History VideoGame / Brigandine

Brigandine is a unique game that best fits into the StrategyRPG genre, but (even then) it's quite different from usual StrategyRPG fare. Unlike games like [[Franchise/FireEmblem Fire Emblem]] where you only control a few groups of characters, In Brigandine, the player controls one of the six playable nations.

* '''Norgard''': Norgard is a snowy land in the north occupied by some of the game's strongest knights. It's led by the appropriately nicknamed "White Wolf" Lord Vaynard. Like Dryst, he sees the chaos as a chance to conquer more land. He also wishes to have his older sister, who has become Zemeckis's wife, to return to Norgard. Despite the game never outright stating that the people suffer in Norgard, Lord Vaynard's warlord mentality plus his never once mentioning anything having to do with economics (a.k.a. the well-being of his people) implies he's a badguy. On the other hand, he clearly has soft spots for certain members of his army (such as Noie) and all of his men were pretty chivalrous, believing in his vision of united Forsena. His most notable companions are the [[RebelliousPrincess Rebellious]] [[{{Tsundere}} Tsundere]] Princess Brangien and his ever-loyal right-hand man Guinglain. Almost all of his dudes and dudettes are named after characters from the Myth/ArthurianLegend and [[JackOfAllStats well-spread in what they do.]]

Working on a [[Characters/{{Brigandine}} Character Page]]

* ManBehindTheMan: Bulnoil [[spoiler:During the Battle of Lidney, he immobilized King Doremiditt of Norgard during his duel with Zemeckis, ensuring the later's rise to power. He then manipulated the Almekian ministers to convince King Henguist of Almekia to falsely frame Zemeckis of treason. Then he ordered the Death Knight Cador to plan the seeds of the coup and to convince Zemeckis to rebel against Alemekia, sparking the rebellion and the continent wide war as a result.]]

* TechnicalPacifist: Lyonesse. When Vaynard agressive attempts to cow Leonia forces her to declare war on Norgard.

** Meleagant has taken his lessons about 'leader is not about power but trust' and rightfully took the throne of Padstow for the retired Coel, and looks forward to apply the lessons he learned. Adilicia became his constant companion, though whether they became a couple or not are left ambiguous.

** In the original, the ending that Forsena enjoyed peace after the war will play out anyway, even if you finish with Esgares (the one which started the war in the first place) and Iscalio (in which in the ending, [[spoiler:Dryst decided to give former kingdoms to his allies and then restart the war for fun.]]) This is thankfully fixed in ''Grand Edition'', Iscalio no longer have 'the land is now in peace' message in the end, and while Esgares still had that, Zemeckis' NobleDemon qualities are put in more emphasis so him being an unifier that brought peace to Forsena made more sense.
** Also in the original, if you entered the cheat code as Esgares and defeat other kingdoms, you still have other level-headed good generals from other countries to join Esgares, the nation that caused the war in the first place. This is another fix given in ''Grand Edition'', Esgares will not get any Rune Knights from the kingdoms they defeated with the exception of Iscalio, the second least moral of the kingdoms, or [[PunchClockHero the Rand siblings.]]

* MoralEventHorizon: An in-universe version happened when playing as Mana Saleesia and many players tend to hold the same sentiments towards Rudo afterwards. [[spoiler:Rudo ordered a massacre of the Mohanna Sect knights and his followers do it without question in a fanatic frenzy. And when one of his loyal, but kindly follower Selena ''dared'' to faint at the wanton cruelty, Rudo ordered her imprisonment. This, along the slaughter, caused several Mana Saleesia Knights like Frederico and Cyrus to ''leave'' out of disgust.]]

* DracoInLeatherPants: An in-universe version, in addition of its [[RonTheDeathEater inverse]] in regards of Gustava. Its originator, Asid Gustav, were seen as a disgraced Knight from Norzaleo, but when the other nations' history book viewed him as being exiled for being power hungry and created a marauding group that became an Empire as a result, the Gustava history book portrayed him as being exiled for resisting the corrupt nobles of Norzaleo and united the nomadic exiles with charisma alone, thus stating that the others' scorn against Gustava was unfair and more because [[HolierThanThou they were being overly proud]] for owning any of the Brigandines.

** In the original, the ending that Forsena enjoyed peace after the war will play out anyway, even if you finish with Esgares (the one which started the war in the first place) and Iscalio (in which in the ending, [[spoiler:Dryst decided to give former kingdoms to his allies and then restart the war for fun.]]) This is thankfully fixed in ''Grand Edition'', Iscalio and Esgares no longer have 'the land is now in peace' message in the end.
** Also in the original, if you entered the cheat code as Esgares and defeat other kingdoms, you still have other level-headed good generals from other countries to join Esgares, the nation that caused the war in the first place. This is another fix given in ''Grand Edition'', Esgares will not get any Rune Knights from the kingdoms they defeated with the exception of Iscalio, the second least moral of the kingdoms.

* CompositeCharacter: Grappler type classes are a combination of Forsena's Grappler and Monk: Monks as the first tier are basically treated like Rangers instead of being a 2nd tier possible branch from Priests, and their attacks cause KnockBack. As Grapplers, they gain a white element just like Monks (Forsena Grapplers were colorless). And like Forsena Grapplers/Champions, they cannot cast magic at all and became more pure close-range brawler, losing the [[KamehameHadoken Prana Burst.]]

* CompositeCharacters: Grappler type classes are a combination of Forsena's Grappler and Monk: Monks as the first tier are basically treated like Rangers instead of being a 2nd tier possible branch from Priests, and their attacks cause KnockBack. As Grapplers, they gain a white element just like Monks (Forsena Grapplers were colorless). And like Forsena Grapplers/Champions, they cannot cast magic at all and became more pure close-range brawler, losing the [[KamehameHadoken Prana Burst.]]

** Mana Saleesia's example is Holy See Romanov, Rudo's father. He's a revered leader and a NiceGuy who sought for peaceful methods in order to stop the endless hatred between Mohana and Zai sect, but hadn't bore fruit. For that and his own ambition, Rudo assassinated him and pinned the blame on the Mohana sect.

* DoesNotLikeMen: The Shinobi Tribe women has driven off all the men in their nation due to being previously persecuted and abused by their predesessor state the Hazam Nation. They even have a law in which if a male baby is born, they would abandon that baby to the very edges of their territory.

** Mana Saleesia's example is Holy See Romanov, Rudo's father. He's a revered leader and a NiceGuy who sought for peaceful methods in order to stop the endless hatred between Mohana and Zai sect, but hadn't bore fruit. For that and his own ambition, Rudo assassinated him and pinned the blame on the Mohana section.

* TacticalRockPaperScissors: Red element beats Green element, Green beats Blue, Blue beats Red. That's the main triangle between the elements; whereas White and Black just deal extra damage against each others. ''[[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness Legend of Forsena]]'' actually averted this; whereas Green didn't add anything to the table as it's limited to support skills only (it's like colorless, but fancier), only to be fixed come ''Grand Edition'' and carried over to ''Legend of Runersia'', in which Green is associated with Thunder element (it originally belonged to Red).

* AwesomeButImpractical: The Ninja Master class. How cool is it to control a super ninja in the middle of European Medieval setting?? However, to get that class, you must first recruit Shiraha or Kazan, both which are only available after the fall of Esgares, and you still need someone with an Expert status on Ranger (which can be hard to maintain until you defeat Esgares) to promote into a ninja and then level them up to Level 20 to become Ninja Master, and their stats are nothing special to write about and their selection of spells pale with other supports or offensive spellcasters. All in all, Ninja Masters tend to be more trouble than its worth. Of course, there is a way to use the class more successfully, and that's by playing as Esgares, which already had Shiraha from the start.

** In Runersia, even the good nations have some negative points that prevents then from being truly good. Rubino and the Norzaleo Kingdom's rune knights are good and well-intentioned but they are rather over-zealous and prideful of being symbols of justice, to the point of being utterly mocked by the other nations. The Republic of Guimoule and the Mohanna Sect harbor FantasticRacism towards the Barret Clan to the point of making ChildSoldiers of them but otherwise it's ruler Eliza Uzala (who wishes to stop the above) and most of it's rune knights are chivalrous warriors and nice ladies if rather troubled. The Shinobi tribe, out of their bad experience with the Hazamu clan that mistreated them, badly mistreated the male gender as a result although there were some men in their ranks as the minority and they're actually personable. While the Gustava Empire might be an invading empire, Tim is well respected amongst his people and accepts those who were rejected by the mass. The Mirelva Island Nations looked like a selfish marauding army, but there's just as much personable knights around it and Stella did learn to care about her people. And finally, although Rudo is a bonafide megalomaniacal EvilOverlord, there's just as much people in Mana Saleesia who was being a genuine GoodShepherd and believing in good deeds, and Rudo has all the reasons to act like that: The Mohana and Zai sects constantly hate each other and no amounts of peaceful methods were able to put an end to it, [[TheUnfettered so he decided to embrace every evil actions for the greater good of stopping the hatred between the two groups.]]

** In Runersia, even the good nations have some negative points that prevents then from being truly good. Rubino and the Norzaleo Kingdom's rune knights are good and well-intentioned but they are rather over-zealous and prideful of being symbols of justice, to the point of being utterly mocked by the other nations. The Republic of Guimoule and the Mohanna Sect harbor FantasticRacism towards the Barret Clan to the point of making ChildSoldiers of them but otherwise it's ruler Eliza Uzala (who wishes to stop the above) and most of it's rune knights are chivalrous warriors and nice ladies if rather troubled. The Shinobi tribe, out of their bad experience with the Hazamu clan that mistreated them, badly mistreated the male gender as a result although there were some men in their ranks as the minority and they're actually personable. While the Gustava Empire might be an invading empire, Tim is well respected amongst his people and accepts those who were rejected by the mass. The Mirelva Island Nations looked like a selfish marauding army, but there's just as much personable knights around it and Stella did learn to care about her people. And finally, although Rudo is a bonafide megalomaniacal EvilOverlord, there's just as much people in Mana Saleesia who was being a genuine GoodShepherd and believing in good deeds.

After years of absence, a NonLinearSequel is announced for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, titled ''Brigandine: Legend of Runersia''. As the name suggests, it takes place in a brand new continent. It is released on June 25, 2020 worldwide.

* CrutchCharacter: High-level Rune Knights and the starting Promoted monsters. They may serve as good babysitters for weak monsters and low-level Rune Knights, but if they have low Rune Power, they'll likely become benchwarmers once your low-level Rune Knights with high Rune Power reach a decent level, because the main firepower of a squad is the monsters they control, not just the Rune Knight.

* DiscOneNuke: Want easy victories early on? Steal top-class Final Class monsters like Lance's Salamander, Dryst's Bahamut or Cador's Vampire Lord by having an Enchantress or other spellcaster with Charm and mindcontrol the monster, then use it to kill its controlling Rune Knight. The charmed monster is will become part of your army when you win the battle. Eventually you'll have the largest roster of top-tier monsters and will steam-roller any enemy force.

* DiscOneNuke: Want easy victories early on? Steal top-class Final Class monsters like Lance's Salamander, Dryst's Bahamut or Cador's Vampire Lord by having an Enchantress or other spellcaster with Charm and mindcontrol the monster, then use it to kill its controlling Rune Knight. The charmed monster is will become part of your army when you win the battle. Eventually you'll have the largest roster of top-tier monsters and will steam-roller any enemy force. To steal Kazan's Bronze Golem (Golems are immune to Charm), have a unit with Warp and attempt to teleport Kazan far away from his golem. Trap Kazan and kill him while the golem is out of the Rune Area. This should put the golem under your control.

* DiscOneNuke: Want easy victories early on? Steal top-class Final Class monsters like Dryst's Bahamut or Cador's Vampire Lord by having an Enchantress or other spellcaster with Charm and mindcontrol the monster, then use it to kill its controlling Rune Knight. The charmed monster is will become part of your army when you win the battle. Eventually you'll have the largest roster of top-tier monsters and will steam-roller any enemy force. To steal Kazan's Bronze Golem (Golems are immune to Charm), have a unit with Warp and attempt to teleport Kazan far away from his golem. Trap Kazan and kill him while the golem is out of the Rune Area. This should put the golem under your control.