Yuri Video Game Review: GrimGrimoire(PS2)

***SPOILERS AHEAD!***
*Note: some of the images for this game are from the Japanese version. Sadly there are not that many images from the US release.

That is right you read the headline right dear readers! This review is a double-whammy being as this is a video game.......WITH YURI! :D Released in 2007 for the PlayStation 2 and later ported over to the PS3 as a downloadable PS2 classic, GrimGrimoire is a rare gem of a game! GrimGrimoire combines elements from several different types of games into one seamless whole. The story is told through visual novel style cut scenes. The game play itself is an RTS, or Real-Time Strategy, in a similar vein as Command & Conquer or Star Craft, with some RPG mixed in for good measure! It may sound a little odd but once you start playing you will see how well all these different elements mesh together!

The story follows a young girl named Lillet Blan who aspires to be a great magician. She is accepted into the prestigious Tower of Silver Star, where she will learn about various different types of magic. At this school she encounters a wide assortment of crazy, yet fun and interesting characters. The teachers are a diverse and odd bunch. From your standard high magician who serves as principal to the school, a literal devil teacher, a lion-headed professor, and a love-sick woman who is far older than she appears. The students are just as diverse with a girl who hides her true intentions, a spy from a foreign nation, a prince with a hidden agenda, and a female homunculus with the soul of a female angel.

Tower of Silver Star

Lillet Blan

Amoretta Virgine, the homunculus

Opalneria Rain,the love-sick teacher

Margarita Surprise

Gammel Dore, headmaster

Advocat, the devil teacher

All goes well for Lillet until the fifth day of her first week at the school. The soul of the powerful and evil Archmage, Calvaros and his demon ally Grimlet awaken and attempt to steal a powerful artifact known as the Philosopher's Stone to gain absolute power. Just as Lillet is going to be killed she is thrust backwards through time to the first night she had arrived. Using her increasing knowledge of magic and taking advantage of the loop in time she sets out to prevent the death of her friends and stop Calvaros and Grimlet for good!

 

Calvaros

 

 

Now on to the game play! As I said this is an RTS, but a basic one at that. And like any good RTS there has to be differing factions to fight against each other! In this case there are four "factions" or groups of magic:

1. Glamour- A group of magic that summons mystical-type creatures such as elves, fairies, and unicorns.

2. Necromancy- A group of magic that calls forth ghosts and the undead to your army.

3. Sorcery- This summons demonic creatures to your aid such as imps, demons, and dragons.

4. Alchemy- Creates artificial beings like the homunculus and chimera to to your bidding.

 

Fairy

Unicorn

Demon

Morning Star

Chimera

Dragon(In my opinion the BEST unit in the game!)

All four groups are well balanced against each other, but in terms of the story missions and the bonus missions you will be able to mix and match each group to make a very diverse army, switching to units from each faction to suit the situation at hand. To build your armies you of course need to build a base and gather resources. In this case to summon your units you need to build runes pertaining to whatever faction(s) you want to use. Each group comes with three runes. Each rune allows you to summon and level up certain units as well as build base defenses. Building your runes, summoning, and leveling up runes and units is not free though. To fund your war effort you need to gather resources, in this case crystals. All the maps are littered with large crystals that can be claimed if they are not already. To gather from any crystal you need to have a basic unit from any faction(such as elves, imps ghosts and blobs) to build a shrine pertaining to a certain faction. Only the gatherers from that faction can gather from that crystal but all the crystals you collect can be used to build runes and units from any and all groups.

A diagram showing how to build runes, summon and gather

The missions for the story mode are pretty basic. Ranging from hold-and-defend to just destroying everything on the map, it is pretty easy to grasp the overall structure of the game. There are some missions with special conditions. Some will have you defending the runes of a different character, or destroying specific runes or units of the enemy. And even though time travel is involved in the story nothing is ever really gets repetitive. You unlock new runes and units at a steady pace and your enemies tend to do a very good job of keeping you on your toes. Aside from the main story missions there are several bonus missions as well. They don's have an impact on the story but are simply there for your enjoyment!

The graphics for the game are really quite striking and very unique from other games. It still has a very anime style charm to it but the art for everything from characters to the look of the maps themselves is outstanding! This game clearly places creativity and style over graphical prowess. The level of detail for the units, maps and characters is amazing and it all really has a hand drawn feel to it. my only complaint is that the maps all look the same. The art especially looks nice in the game's  visual novel style cut scenes.

The sound design is also great. All the units and creatures have unique voices and sounds which helps to really tell them apart. The music is somewhat generic but does have a grand feel to it at times. The English voice acting is however quite good. Though some of the voices are ok. There is an option to use the Japanese voice acting which is still better than the great English track. :P 

Now you must be asking " But FanBoy, you said this game has yuri in it!" And there IS! Always save the best for last! ;) As the story progresses Lillet meets and befriends Amoretta. Being a female angel Amoretta craves love. She does not get it from her creator. Lillet and Amoretta become decent friends at first but as Lillet travels through time she learns more about Amoretta. Being a homunculus with the soul of a female angel she is a very tasty target to demonic forces and other characters are willing to use her for there own ends. Lillet often stands up for Amoretta which only causes her to be drawn to Lillet. In fact at several points in the story Amoretta willingly sacrifices herself to protect Lillet. This only brings Lillet and Amoretta closer. These two declare there love for each other at several points in the game and diary entries from Lillet even confirm her love for Amoretta! XD Did I mention Amoretta even tells her creator to piss off so she can be with Lillet? She totally does! :D Well maybe not EXACTLY telling him to piss off but close enough! :P The awesome yuri love between these two even becomes one of the major driving forces to the story! This game is a gift from the yuri goddesses! And by the way they get a happy end! ;)

Overall GrimGrimoire is a fine game with lots of style! Great characters headed by a great protagonist, great RTS game play, and amazing( and surprising) yuri! I wholly recommend  GrimGrimoire to anyone who is a fan of real time strategy games, visual novels, great stories and yuri! There is something in this game for everyone! Don't miss out!

GrimGrimoire(PS2) score: 9/10

-------------------------------------FanBoy

 

 

 

FanBoy's Favorite Tunes-Demon's Souls

*After my review of the game, i decided to post my Demon's Souls info here in case any of you have the game and wish to co-op. If so just send me a message. Sadly I can only co-op with players in North America on Demon's Souls. :(

North American servers
Souls Level: 90
PSN name: Chimekolover88


--------------------FanBoy

Video Game Review: Demon's Souls(PS3)

***SPOILERS AHEAD!***

A Japanese action rpg released in 2009, Demon's Souls is without a doubt one of the greatest video games ever made! Where as too many games today tend to hold your hand, or simply don't provide an extreme challenge, Demon's Souls comes along with it's unforgiving world filled to the teeth with enemies and monsters just waiting to kill you! This games is a true test of one's skills as a gamer and if you do not consider yourself a hardcore gamer then it is best to just leave this beast of an rpg be. it is for your own good. For everyone else willing to tangle with this behemoth you have been warned! >D

The story of Demon's Souls takes place in the cursed land of Boletaria. The kingdom has become covered in a thick colorless mist called the "Deep Fog". The nation's ruler, King Allant XII, has performed forbidden rituals to channel the power of souls in order to make his kingdom more poerful and prosperous. This only awakens an all powerful demon known as the Old One from its slumber beneath the Nexus. The Old One unleashes the fog to prevent escape and releases hordes of demons on the land to feast on the souls of humans. Those stuck in the fog become insane and begin to turn on each other. As the fog spreads to neighboring regions and countries, many warriors enter the fog in hopes of defeating the demons. You are one such warrior. The premise to the game is actually pretty good, but in all honesty the sroty is somewhat basic. good but not outstanding.

As you start up a new game you are able to choose between female or male. You then get to modify your character's appearance and traits, like hair-style and color, shape of your face, color of your skin, the structure of your face. It is a pretty robust character creation system! After that you get to choose your character's class. There are 10 unique classes to choose from: Soldier, Knight, Hunter, Priest, Magician, Wanderer, Barbarian, Thief, Temple Knight, and Royalty. Each class has it's own starting weapons, armor, magic and attributes and all have there own ways of achieving victory over this monster of a game. It is all up to you to find the right one!

After creating your character and choosing your class you are dropped into the tutorial stage where you learn the basics of the game. Combat is mostly simple. The R1 does your basic attack while the R2 button does a more powerful, guard breaking attack. L1 Button allows you to use your left handed weapon, like guarding with a shield. O button lets you sprint, roll, and step back. X allows you to interact with objects in the environment like dropped items and talk to the in-game characters. Triangle button lets you toggle between one handing or two handing your right hand weapon. Square button lets you use items in your inventory like healing herbs, magic restoring spice, or any other items you may have. Everything may sound easy but believe me it is NOT! At the end of the easy tutorial level you must fight the demon boss, Vanguard. he will beat the living shit out of you. More often than not, you will die when you get to this boss. He is strong enough to kill you in one hit. If you win against Vanguard(as if) you will be thrown into the world of Boletaria. When you die in the main game world or against Vanguard you will be thrown into the Nexus for the first time. The Nexus serves as a hub, allowing you to access any of the 5 worlds at your own pace after beating World 1-1. The Nexus lets you rest from your travels. Here you can get your weapons and armor repaired to get them back to peak condition. You can store weapons, armor and items for later use and to prevent you from getting overburdened by their weight. You can even purchase some basic items, weapons, armor, and upgrades to your gear. Some NPC characters in the Nexus will even teach you Spells(black magic) and Miracles(white magic) for a fee. On your travels in the game world you will encounter many more characters who may go to the Nexus provided you are willing to help them(or you can just kill them for what they have on hand)! If you help them some will provide you with greater insight into the world of Demon's Souls, and others like Yuria the Witch and Sage Freke will teach you very high level magic. There is just as much to do here in the Nexus as there is to do in Boletaria!

In the game world itself you are in for some serious pain! Each World is very different and unique. Different tactics will be needed to beat each section and believe me, there is no sure fire way to win outright. Every enemy you encounter can, and will most likely, kill you in different ways. The enemy AI is quite smart and very unforgiving. Monsters like gargoyles, mind flayers, Red eye knights, Fat Officials, Skeletons and so much more will be the bane of your existence. Defeating each enemy may sometimes yield items. But it will always get you Souls. Souls serve as experience points to level your character up in the Nexus and they also serve as currency to buy items, gear and upgrade or repair your stuff. it can be tough to choose how you spend your Souls. However you spend your Souls you better make sure it is the right choice. Spending on the wrong thing can mean life or death in this game. And as much as there can be great rewards for victory, there are harsh punishments for failure and death. When you die you will be revived at the beginning of the level you are playing. Any enemies you failed to defeat will have there health revived. Worst of all is you will be stuck in Soul form. As a Soul you can still fight but your health bar will be slashed to a tiny fraction of what it was. When you die you also lose any and all souls you accumulated but have yet to spend on leveling up or items. These souls can be saved however. If you return to where you were killed you will find a glowing blood stain. Touching your stain will allow you to reclaim your lost souls, but if you die on your way back to your blood stain, you lose those souls forever.

Life and death can also determine the difficulty of each World. Each World's difficulty is determined by World Tendency. White World Tendency is achieved when you beat an entire World without dying in your body form too often, as well as defeating all three bosses in that World. Conversely if you die in your body form a lot you will get Black World Tendency. Each time you die in body form the difficulty will increase a little at a time. Each Tendency does have its own rewards however. Pure White World Tendency will open up areas that were previously closed off letting you find special items and gear as well as extra souls. Enemies will also be much easier but defeating them will yield fewer souls and they will drop fewer items. Pure Black World Tendency will make your enemies much harder to beat than they already are. They will drop more souls than before though, as well as rarer and special items.

Even more difficult than the enemies you face in each area are the bosses. These bosses are some of the hardest and unforgiving you may ever face in your gaming career. Some of them are simply MASSIVE too. Each World has three bosses while World 1 has 4. Defeating each boss nets you a special soul which can be consumed to net you a ton of regular souls. However the soul of each boss has unique properties to it that can be exploited in different ways. Giving some of these boss souls to certain NPC characters will allow you to buy super high level and ultra powerful Spells and/or Miracles. One character however will allow you to use boss souls to upgrade basic weapons to super powerful and special weapons. Buying these special magics and weapons can go a long way to helping you attain victory. Well, not really! :P

Perhaps one of the best features about this game is its innovative use of the Playstation 3's online functionality! The game does have co-op and competitive multiplayer but not like any other game out there. On your travels in each World you will notice several blood stains. These are the blood stains of other players when they died in there own games. Touching these stains can be helpful as you see a phantom version of the player, seconds before they are killed. these stains can provide you with helpful hints as to what may lay ahead. Other players, as well as yourself, can also leave messages throughout the world. These messages range from helpful hints to pleas of help to co-op. In order to summon players to co-op you must be in Body form while your partners must be in Soul form. You or anyone else can then use an item called a Blue Eye Stone to drop a Soul sign. When it is touched you or anyone else is pulled in to a different person's game(or yours). The goal is basic: defeat the boss at the end of the area. When the boss is defeated you get to grade others or are graded on how well you or they co-oped. And anyone stuck in Soul form is instantly revived in there game! On the other hand, if you or someone uses a Black Eye Stone while in Soul form you can invade someone else's game as a Black Phantom or you can be invaded. The objective of the Black Phantoms is to find the opposing player and defeat them in order to be revived. Fights between living players and Black Phantom players can be real battles of attrition. You may also be out of luck if you are invaded by someone who is at a higher level and has some high level magic and weapons. Trust me you will sweat like crazy when you get a message alerting you to an invasion from a Black Phantom. Everything about Demon's Souls online component screams innovation and can be tons of fun(unless you get invaded)! :P

As good as the game play and online service is the graphics are just as amazing. This is one richly detailed world! From poisonous swamps to a battle scared castle there is so much visual detail to take in! It looks and feels like a real place! Weapons and armor also look very impressive. The design of the enemies and bosses is among some of the best I have seen in an rpg! Sadly the models for the characters are not that great looking. The sound design is also believable with realistic clanging of weapons and armor, to the sounds of the enemies and bosses, this game will sound amazing in surround sound! The developer did an amazing job to make sure this game was a treat to all the senses!

Despite the game's steep learning curve and often brutal difficulty, this is easily the greatest rpg I have ever played form this generation of games! It sure is one of the best games of all time as well! Demon's Souls is not for the faint of heart but it really should not be missed by anyone! Take the time to learn it's nuances and you will find yourself having a blast! Demon's Souls is certainly going to be a game I will never forget and will most likely continue to play for years to come! I can't reccomend it enough!

Demon's Souls(PS3) score: 9.5/10

--------------------FanBoy