would ask about it. Putting them side by side you can really see the similarities and they feel very similar to play. In short it is related to the franchise in name and publisher only. Both of these games are very fun though and if you can I recommend giving them a try. The Assault Suit Leynos got a remake published by Sodesco a few years back on the PS4 and it also is definitely worth your time.

Back to G-Craft they were gearing up for their first release on the Playstation, Arc the Lad. Around 1995 Square shifted their focus from Nintendo to Playstation, however a great deal of games coming out in the early days of the console felt more like upscaled ports of SNES games rather than fully fledged 32 bit generation games. Arc the Lad falls into this group. To be clear, this is not a criticism, I think that style is awesome, however it did create some problems early on for the North American release. Sony and Sega in the early days tended not to release any games for their 32 bit hardware in the US unless they featured some form of 3d graphics. Despite the demand for games like Arc the lad and the vocal fan community calling for it the game did not make it to North America until 2002. The famous Working Designs handled the port and the game was released as a compilation containing four Arc the Lad games. You play as Arc, a lad burdened with a destiny to save the world. The gameplay is tactical RPG, but it is very streamlined compared to its contemporaries. Less menu driven and less spectacle. The upside to all this no-nonsense presentation is the speed at which battles and actions progress. It is refreshing compared to something like the Shining games or tactics games. Again, not saying those are bad, but this feels simpler and it plays that aspect as a strength. I could see why a lot of fans latched onto it back in the day. It was followed quickly by two sequels which expanded on the lore, world and mechanics and a monster training simulator spin off title called Arc the Lad Monster game and Casino game. All of these games were released together in 2002 in the working designs compilation already mentioned.

Front Mission 2 came out after the Second Arc the Lad game. This game was also a Japanese exclusive release, like the first numbered game in the series. It has never been released in North America, but is getting a remake on the Switch soon. I did attempt to play an English patched version of the game, but the patch is only partially translated and a lot of the cutscenes are still in Japanese. The story follows three main characters, Ash Thomas and Lisa. Part of the OCU forces in Alordesh (formerly Bangladesh) in the wake of the second Hoffman conflict twelve years prior the country has been spiraling into unrest and seeking independence. The game opens when liberation forces storm the base. In the fury of the battle our trio of heroes are forced to flee. The game follows their struggle to flee the country and find out what mysterious force is pulling the strings behind the scenes. The game feels even slower than its predecessor due to more cinematic focus for cutscenes and even turns. Each of these has to load from the playstation disc and more still each is pretty embellished compared to the other entries in the franchise. What results is a game that is technically very impressive and for its time looks great on the Playstation. However, in execution it bogs down in a hurry mainly due to the slow loading.

Front Mission 2 also marks the end of G-Craft as an independent developer. During the games production Square offered to buy out the company and a deal was struck. G-Craft became Square's 6th Product Development Division. From here on out we will largely focus on the games in the Front Mission series, but we will mention some other interesting titles produced by division 6 and Toshiro Tsuchida himself.

Front Mission Alternate is the second spin off title in the series and like gun hazard is in a different genre, this time an RTS. The game was developed by Square’s Division 7 alongside Front Mission 2. Like Gun Hazard the story is considered an alternate history and non-cannon to the main numbered titles. It was never released outside of Japan and I was not able to play it for this review. RTS have never really been my cup of tea so I am not sure I will ever get around to playing it but if these stills look interesting to you I would say give it a try.

This brings us neatly to Front Mission 3. As I stated already, this game rocks. It finally hammers out all the kinks in the previous game and adds a few more elements that make it really stand out. You play as Kazuki and Ryogo, two Japanese youths who are test Pilots for a Wanzer development company in Japan. Set ten years after the second numbered entry, the OCU is still reeling from the events of the prior conflict. Kazuki and Ryogo find themselves in a lot of trouble looking for Kazuki’s adopted sister Alisa. The game has two completely different story campaigns that are tied to a choice early on in the game. The game is also much more replayable due to the ability to skip cutscenes and speed up battles with the push of a button. The game can be tailored to your preferences using the infinitely customizable options of the Wanzer parts and weapons. Want to play the whole game using only melee weapons? Sure no problem. Different Characters can be unlocked depending on how you play the scenarios as well. Everytime I come back to the game I find something new to enjoy about it. Also introduced is the web browser. No joke the game has a fictional world wide web that you can log into and check emails or browse pages. Here you can expand your knowledge of the lore or even find good deals on weapons. A remake is scheduled for 2023 and I will be getting it day one. I just hope they do not mess it up.

Front Mission 4 came out for the PS2 in 2003 and improves on its predecessor in the gameplay department. Links are the bread and butter of the battle system and the player has a lot of control over these combo actions. You can link your attacks with other members of your squad to deal major damage to the enemy. The story follows two squads, one in Europe and one in South America. The story has lower stakes than part 3 and is quite a bit shorter. But this time there's a full cast of voice actors who all do a tremendous job of bringing the game to life. The game is a lot of fun and there are more customization and options than ever. Players new to the series might be overwhelmed by all the options and consulting a guide is a must if you want to get the most mileage out of the game. Some of the weapons are incredibly fun to use and you can unlock some really overpowered equipment by meeting certain mission requirements in the game or the simulator missions. I did find myself farming for money a lot more in this game than three but as fun as the combat was that was never a problem. I still think three is my favorite of the two but it is not by much and I will be coming back to this game very soon.

Followed up by three Japan exclusives, Front Mission Online and Front Mission 5, both for the Playstation 2 and Front Mission 2089. Online was, as the name implies, an MMO third person shooter. Five, being a numbered entry builds on the mechanics of four and 2089 was at first a mobile game styled after the original Front Mission. 2089 was released later on the DS, but that was also a Japan exclusive. As of right now 5 is the last numbered entry in the franchise. There have been two titles that did come to North America since but neither of them were developed by Toshiro and his team. Front Mission Evolved was an attempted reboot similar in mechanics to Online, although not an MMO. Left Alive is the last game to come out of the Front Mission universe. But despite being in the same world, you do not play in the mechs and the game is a 3rd person shooter with Metal Gear Solid Vibes, though by all accounts it is a much poorer executed experience than the famous stealth game.

That is pretty much it Front Mission as of right now. There is some hope with the recent remakes and indeed I am very much excited for the FM3 remake next year. That said, there are other G-Craft/ Division 6 games to cover as well as the career of Toshiro Tsuchida himself. So we will wrap up the video with a segment on both.

Division 6 continued until Squarenix’s restructuring in 2009. They developed mostly Front Mission games but a few notable games not in that Franchise are Another Mind and Blue Wing Blitz. Another Mind was a bizarre experimental FMV game. You play as another mind literally, appearing in the consciousness of a 16 year old girl after she wakes up from an accident. The player and the girl, named Hitomi, communicate with each other. The player does not have direct control and must convince Hitomi to perform actions to solve the game's mysteries and progress the plot. Blue Wing Blitz Returns to the division's roots and is a turn-based tactical RPG for the Wonder Swan. The difference though is this time you are in stylized airplanes instead of Mech’s. The game looks great but I have no idea how to play it since it is all in Japanese. Fan translation patch anyone?

As far as Toshiro Tsuchida, he worked on three Final Fantasy games as a battle planner and on monster AI. Specifically he is responsible for the amazing turn based system of Final Fantasy X, but he also worked on XI and XIII. He was also a producer on the Wii ware Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles game, My Life as a King.

So in conclusion, Front Mission as a series just got better and better until suddenly in the Playstation 2 Era it just sort of lost itself. Fans of the franchise, myself included, hope that these remakes lead to a resurgence of the franchise. But I suppose only time will tell.