Vanillaware's first game released in the US, coming out only a month before Odin Sphere, GrimGrimoire has a pretty interesting premise: an RTS, on a console, played from a sidescrolling perspective instead of the usual top-down.
Do these ideas work? Not really!
Using a controller for an RTS is already a pretty hairy prospect, but the perspective makes it even worse, as units often overlap with each other. This means the best strategy is often "select everyone, move them to enemy". This is exacerbated by the skill trees new to this version, where you get coins to power up certain unit types. It ends up creating a feedback loop where you just keep using the same types because they're what you've put points into.
There's supposed to be a rock-paper-scissors type dynamic between the schools of magic (Glamour [Nature] -> Necromancy [Ghosts] -> Sorcery [Demons] -> Alchemy [Golems]) but I cruised through the game by simply sticking to Glamour, which you start with. Depending on the level, either amassing huge amounts of leveled-up Fairies (sending them in groups of 10 or so to avoid getting wiped out by AOEs) or Morning Stars (bigger units with AOE blasts themselves) would win every time. I'm not 100% sure, but I think the difficulty was lowered in this version because I remember the original being balls-hard.
While the skill tree kinda sucks, a welcome new feature for this remaster is the fast-forward function. By default, the game is SLOW, probably to accommodate the awkward controls and micro-management, and the fast-forward makes the gameplay much more tolerable.
The story is kinda... Whatever. It's a time-loop scenario about a girl at a wizard school. Most characters are underdeveloped and the plot made very little sense to me. At the end I was left scratching my head wondering what the hell happened, as it gave me an Animal House-style "and here's what happened to the other characters~!" montage.
Of course, as is always the case with Vanillaware, the art is top-notch. Character and unit designs are excellent across the board. Some of them are very cool (the Golems and Chimera are incredible) and some of them are very funny (the demon turrets are succubi that wiggle their giant asses), but the art is probably the main reason to play this game.
Of course, if you want good art with a good game to go with it... Maybe just check out Odin Sphere.
Do these ideas work? Not really!
Using a controller for an RTS is already a pretty hairy prospect, but the perspective makes it even worse, as units often overlap with each other. This means the best strategy is often "select everyone, move them to enemy". This is exacerbated by the skill trees new to this version, where you get coins to power up certain unit types. It ends up creating a feedback loop where you just keep using the same types because they're what you've put points into.
There's supposed to be a rock-paper-scissors type dynamic between the schools of magic (Glamour [Nature] -> Necromancy [Ghosts] -> Sorcery [Demons] -> Alchemy [Golems]) but I cruised through the game by simply sticking to Glamour, which you start with. Depending on the level, either amassing huge amounts of leveled-up Fairies (sending them in groups of 10 or so to avoid getting wiped out by AOEs) or Morning Stars (bigger units with AOE blasts themselves) would win every time. I'm not 100% sure, but I think the difficulty was lowered in this version because I remember the original being balls-hard.
While the skill tree kinda sucks, a welcome new feature for this remaster is the fast-forward function. By default, the game is SLOW, probably to accommodate the awkward controls and micro-management, and the fast-forward makes the gameplay much more tolerable.
The story is kinda... Whatever. It's a time-loop scenario about a girl at a wizard school. Most characters are underdeveloped and the plot made very little sense to me. At the end I was left scratching my head wondering what the hell happened, as it gave me an Animal House-style "and here's what happened to the other characters~!" montage.
Of course, as is always the case with Vanillaware, the art is top-notch. Character and unit designs are excellent across the board. Some of them are very cool (the Golems and Chimera are incredible) and some of them are very funny (the demon turrets are succubi that wiggle their giant asses), but the art is probably the main reason to play this game.
Of course, if you want good art with a good game to go with it... Maybe just check out Odin Sphere.
Weatherby
1 year ago