HomeVideo GamesGrimGrimoire - Review

GrimGrimoire – Review

-

GrimGrimoire GrimGrimoire (Playstation 2)   ReviewTitle: GrimGrimoire
Developed By: Vanillaware
Published By:
 Nippon Ichi Software America
Based on: An original title
Console: Playstation 2 (Original), Playstation Network
Release Date: October 2011
Genre: Real-time Strategy
Audio: English/Japanese
Subtitles: English
Region: This review was conducted on a Playstation 3 (Playstation Network) version of the game.
Special Thanks: Nippon Ichi Software America, for providing me with a review sample of this title.

In a rather surprising announcement late last month, Sony Computer Entertainment announced that they would be releasing a number of underappreciated Playstation 2 games on the Playstation Network in order to give them new life. While the games received little to no updates from the original releases (Eg. No Trophy support or HD graphics), these were games that were extremely difficult to find when they were intially released – giving everyone the chance to own them at a fraction of the PS2 versions cost (Over in Australia it was originally sold for around $70). Anyway, if you have not heard of this title before but are considering giving it a shot, please feel free to read my review of GrimGrimoire to aid in your decision!

GrimGrimoire - Review 1

Lillet Blan was very excited.

She had been invited to a Magic Academy, where only talented youths were accepted. The school was led by the famous wizard, Gammel Dore, who had once defeated the Archmage. The campus on which they study, the Silver Star tower was once the destroyed Archmage’s castle.

The tower was still full of unsolved mysteries and dangers, and this attracted many who had their own personal reasons in mind. Lillet opened her first grimoire and began her studies, but only five days later, a terrifying disaster threatens the academy and all lives are lost.

All except she, who had traveled back in time without knowing why.

Without a doubt the first series that will come to mind as soon as you start the game is Harry Potter. The prominent magic school setting and the fact that Gammel Dore looks almost exactly like Dumbledore will catch your eye immediately. However, you do best to dismiss any lingering attachments to these thoughts a few days after once you begin getting drawn into what I felt to be a storyline that built in complexity as every period of five days passed, each involving different characters, different plotlines and main character Lillet getting just a little bit wiser about the murderous events unfolding as Day 5 of her stay hits.

GrimGrimoire - Review 2

The storyline is well planned, slowly introducing the characters, not relying on repetition and making you question if the intentions of the characters are friendly or evil. Also appreciable was the fact that while some of the stages may have been tedious, the storyline actually gave you a reason for spending half an hour of your life protecting your base from countless swarms of enemies (and in my first occasion doing so – dying with only a few minutes left on the clock). The same goes for the gameplay system, where the grimoire summon system and unlocking new tiers and magic classes were not there just for convenience but initiated through storyline classes and plot devices.

As I have hinted above, the characters were one of the more memorable aspects to the storyline’s development. Lillet actually remains the most dull character until the last one or two repeats, leaving the other characters questionable to you as a reader – a devil professor with a shady background, a “new friend” who always seems to be in the right place at the right time, a cold-toned student who seems both cold and caring towards Lillet and a homunculus are just some of the people and personalities you will meet while playing through the game – and heck… it works quite well when it comes to the supernatural time loop genre.

GrimGrimoire - Review 3

In terms of design, there is a lot to like, but there is one fatal problem with it which really ruins the gameplay experience after the first loop. To the positive aspects first, the most memorable would be the character interaction scenes. The game does not utilize character sprites, but instead all dialogue between characters take place through character portraits. The character portraits themselves are nothing you would consider HD, but I nevertheless for PS2 technology I loved not only how the designs were diverse and suited with the theme of the game, but also the animation they added to them to represent talking, breathing et cetera, something similar games did not implement until the PS3 era. Environment designs in these scenes are animated as well and also are memorable.

In terms of the gameplay, the character sprites and the sprites of everything else in the level were brilliantly designed, starting from the adorable elf and fairy characters you are initially able to summon up to the later levels where you can have dragons and other highly detailed characters crawling around your map – either friend or foe. However, it is the map which actually ruined the design for me. The “battle maps” are supposed to resemble corridors respective of a tower, however from the start to the end of the game, the environments did not have much in the ways of diversification.

GrimGrimoire - Review 4

The music is nothing all that interesting and considering the style of game I was expecting more diversity – but I will give it the benefit of the doubt in the fact that the music did correspond to the setting they were trying to get across, but when you have stages that take a considerable amount of time, you do not want to have a few songs on loop for the games battles. Voice acting can be compared to your usual thoughts on Nippon Ichi Software Americas game dubs. The game does feature a number of frequent NIS America voice actors/actresses such as Wendee Lee and Michelle Ruff – but overall I think the English dub was suitable and didn’t feel compelled to switch to the included Japanese dub.

In this game, there are no character levels and  in every battle, you start off with a clean slate making the battles more about skill then how many hours you have decided to grind. The game  isn’t what I would consider challenging, especially with the option of Sweet and Easy difficulty levels, but do provide quite a sufficient amount of gameplay time. The battles take place on a map as pictured several times above and requires  you to strategically summon familiars in one of four classes (Glamour, Alchemy, Sorcery and Necromancy) and either take out all enemies / enemy spawn points on the map or fulfill a certain criteria. The battles are not so easy however, with some battles using attackers of different classes (Every class is weak against one, neutral against two and strong against one) and limitations of mana crystals and enemy barriers needing to be accounted for in your strategy.

GrimGrimoire - Review 5

The game might give you the impression at first that you can summon a swarm of elves to harvest mana (Required to summon almost everything) and an army Fairies and do well, and to be honest for perhaps for the first loop it is actually the best strategy, however as the levels progress you will need to take into account not only the weaknesses of the four familiar classes, but also the skills each familiar has – so while Fairies can use their skill Astral Change to turn into an astral type and give you the edge against sorcery types, but at the same time the necromancy familiar Ghost can use Charge to become a bomb and deal great damage against Astral type enemies. The freedom to be a strategist in this game is there, and an ever adapting mind is key to your success. Overall, the gameplay might not appeal to those who lean more towards the RPG style of gaming, but I found this an  interesting and engaging game to play.

As mentioned above, the game has many difficulty modes and allows for a good number of hours of enjoyment from  it. They also have a few bonus challenges unlocked after every level or two is completed which adds to the replayability of the game – however once finished, I found it hard to get motivated to return.

GrimGrimoire - Review 6

From there, the question  must be asked if this game is worth the purchase. Let me put it in this perspective… as of writing this review, the game is available on the Playstation Network for $9.99…. I would most probably consider paying that sort of money for a game half this good. It is an enjoyable game that will get you strategizing and getting immersed in the interesting storyline presented.

Final Score
Storyline/Character Development: 
A
Design: B
Music/Voice Acting: B
Gameplay: A-
Replayability: B
Personal Opinion: A-

Overall Score: A-

Sam
Sam
Founder of The Otaku's Study. I have been exploring this labyrinth of fandom these last fifteen years, and still nowhere close to the exit yet. Probably searching for a long time to come.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Advertisment

Recent Posts