Radlum: Here, we'll take a look at some of the questions that are not necessarily related to gameplay, but are still asked frequently by Tactics Ogre players. If you know of any questions that should be addressed here, please send them to crg@alumni.princeton.edu. Thanks for your assistance!

Question 1: I heard somewhere that I can get "Lans and his buddies" to join my party if I kill all of Branta's undead. Is this true?

Radlum: No--while that rumor is widely spread, there is absolutely no truth to it. Consider the following:

• There are no undead in the battle against Branta! His original unit consists of six Terror Knights and two Sirens, and as you take them out he will summon Angel Knights to take their place.
   
• The rumor does not specify which Lans would join you! Since Canopus, Mildain, and Guildus already join you, the only sensible conclusion would be that Lans Tartare, Balzepho, and Volac are the relevant people.
   
• That being said, you can tell that the rumor is false through GameShark. If you create the three aforementioned Dark Knights with GameShark, you'll notice that none of them have their own portrait in the Edit Screen. Furthermore, Balzepho and Volac do not even have their own battle animations--therefore, they will disappear momentarily when you attack with them. They do not have their own unique pre-omission or dying statements, as all of the other special characters do. They do not join!
   
• Even if they did join, you'd have to address the conflict between Haborym and Balzepho. They're not exactly buddies, and I doubt that Haborym would have no objections to joining forces with Balzepho.

Hopefully this explanation puts that rumor to rest once and for all!

Question 2: Where can I find a Tactics Ogre ROM in English? All the ones online are in Japanese!

Radlum: Unfortunately, there is no English version of the ROM currently in existence. There have been a number of efforts to translate the Japanese ROM, but so far none have been successful. There's always hope, though!

Question 3: How do you make those images on your site? They're cool...

Radlum: As stated on the main page of the guide, a lot of the images came from a Japanese site that no longer exists. Most of the Tactics Ogre and Ogre Battle images came from that site--the other ones were created using them. The procedure is not difficult, once you get used to it. Here it is, broken down into steps:

1. Envision the character that you want to create. What features do they have that distinguish them from other characters? If necessary, use a picture of the character (online or in a game, for example) as a point of reference.
    
2. Look around the guide for various sprites--the Warren Report and Academy Section are good places to start your search. Find sprites that resemble the character you want in some way, and save them onto your computer
    
3. Choose one of the sprites to be your "base" image--you will probably want to choose the one that most resembles the character you want to create. Using a graphics program (such as Paint Shop Pro, MS Paint, or Corel Draw), cut parts from the other sprites, and paste them together on the base image. This step requires a degree of patience, as you will be doing some precise free-form selection.
    
4. Colorize the various parts of the sprite in a way that is appropriate to the character you are trying to make. Programs like Paint Shop Pro have a colorizing feature that will make this step easier, but you may have to do this manually. For manual colorization, use the colors already established as a guide. As an example:
    
   Say that you want to change the Soldier's clothes to green. Notice how the outfit consists of different shades of blue (this is easiest to see if you magnify the image). Use this to help you--replace the deep blue squares with a deep shade of green, and use lighter shades of green to replace the lighter shades of blue. It's just that simple!
    
5. Choose a color that cannot be found anywhere on your image (for example, you could use purple with the Soldier image above). Use the flood fill tool to make the background this color, as you will be using your graphics program's transparency feature. Save the image as a GIF image, and then use your program's transparency feature to make the background transparent.

And that's it! Once you get into it, you can work on a large variety of projects. For your convenience, here are samples of some created characters and their status screens:

Disclaimer: None of the equipment that appears here is in Tactics Ogre!
Mike Upper Body: Andoras Lower Body: Hahnela
Robert Head: Denim Upper Body: Terror Knight, modified Shoulder Pads: Destin Lower Body: Canopus Stick: Destin's Sword, modified
Jess Head: Opal Upper Body: Mizal Lower Body: Mizal Staff: Mizal, modified
Chris Head: Zaebos Upper Body: Vice (Warrior) Lower Body: Zaebos Cape: Hikash Sword: Hikash, modified Headband: Radlum, modified

 

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Radlum: Pretty cool, huh? I guess that we're done for now--I hope that this has been helpful to you! Remember to send those extra questions to crg@alumni.princeton.edu. Good questions will be added, and bad ones will be thrown to the Tiamats.

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