I just finished playing Triangle Strategy (True Ending on the first run)

Morality, Liberty, Utility.

I just finished playing Triangle Strategy, a game that famously tests the one's convictions. For while multiple endings, including bad ones, have become common in tactical role-playing games, Triangle Strategy takes it a step further by not giving the player total control either. Like life, there is not one but many paths through the story based entirely upon one's choices, yet when the time has come to make a choice it is not Lord Serenoa Wolffort who makes it but rather democratically by all his closest friends casting votes upon the Scales of Conviction. Serenoa may speak with his friends, using the knowledge he has gained and the strength of his convictions to influence their vote, but in the end the path that receives the most votes is the one taken regardless of the player's preferences.

Which is one of the two key things that makes Triangle Strategy notably different from other RPG: it is not simply battlefield tactics but also personal ones, as you must know your friends well in order to convince them to vote to follow the path you desire. So be sure to save the game before trying convince, else otherwise you may find yourself walking an undesired path and dooming the land of Norzelia in the process. Truly dooming. In the game Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology, Lippti says: "Countless possibilities fade into the darkness. Yet there exists a razor-thin path of light." Such is even more true here, for Triangle Strategy's three main endings are all bad ones. Yet there exists a Fourth Path, a Golden Route, a True Ending in gamer lingo: one that can only be reached by making a very specific certain set of choices.

Most say that the True Ending is too hard to achieve on the first play-through, but I did not accept that. I will never accept a bad ending nor have ever led characters, my friends, into one and was not about to start. Nor did I, for I am happy to say that on this my first play-through I successfully unlocked and completed the True Ending of Triangle Strategy! The key is proper unit deployment, and yes, spend a little time leveling up on training maps, but it was hardly intense grinding. You can unlock the hidden fourth ending during the Chapter 17: If Griefs Could Passions Move and you will have to split up your forces into three units which, moving forward, cannot be altered so save a backup file and choose wisely because a single mistake can doom you. I will not spoil much, but suffice to say that putting Anna and Hughette in Benedict's Unit to defend Castle Wolffort is critical, as is putting Ezana, Narve, Archibald, and Erador in Frederica's. You will have three hard-fought battles to win, plus a couple more afterwards, but the result is so very worth it. You save Norzelia from descending into varying levels of dystopia. 

What else makes this game different? Not the battle system but rather the plotline. While there is of course magic, the story is very political: House Wolffort navigating a treacherous landscape of conquest, deception, murder, political intrigue, shifting alliances, and of course the various priorities and convictions of its members. I personally was most drawn to the plight of the Roselle, Frederica's people, who are treated as sinners and enslaved by the Holy State of Hyzante, and had push come to dreadful shove would have chosen her bad ending to free them. Fortunately through the True Ending I freed them and the rest of Norzelia, but the fact remains that Triangle Strategy is a grittier game, forcing one to weigh difficult choices and sometimes choosing the seemingly less moral one for the sake of survival. I admit that the level of political intrigue (including very specific events) and fighting over resources at times put me in mind of the GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire. Still, thanks to the True Ending that is joy incarnate a cunning strategist can avoid the worst treachery and needless bloodshed, so never give into despair. All told, a most enjoyable game (though I doubt I enjoyed it as much as others due to how heavy the political intrigue was).

Farewell and eternal happiness to you Serenoa Wolffort & Frederica Aesfrost, Roland Glenbrook, Benedict Pascal, Hughette Bucklar, Geela Breisse, Anna Pascal, Erador Ballentine, Corentin Jenner, Symon Wolffort, Narve Oparyn, Hossabara Freyya, Julio Wrightman, Lionel Khapita, Piccoletta, Jens Macher, Ezana Qlinka, Medina Alliam, Archibald Genoe, Groma Jurgina, Flanagan Grutte, Jerrom Laesmi, Milo Yuelle, Avlora, Svarog Aesfrost, and Lyla Viscraft. Let the future of Norzelia be led by the brightness of your convictions.