That's hard to decide. Both games have lovable characters, addictive gameplay, awesome music, and beautiful art (although, yeah, YU's characters are almost too cutesy-looking for the seriousness of the plot... But it's also much more detailed and thought-out than Riviera's, which is pleasingly simple. I mean, I am amazed by how much detail Kiyuduki-sempai put into the designs. And the practicality! The practicality of, for instance, giving Gulcasa padded gauntlets so that he could actually use that scythe without wrapping leather all down the pole! And... ahem. Not to say I don't love Tobe-sama or anything. I'm just a nerd.). And both of them became major obsessions for me.

Mmmmm. I guess the difference is, though, that Yggdra Union has a much deeper and better-explored plotline, and it's longer.

Mmmmmmmmm.

Yup, yup. YU gets my vote. By a slim margin.

Hardly. And both are deep, but they're also both extremely fractured.

I think that Yggdra union fanart is cool and riviera too, but if I had to coose I prefer Yggdra because is one of the most Strategy game that I have played in my whole life.

and also the Yggdra union CGs are the best that I have seen, including the characters, I like some imperial army characters as Emilia, Gulcasa, and Aegina, in the royal army i like all of them..

Yggdra Union, I just love it.

Let's make a dual review!

NOTE 1: COMPLETELY OPINIONATED!!!
NOTE 2: COMPARING THE GBA VERSIONS SINCE I DIDN'T PLAY THE PSP ONES!!!

Graphics:
Riviera < Yggdra Union
Yggdra Union wins simply because of A: huge, colorful and detailed character art, and B: managing to cram the most shit onto the tiny GBA screen at once.
Riviera: 0 // Yggdra Union: 1


Sound:
Riviera > Yggdra Union
Riviera had voice clips (huge advantage) as well as much better sound quality, and also simply because it had better music.
Riviera: 1 // Yggdra Union: 1

Plot:
Riviera > Yggdra Union
Basically because Riviera's is much more well-written, as well as being more original.
Riviera: 2 // Yggdra Union: 1

Characters:
Riviera < Yggdra Union
Yggdra Union has much, much more characters than Riviera. Also, they have better storylines, more developed personalities and are also much more likable.
Riviera: 2 // Yggdra Union: 2

Playability:
Riviera < Yggdra Union
Riviera felt too rigid and linear. Thus, Yggdra Union wins, even though it's technically not much better.
Rivera: 2 // Yggdra Union: 3

Value:
Riviera = Yggdra Union
Both have long, well developed backstories as well as a certain Japanese charm that only Atlus seems to be able to successfully pull off. Also, bath scenes FTW!
Riviera: 2 // Yggdra Union: 3

Overall:
Riviera < Yggdra Union
A very close call, but Yggdra Union does more and better. Both are excellent games, however, and I recommend picking both up. This is really a matter of opinion, however, and this is mine.

So there you have it folks. Yggdra Union ended up the superior game. Does Knights in the Nightmare have what it takes to take down this strategy gem?

WE'LL NEVER FIGHT ALONE

Looks like YU is the winner.
I like YU too...

The YU GBA is better than the Riviera GBA. The YU PSP is better than the Riviera PSP. IHMO the Riviera PSP could've used a fast forward feature as in YUPSP.

Also, this is WAY late, but no fair putting this thread in the YU section. It tilts the results toward YU.

How does Riviera's story beat Yggdra Union's? It was ridiculously predictable. :/

And how does YU have better characters?
Unless their name is Yggdra, Milanor, or Durant (and Elena) they maybe get 1 non-combat line in the whole game.

I thought the enemies talked quite a bit.

Yggdra Union has some of the worst introductory levels ever, and has a lot of what I hate most in any game - obsolete abilities.

Seriously, if you're going to throw in a skill, STOP. Is something else better than it? Then don't put the damn thing in, or else remake it. Or allow the skill to be upgraded.

Not doing this results in too much useless shit being thrown in, which is my second qualm.

Another thing I can't stand about it is the apparent requirement to stop on every bloody tile to find out where things are. This isn't just a few times, like a Fire Emblem game, it's all over every map, and it practically encourages using a guide at the same time so you don't waste your time standing still on every other tile.

It doesn't nearly go as far as Riviera in terms of character development (durr, srpgs have too many characters for this 99% of the time), but the story is roughly equal (note, neither games have particulary good story), or better in some parts.

Music wise? YU's pac is terrible. There are probably parts of 3 songs the image disc I actually like off it, whilst the GBA does have the appeal of being chip music, it's generally overall extremely samey all the way through. This is probably why people seem to favor either Riviera or YU so greatly, as YU recycles a lot of the same material (thus appealing to the folk who LIKE that small amount), whilst Riviera has very distinctive themes for everything, which I like (although it's arranged soundtrack totally butchers a lot of the songs)


Gameplay? There isn't enough proper strategy (hurr, my card's better than yours), and some cards are blatantly broken. However, the actual clashes themselves were unique, and I found myself wishing them to be something that could be implemented in other SRPGs (albiet in a different manner). Overall, I enjoyed it, but, (inb4 massive rage) I had more fun with the Fire Emblem GBA titles than it.



Riviera, on the other hand, I found a lot more "addicting". The entire thing was, so to speak, extremely streamlined. It cut out unnecessary segments from an all too familar RPG formula, gave a lot of time to it's characters, just to be themselves (resulting in far far greater character development), and promoted frequent experimentation with the battle system. I also prefer it's art style, Overdrives (in comparison to Card Skills), and general overall "feel" so to speak. YU I find tries to take itself a bit too seriously in comparison to it's presentation and art direction, whilst Riviera sustains a comical and playful feel, even in more darkly themed segments.

It's music I much preferred (see detailed above), and the additional voice acting is a nice touch (haven't played the PSP versions of either games to judge them both on it fully done), and it's overall presentation and pacing were of higher quality than YU (which throws you in the deep end with your trunks over your head, and expects you to put up with everyone laughing at you till you get them on to start swimming)

Gameplay, whilst nothing revolutionary, was entertaining and combined with the other factors, fuses up a game that leaves a lasting impression, along with a lot of replay value.



tl;dr Riviera is better than Yggdra Union.




Neither games have deep plotlines. Both are fairly generic.















Oh and, just because it fits, Baroque is by a very very very long shot Sting's best game.

This post has been edited by Irysa: Apr 29 2008, 12:49 AM

Ok besides the enemies. The "main" cast talks less then the enemies. (Except a few)

I emulated YU and in my opinion I like Riviera much better. I guess I just don't like tactical games, that's all.

I still defends the theory that Yggdra union story is better with action, almost 45% of crazyness.

But in Riviera, the scenes are kinda more strange, but very funny same action as Yggdra, The most crazy part is when Cierra falls onto Ein and he get stuck under her, and the others said to him that he was a pervert, I fell of my chair and laugh a lot.

This post has been edited by Knightman: Jul 6 2008, 03:45 AM

Graphics - I'm an old school sort of guy - Riviera

Battle system - I like my SRPGs - Yggdra Union

Difficulty - I like a challenge, but YU was a bit over the top - Riviera

Story - I don't like either. Shoot me. - Null

Characters - see my signature - Riviera

Music - My ears like them both. - Draw

Voice Acting - Mostly a non-issue; aside from Lina's voice, I dislike all English voice acting. - Riviera, I guess, for Lina's sake

Feeling of Newness - I haven't ever seen anything quite like YU's card system, while Riviera seems like a new twist on Sakura Wars. - Yggdra Union

*Sigh* I feel like I'm missing a category; will someone point it out to me?

Overall - Riviera; characters are the decisive factor in my opinion of games.

Yggdra Union x infinity

I totally love the character designs by Satoko Kiyuduki! ( Not that I dislike Riviera's)
Truth be told, that's how I ended up bying it. Saw the art and BAM! Bought it on PSP.
Didn't even consider reading the title...