Growlanser Generations: Deluxe or No?

[Lightning Flik 0]

Hello V&T foldermites. It is I, the renouned Overlord of Gaming, Lightning Flik.

 

I bring you today to this thread in order to remind you that Growlanser Generations (that would be Growlanser 2 and Growlanser 3) are coming to North Americans in the month of November, and are ported by Working Designs (yes, Wealthy Delays is releasing the game here).

 

The Preview of Growlanser Generations from Working Designs own site:

 

Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice introduces players to a special world of melee and magic, where rings become weapons and war threatens to shatter the peace of three neighboring kingdoms at any moment.

 

Players are allowed control of Wein Cruz and up to seven of his companions in battles of ever-increasing size, complexity, and importance against forces that are as devious as they are strong.

 

The game features an extremely flexible power system that allows character abilities to be customized in a myriad of ways. Ring Weapons add special abilities and allow the use of up to three Power Gems.

 

Power Gems can be mixed and matched to provide the most strength and flexibility in battle, while Magic and Techniques provide offensive and defensive benefits in battle. Players are awarded points when characters gain levels. Those points can be distributed by the player to give character any abilities desired, meaning that no two games will play exactly the same!

 

Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice features a branched storyline with two major branches and a number of sub branches. To experience even half of what the game offers, it must be conquered at least twice. Along the way, players will see the story come alive by means of over seven hours of spoken dialogue! Nearly every major event is voiced by a cast that will pull you into the experience and not let go until the credits roll. And since Growlanser II is only half of Growlanser Generations, when the credits DO roll, it just mean's it's time to put in Growlanser III: The Dual Darkness.

 

+++

 

Growlanser:The Dual Darkness, the revealing third chapter in the Growlanser saga, takes players back to the beginning of the Growlanser universe. Back to a world being consumed by darkness, forcing its inhabitantants to seek a way to leave the world behind.

 

Unfortunately, forces are gathering to prevent anyone from surviving the coming apocalypse. As Slayn, the player must find the source of the black scourge falling across the land and stop the plot that will result in mass genocide. A strong cast of supporting characters can be gathered during the quest, and they provide assistance, both in battle and with information gathered during the hours of spoken dialogue present in the game.

 

The Dual Darkness features an upgraded battle system with towns that can be explored as well as a random dungeon generation system that keeps each quest fresh and exciting. Novice players will enjoy the straightforward story, while the game features hidden events and special features for hardcore players to find and exploit.

 

And below are all the little goodies you get with the Deluxe Pack.

 

The Deluxe Edition

 

If you don't want to click on the link, here's the assorted bonuses you get:

 

~ Big fancy box to hold all your goodies in with cover work by Satoshi Urushihara

 

~ You get a game-theme watch and case.

 

~ Game-based Power Ring, chain, and storage case.

 

~ Deck of playing cards with customized artwork once again done by Satoshi Urushihara and of course a case for those.

 

~ A full soundtrack with 20+ specially arranged themes from Growlanser Generations. Of course, not all of them are on the disk, but from the four samples on the page of Working Designs, they sound just lovely.

 

 

All this will cost you? 49.99 regular game, 89.99 deluxe set. This is American funds. I've been warned it's like $70 and $120 respectively in Canada.

 

So anyone interested in this game? If anyone's interested into why the original Growlanser wasn't included, I believe it's because 2 is 1000 years after the original. I actually know little of the series myself, so please, no questions on the series. I'm just hyping up the game that I'm trying to get.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

...

[AndrewTS 0]

Hello V&T foldermites. It is I, the renouned Overlord of Gaming, Lightning Flik.

Take that damn Burger King crown off, you crazy honkey.

 

So, am I alone in wondering "just what the heck is Growlanser, anyway?" I know you said "no questions on the series," but I think if you want it you might be able to answer that much.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Hello V&T foldermites. It is I, the renouned Overlord of Gaming, Lightning Flik.

Take that damn Burger King crown off, you crazy honkey.

 

So, am I alone in wondering "just what the heck is Growlanser, anyway?" I know you said "no questions on the series," but I think if you want it you might be able to answer that much.

Andrew... I'll have you know that this isn't a Crown. It's my Magical Hat. It does many things, like Sorting, make Instant Pepsi, and also once and awhile creates a giant vortex that allows me to sleep while playing video games. The vortex currently needs to recharge though.

 

And you actually WANT me to find stuff on the game? Damn you.

 

*sighs*

 

Fine, I'll find out some information.

 

*searches, gets answers, comes back*

 

Ok... Well first off, I made an incorrect statement right off the bat. Growlanser 3 actually comes before Growlanser 1 and 2 by a 1000 years. My apologies for the mistake. Both games are Strategy RPGs btw.

 

Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice starts off after a deadly three way war between the kingdoms of Lanzak, Rolandia, and Burnstein. However the truce that was created by the three kingdoms receives outrage amongst both the nobles and the people. You get to play the role of a young knight named Wein Cruz as he prepares to stop a devious plot to rekindle the war. The game features a branching system of relationships, so you must build friendships, forge a love life, how you interact with NPCs and what you do sets the tale for how your story is. Apparently because of this branching system many sites say that to acheive seeing at least 70% of what Sense of Justice has to offer, you'll have to play the game twice. So suffice to say, you ain't going to have the same experience twice.

 

Growlanser III: The Dual Darkness takes place 1000 years before the original Growlanser and The Sense of Justice. In this game you take the role of the ancestors and forbearers of the the first and second games and build into the events of Growlanser (no, I'm not finding out what the hell happened in the first game) and Growlanser: The Sense of Justice. The main character in this game has no memory of who he is before a name enters his head, "Slayn Wilder", you then pick his blood type and astrological sign to help create what type of character Slayn will be. Only equipped with a powerful Ring Weapon and alone in the planes of Xironia, you eventually met up with the President of Xironia's daughter, Annette. Of course upon meeting fair man in distress, Annette takes you to her village in which there's a battle that happens for no reason (or at least none where given that I could find).

 

Xironia is one of the few lands left that hasn't been ravaged by any of the massives plauges, droughts, famines or any dangers of the sort. Hence many kingdoms make along their borders, ready to take the "wealth of the lands". But's many things don't quite add up with the many natural disasters, unexplained assassinations, and various other oddities that the Annette and Slayn team up to find out what is going on.

 

Again, the branching system is highly diverse, allowing for many different types of interactions, but however this time, it means even more as the more Slayn becomes intitmate with people (the friendship meter from Growlanser II is gone in III), the more it shapes the type of person he is (his personality, his stats, and anything esle). Every discussion means something in both games.

 

Expect to hear a lot of dialogue being spoken in this game, there's roughly 13+ hours of dialogue and 7000 audio clips between the two games so I would imagine anything that is "major" in terms of storyline has a thing to be said.

 

 

///

 

Is that much better than just having nothing up at the top? I apologize for that.

Edited October 3, 2004 by Lightning Flik

[AndrewTS 0]

Actually, a simple "it's such-and-such type of RPG" (which I'm assuming it is) would suffice. I was mainly asking about the gameplay.

 

I'm glad that hat doesn't shoot laser beams. But just in case...*gets a running start*

 

you could of just said that it is by the same company that made Disgenia.

 

They made Finale Fantasia, too, right?

[razazteca 0]

Whopper Head, you could of just said that it is by the same company that made Disgenia.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Uh... Raza... The game is not made by Nippon Ichi. And it's Disgaea.

[razazteca 0]

Damn, Gamefaqs.com message board gave me the wrong facts. Ok how about this its the same distributer but not designer?

[Lightning Flik 0]

Ah... Actually, you've got that wrong again Raza. On both accounts.

 

Growlanser Generations was developed by Career Soft and published in the States by Working Designs.

 

Disgaea was developed by Nippon Ichi Software and published by Atlus.

 

A little info on each company:

 

Working Designs is a well-known publisher that has put hard work into bringing over games from Japan. Thing is though, they try making sure that every game they bring over is like perfect and full of goodies, hence the nickname "Wealthy Delays" or similar variations.

 

Atlus is most famous for self-publishing its own game of Ogre Battle series and Tactics Ogre series. They've done many other publishings as well.

 

Nippon Ichi Software's only self-published game was after the company opened up its own branch in the States (naming it NIS America) and that game was Phantom Brave. Otherwise, they've dealt through Atlus, with their first US releasal of Rhapsody.

 

Some real fun info I just found out. The reason why this is a compliation of Growlanser 2 and 3, is because they wanted to bring the series out game by game, but Sony hates all 2D games and shit. So the only way to appease SECA was to release the game together. Which means most likely the original Growlanser will not ever be released in the Americas.

[AndrewTS 0]

Some real fun info I just found out. The reason why this is a compliation of Growlanser 2 and 3, is because they wanted to bring the series out game by game, but Sony hates all 2D games and shit. So the only way to appease SECA was to release the game together. Which means most likely the original Growlanser will not ever be released in the Americas.

So you're saying they couldn't fit the first game on the disc?

[Anya 0]

I just want to know if there's loads of FMV, teen angst and bishonen.

[Lightning Flik 0]

So you're saying they couldn't fit the first game on the disc? 

I've got no idea why they didn't include the Original, but it at least explains why Sense of Justice and Duel Darkness were slapped together.

 

I just want to know if there's loads of FMV, teen angst and bishonen.

The only FMV I know of is the opening to each game should have one. Other than that, I have no idea on the FMVs. I'd wager that there'd be a few of them though.

 

Teen angst will probably be not that high. This is Working Designs, and by the character's own portraits, I don't really see that much angst in their characters at all. Although, I could see Slayn play up the card of "woe be the amnesiac". I wouldn't count on the angst, but now that I've just jinxed us, there'll probably be a lot... Either way, no clue.

 

As for the bishy, Considering:

 

1) Both man character's are bishy and so you'll probably constantly see a picture of whoever is talking.

 

2) Most ... ok, let me not lie. Almost all of the guys Urushihara draws are bishonen looking.

 

So yeah, there's going to be quite a bit of bishonen.

 

... you know what? I'm going to apologize to everyone. I previously mentioned that I knew absolutely nothing and yet here I am giving off info without really having to look for the informations. I'm really sorry for being such a liar.

Edited October 4, 2004 by Lightning Flik

[MrRant 0]

You have brought shame to the Elk herd.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Just how so Rant?

[AndrewTS 0]

I just want to know if there's loads of FMV, teen angst and bishonen.

Variety is the spice of life, eh Anya?

 

I've got no idea why they didn't include the Original, but it at least explains why Sense of Justice and Duel Darkness were slapped together.

 

Seems weird to me, because they should have been able to have done it.

 

It reminds me of the Phantasy Star trilogy coming out to PS2. Since all three of the first games are one the disc, I assume they're "enhanced." However, I wonder why they didn't do IV. Either they're not going to do it, planning to maybe make it a separate (GBA) release, or giving it a 3D makeover so they can justify the stand-alone cost.

 

The PhanStars Collection for GBA are pretty much straight ports, so I hope they're at least enhanced.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Seems weird to me, because they should have been able to have done it.

 

It reminds me of the Phantasy Star trilogy coming out to PS2. Since all three of the first games are one the disc, I assume they're "enhanced." However, I wonder why they didn't do IV. Either they're not going to do it, planning to maybe make it a separate (GBA) release, or giving it a 3D makeover so they can justify the stand-alone cost.

 

The PhanStars Collection for GBA are pretty much straight ports, so I hope they're at least enhanced.

Considering these are remakes of the Growlanser series, yes, it is safe to say they've been enchanced. Hell, technically the Growlanser stuff we are getting is actually been upgraded by Working Designs when compared to the Japanese stuff (this means mostly little tidbits like controls and shit, but still).

 

Although, I do think the original was released in Japan, so yeah. It's weird as to why it didn't get over here.

[AndrewTS 0]

Okay, Flik--very simple question here: battle system--do you know the meat and potatoes of it?

 

Plus, has WD gotten over their pop-culture,-poop-and-fart joke phase, or can we expect another poor translation on this one? I somewhat understand with the Lunars--they just updated the old text from the SCD versions, but I assume this would mostly be a new translation.

[Lightning Flik 0]

From what I know about the battle system is that it is like any standard strategy game that's mixed with RPG elements. I'm not really all sure about Sense of Justice, but I know that how your handle your relationships and who you play your character will effect what your Power Ring and what your character is (mage, knight, scholar, etc.). The relationship part of the game effects how both games play out, who will join your party, and has the chance of effecting battle starts and outcomes. But don't expect the battle pace to be as fast as Disgaea. It's about on part with the original Tactics Ogre on the PS1 for battle speed, not that fast, but moves along so that you don't kill yourself of going "dammit, hurry up for my next bishy moment". Then again, you might want to kill yourself at that point if you ever think that. Except the loads of girls who apparently love bishiness.

 

This takes the same old stories and gives them a new twist basically. Ok, maybe I shouldn't say new twist. How about old recipe with a lot of curry sauce added for flavour? ...alright, that analogy sucked. Point is, this will probably have few and far inbetween jokes. However with Slayn Wilder, you can probably see many of the jokes that might come his way because of his name (or at least, the many I can see). These two games should have a lot of awesomeness in terms of story... At least one would hope, since you'll only see about 30% of the Sense of Justice on the way through the first time. Also you'll probably see a couple of bloodlines when playing Sense of Justice and Duel Darkness, since they are both connected in the same world.

 

...ok, seriously. I know a shitload more than I ever knew I knew about this game till now... Freaky...