The music, composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata, used the narrative as inspiration and remains fondly remembered by the composers. The visuals were created by art director Hiroshi Minagawa and character designer Akihiko Yoshida. The gameplay, inspired by the video game Solstice, used a chess-inspired combat system in contrast with the real-time battles of its predecessor. The storyline was inspired by conflicts in Europe and Asia, based heavily in personal and political drama over the fantasy-themed narrative of Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen. Production of Tactics Ogre, which lasted two and a half years, was begun by Ogre Battle creator Yasumi Matsuno, who acted as its director, writer and lead designer. Battles are turn-based, taking place on grid-based maps from an overhead perspective with a focus on positioning and using character class abilities.
The second entry in the Ogre Battle series, the story takes place in the warn-torn kingdom of Valeria, where protagonist Denim Powell works in a local resistance force against occupying powers, ending up caught in the ethnic conflicts driving the war.
It was later ported to the Sega Saturn (1996) and the PlayStation (1997), the latter released in North America in 1998 by Atlus USA. Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together is a 1995 tactical role-playing game developed and published by Quest Corporation for the Super Famicom.
