Grim Grimoire
July 18th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
I picked Grim Grimoire today. It’s developed by Vanilla Ware, creators of Odin Sphere, which was the only requirement for me to buy it, really.
I’ve been playing it for a while now. It’s an RTS, which is pretty crazy for a PS2-game, but it offers a cute art style and an interesting story inbetween the missions. The american voice acting is terrible as expected, but thankfully you have the option to switch to the original japanese voices. Instead of using a more conventional top-down view, the “map” is a tower made up of floors, staircases and walls that you view from the side. It’s very different and somewhat monotonous, but it works.
Here’s a video of the gameplay, in case you need to see it to believe it.
Instead of building your base you’re placing “runes” that act as portals to bring in your familiars. Scattered over the map you find crystals that you can harvest for mana, the only resource in the game. There are two types of units, or “familiars”: substance and astral. Astral familiars can only be hurt by other astrals or by non-physical attacks. It offers a somewhat shallow rock-paper-scissor mechanic inbetween the different familiars and this is where the meat of the strategy lies.
I like it.. but I need to pack up my PS2 and ship it to Sweden soon =/