Ogre Battle fans, one question

[Edmond Dantes]

So I got the PS1 version of the first game. It costed me $30 and appears to be complete (Gamepro stickers? Why?)

But I also notice, in very fine writing below the cover title:

"Ogre Battle Saga
Episode Five
The March of the Black Queen"

... Episode FIVE?!?!?!

According to Wikipedia, there was never an Episode 1-IV, so what gives?

[Boltorano]

Star Wars started at Episode 4, I've always assumed it's something like that. The SNES version also says Episode 5, so they probably wanted to have the option to fill it out later, or it just sounds more interesting if it's part of a larger storyline.

[Aussie2B]

Like Shenmue, they had grand plans for the series that never came to fruition.

[Kid Fenris]

The entire Ogre Battle series is based on a novel (or perhaps just a background history) that creator Yasumi Matsuno wrote. Episode V is Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen. Episode VI is Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber. Episode VII is Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. The GameBoy Advance's Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis is a prequel to Episode VII. The Neo Geo Pocket's Ogre Battle game takes place at the same time as the original Ogre Battle.

Here's an informative GameFAQs post (a rare thing indeed) where someone translated a 1995 interview with Matsuno.

Episodes I through IV were never made, nor was episode VIII. And they will likely never be made now that Matsuno's at Level-5 and the rights to the Ogre Battle/Tactics Ogre series lie with Square Enix.

[Boltorano]

The entire Ogre Battle series is based on a novel (or perhaps just a background history) that creator Yasumi Matsuno wrote. Episode V is Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen. Episode VI is Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber. Episode VII is Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. The GameBoy Advance's Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis is a prequel to Episode VII. The Neo Geo Pocket's Ogre Battle game takes place at the same time as the original Ogre Battle.

Here's an informative GameFAQs post (a rare thing indeed) where someone translated a 1995 interview with Matsuno.

Episodes I through IV were never made, nor was episode VIII. And they will likely never be made now that Matsuno's at Level-5 and the rights to the Ogre Battle/Tactics Ogre series lie with Square Enix.

I think I need to go cry now.

[Edmond Dantes]

That sucks. So, basically the same thing that happened to Xenogears, right?

I know in Xenogears' case there was some rare art book that summarized the events of Episodes I-IV (and the creator got to rework some of his ideas into Xenosaga). Anything similar ever happen with Ogre Battle?

[Boltorano]

Anything similar ever happen with Ogre Battle?

Yeah, they made Final Fantasy Tactics.

Edit: Well, they didn't continue the story there, but it was the "next thing".

[xelement5x]

This is off topic, but for Xenogears you're talking about the Perfect Works artbook. Luckily there is a fan translated version that's out there floating on the net.

[Edmond Dantes]

Error #500 caused doublepost.