Langrisser (series)

Langrisser (ラングリッサー) is a five-part video game series created by Masaya, the software division of Nippon Computer Systems created in the early 1990s. The development team working under Masaya was CareerSoft.

The games are set in a world where there are only two known mega-continents: El Sallia and Yeless. With the exception of the fourth and fifth installments, all games are set exclusively on El Sallia, although references are sometimes made to the other continent. The series maintains a fantasy Germanic setting, but draws on religious concepts like ditheism and sword worship for historical context.

Gameplay
Gameplay in the Langrisser series is similar to many other tactical role-playing games. The game is divided into Scenarios, each of which reveals a portion of the story through battle interaction.

At the outset of battle, military commanders are positioned on the game's map and units are hired. Combat always follows a system of Turn-based strategy. In the first two games, any unit can be moved at any time during your turn, but each unit can only be moved once. In the last two games, a clock was introduced and units were moved in turn according to agility.

A unit's commander class dictates the radius of its command range. Units battling within this command range receive a bonus to their attack and defense due to proximity to the commander.

Commanders can recover life using a specific command depending on the game. In the first game the Treat Command will recover 3 Hit points (HP). In later versions of the game the Treat Command is replaced by the Heal command which recovers 3 HP (HP) and 2 Magic points. A commander’s troops recover by being positioned directly around the commander. Each will recover 3 HP at the start of a turn.

Units work on an affinity system. Fliers are strong to soldiers but weak to bowmen. Soldiers are strong to pikemen but weak to cavalry. Cavalry are strong to soldiers and weak to pikemen. Holy units are strong against demon units. Seafaring units get a tactical advantage when attacking from water.

The game engine used in Langrisser III is a considerable departure from the rest of the series, relying on mass battles between a commander's entire platoon against his enemy's.

Story
El Sallia, since time immemorial, has been influenced by the power of "gods". The evil gods were originally their own tribe, and over time one rose to power to dominate all the others. He was the dark god, Chaos, worshiped by the devil tribe. Conversely, Lushiris, a goddess of light, was worshiped by the humans.

Each god has its own avatar to exercise its power in the human world and prepare for its coming. Chaos' avatar is Böser, a prince of darkness who is really the trapped soul of a damned human. Lushiris' avatar is Jessica, a magician. Each avatar has been entrusted with a sword that carries the weight of the gods’ powers. Böser is responsible for Alhazard, and Jessica is responsible for Langrisser. By choosing a champion for the swords in each era, they influence the world in an endless series of wars.

Langrisser itself is a copy of Alhazard made in ancient times and bound to the soul of Sieghart, the first king to rule Elthlead, later called Baldea, as a Descendant of Light.

The series is actually the extension of an older NCS strategy game series called Elthlead. The first two games, Elthlead and The Crest of Gaia, focus on Sieghart's battles against Böser for the power of Gaia. The last game, Guyframe, is set in the distant future as a new hero, Elvin Lambert, rediscovers the powers lost in the ancient past. The Guyframe units his kingdom uses were first recreated by the Federation Court Magician Gizarof and dark god Gendrasil in Langrisser IV.

Games
Below is a complete list of released Langrisser games.

 The Crest of Gaia (TurboGrafx-16) Langrisser I (Mega Drive/Genesis, PC) [USA title: Warsong] Langrisser: The Descendants of Light (PC Engine CD) Langrisser II (Mega Drive/Genesis, PC) Der Langrisser (SNES) Der Langrisser FX (PC-FX) Langrisser III (SEGA Saturn, PS2, PC) Langrisser I & II (PlayStation)</li> Langrisser: Dramatic Edition (SEGA Saturn)</li> Langrisser IV (Sega Saturn)</li> Langrisser V: The End of Legend (SEGA Saturn)</li> Langrisser IV & V: Final Edition (PlayStation)</li> Langrisser Tribute (SEGA Saturn)</li> Langrisser Millennium (Dreamcast, PC)</li> Langrisser Millennium: The Last Century (Wonderswan)</li> </ul>

Der Langrisser is a remake of Langrisser II with branching story paths. Langrisser: Dramatic Edition is a remake of Langrisser I and II, a port of Langrisser and Der Langrisser. Langrisser Tribute is a box set with all five games for the Sega Saturn.

Langrisser Millennium and Langrisser Millennium: The Last Century are not generally considered part of the Langrisser canon. They were not created by the same developers, and have no real connection to the rest of the series.

The Crest of Gaia is a prequel to the original Langrisser released for the TurboGrafx-16.

The only game in the series to be translated in English was Warsong (Langrisser I) for the Genesis. However, a complete English translation of Langrisser II was also made by fans.

The PC titles have been released in Chinese and Korean.

CareerSoft is currently responsible for developing Atlus's Growlanser series.