Do you remember Grand Knight History? PSP? Vanillaware? Teased for west release but then cancelled? Yeah, that.
Grand Kingdom is developed by Spike Chunsoft and looks very similar to Vanillaware's own game, from the art style to the general idea. Now, I've never played GKH, skipping the import because, hey, it will be realeased in English!, but the two share the same director and from what I've seen and read of GKH, there a lot of similarities.
Taking the role of a mercenary leader, your band enters the fray between four kingdoms to which you can swear loyality and even bring the battle online against players working for other kindgoms. The online component seems very strong, and right now I've scratced only the surface, partially due to the incredibly high language barrier.
These impressions are based on the first two hours I've spent with the game, that could bu summed up to three because I've replayed the opening moments due to some mistakes (like completely overlooking the kana/letters switch when selecting you avatar's and merc company's names).
You character never gets directly into the fight, he directs a group of four soldiers around a map and then in turn-based battles.
The map is reminiscent of Ogre Battle: you move your party around trying to get to the goal of the mission at hand. There's a maximum limit of days/hours/turns to get there, with each movement costing one. Special tiles, like traps, can cost more if you choose to approach them cautiosly, and seemingly dead ends can hide treasures or wandering medics to heal your party...for a fee of course. Enemy parties stalk around the same map, and they move as you move; some are visible, some are hidden, some man artillery pieces that can be destroyed (so far no chance of capturing and using them).
When facing an enemy party, the game switches to a different view, with opposing factions positioned along an horizontal battlefield; battlefields have three lanes (think Guardian Heroes), and can be filled with obstacles (barricades, crates) or traps.
Characters act based on their speed, and once all have acted a next turn starts; players are encouraged to clear battles as fast as possible, as battle turns still go toward the total number of turns available to reach the final goal. When active, a character has a certain movement range and can perform one action; it's not possible to act and then move. The most basic action is the attack, and each class has its own way to do so: warriors are simple, they reach the enemy and pummel them at close range; archers fire arrows in an arched trajectory, surpassing obstacles and friendly units; mages summon magic from the ground, skipping everything; medics throw potions in a shallow arc; in a comical twist, when someone is hit by a (thrown) healing potion, he/she'll play the "hit" animation, the potion will count toward breaking a guard, and despite all of that, the potion will work as intended.
Attacks aren't simple menu entries: warriors have a four-hit combo, but the third hit launches the enemy in the air and the fourth attack must be timed to hit the falling soldier; and if that hits, you can perform a Just Cancel and keep the combo going. Archers, mages, and medics can "walk" their attack over a small area because they hit multiple times during a single attack, with each hit bouncing the target around; archers are limited to one target, but mages and medics can actually hit multiple targets with one hit...sometimes unwillingly, as the medic's attack potions explode and might hit targets outside the effective area. This works for your party and enemies, and more often than not enemy medics heal your nearby characters. Bouncing characters also damage anyone on which they land upon, a mechanic that can be used to limit how much a target moves around to have an easier time with close-range attacks.
And it's fun. Battles haven't been particularly hard, but stringing together an eight-hit combo with a warrior, or hitting a poor enemy soldier in the air with your archer is exilerating. The three lanes also allow for secondary attacks with different properties, like piercing arrows or lightning bolts.
In between missions you can recruit different soldiers. Warriors, berserkers, mages, medics, alchemists, thieves, lancers, dragon-riding mages...all come with 9 different stats their own sets of skills, that can be customised to a degree. If some classes are overpowered or useless I still don't know, but even between close-range units, the differencies go beyond simple stats: warriors have a longer reach than berserkers, which in turn have simpler and more damaging combos. All point to a well made game, and I hope these first impressions will be vindicated.
Connecting to my initial statement, Spike Chunsoft paid more than one homage to Vanillaware, going for a fully 2D art style with complex portraits for talking characters, illlustrated cut-ins even during battles, and very fluid animations: even the characters seem to walk like they are from a Vanillaware game. The style is not as detailed though, but I always appreciate when developers go for normal sprites, especially when they look so good and vibrant.
Grand Kingdom is developed by Spike Chunsoft and looks very similar to Vanillaware's own game, from the art style to the general idea. Now, I've never played GKH, skipping the import because, hey, it will be realeased in English!, but the two share the same director and from what I've seen and read of GKH, there a lot of similarities.
Taking the role of a mercenary leader, your band enters the fray between four kingdoms to which you can swear loyality and even bring the battle online against players working for other kindgoms. The online component seems very strong, and right now I've scratced only the surface, partially due to the incredibly high language barrier.
These impressions are based on the first two hours I've spent with the game, that could bu summed up to three because I've replayed the opening moments due to some mistakes (like completely overlooking the kana/letters switch when selecting you avatar's and merc company's names).
You character never gets directly into the fight, he directs a group of four soldiers around a map and then in turn-based battles.
The map is reminiscent of Ogre Battle: you move your party around trying to get to the goal of the mission at hand. There's a maximum limit of days/hours/turns to get there, with each movement costing one. Special tiles, like traps, can cost more if you choose to approach them cautiosly, and seemingly dead ends can hide treasures or wandering medics to heal your party...for a fee of course. Enemy parties stalk around the same map, and they move as you move; some are visible, some are hidden, some man artillery pieces that can be destroyed (so far no chance of capturing and using them).
When facing an enemy party, the game switches to a different view, with opposing factions positioned along an horizontal battlefield; battlefields have three lanes (think Guardian Heroes), and can be filled with obstacles (barricades, crates) or traps.
Characters act based on their speed, and once all have acted a next turn starts; players are encouraged to clear battles as fast as possible, as battle turns still go toward the total number of turns available to reach the final goal. When active, a character has a certain movement range and can perform one action; it's not possible to act and then move. The most basic action is the attack, and each class has its own way to do so: warriors are simple, they reach the enemy and pummel them at close range; archers fire arrows in an arched trajectory, surpassing obstacles and friendly units; mages summon magic from the ground, skipping everything; medics throw potions in a shallow arc; in a comical twist, when someone is hit by a (thrown) healing potion, he/she'll play the "hit" animation, the potion will count toward breaking a guard, and despite all of that, the potion will work as intended.
Attacks aren't simple menu entries: warriors have a four-hit combo, but the third hit launches the enemy in the air and the fourth attack must be timed to hit the falling soldier; and if that hits, you can perform a Just Cancel and keep the combo going. Archers, mages, and medics can "walk" their attack over a small area because they hit multiple times during a single attack, with each hit bouncing the target around; archers are limited to one target, but mages and medics can actually hit multiple targets with one hit...sometimes unwillingly, as the medic's attack potions explode and might hit targets outside the effective area. This works for your party and enemies, and more often than not enemy medics heal your nearby characters. Bouncing characters also damage anyone on which they land upon, a mechanic that can be used to limit how much a target moves around to have an easier time with close-range attacks.
And it's fun. Battles haven't been particularly hard, but stringing together an eight-hit combo with a warrior, or hitting a poor enemy soldier in the air with your archer is exilerating. The three lanes also allow for secondary attacks with different properties, like piercing arrows or lightning bolts.
In between missions you can recruit different soldiers. Warriors, berserkers, mages, medics, alchemists, thieves, lancers, dragon-riding mages...all come with 9 different stats their own sets of skills, that can be customised to a degree. If some classes are overpowered or useless I still don't know, but even between close-range units, the differencies go beyond simple stats: warriors have a longer reach than berserkers, which in turn have simpler and more damaging combos. All point to a well made game, and I hope these first impressions will be vindicated.
Connecting to my initial statement, Spike Chunsoft paid more than one homage to Vanillaware, going for a fully 2D art style with complex portraits for talking characters, illlustrated cut-ins even during battles, and very fluid animations: even the characters seem to walk like they are from a Vanillaware game. The style is not as detailed though, but I always appreciate when developers go for normal sprites, especially when they look so good and vibrant.
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