When invading neighboring kingdoms, you'll always be able to see the power levels of your opponent, as well as what type of Pokemon they're using. You're also always alerted about which types of Pokemon will do better against your opponent, so you can figure out what lineup will be 'Super Effective.' While this does seem like a cheap way to make the fights easier, it does help out with coming up with a strategy for the battle, rather than going in blind and having to restart because you chose to bring all fire-type Pokemon to a water battle.
The combat plays out much like your standard tactics game. It's all about grid-based combat, and the position of your Pokemon to do the most amount of damage. However, the combat maps themselves always help change up the formula quite a bit, assuring that you're not simply fighting the same battle in a forest instead of a mountainside.
Essentially, each combat area will have various environmental hazards that will require you to play smart and think through your next moves instead of simply moving in for the kill. Many times, you can use the environment to your advantage to inflict extra damage to your enemies, though there are times you'll have to position yourself out of harms way. It's genius how simple changes to the maps can alter the combat entirely.
You won't always have to completely eliminate your enemies, as there are some battles (arguably the most frustrating ones) where you have to capture banners that are spread throughout the map. Sounds easy enough, but as soon as you capture a banner, that Pokemon becomes the prime target for the opposing force, which means you have to ensure you have enough protection, all while trying to capture the remaining banners as well.
Recruiting warriors is integrated seamlessly into combat. If you're able to defeat an opposing warrior's Pokemon in four turns or less, he will become impressed by your ability and decide to join your cause. Don't worry if you missed out on these warriors; they later become available to battle again in the same region. Wild Pokemon can be linked to characters on the battlefield, as well. Depending on the affinity, shown by a bronze, silver or gold coin, you can try to link with an adjacent Pokemon, which then adds it to that warrior's lineup. The actual linking process becomes a small rhythm game which just tasks you to press the A button whenever a full circle passes over an empty circle.
After battle, the link between your warriors and their Pokemon strengthens which in turn makes them more powerful and prone to evolution. Also depending on whether you successfully defeated your opponents in four turns or less, you'll be able to recruit them and send them off where they're needed.
Conquest is a strange title in that it's not sure whether it wants to cater to a younger generation of players, or appeal to an older crowd thanks to its strategy/tactics nature. The storyline is mostly childish however, with generals gladly stepping down from their post as leaders of their kingdom after a defeat, and yet I can't see a younger player grasping the entire concept of managing and tactical combat.
Couple in the fact that the game doesn't really have a robust tutorial system. You do have your hand held at certain parts, but some aspects never get fully explained. For example, I had no clue what energy did aside from raising an arrow next to each Pokemon's image. A simple Google search explained it, but the game should have had that covered.
With that said, Conquest is easily one of the best Pokemon spin-offs, and it's easy to overlook such a small error in a day and age where getting help is but a click away. It's a game that I expected to have to trudge through just to finish it, but rather found myself constantly glued to my DS because of its addictive nature.
Pokemon spin-offs aren't a new idea. In fact, there are way more spin-offs than there are core Pokemon RPG games for handhelds. For every Gold and Silver Version, you have your Pokemon Colosseum and Snap, for every Black and White version, you have your Ranger and Mystery Dungeons. All these games, however, were still very much accessible to a younger generation of Pokemon fans. Enter Nobunaga's Ambition, a strategy/tactics game I've never laid my hands on, mainly due to the fact that I'm usually quite terrible at those games. Someone over at Koei and Nintendo must have thought it would be a genius idea to mix the two universes together. And I have to absolutely agree. This is definitely one of the best, non-core Pokemon games that I literally couldn't put down.
If you're familiar with the cast and characters from the Samurai Warriors series, you'll see a lot of familiar faces. Everyone from Hideyoshi, Nene, Oichi, Masamune to Nobunaga himself are present in this game, as well as a myriad of familiar Pokemon that those warriors use to do battle.
The game takes place in the region of Ransei, where Pokemon run free and aren't confined to the inner walls of Pokeballs. The legend goes that a mysterious and legendary Pokemon will appear to those who conquer all of the Kingdoms in the region. Of course, the evil Nobunaga has caught wind of this legend and is also on a conquering spree so that he may plunge the region of Ransei into chaos.
Enter either a young girl or boy, who under the guidance of Oichi want to see Ransei flourish and live (mostly) in harmony, rather than live under the tyranny of Nobunaga. It's up to you to then conquer lands, recruit warriors, train Pokemon, manage your kingdoms and, ultimately, unite the lands of Ransei.
The premise, as whacky as it sounds, is actually quite clever, even though it's silly that these Warriors that you usually witness battling to the death are all of a sudden commanding a legion of Pokemon to do their bidding.
Although I did mention that I'm usually terrible at these sorts of strategy/tactics/management games, Pokemon Conquest manages to still be relatively kid friendly and eases in players who might find this genre relatively foreign to them. There are essentially two parts to Pokemon Conquest — management and battle. Luckily, however, the management portion is in fact not as in-depth, which means you won't spend hours in menus; rather, you'll get to the action much quicker — but more on that later.
The map, which expands as you take over various kingdoms, will be your go-to screen to manage both your character and any recruited warriors along with their Pokemon. Each kingdom will have various amenities available to you, such as shops that contain consumables and equipment, or fields and areas teeming with wild Pokemon and roaming warriors who are able to be recruited. Combining items eventually becomes open to players, which adds a simple crafting element to the game as well. Every time a certain character or Pokemon uses these amenities, however, he or she cannot be used again until the next month (next turn), so choosing how you spend your turn is something that needs to be considered.
Since you amass kingdoms over time, it's safe to say you won't want to tend to each one manually, although you certainly can. Thankfully, you're able to delegate any stationed warriors to do one of three things: train in order to raise stats, search for new Pokemon or warriors to recruit, or develop, which raises a Pokemon's energy, which in turn has an effect on their stats, links and more. These delegations then happen automatically every time a new turn is made, which ensures you just have to focus on the kingdom your main character is currently occupying. You're also able to march selected warriors along with their Pokemon to already claimed kingdoms for increased fortification, or to switch up your main lineup of Pokemon.
