Growlanser I

Growlanser is An RPG featuring a unique combat system that combines an MMO-style RPG called “RMC (Real-time Mission Clear) Combat” with SRPG. The catch phrase of this game are “Non-stop dramatic RPG”.

Table of Contents

Story

Long ago, the world where people lived was full of magical energy called “Growshu”. People lived by using magic from Growshu floating in the air.

However, as the sun became abnormal, people “overlapped” their world, which had become a death world, with another world. As a result, they lost Growshu. In order to use magic, they had no other choice but to use Growshu which flowed in small amounts from the distortion of the two worlds.

• Growlanser
• Collection

Growlanser
Developer	Career Soft
Publisher	Atlus
Release	JP: November 25, 1999 (PlayStation) JP: July 26, 2001 (Windows PC) JP: May 14, 2009 (PSP)
Genre	TRPG
Mode	Single Player
Prequel	Growlanser III
Sequel	Growlanser II

Growlanser Collection
Developer	Career Soft
Publisher	Atlus
Release	JP: December 18, 2003 (PlayStation & PlayStation 2)
Genre	TRPG
Mode	Single Player
Features	Growlanser I ~ III

And after a while… 3 countries were formed on this continent. The Rolandia Kingdom, located to the west of the continent, was trying to use magic peacefully by creating a magic academy in collaboration with its neighboring country, Burnshutain Kingdom.

The boy picked up by Sandra, the court magician of Rolandia, receives two contradictory prophecies: “He will be the darkness that destroys the world” or “He will be the light that saves the world.”

Thinking about his future, Sandra has kept him out of the royal capital and out of contact with the outside world until he is old enough to be independent. When the boy turned 17, the day of departure has come for him to see the world with his own eyes. The boy leaves the royal capital for the first time and travels to the outside world. Without knowing that it was the beginning of everything.

Opening: PS1 “Hikari no Tsubasa” both version (with lyrics & english sub)

• Female Version
• Male Version

Gameplay

Roughly explaining the gameplay, it is a seamless battle from a top-down perspective, the system is based on the premise of giving instructions directly to each character, and since the time is stopped while giving instructions to the characters, the play feeling is closer to SRPG than MMO-style RPG.

Looking only at the combat system, it’s more like an RTS than an RPG. It can be said that the battle system of the “Langrisser series” that has been developed to suit RPGs.

In addition, the biggest feature of the battle system of this work is various victory conditions set according to the scene. Not only annihilate the enemy, but also “annihilate the enemy while protecting the NPC”, “earn a certain amount of time”, “get items and escape the battle area”, “attack by pretending to be an enemy and cause internal conflict”, “Activate the map mechanism successfully”.

You can enjoy the game without getting bored because the strategy that matches the situation of the story is required. “Although it was an advantageous condition at the beginning of the battle, it became disadvantageous at once due to the appearance of a powerful enemy”. A number of unpredictable developments make event battle interesting.

In this game, “battle is also a part of the scenario”. That way, event battles are a deep battle with a story that is not just a mere extermination of enemy units or a reduction of numerical values. Therefore, the outcome of battle affects the story which affects the fun of the game.

Events in case of defeat are also well prepared, and adjustments have been made so that it will not have a significant impact on later stories. Usually it is a battle that is hard to win in the usual way. However, that is actually a strong aspect to look forward to in the next playthrough.

In addition, the play time of this game is about 50 hours until it is cleared, which is quite long for an RPG at that era. This 50 hours is a story if you play normally, however if you take your time, it is possible that it will exceed 80 hours in just one playthrough.

In addition, not only the protagonist and party members, but the NPCs are also well described. There are many comical events in the series, yet it is well-balanced with seriousness.

Some illustrations are inserted in various important events throughout the story, making the story more dramatic. After clearing, you can hear the comments of the voice actors. This has become an annual feature in the series.

Character Making

At the beginning of the game, the protagonist will be asked to do some errands, but the action at that time determines the subsequent growth potential.

At this time, the actions taken by the protagonist that involve citizens will affect the growth graph, skills that can be learned, and weapons that can be equipped.

You can make it a perfect all-around superhuman, or magic specialist, or even set it to the lowest value and bind it.

Since the main character is silent protagonist, a fairy who is a spokesperson and a partner who is in charge of displaying the expression appears. This allows you to enjoy your adventure in a unique atmosphere that is different from other RPGs.

Moreover, this fairy kicks when the protagonist does something weird. The way the cool protagonist is kicked is extremely merciless, and it is an element that can be said to be a specialty of this game. However, this kicking itself has meaning, so you can’t underestimate it.

Characters can gain various abilities by allocating ability points once the character levels up. The skills that can be acquired differ depending on the character, and the character’s build or nature.

Vacation System

Several vacations are inserted throughout the story. This vacation serves to deepen the relationship with the party members and raise their affection.

The vacation site can be selected from multiple areas, and different events occur depending on the area. Basically, there will be a special event with 1 character who is familiar with the vacation area, but sometimes there are exceptions.

The number of days off is 2 days at first vacation, but you will get 3 days from 2nd vacations. However, if you take inappropriate actions, let the citizens be killed, or choose stupid options, the days off will be reduced.

As the story progresses, you can create your own city. There are no individual events here, and you can invite your comrades to go to restaurants and theaters and enjoy a little date feeling.

There is also an element that the facial expressions of party members on the status screen change according to their affection. At first, it is expressionless, but if the affection goes up, it will smile, and if it is a female character, it will eventually blush (this feature has been improved in the PSP version).

And if you manage these vacation events and character events to raise your liking, you can see the his/her individual endings. Not to mention the love ending with female characters and the friendship ending with male characters is prepared equally. Even the fairy has an ending.

Novel Version

“Am I really a hero …”

The success of the protagonist ended the previous war, and as a result, people became able to handle magical powers.

And at first glance, it looks like peace has arrived on the continent. But many people died and causing grief to many people was an unavoidable cost.

While carrying that thought, protagonist received news of the resurrection of the intelligence and assassination group Shadow Knights, which should have been destroyed in the war.

“Don’t make people sad anymore.”

Protagonist stands up again to eliminate the signs of war. This novel was published on March 1, 2000.

English Patch

There is an English patch for the PS1 version being worked on by poorchief (Rex). The script is already 100% translated, the rest is the other parts like bug fixing (mostly solved) and script editing.

Here are some videos of the playtest.

Remake (PSP Version)

The PSP version comes with the appearance of new characters and additional events that were not in the original version, also a new route that presents a different story from the original route. But players can still choose whether they want to play the new route or the original route.

The display range has become wider to fit the PSP screen. The conversation window is transparent and the character can be seen up to the thighs. The text display speed has increased considerably.

BGM, SE, CG resolution, etc. have improved overall. A new BGM has been added and the sound quality has improved. SE has been newly remade. The OP songs has been changed (OP movie itself is reused) and the ED song has been added.

The new route contains a story that focuses more on new characters, and provided endings for new characters. Old voice recordings are used again for the same scenes and dialogue, while new voice recordings are also added in new scenes and dialogues.

Character affection has become easier to understand. A fortune teller who tells you the character affection has been added. The character’s background will change depending on their affection. The facial expressions of male characters have increased by one level.

Opening: PSP both version (with lyrics & english sub)

• Female Version
• Male Version

Growlanser I Manual (PSP Version)

Here is the Growlanser I PSP manual which has been translated into English.

Opening & Ending Theme

This game has good quality anime style opening. Moreover, there are 2 types of movies, a male version and a female version. The vocals, tunes, and characters appearing in the animation are different. Actually there is 1 more opening in the form of an image slide which is a character introduction with music without a song.

PS1 Version

Opening Theme 1: 光の翼 “Hikari no Tsubasa” (Wings of Light) ~ Male Version
Vocal: ALULU-KAN / 溝端 修一 “Mizohata Shuichi” / Shuichi Mizohata

Opening Theme 2: 光の翼 “Hikari no Tsubasa” (Wings of Light) ~ Female Version
Vocal: 大津亜由望”Ohtsu Ayumi” / Ayumi Ohtsu

Ending Theme: –

PSP Version

Opening Theme 1: Tomorrow
Vocal: 田村ゆかり”Tamura Yukari” / Yukari Tamura

Opening Theme 2: Crimson Star
Vocal: 富田麻帆”Tomita Maho” / Maho Tomita

Ending Theme: リンクシンク”Link Sync”
Vocal: 富田麻帆”Tomita Maho” / Maho Tomita

Playthrough

Official Website:

https://www.atlus.co.jp/title-archive/gl/