Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time hits PSP / PSN on July 31st!

[cj_iwakura]

So uh, recommendations for the final battle? It's pretty brutal stuff, and I think my two melee + two support strategy won't work well here.

I use Cley/Fiona for slice and dice, Trisha and Remus for range support.

I swapped Trisha out for Meline for her higher HP and better range attacks.

you're on modified route I guess. 

Code:

which part of the fight is giving you problems?  the 4 legged part or the part inside the netherworld with the floating skull head? 

The latter. Granted, I underestimated the hands and Cley got whacked, and I got frustrated and stopped because I spent like an hour on the first part.

Should I focus on the hands?

Also, modified route? What's the difference?

[TiamatNM]

So uh, recommendations for the final battle? It's pretty brutal stuff, and I think my two melee + two support strategy won't work well here.

I use Cley/Fiona for slice and dice, Trisha and Remus for range support.

I swapped Trisha out for Meline for her higher HP and better range attacks.

you're on modified route I guess.  

Code:

which part of the fight is giving you problems?  the 4 legged part or the part inside the netherworld with the floating skull head?  

The latter. Granted, I underestimated the hands and Cley got whacked, and I got frustrated and stopped because I spent like an hour on the first part.

Should I focus on the hands?

Also, modified route? What's the difference?

final boss has extra form on modified compared to original (no skull head form on original).  see my last post I edited it with my general strategy

[cj_iwakura]

What puts you on modified, out of curiosity?


Finally finished. Second form was a joke now that I went in ready.

Surprisingly good ending, more than I expected anyway.


What little VA the game had was damn good. Shame this couldn't have had a full VA budget.

So overall, compared to II & III:

Gameplay:
*****
Growlanser at its finest, no question. Challenging, varied, rewarding.

Story:
****-
It started out great, then flounded a lot near the end.
Would've been better off focusing on angels or the political intrigue, not trying to balance them. Both had great elements weighed down by the other.
(The small backstory on the angel civilization could've carried a whole game.)

I still prefer II & III, but don't get me wrong, IV is still great.

Music:
**---
(Very bland, only a couple tracks stood out)

Presentation:
****-
Great CGs and art design, love some of the characters(the Royal Guards, the twins, Vester);  makes up for the bad ones(Eliza, Trisha, etc.).

Really wish I'd unlock/ed more CGs, they all looked sharp.


Localization:
*****
Can't complain at all, the writing was great, and Cley's 'jerk' dialogue is AMAZING.
(Wow, that's a lot of translators and editors.)

I hope this isn't the last we see of Growlanser, but if so, it went out with a bang.


It also had my favorite final boss fight yet. Appropriate and looked really imposing, too.
It had a great sprite.

[Kratoscar2008]

What puts you on modified, out of curiosity?

Meline dies= Old Route
Meline lives= New Route

I prefer the original because you can get nice CGs on the endings.

[insertnamehere]

Could be because only some of it was voiced and not particularly often, but all that voice acting I heard was awkward and felt out of place.
I'm sure it was because I normally saw them talking without voices.
And a few translation errors, only one comes to mind right now (Magnus asking me to let him join)
["If my master if traveling with you, your goal can't be bad."] or something like that
Difficulty was a bitch early on, so I grinded and used blessing bells (once they appeared) until nearly everything and everyone in my main party was maxed out.
I would've liked extra focus on friendship building and not for time spent with people (I enjoyed talking to so and so, or if I took them some place then we only spend a couple seconds and bam, a third of that day went by) to feel like a waste of a free day.
Psyche Evaluation ALWAYS told me that to moderate my actions and it never changed even if I did.

Plot-wise it was painfully cheesy in the first couple hours, and then got really neat up until that mystery surrounding angels was cleared up, then cheesy again except for political intrigue.
That (modified route) final battle was really cool, the graphics in that battle are impressive.
I have quite a few nitpicks about it, but for me it was worth $30, probably even 40.

[TiamatNM]

Music:
**---
(Very bland, only a couple tracks stood out)

Presentation:
****-
Great CGs and art design, love some of the characters(the Royal Guards, the twins, Vester);  makes up for the bad ones(Eliza, Trisha, etc.).

The music is indeed very bland.  I'd give sound like a 5/10, easily worst thing about the game.  edit: after finally hearing some of the music from the PS2 version on youtube, I can safely say the sountrack in the PSP version is butchered.  tracks that sound boring and lame on the PSP sound quite good on the PS2

and Eliza's character design is awesome :P


I finally cleared the Dukheim route yesterday (one of the endings anyway) and it was enjoyable, has some good new content.  Somehow it took me this long to realize that skill effect +3 x 2 and a thorned power makes Crev basically invincible.  >_>  He doesn't even lose HP for using the thorned power as long as you've to the HP drain skill maxed with the skill effects boosting it.   I was using mainly ATW down +3 and weapon damage up +3 till now, but apparently you can't get his ATW below 17 anyway, and having another skill effect on makes it go that low (with a ring with -18 atw on anyway).

[cj_iwakura]

I strongly recommend anyone who finished it go watch Growlanser IV Return. It's fansubbed and viewable on a few sites(not sure if I can link to it or not). It's a few years old, but the ending is great. It's basically Wayfarer's epilogue, and the end credit theme is bound to make Growlanser fans wistful.


And I like Eliza and Tricia's characters, but no dignified noblewoman would go around wearing a dress that is a sharp tug away from a wardrobe malfunction. Never liked the ridiculous cleavage designs.

[Spoony Mage]

Finally started playing this and, after the Escape from Dulkheim (should be a movie title), it looks like it's beginning to pick up.  Granted, GLIII is still my favorite of the series, but this game is proving to be a contender so far.  Though I have to ask: does Tricia ever become playable?  I feel I've put a good amount of quality time into making her happy and it'd be a waste if I never saw her again, or worse, had to fight and kill her.  :/

Also, just in case anyone was interested in the artwork, it looks like Udon entertainment has licensed the Growlanser Artworks book for release this February according to ANN.  I've already picked it up from Japan, but I might double dip to support the English release.

Link: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-10-12/udon-licenses-haruhi-vocaloid-growlanser-art-books

[TiamatNM]

wow that sounds awesome I'm gonna have to pick that up.

About Tricia, you barely get to use her at all.  You basically get her right before the final boss on the modified route.  You can use her a fair amount on the Dukheim route though.