High Dynamic Range Lying

It really has been a long time since I’ve played a Real Time Strategy game. Some time ago in high school, my love for PC games died down somewhat, which left me little choice in games to play in the genre. Starcraft and Command and Conquer: Red Alert were my raison d’etre through most of high school. In college, Warcraft 3 made its rounds, but I was considerably less interested than I should have been.

Fast forward several years, and I’ve all but forgotten about the Real Time Strategy genre altogether. My strategy diet is filled of grid based Turn Based Strategy games, like Front Mission and Super Robot Wars. My skills had waned, and even in the turn based sector, I remained strongly picky about my gaming choices. Just a few short months ago, I happen upon a pamphlet in my local game store: a side-scrolling real time strategy game from the makers of Princess Crown, and published by Nippon Ichi (日本一). What? I look at the name of game: gRiMgRiMOiRE.

It’s been 10 years since Vanillaware’s Princess Crown was released on the Sega Saturn, and two since it was re-released on the Sony PSP. For its time, the game showcased remarkable animation, lively characters, and a unique battle system. Unfortunately, all was not rosy. The battle system was clunky and slow, the story was middle of the road, and the game as a whole left to be desired. Still, it remained a beacon of hope that 2D still had so much to offer.

When Nippon Ichi, famous on both sides of the ocean for its turn based strategy titles, announced that they would be publishing a Vanillaware developed real time strategy fans, Vanillaware and Nippon Ichi fans alike were noticeably skeptical, and rightly so. Neither company had considerable amounts of experience when it came to the genre, and Vanillaware’s most famous effort was rather hit or miss. That’s probably why it comes as even more as a surprise that gRIMgRIMOIRE is not only a competent RTS, but it’s actually a rather stellar one.

From a glance, the game seems almost juvenile and unworthy of the title RTS. Each character sprite is of considerable size, and the scope of battle seems to be rather small. The amount of buildings at the player’s disposal seems very small as well. At a quick glance, the game lacks depth and staying power. In reality, though, it lacks neither of those. In fact, gRIMgRIMOIRE might just be one of the best real time strategy games in home console history.

The premise of the game is rather simple, and at times, a little reminiscent of Harry Potter: the player takes control of a magician apprentice, Lillet Brau, at a school of magic. Once there, it seems things are awry, and multiple powers are vying for control of things behind the scenes. It’s up to Lillet, who is inevitably along for the ride, to set things right.

While players will see the large-hatted Lillet in the game’s incredibly animated cutscenes, she remains behind the scenes during gameplay. Through and through, gRiMgRiMOiRE is a real time strategy game, and it has no qualms establishing itself as one, staying to many of the genre’s staple game ideas: resource mining, building construction, and even rushing.

The game is far more about placement of units, though, rather than movement of units. Firstly, the game works on a rock/paper/scissors style model for magic. There are four magic types: Glamour, Alchemy, Sorcery, and Necromancy, and each has an affinity and a weakness (eg. alchemy is strong against Glamour, while being weak to sorcery). Each magic type has unique units and buildings associated to it, not unlike the way a race works in other real time strategy games. Unlike other real time strategy games, the player has access to all of the game’s “races” at the same time.

Players start the game with a single magic book, or grimoire, with which to create troops and buildings. Players progressively collect more and more grimoires after being victorious in battle, slowly and steadily adding complexity to the game without overwhelming the player. Each grimoire corresponds to a different building the player is able to build. While the player eventually has control of all the magic types once each grimoire is collected, the player begins the game with a single Glamour grimoire.

Magic alignment is used to great effect too. With the right magic alignment, a small group of units can overwhelm an entire enemy base. On the other hand, even with an army of 30-40 high level units, the player can be defeated by a scant few if the alignment used isn’t the right one.

Streamlined is the word that first comes to mind when dissecting strategy in gRiMgRiMOiRE. While players have access to all magic types at any time, it’s still astonishing to realize that each alignment only has three building types, and four unit types. Buildings don’t take up a lot of space, and other than the stipulation that they cannot be less than a grid square away from a mana crystal, can be placed anywhere. Each alignment also has a small roster of 4 unit types: one mining unit, two regular attack units, and one giant attack unit.

No alignment is absolutely effective in isolation, though. Each alignment has its strengths and weaknesses, and because the player has access to all of the magic types at once, there is no duplication of special skills. Only Grimalkins are able to put enemies to sleep, making them invaluable when fighting large foes. Necromancy Ghosts are the only mining units that can fly, making them the most efficient for quick resource gathering, while Sorcery Imps are the only mining units able to attack, giving them a slight advantage if the mining route falls under attack.

The strategy of the game lies not in building a large force as quickly as possible, but in building the right units for the right purpose, and balancing each magic type to make sure your forces cannot be easily wiped out. Players new to the RTS genre will find that the game does a good job of easing players into the genre, starting with three tutorial levels, and then slowly giving more and more to work with.

Fans of RTS games will find a lot to love in gRiMgRiMOiRE. The game offers a unique spin on the genre, without messing with what makes it so great. It manages to streamline many of the conventions without dumbing it down, doing away with extraneous units in favor of making each unit a useful part of a fighting force. Strategy, unit creation, and placement become important aspects, making rushes all the more trivial in a battle with a truly skilled opponent.

gRiMgRiMOiRE’s visual presentation is one to behold. Using the same “sectioned” sprite technique (where two dimensional characters are made up of several parts to make animation easier) as Vanillaware’s magnum opus Odin Sphere, the game manages to create truly beautiful and detailed characters of an incredible size. While RTS games like Command and Conquer strive to create smaller units to fit more characters on screen, gRiMgRiMOiRE tries to go for a more personal experience, making each unit considerably bigger.

The game’s graphical muscle really begins to flex when the player makes their first chimera or dragon. The giant attack units tend to be considerably large in size, with chimeras and dragons being the largest, taking up half of the screen when in full view. Their presence is felt too, as the screen shakes as a dragon lumbers closer to where the player’s view is currently fixed.

gRiMgRiMOiRE is a real time strategy game in every sense of the genre. Fans of the genre who may be apprehensive of the whimsical art design and Harry Potteresque characters need not worry, as the unit art design is so varied, any player it bound to find something they like. The game streamlines several parts of the genre, and even takes on a whole new perspective, but does an excellent job of sticking to the genre archetypes just close enough to make it a worthwhile game for established RTS fans.

gRiMgRiMOiRE just proves that Vanillaware can do a lot more than just action RPGs. If you do not play gRiMgRiMOiRE, you are part of the problem.