Before I start with the review itself, I'm going to just dump some reference links on you
-The official site (the downloads page does not have the ability to download the game sadly)
http://nisamerica.com/games/grimgrimoire/
-The wikipedia page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GrimGrimoire
-And here is the google images page of it so you can look through the in game screens if you wish
http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=855&q=grim+grimoire&gbv=2&aq=0&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=grim+grimoi
Now on to the review, sorry if I misspell or use slang like "ur".
Now if you never heard of Grim Grimoire(further-more mentioned as "GG") before, it's an imported JRTS... no seriously, its a real time strategy! You build your runes, make your imps and elves(cookie maker ones not the hot kind) harvest your mana, use the mana to summon creatures, and then make ur way around the map destroying anything that isn't yours. Its like phantasy StarCraft except not as good I'm afraid (but who is as good as StarCraft, c'mon). You also have to realize that this was made for the Japanese, so when they translated, they didn't put a ton of effort into it, the main magical thing in the game is the philosophers stone, and the headmaster's name is "Gammel Dore", but other than the names it doesn't have too much cliche or copied story. That's one of my favorite things about it, although the story is familiar, it isn't the same cliche I have seen in hundreds of other games and/or anime.
Story
The story revolves around the main protagonist Lillet Blan who just got into one of the most famous magical academies in the world(even though it only has about 4 teachers and she is the 5th student). Unbeknownst to her, shits about to go down, the ghost of an evil archmage is about to rise, an evil devil is about to poses the head mage in charge, and she is the only one who can fix everything in a perfect manner.
This isn't some "she is the long lost princess/heroine that is our only hope" ordeal, shes a poor girl from a family with many kids, who although was acknowledged for being good at magic, is still infinitely weaker than everyone else in the school when she gets there. The one thing different is that she has the power of trial and error on her side
On her 4th or 5th day something horrible normally happens, but on midnight on the 5th day at the sounding of the bells she is sent back in time to the night of the first day she came to the school. She has to relive that time repeatedly, the first few loops she actually doesn't know whats going on so everyone around her dies(which is pretty morbid a scenario for an E game) but she slowly gets stronger since she keeps all the spellbooks she gets in those few days each time.
I want to go on but I think it would spoil too much, just let me leave off with the fact that Advocat, the sorcery teacher and pretty high ranking devil, has probably the best personality for a demon in any game I've ever played. All of the other teachers and students can easily be forgotten, but he will remain in my head as one of the quintessential demons when I ever think of the noble and manipulative ones.
Mechanics
I know I said this was an RTS just not as good as StarCraft, but it is different enough to warrant talking about. First off this isn't a field of battle, it's a tower. This is technically a side scroller RTS where to ascend and descend, you actually need to go up and down stairs(unless the unit is a flyer or massive monster).
Music
In terms of music, it doesn't compare to something like Disgaea, but it's for the better. later on you might spend 40 mins on a map, so the looping background music would be better if it was just comforting white noise than something you notice more than the "your shit over here is getting attacked" noise.
One thing to note if you decide to play this, I have an old copy so it might just be mine, but if your playing for a prolonged period and the music ever stops, it may freeze on the win/lose screen at the end so learn to just suck it up and reset the ps2 right then.
Aesthetics
This is very much like a graphic novel or one of those story based Japanese games(or i think it is, i dont actually play those). Very nice picture of one guy talking on the left, very nice picture of the other one on the right, text at bottom, but some very nice voice acting so you dont really need to read. Once you get to actual gameplay, it's sprite based so the look remains just with a backsplash of old hallways.
Difficulty and Quality
Is this the best game in the world? Hell no. Does this show points of awesomeness? Hell yes. If Grim Grimoire 2 were announced on Steam tomorrow i would first make sure its not some shit like Dungeons that doesn't play anything like Dungeon Keeper, and if it was like the original i would preorder it instantly. However it does have some glaring flaws.
-The later missions amount to "defend your base until you can max out your population cap with dragons"
-It's for ps2, so the controls arnt nearly as good as a computer.
-Difficulty settings isn't a measure of your tactile ability, it's merely how bad can you get harassed early, which often amounts to you setting it to easy at the end just so you can find out whats happening story wise.
That's all I really have for you o it, I'm not a pro writer so I'll just stop rambling now and give you a sum up of my thoughts
Lunaras - "Grim Grimoire was a pleasant dash of anime story telling in a pleasant RTS that left me feeling rather pleasant. Play it because you want to experience a nice story and a new way to play the RTS genre(vertically) not because battle.net is down and you need a quick StarCraft fix."
-The official site (the downloads page does not have the ability to download the game sadly)
http://nisamerica.com/games/grimgrimoire/
-The wikipedia page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GrimGrimoire
-And here is the google images page of it so you can look through the in game screens if you wish
http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=855&q=grim+grimoire&gbv=2&aq=0&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=grim+grimoi
Now on to the review, sorry if I misspell or use slang like "ur".
Now if you never heard of Grim Grimoire(further-more mentioned as "GG") before, it's an imported JRTS... no seriously, its a real time strategy! You build your runes, make your imps and elves(cookie maker ones not the hot kind) harvest your mana, use the mana to summon creatures, and then make ur way around the map destroying anything that isn't yours. Its like phantasy StarCraft except not as good I'm afraid (but who is as good as StarCraft, c'mon). You also have to realize that this was made for the Japanese, so when they translated, they didn't put a ton of effort into it, the main magical thing in the game is the philosophers stone, and the headmaster's name is "Gammel Dore", but other than the names it doesn't have too much cliche or copied story. That's one of my favorite things about it, although the story is familiar, it isn't the same cliche I have seen in hundreds of other games and/or anime.
Story
The story revolves around the main protagonist Lillet Blan who just got into one of the most famous magical academies in the world(even though it only has about 4 teachers and she is the 5th student). Unbeknownst to her, shits about to go down, the ghost of an evil archmage is about to rise, an evil devil is about to poses the head mage in charge, and she is the only one who can fix everything in a perfect manner.
This isn't some "she is the long lost princess/heroine that is our only hope" ordeal, shes a poor girl from a family with many kids, who although was acknowledged for being good at magic, is still infinitely weaker than everyone else in the school when she gets there. The one thing different is that she has the power of trial and error on her side
On her 4th or 5th day something horrible normally happens, but on midnight on the 5th day at the sounding of the bells she is sent back in time to the night of the first day she came to the school. She has to relive that time repeatedly, the first few loops she actually doesn't know whats going on so everyone around her dies(which is pretty morbid a scenario for an E game) but she slowly gets stronger since she keeps all the spellbooks she gets in those few days each time.
I want to go on but I think it would spoil too much, just let me leave off with the fact that Advocat, the sorcery teacher and pretty high ranking devil, has probably the best personality for a demon in any game I've ever played. All of the other teachers and students can easily be forgotten, but he will remain in my head as one of the quintessential demons when I ever think of the noble and manipulative ones.
Mechanics
I know I said this was an RTS just not as good as StarCraft, but it is different enough to warrant talking about. First off this isn't a field of battle, it's a tower. This is technically a side scroller RTS where to ascend and descend, you actually need to go up and down stairs(unless the unit is a flyer or massive monster).
Music
In terms of music, it doesn't compare to something like Disgaea, but it's for the better. later on you might spend 40 mins on a map, so the looping background music would be better if it was just comforting white noise than something you notice more than the "your shit over here is getting attacked" noise.
One thing to note if you decide to play this, I have an old copy so it might just be mine, but if your playing for a prolonged period and the music ever stops, it may freeze on the win/lose screen at the end so learn to just suck it up and reset the ps2 right then.
Aesthetics
This is very much like a graphic novel or one of those story based Japanese games(or i think it is, i dont actually play those). Very nice picture of one guy talking on the left, very nice picture of the other one on the right, text at bottom, but some very nice voice acting so you dont really need to read. Once you get to actual gameplay, it's sprite based so the look remains just with a backsplash of old hallways.
Difficulty and Quality
Is this the best game in the world? Hell no. Does this show points of awesomeness? Hell yes. If Grim Grimoire 2 were announced on Steam tomorrow i would first make sure its not some shit like Dungeons that doesn't play anything like Dungeon Keeper, and if it was like the original i would preorder it instantly. However it does have some glaring flaws.
-The later missions amount to "defend your base until you can max out your population cap with dragons"
-It's for ps2, so the controls arnt nearly as good as a computer.
-Difficulty settings isn't a measure of your tactile ability, it's merely how bad can you get harassed early, which often amounts to you setting it to easy at the end just so you can find out whats happening story wise.
That's all I really have for you o it, I'm not a pro writer so I'll just stop rambling now and give you a sum up of my thoughts
Lunaras - "Grim Grimoire was a pleasant dash of anime story telling in a pleasant RTS that left me feeling rather pleasant. Play it because you want to experience a nice story and a new way to play the RTS genre(vertically) not because battle.net is down and you need a quick StarCraft fix."