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These days, the adjective “vanilla” has come to refer to anything bland, uninteresting,
or just downright plain, all thanks to its abject dominance in the ice-cream sector.
But then along came Vanillaware, an artists’ collective cleverly disguised as a video game
developer, who started dropping game after game of mind-blowing sprites, magic and mythology,
and - as anyone who’s played Odin Sphere can tell you - really awesome gameplay. (Even
if it’s sometimes prone to slowdown.) But despite being held in universally high esteem,
they bounce around publishers like a pinball. The aforementioned Odin Sphere, of course,
was brought to us by Atlus, but Muramasa on the Wii was published by Ignition, and this,
GrimGrimoire, actually managed to worm its way into the official Nippon-Ichi continuity,
popping up again in Soul Nomad and the World Eaters of all places. And it’s not even
an RPG. It’s a bleedin’ RTS.
Yes, an RTS. Real-time strategy. But unlike the overhead views of your Starcrafts and
Ages of Empires and whatnot, this one’s in... side-view. You’re actually looking
at a cutaway of a number of hallways, interconnected by flights of stairs, and upon which these
battles take place. This isn’t a fight for dominance of a particular real estate, it
is, in fact, training bouts in a wizards’ school - complete with a cloud-bearded headmaster,
in danger of running afoul of copyright law - into which the unassuming Lillet Blan enrolls.
Unfortunately, like any good wizards’ academy, the joint is haunted, and she’ll have to
use her powers of spirit-summoning to keep from getting mangled by roaming packs of...
light bulb cats. Four flavors of magic are available: Glamour, Alchemy, Sorcery, and
Necromancy, each with their own sets of available minions and, once you’ve gathered enough
resources and leveled up your runes a bajillion times - huge freakin’ things like manticores
and Charon (complete with boat) and this giant dragon. Who happens to be crawling around
on the outside of the cutaway of the hallways. Not sure how that’s supposed to work, but
damn if it isn’t fun.
The game consists of lessons, explorations, and the requisite wizards’-school poking-one’s-nose-where-it-doesn’t-belong,
leading to the occasional chronological paradox. There are also no-holds-barred freestyle trials,
where - right from the get-go - you’re welcome to cast from any of the four Grimoires, regardless
of where you are in the story. And that’s welcome, but... RTS games kinda have this
expectation of multiplayer, and there’s none to be offered here. Similarly, there’s
not much variety in the soundtrack or the stage design, aside from “There are barriers
or missing floors where there weren’t before.” But it’s a drastic - and refreshing - step
away from the more frantic action of a Muramasa or an Odin Sphere. GrimGrimoire never really
got the shot it deserved, and that’s a crime in my book. Heh. Book. Man, I’m clever.