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I owned this game years ago. Back in my middle school days and enjoyed this game. Eventhough I enjoyed it enough to get far in it, let's just say my tactical prowess was not what it is today. So looking forward to actually beating it this time around. I can't remember how it ended up no longer in my possession but that no longer matters bcuz today it is once again. =) It blended a lot of my favorite loves together. I was always a big fan of the medieval, gladiators and sword-fighting spiel. I loved storylines. And most of all absolutely cherished turn-based, role-playing, strategy games. So we got, check, check, and check. So you could see how a love forged in the fires of Mordor came to ignite. From what I remember the game starts off somewhat easy. It slowly but surely explains it's basic details and then puts you in positions to start compounding the many tips and tricks that it gave you. And then before long you're getting your butt kicked by monsters and spell casters saying, "where can I get one of those?!" Lol I remember really enjoying this game. And if you're looking to get into a quality strategy game that you may have missed out on and your taking it back to the classics, trust me, you're gonna want to have this in your collection. You'll thank me later. Gladius is calling your name.... "Are you not entertained?! Is this not why you are here?!"Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I like games that yield a lot of gameplay and sometimes take a little while to get into. If you are a patient, strategic gamer, Gladius is the game for you. When Gladius starts out with its well-narrated, marginally derivative story, you take part in a friendly fight between sibling barbarian warriors Urlan and Ursula. At this point, and several fights into the arenas of Nordagh, I have to say the gameplay borders on two-dimensional. This, however, is only to give the player a solid introduction to the essentials of combat. Right after the first few fights, the game begins to shine. There is a huge selection of classes and abilities (30+ classes, several HUNDRED abilities) to build your team with. Many are very well executed, if not entirely original. Several dozen other skills do stand out for their memorable names and game effects: Impel, Ridicule, Purge, Wink, Nerve Arrow, Razor Arrow, Sickly Marrow, Pull Down, Shred Throat, Pack Mentality, Hibernate, Hard to Get, Target Leg, Crippling Blow, Lecherous Grin, Squat, Befoul Area, and Power Bulldoze, to name a few. Awards for originality do have to be given to the weapons, helmets, accessories, armor and shields used in the game: many have powerful, game-changing effects, and each different item has its own appearance, so as your character changes his or her armament, changes in appearance will follow as well. I've never seen poisonous/spiked shields used effectively in combat until now, for example. Arena combats are all theme-based and have revealing names like Mixed Doubles, Barn Burner, King of the Hill, Nolo Contendre (and many other Latin names), Hammer of Justice, and so on. Many stand out for their requirements or layout. I had a King of the Hill variant go into quadruple overtime -- talk about a nail-biter! I had to pull every tactical dirty trick out of my repetoire, from using a tornado to whisk opponents off their point-scoring platforms, to knocking point-scorers off platforms with my bear. Between the costumes, moves, voices, and arenas, Gladius does an excellent, thorough job of recreating a gladiatorial scenario enhanced by fantasy tactics. The immersion factor can run pretty deep at times, especially if you are in the middle of an endurance match (three to five matches with no health recovery between rounds -- think Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians"). The negatives of this game include the occasionally extreme amount of time it takes to retool your party for a single exclusive competition, the mandatory characters you have to play with, the uneven sound effects, though there are more than I could ever count, and many are very entertaining, and the maddening, ultra-defensive, time-killing (but arguably necessary, for variety) combat style of the Channelers (fighting just four characters can take what seems a lifetime, and if you have an ounce of impatience, it will have grown to several tons by the end). Also, some characters have to be played extremely cleverly or at least carefully outfitted (Satyrs come to mind), while others, like the spear-hurling Gugnirs and Peltasts, are natural cheesebombs that dominate every fight they're in. I've seen some characters deal ten times the amount of damage as others in the same battle. Still, Gladius is a fun, addictive, mostly balanced game, and I have gotten over 35 hours of fun from it (I have played it for 70). There is a lot of upgrading you have to do, but if that is your forte, get Gladius.Read full review
Gladius is a turn-based tactical strategy game. That is, your gladiators and your enemies each take turns moving and attacking in a grid-based arena. Gladius is very deep and can be complex if one does not take the time to learn how to really play it. I would recommend the strategy guide as well, to help you spend your gladiator's earned Skill Points more effectively. There is so much customization and character development - it is great! The gold you earn from battles is spent on better Weapons, Shields, Armor, Helmets, and Accessories. The graphics are very good, and the "paper doll" representation of your character looks great as you try on all the different equipment. Just like in Japanese RPG's, your character stats change colors, red or green, to indicate if the equipment will help or hinder your chance of success in the arena. You can also customize the color of your character's hair, skin color, armor, and clothes. They also have four different styles of outfits you can choose from for each character - you can make all your gladiators the same color or just make them all individually completely different. As you earn more Experience, your Level or stats goes up - Hit Points, Defense, Power, Damage, Accuracy, Initiative, Constitution, and Move Rate. As these abilities go up, the better your gladiator will perform in the arena. Your gladiators are divided into 5 classes - Light, Medium, Heavy, Support, and Arcane . Combat works on a paper-scissors-rock style. Light beats Heavy, Heavy beats Medium, and Medium beats Light. Support and Arcane classes are best used from a distance. As you go up in Level, you also earn Skill Points. Each character has dozens of different Skills to potentially learn, but you will never earn enough Skill Points to learn them all, so you must select few that complement the gladiator to your liking the most. The Swing Meter is what keeps the combat from getting boring and static. Just like in golfing games, it's a meter at the bottom of the screen. You have a normal hit, critical hit, and miss zone. It's not too terribly difficult to score critical hits on a semi-regular basis, but it makes you pay attention and be involved in how your fighters do in battle. Enemy A.I. is actually OK. During the fights where the object is something other than all-out combat. You are the leader of a gladiatorial School, so you are able to recruit a large variety of fighters to choose from. This game is huge. It will take a long time to go all the way through it. You must travel with your School through 4 different lands and compete in numerous Leagues and Tournaments, with the ultimate goal of being able to take on the best Schools in the High Tournament in Caltha. Each land you travel through (Nordagh, Imperia, Windward Steppes, and Southern Expanse) all have an average of 3 to 7 towns. In each town, there are numerous Leagues and Tournaments to compete in. Please give this game a try. If you enjoy deep and involved games that can quickly consume hours of your free time, this is a game for you.Read full review
Gladiator style combat with a great story line. The game combat style is setup similar to Final Fantasy Tactics with a turn based system. However, instead of just leaving each move to a random roll of the dice based on stats, the game implements some unique meters to give the player some control over the results of an attack. Some meters simply require hitting the X button at the right time, others require quickly alternating X and O, and others require entering the correct combination of X, O, [], and /_ within a set time. The game is not something you will beat in a few days unless you play 24/7. Each battle is not simply a hack and slash either. There are unique goals for each battle. Some battles are indeed simple duels to the end, others have a type of capture the flag, others implement a version of king of the hill, and others require dealing the most damage of all teams within a set time. Some battles require certain class / race / gender restrictions. You start with 8 gladiator slots available in your school and progress to 12 and then 20 after defeating regions of the Gladius world. You can have a beast, barbarian, gungnir (javelin thrower), peltast, galdir (witch), yeti, minotaur, cyclops, ogre, samnite, centurion, legionaire, undead summoner, undead legionaire, summoner, channeler, mongrel (dog type character), mongrel shaman, dervish, bandit, secutor (rogue type), archer, amazon, or murmillo (shield thrower). I may have forgotten a couple, but in addition to the general classes, there are some unique storyline characters with special abilities. The game has a couple bugs, but they do not significantly effect gameplay. One quest is worded a bit poorly making it difficult to determine where to go even with a walkthrough spoiler. The only major bug that disappointed me was according to the "guide" Usus, if your school is full or trying to meet a tricky battle requirement, you can hire temporary recruits to assist you in battle under AI control. However, in fact, if your school is full, when you request them to join you temporarily, they tell you that you're full and don't have any room for them. If you already have a school full of favorite gladiators, this makes it difficult to complete some battles. Thankfully the game is setup so you don't have to fight every battle available to beat it. You can choose between many battles / leagues available to meet the tournament requirements for each city leading up to the ultimate championship. The game also has a large variety of armor and weapons to equip your gladiators with. You can customize outfit colors and appearance a little bit, but their overall look doesn't change with armor upgrades. My wife and I have enjoyed playing the game in co-op mode and have gotten 100+ hours of entertainment playing together. We haven't even started the 2nd storyline yet which brings me to my final point. The game can be played in 2 different story modes and difficulty levels. You can play the easier mode following the story of the heroine Ursula, or you can play the harder mode following the story of the hero Valens. Both main characters meet and participate in each other's story mode, but their own story is unique apart from the other. I would give the game a 4 out of 5 stars.Read full review
This game beats UFO X-COm by a mile! War craft don't even come close. Dynasty Tactics 2 looks very chep next to it. This game combines turn based strategy, characters upgrades, freedom of choosing your battles, great story ful of mystery, complex characters, and most important: you choose your own path and speed of the game. You are in total control of where you want to go, who you want to battle, what to buy and where, which gladiator to hire and who to fire. From the first moment you will be taken away by the smooth grafics, easy to understand movement and strategies, endless possibilities, and more. This game will challenge you every time you play. No two battles are the same, no two warriors are the same. This game is great on so many different levels. If this game adopt internet tournaments, like might and magic or World of warcraft, this game will become next big hit in gaming industry. Just like Football Madden or Quake, people will be able to compete with eachother for some rare items or gladiators..... This should be in Gladius 2..... For now we can only practice and wait.... I love this game! Peter.Read full review
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