An Absolute Must for Strategy RPG Fans!
User Rating: 8.4 | Growlanser Generations PS2
Let me just say first and foremost that for any strategy RPG fan this game is almost certainly worth a buy simply because its such a good deal. Sure the graphics aren't that great but neither are they great in Disgaea and that never stopped me and many others from loving that game! So there! . . . hehe. . . Thus, if you dont want to read this whole long reivew that's the short answer. . go get it! Growlanser Generations has two complete games in it. . . Growlanser 2 and 3 . . . . and they were both revamped a bit with voice acting, some graphical touch ups as well as some added scenes that look years beyond the rest of the game. I must admit I was a little surprised the first time I saw someone cast "Soul Force" and the animation looked FF quality. . . I think its a nice touch. . . Im about 30 hours into Growlanser 2 and I have to say that its unlike any game I've ever played before. There is no world traveling. . per say. . . you are face to face with a giant map and travel is done from place to place on a straight line instantaneously. . . Once at a town you click on it to "Gather information". . shop or sleep. . . Theres a lot more depth to it than it may seem at first since there are side quests and hidden scenes practically everywhere! . . Say for instance you get to a town and talk to a farmer. . he says someone is stealing potatoes from his farm. Then you decide to stay the night at the inn at that same town. This stay might trigger a scene where you go walking at night and find the potato thief yourself! So your best bet is to talk to everyone, sleep at every inn, visit every little corner of the map you can. . and do this over and over. . The bonus, is that since you are not really traveling the map you can do this fairly quickly and easily and the sheer number of secret scenes, quests and battles that can be found this way keeps it from being boring or repetitive in any way. Also, triggering certain events will lead you down a certain "path" in the game. This locks out other paths affecting your entire game, but it also means the game itself can be played and replayed with different results. OK. . on to the battle system. . . Battles can take a really long time in Growlanser but they are also very rewarding. Your characters seem to be constantly leveling up and each time one levels up you will notice an instant improvement in their combat. . . Its very satisfying to see your characters doing around 50 damage points to every enemy, level up, and then do 65 . . The combat is also very difficult though. . .There are no items in Growlanser 2 . . (cant speak for 3 yet) . . . so all healing must be done through spells which take more than one turn to cast. . .. Plus all spells have levels and you can choose at what level you want to cast your spell. Obviously casting a spell at a higher level will make it stronger but it also takes longer. . . so you have to be careful . . Fortunately characters gain experience for just about everything they do. A character will gain experience simply just from hitting an enemy, even if its not the final blow and your mages will gain experience from healing your party. . . Its a nice touch. . So, in conclusion I love this game! . . I just recently got into strategy RPG's and even though this game might be dated its still well worth a look. . I find it easy to see past the graphics since the inclusion of voice acting kind of modernizes the game as a whole . . . Plus the fact that you get two games for the price of one doesn't hurt either! . . Ok! That's my review. . sorry for it being so long. . !!
