StarTopic Front Mission 1st Remake |ST| Mankind Never Learns

[Sumio Mondo]

Publisher/Developer: Squaresoft/G-Craft (Original), Forever Entertainment (Remake)
Genre: Strategy RPG
Release Date: 30th November 2022

・Front Mission comes back in a remake with the sequels remakes also in the works)
・The game features a modern mode with improved controls and 'classic mode' for the purists
・The legendary soundtrack fully orchestrated


Gameplay:

Players use playable units called wanzers, a term for mecha derived from the German word "Wanderpanzer", or "walking tank” to traverse isometric maps (similar to the likes of other SRPGs such as Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics etc).

Each body part has its own HP and players can select which parts to aim for (unless missiles are used, in which case it’s random which body part it hits).

To grind you can go to the Arena and take individual Wanzers on 1v1 fights.

All of the Wanzers are fully customisable with all manners of weapons - you can punch, stab, block, shoot, torpedo or rocket your way to victory.

Scenarios:

Understanding Front Mission in its entirety requires playing through both the OCU and USN campaigns. They each have their own unique events and mysteries, the latter of which is fully explained only by playing the other scenario. The two scenarios also have a plot connection when a link between the Larcus Incident and the Nirvana Institute is established.

Royd is the OCU scenario, Kevin is the USN scenario.

Setting:

Set in 2090, the story of Front Mission takes place on Huffman Island, a fictional Pacific Ocean island roughly the size of Oahu, created by volcanic activity south of Mexico’s west coast in 1995. In 2002, the land mass was classified as an island, and was ceded to United Nations control.


However, in 2020, the United States of the New Continent (USN), a unification of North American and South American countries, made a bid for control of the island after withdrawing from the United Nations.


The Oceania Cooperative Union (OCU), an alliance of the nations of South Asia, South East Asia and Australia that was created in 2025, dispute this claim when the two superpowers colonized the island in 2065.


The tensions heat up and eventually lead to the 1st Huffman Conflict in 2070, with Huffman Island being divided into two halves at the end of the war. An uneasy peace is maintained until the Huffman Crisis in 2086, when a series of skirmishes across the island causes chaos.


Tensions flare up and end in war when the OCU is blamed for inciting the Larcus Incident on June 3, 2090 and the USN in turn blamed the OCU. Thus Huffman Island became the centre stage for a war between the two superpowers.


What really happened to trigger the Larcus Incident? Who are the masterminds behind the incident?

Characters:

OCU Side:

Name: Royd Wanzer: Shrike Age: 23 Height: 186cm Weight: 75kg Status: O.C.U. Wanzer Pilot​

Leader of the Carrion Crows, Royd was falsely accused of the destruction of a U.S.N. factory in the "Larzus Incident" and was disgraced and ousted from the O.C.U. A year later, Olson recruits Royd to do some investigation for the O.C.U. Royd accepts and is reinstated into the O.C.U. Royd is a nice guy and he feels that the war is all his fault.

Name: Karen Wanzer: Danger Lady Age: 23 Height: 174cm Weight: 23kg Status: O.C.U. Wanzer Pilot​

Karen is Royd's fiance and member of the O.C.U. She was on a mission on Huffman Island when the tragedy happened.

Name: Ryuji Wanzer: Raioh Age: 28 Height: 175cm Weight: 65kg Status: O.C.U. Wanzer Pilot​

Member of the Carrion Crows, Ryuji is one of Royd's closest friends and was there when the "Larcus Incident" occurred and was also ousted from the O.C.U. He was reinstated at the same time Royd was.

Name: Natalie Wanzer: Primrose Age: 21 Height: 168cm Weight: 55kg Status: O.C.U. Wanzer Pilot​

A member of the Carrion Crows, Natalie plays the role of the responsible, down to Earth character.

​

Name: Yang Wanzer: Gyokuran Age: 19 Height: 158cm Weight: 19kg Status: O.C.U. Wanzer Pilot​

Member of the Carrion Crows. She's searching for her brother who she believes is on Huffman Island.

Name: Frederick Wanzer: Witness Age: 30 Height: 177cm Weight: 65kg Status: Reporter/O.C.U. Wanzer Pilot​

Frederick is a reporter who decides to join the Carrion Crows so he can get some good stories. He was investigating leads that the U.S.N. was [redacted]. ​

Name: Hans Age: 23 Height: 186cm Weight: 75kg Status: O.C.U. Wanzer Pilot​

Member of the Carrion Crows, Hans is a professional hacker. He joins the Crows as a desperate attempt to save his life because he got caught hacking into classified government files.

Name: Olson Age: 47 Height: 180cm Weight: 74kg Status: O.C.U. Special Ops Commander​

The Special Operations Commander who reinstated Royd and Ryuji and set them off on a mission to uncover a plot by the U.S.N. which is to develop [redacted].

Name: Chairman Sakata Age: 60 Height: 170cm Weight: 60kg Status: Committee, Sakata Industry​

Chairman Sakata is the head of the of Sakata Industry Committee, a supplier of military weaponry to both the O.C.U. and the U.S.N. His son, President Sakata, is running the company under his supervision.

Name: President Sakata Age: 31 Height: 178cm Weight: 68kg Status: Head of Sakata Industry​

President Sakata, head of the Sakata Industry and son of Chairman Sakata, runs illegal weapons and technology development for the U.S.N.

Name: Driscoll Age: 28 Height: 183cm Weight: 77kg Status: U.S.N. Commander/Wanzer Pilot​

The mysterious U.S.N. Commander. What are his intentions?

Name: Grieg Wanzer: ? Age: ? Height: ? Weight: ? Status: U.S.N - Hell’s Wall Division Leader​

Leader of the USN Hell's Wall Squad.

Name: Dr. Mizette Brown
Age: 49
Height: 188cm
Weight: 77kg
Status: Scientist
​

Dr. Brown is a scientist for the OCU working a top classified project.

USN Side
​

Kevin Greenfield

Kevin is the B-team platoon leader for the Black Hounds.

Maria Paredes

Maria is the A-team platoon leader for the Black Hounds.


Screenshots:

Music by Yoko Shimomura (Kingdom Hearts, Parasite Eve, Street Fighter 2, Super Mario RPG) & Noriko Matsueda (Final Fantasy X-2, Bahamut Lagoon, The Bouncer).

Special thanks to really old Front Mission fansites.

Official Remake Site

Front Mission 1st: Remake for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Official Site

Buy FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake and shop other great Nintendo products online at the official My Nintendo Store.

www.nintendo.com

FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake

Front Mission comes back in its first HD remake. The game features a modern mode with improved controls

www.nintendo.co.uk

(Currently 15% off to pre-order on the UK site).

 

[Deleted member 2]

So stoked for another strategy rpg in my life. This one looks great, too (never played it before)

edit: Oh yeah, fantastic ST btw!!

 

[mazi]

great ST @Sumio Mondo

 

[Shinespark]

I discovered this year (with the aid of GBA Fire Emblem, Dark Deity, and Triangle Strategy) that strategy RPGs are one of my favorite genres. I've had this game pre-ordered for a while and I'm really looking forward to it!

Side note:

• Name: Yang
• Wanzer: Gyokuran
• Age: 19
• Height: 158cm
• Weight: 19kg

I'm sorry, what??? That person is supposed to be 5'2 and 41 pounds!? "Danger Lady" is also supposed to be 5'8 and 50 pounds. Is there supposed to be a race of ethereal beings in the universe of Front Mission??

 

[Sumio Mondo]

I discovered this year (with the aid of GBA Fire Emblem, Dark Deity, and Triangle Strategy) that strategy RPGs are one of my favorite genres. I've had this game pre-ordered for a while and I'm really looking forward to it!

Side note:

• Name: Yang
• Wanzer: Gyokuran
• Age: 19
• Height: 158cm
• Weight: 19kg

I'm sorry, what??? That person is supposed to be 5'2 and 41 pounds!? "Danger Lady" is also supposed to be 5'8 and 50 pounds. Is there supposed to be a race of ethereal beings in the universe of Front Mission??

I never even noticed that until now lol. I have no idea where that fansite pulled the data from regarding the character info (from a Japanese guidebook back in the 90s?) but that is funny.

 

[Aostia82]

Just received a review code
It mus be noted that (as for all previous Forever entertainment games, I'd say) there are bug and issues they are aware of and already working on

Can't go into more details right now, but the DAY 1 PATCH should be available...today, considering that the game is out today, and should improve MANY bullet points the PR detailed to me

Plus, they are working on a second one to fix another bug they are aware of

 

[shoptroll]

Great OP @Sumio Mondo ! I had forgotten that Amano did the concept art for this title, so good. And you highlighted some of my favorite OST tracks too!

Anyways, reviews appear to be dropping. Here's the one from Zoey Handley over at Destructoid:

Review: Front Mission 1st: Remake

Front Mission 1st Remake is hopefully a new start from this series that is normally elusive on this side of the pond.

www.destructoid.com

 

[PixelKnight]

Great OT! Looking forward to this. I didn’t realise there were two scenarios, that makes the lack of advertising of there being two campaigns in FM3 make more sense too.

 

[PixelKnight]

I never even noticed that until now lol. I have no idea where that fansite pulled the data from regarding the character info (from a Japanese guidebook back in the 90s?) but that is funny.

Name: Karen
Age: 23
Weight: 23kg

Name: Yang
Age: 19
Weight: 19kg

Name: Chairman Sakata Age: 60 Weight: 60kg Hang on a minute, I think I see the connection… Given that the average weight of a human is something like 60-80kg, there’s something weird going on here.

 

[KingOnion]

Curious about this one. About how long is each scenario? Still working through Tactics Ogre which I’m enjoying, though not as much as I’d hoped, so I doubt I’ll really have time to dig into this before Fire Emblem.

This thread also reminded me ‘Wanzers’ is a thing, which I’m always happy about.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

The game finally unlocked at 4PM today and did a big update, must have been the one Aostia82 was talking about earlier. Just done the training so far, they really changed up the movement in the modern version, I'm curious what classic is like too.

The training section is also worth doing for a good backdrop.

Name: Karen
Age: 23
Weight: 23kg

Name: Yang
Age: 19
Weight: 19kg

Name: Chairman Sakata Age: 60 Weight: 60kg Hang on a minute, I think I see the connection… Given that the average weight of a human is something like 60-80kg, there’s something weird going on here.

Ahhh okay, haha, whoopsie daisy, that explains it, I didn't even notice that I did a mass copy + paste job from some FM fansite from the 90s and upon checking it again, that's what they put on there all the way back then.

Curious about this one. About how long is each scenario? Still working through Tactics Ogre which I’m enjoying, though not as much as I’d hoped, so I doubt I’ll really have time to dig into this before Fire Emblem.

This thread also reminded me ‘Wanzers’ is a thing, which I’m always happy about.

When I played the DS version of this game many years ago I seem to vaguely recall it may have been around 15-20 hours for the OCU scenario and far less for the USN one (roughly 10 hours or less?)

Then again I could be wrong since it was so long ago. So give or take around 25-30 hours for both scenarios. I'd say it's different enough from Tactics Ogre and if you're a new fan of SRPGs, I'd say this is a good series to get into. Of course since you're on Tactics Ogre to save yourself getting burnout, you could wait for a sale since Forever Entertainment's game usually get deep discounts.

Speaking of which, looks like they just revealed a physical edition of the game on the release date....

Forever Limited Unveils Three Physical Editions For Front Mission 1st: Remake

Let's get physical, physical

www.nintendolife.com

 

[shoptroll]

Speaking of which, looks like they just revealed a physical edition of the game on the release date....

Forever Limited Unveils Three Physical Editions For Front Mission 1st: Remake

Let's get physical, physical

www.nintendolife.com

So did Square-Enix sell the rights off entirely or is this just how Forever Entertainment operates? Because those shipping fees to the US are

Also NL put up their review by Trent Cannon and it's a drubbing. I jumped to the bottom and it sounds like from the quick info box that the reviewer just didn't get on with the mechanics of the game because the negative marks are definitely applicable to the 1995 release.

Review: Front Mission 1st: Remake (Switch) - Impressive Visuals, But A Slog On The Battlefield

Best pray to the RNG gods

www.nintendolife.com

 

[PixelKnight]

The NL review really focuses on it being hard to finish off mechs when you need to get the body to zero and weapons hit random body parts, they mention it three times in a fairly short review, which makes me wonder whether they just struggled to get their heads around it compared to other SRPGs. While rifles deal heavy damage to one random part, a machine gun deals a lot of instances of low damage to random parts, and a shotgun splits its damage across all remaining parts while also rarely missing at short range. This means that the idea is that rifles and rockets at long range are for reducing large chunks of HP until you see an opening, then, if a mech does have a body part on low hp, a shotgun will guarantee doing some damage to it. If a mech only has its body remaining with any significant hp, the machine gun will randomly split its damage across the parts that remain, but the shotgun will likely knock out all low-hp parts. If you only have a team using high damage, single attack weapons (most melee weapons, rifles and rockets), then yeah, it’s going to take ages to eliminate the mechs rather than just critically injure them, as a rifle shot might get wasted by hitting an arm that only had 1 hp on it. Once mechs are injured, you often need to be sending in shotguns and machine guns to finish them off, which is why a varied set of loadouts is key. You want some ranged mechs for heavy damage early, some mid-range ones for finishing off damaged mechs, and a melee weapon or two that can trade hits. If you’ve removed the weapons from enemy mechs, you can leave them until the end- you don’t need to focus on them as they are no longer a threat.

The idea is to experiment with a variety of weapons and see what tactics work. Otherwise it’s like playing Fire Emblem, sending out a team of only axe fighters and armour knights, and wondering why you can’t land hits on fast enemies and get trashed by magic.

Eurogamer put a ‘let’s play’ type video up. It’s sponsored, but about ten minutes in you can see a machine gun at work.

 

[shoptroll]

IIRC you eventually get skills that allow targeting specific body parts, or allow additional hits so you can mitigate the RNG. It is really frustrating at the start and because the game uses a SaGa style “keep using the weapon to get better with it and learn skills” you really don’t have any options other than to just roll with it, pun not intended.

But yea, if you’re going into this expecting something like FFT, Tactics Ogre, or Fire Emblem you’re going to be in for a shock.

 

[Ray00101]

I’ve had the most luck with having enemy units come toward me while I do pretty even damage on different parts with ranged attacks and then finish them off/completely disable them with short range or melee.

I’ve usually disabled at least one arm (or close to it) before they even get to me.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Yeah missiles were the way to go in the DS version, will be the same here too.

I have noticed in this version enemies using certain abilities earlier on like smoke and chaff. There's plenty of RNG on the up close and personal attacks though, pretty much a dice roll where the attacks land but shotguns are always recommended. Rifles annoy me since they miss so much, at least this early on Ryuji is constantly missing.

It also seems like they're staying extremely faithful to the game in terms of aesthetics, the dialogue I'm guessing is like for like with the DS localization, the music is orchestrated but let you swap to the classic original music and the character portraits have this coloured in look to them, which works with most of them pretty well actually. I wonder why they did that, must be that they couldn't get Amano's original in-game portraits or something since they have his art in other parts of the game (scenario select).

 

[Supreme Bum 01]

Does this game have the PS amd DC extra content?

 

[Shinespark]

The NL review really focuses on it being hard to finish off mechs when you need to get the body to zero and weapons hit random body parts, they mention it three times in a fairly short review, which makes me wonder whether they just struggled to get their heads around it compared to other SRPGs. While rifles deal heavy damage to one random part, a machine gun deals a lot of instances of low damage to random parts, and a shotgun splits its damage across all remaining parts while also rarely missing at short range. This means that the idea is that rifles and rockets at long range are for reducing large chunks of HP until you see an opening, then, if a mech does have a body part on low hp, a shotgun will guarantee doing some damage to it. If a mech only has its body remaining with any significant hp, the machine gun will randomly split its damage across the parts that remain, but the shotgun will likely knock out all low-hp parts. If you only have a team using high damage, single attack weapons (most melee weapons, rifles and rockets), then yeah, it’s going to take ages to eliminate the mechs rather than just critically injure them, as a rifle shot might get wasted by hitting an arm that only had 1 hp on it. Once mechs are injured, you often need to be sending in shotguns and machine guns to finish them off, which is why a varied set of loadouts is key. You want some ranged mechs for heavy damage early, some mid-range ones for finishing off damaged mechs, and a melee weapon or two that can trade hits. If you’ve removed the weapons from enemy mechs, you can leave them until the end- you don’t need to focus on them as they are no longer a threat.

The idea is to experiment with a variety of weapons and see what tactics work. Otherwise it’s like playing Fire Emblem, sending out a team of only axe fighters and armour knights, and wondering why you can’t land hits on fast enemies and get trashed by magic.

Eurogamer put a ‘let’s play’ type video up. It’s sponsored, but about ten minutes in you can see a machine gun at work.

Thank you for explaining this, who knows how long it would've taken me to figure it out on my own. Haven't started yet (just started Persona 5) but probably around New Year's is when I'll get to it.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Does this game have the PS amd DC extra content?

Yeah it has both scenarios.

 

[shoptroll]

Patch dropping today or recently (not sure how closely NL is following the game):

Front Mission 1st: Remake Gets A Hefty Update, Here Are The Patch Notes

Options! Improvements! Fixes!

www.nintendolife.com

 

[shoptroll]

Microids announced that they're bringing the Limited Edition to the US:

FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake physical limited edition launches this spring in Europe, summer in North America

Microids will release a physical limited edition of FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake for Switch this spring in Europe and summer in North America, the distributor announced.

www.gematsu.com

No word yet if the standard edition that's listed on Forever's site will come along as well, but this is also a different LE than what Forever themselves are selling.

The release of this game continues to make no damn sense at all. It's a Square-Enix IP, licensed out to Forever, and is getting distributed in the US

 

[PixelKnight]

Somewhat irritatingly I can see the European physical edition of this on Amazon but they won’t ship it to the UK. Edit- never mind, found it cheaper elsewhere.

 

[shoptroll]

Happy North American retail launch day everyone!



And there's a 20% discount in the eShop too!

FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake | Deku Deals

FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake - on sale now for 20% off. Compare all the current prices, see histories, and get deal alerts for the next sale at Deku Deals

www.dekudeals.com