The era of PlayStation 2 Vanillaware It should be remembered as a time of freewheeling creativity in Japanese gaming: the era of low-budget experimentation, of the technological dominance of Sony's second console, of the realization that the Japanese PS2 market was so large, so deep-rooted, present in the Homes of so many people that can give every software in the Land of the Rising Sun the ambition of success. Thinking about how many series produced quality fruits in those years is a little scary; Vanillaware managed to create its own precise and defined identity, composed of splendid works of art in motion (at a time when making cel-shaded games was a calling card) and fusing them with more or less action role-playing game components.
For George Kamitani, founder of Vanillaware, the Switch should remind us a little of those times: it is not that GrimGrimoire OnceMore is exclusive, of course, it also comes out on PlayStation 4 and PS5, but it is clear how this type of product shines. the Nintendo laptop. Relentlessly fresh, very playable, beautiful to look at in every situation, with many new features.
let's see in GrimGrimoire ElevenMore review What is this new transposition of the classic Vanillaware like?
GrimGrimoire OnceMore and strategy role-playing game
GrimGrimoire was a good example of two-dimensional strategy, one of those rather confusing products, full of paradoxically frenetic but reasoned gameplay, with captivating and crazy characters. Few will remember GrimGrimoire for its writing, and with good reason: it is the strategic heart that beats strongly, its mix of tactics, hordes, continuous attacks, of strategic choices in real time. Vanillaware was not gentle, it did not have much mercy: GrimGrimoire is and remains a product for enthusiasts who know what they want from their pad, a title that forces you to understand what is happening and react accordingly. You could say that it is a typical characteristic of every real-time strategy game, yes, but here we are in two dimensions: it means that parallaxes and overlaps of units on the field are a problem, that having an analogue joystick to run here and there for the map is another headache and then yes, it is Japanese so it has some splendid antics of its own to digest and love.
If you've never played the original game, get ready a journey of fantasy, magic and fairy tale to a distant tower, a storybook fantasy setting where our protagonist goes to learn the arts. On the fifth day, strange events will happen and, coincidentally, we will be catapulted into an eternal loop in which everything begins again, allowing us to learn new skills and then, on the fifth day, we will be returned stronger than before.
In the middle, of course, strategic battles in which you command elves, ghosts, fairies and artifacts, collect mana, recruit new units and find the best balance between heroic wave resistance and frontline assaults. Believe me, it works well: despite a genre that has never been touched, Kamitani, designer Kouichi Maenou and the team managed to deliver a whimsical niche product, charismatic at the right level, profound and non-trivial, all traits that still permeate this modern renaissance today.
One more time?
Vanillaware has made Lillet's new journey even more interesting, embellishing it with a decisive series of quality of life measures, some expected, some less so. The technical impact is the first thing that hits: one renewed high definition graphics, the widescreen format and, in general, the resulting greater clarity are almost obvious elements. The dubbing has been repackaged, making it more resolving and captivating, although a small note must be made about the audio formats: the surround, inexplicably, has been neutralized by an audio transmission that passes almost exclusively through the center channel, giving rise to being a bit caged, unable to express himself, kind of a quality monkey, let's hope they fix it.
In addition to the so-called "Great Magic", new and powerful spells to use in battle to turn it in our favor, Kamitani has rightly decided to implement a highly requested functionality of fast forward, one of those typically remastered features that lessens the feeling of frustration when you lose a fight that lasts half an hour or more at the last minute. Another element included is manual saving in battle, as well as an even tougher Hard level.
In OnceMore the role-playing park is enriched with objectives at the end of the battle, which allow you to collect coins to spend on learning new skills and strengthening your mages. In general, in short, this version promises to accompany even the least experienced inside the strange tower, giving a less elitist and more democratic aura to a product that in 2007 successfully entered the niches, but remained there. Returning to the point of the first paragraph, the Switch's portable capacity amplifies the charm of GrimGrimoire and elevates it to a splendid Japanese strategy game to play anywhere, without going over the top, but also without missing a beat: Vanillaware's title is so beautiful today as it was before and with a little bit of Hogwarts, a little bit of Fable, a little bit of Odin Sphere atmosphere, it is unique and worth your time.
Conclusions
Tested version Nintendo Switch digital delivery Nintendo eShop Price 49,99 € Holygamerz.com 8.5 Readers (3) 8.3 your voteWhimsical, never banal, GrimGrimoire tells once again how even on consoles, even in Japan and even from a relatively small team, a high-level real-time strategy game can be born: OnceMore takes a title more than three decades old behind their backs. and transports you to the present, embellishing the package with appreciable features and a desired element of Switch portability that make each short session a half hour of quality gameplay. The relatively low price improves its perception, thanks to a series of recent successes that have completely repositioned Vanillaware and that today can allow themselves to suggest to the video game planet that PlayStation 2 was also a land of wonders for the small Kamitani studio.
PRO
- Japanese real-time strategic portability
- A classic that benefits greatly from new additions
- The gameplay is still very solid.
AGAINST
- The audio has some microtechnical diffusion problems.
- The story is still not the strong point.
