9/19/07 - Growlanser V: Heritage of War (PS2)

[schild]

Notable for 3 reasons:
1. Probably the last Growlanser title we'll see in America.
2. It's the first one people have said they liked since the, well, first one. Everything inbetween was trash.
3. Atlus is printing like 10 copies or something.

Also, it's for the PS2: The System That Won't Die.

[Yegolev]

I did an entire three minutes of research, which is all that is needed when I socket my "Judge A Game In Three Screenshots" materia.  I'm not clear on why I should get this title.

[schild]

Well, I certainly didn't list Graphics as one of those reasons.

[Yegolev]

You didn't list anything, and neither do the two websites I visited.  You are telling me to Google harder, then?

[schild]

From NeoGAF:

Good Points:

- Battle System is fantastic as always. The main character control they added for the game worked out very well and made it feel actiony but still maintained all the precise control you need for minute movements.

- Party A.I. is great. It's self-sufficient and actually is effective. You can even tweak the settings if you want but I didn't really mess with them.

- The Ability Tree/Ability Plate system is pretty neat. It's a really good start but needs some further work. Just more benefits to linking specific plates together and more complex things to it could really add more flavor.

- Story and Characters are awesome for the most part. Ending wraps up the story pretty well.

Bad Points:

- Graphics are ugly. Could've been better looking wither fewer units on screen.

- The game isn't as difficult as Growlanser IV but is maybe a little more difficult than Growlanser I. There aren't too many interesting battle scenarios nor are the enemies in general just weren't very tough for the most part. GLIV has awesome battle scenarios and tough enemies in battle so it's kind of a step back for GLV.

- The story kind of wraps up quick in the second half. I was expecting a little more storyline to it but I think it might have been become a little long in the tooth since the first half of the game is kind of long and really damn good.

- The characters (player characters) don't get as much screentime or personal time to develop in some areas. What you do get is really good so it kind of leaves you wanting more for them.

- Ending was a bit anti-climatic in comparison to GLIV which had a great ending.

[Yegolev]

You rock, I didn't find any of that.  Sadly, I must pass.  Sounds like Star Ocean 3/Grandia III/Tales of Symphonia.

[schild]

I'm hoping it's more like Star Ocean 1/Tales of the Abyss/Suikoden 5

[Rasix]

I don't know why.. but I really liked Grandia 2.

Yah, I got nothin'.

[Riggswolfe]

I'm picking it up. My plan for the next few months is this gaming-wise:

Finish Persona 3 this weekend->Halo 3->Growlanser Generations (I still need to finish it)->Growlanser V->Eternal Sonata->Mass Effect (the one game I have been almost pacing the floors for.)

[Phildo]

Yeah, Suikoden V!  Growlanser Generations left such a bad taste in my mouth, I'm avoiding this title until someone I trust gives me a REALLY good reason for it.

[SurfD]

I don't know why.. but I really liked Grandia 2.

Yah, I got nothin'.

I wanted to like grandia 2, i really did, but for some reason, the ps2 version suffered HORRIBLE slowdown in the towns, which ruined the game for me.

Grandia 1 is still one of my favourite RPG's of all time.