Growlanser IV Wayfarer of the time

Growlanser IV Wayfarer of the time is the fourth work of the Growlanser series, which gained popularity with its real-time strategy battles and “non-stop dramatic RPG” stories.

The world view has been renewed, the story is in an independent world with the previous three works.

The catch phrase is “Evolving Dramatic”. As it shows, various points are evolving, including the story.

Table of Contents

Story

Long 2000 years ago, mankind built a high degree of civilization through magic and science.

However, the battle with the powerful angels drives humankind to the brink of extinction.

And now, mankind has recovered from the danger of extinction and has built a new civilization.

• JP
• JP (D)

Growlanser IV Wayfarer of the time
Developer	Career Soft
Publisher	Atlus
Release	JP: December 18, 2003 (PlayStation 2)
Genre	TRPG
Mode	Single Player
Prequel	-
Sequel	-

Growlanser IV Wayfarer of the time (DELUXE PACK)
Developer	Career Soft
Publisher	Atlus
Release	JP: December 18, 2003 (PlayStation 2)
Genre	TRPG
Mode	Single Player
Prequel	-
Sequel	-

However, many things were lost in the battle with “angels” 2000 years ago, and the magical and scientific techniques of ancient civilizations ended up being part of fairy tale.

Noyeval, one of the continents in such a world. The Arten Schwart mercenary corps was hired to protect the island from invasion from the outer continent on Lamplast Island, which is located to the south of the area. However, they were attacked by an angel who suddenly appeared and escaped from the battlefield.

Then, on the night of returning to the continent, Decsen, the leader of the group, confirms the appearance of an angel and tells one of the members, Crevaniel, a shocking fact.

“You are the key to stopping the angel”

From there, the story begins to move significantly.

Gameplay

Many of the elements that were characteristic of Growlanser I but were abolished in Growlanser II and Growlanser III have been revived, such as the movement field becoming a battlefield as it is, and having your own territory.

The Growlanser III world map and randomly generated dungeons have been abolished. Similar to Growlanser I, the fields have become a continuous map between towns and dungeons, and the dungeons have become ordinary maps without randomness.

The element of Growlanser III that the surrounding enemies approach during the battle is inherited. The elements of Growlanser I, which were not in the previous works, such as the voice on the menu screen and the soliloquy when the controller was left for a certain period of time, have also been revived.

As with the previous two works, event battles are evaluated in three stages according to the achievement such as whether they did not cause damage to friendly forces or civilians, or whether they defeated the withdrawing enemy without letting them escape.

This time, in addition to that, a timer has been added for each mission. The countdown starts from +50 at the same time as the battle starts, and decreases to the lowest -50. The higher this count, the more experience points and better rewards you will receive, so it is desirable to defeat many enemies at an early stage.

The count must be 1 or higher to receive “MISSION COMPLETE”. When it drops to -50, “MISSION FAILED” is unconditionally decided. The rate of decrease of the timer depends on the mission.

Difficulty is higher than the past work, you have to make full use of skills such as reducing magic damage with “magic resistance up” for opponents who use powerful magic, and sleeping many enemies with “sleep” to win. Especially if you try to get “MISSION COMPLETE” in all battles on the first playthrough, the difficulty will be very high.

There there are some unpleasant things that are difficult to deal with at first glance, such as reinforcements that can be shot at the appearance position, or enemy reinforcements keep popping up, or melee attacks are not possible, or multiple magicians and archers appear at positions where they can make a big turn.

There are many missions where the difficulty level changes depending on whether or not measures are taken in advance. In some cases, if you do not take appropriate measures or take appropriate actions in advance, the it will be game over without being able to do anything.

And while this is a tradition in the series, event battle is part of the story, so at first glance you don’t know what will happen. Since it is a daily occurrence that you cannot use your favorite strategies and tactics, you are always required to respond flexibly.

However, if you understand how to use the skill, you can clear it without any problems, so it is not an unreasonable difficulty level. As with the previous work, the skills that can be acquired for each character are limited, and not all skills can be acquired.

Compared to the previous two works, which were thin and short, the story volume and density were increased to the extent that it were comparable to Growlanser I. Event illustration (single picture), opening animation, and other productions that were in Growlanser I but were abolished in the previous two works have been adopted again.

As an element that did not exist in the past works, friends began to respond to instructions during battle. In addition, there is also a production that changes the attitude of friends according to their affection, the presence or absence of abnormal status, and the situation of the story.

Familiar (Fairy)

In this work, you can choose from three types of fairy characters with different appearances and personalities (called familiars in this work) which is quite symbolic for this series in charge of spokesperson for protagonist.

You can use an item called a dollhouse to develop abilities such as strength, intelligence, and charm. Familiar does not participate in battle, but if she grows, protagonist can acquire the ability to advance the game in an advantageous way. It is necessary to clear the mission and replenish energy with specific items for training.

In addition to skills that are useful in battle, there are also abilities such as checking the number of unacquired items in the dungeon, determining the personality of the protagonist, and displaying the friends’ affection.

Personality judgment and affection display were inherited from Growlanser III, but in previous work, it could only be heard in specific places. On the other hand, in this work, it can be done at any time.

The familiar D-TP and D-LM types respectively look very similar to the fairy characters that appeared in Growlanser I and Growlanser III, and are designed to tickle the hearts of fans.

As you can see from the model number, the The D-TP type is modeled on Tipi of Growlanser I and the D-LM type is modeled on Rummy of Growlanser III.

At first glance, the D-LN type looks original, but in fact, the model is “Luna” from “Langrisser III”, which has the same illustrator.

Different vacation events are prepared for each type, and each type has her own ending.

In addition, costume changes have become possible. Multiple costumes are prepared for each type, including costumes of past characters.

Vacation System

The vacation event that was impressive in Growlanser I is back again. It was revived in Growlanser III, but it didn’t feel like the protagonist was resting because he just visited his friend’s room in the apartment and started an event. This time, it is almost returning to the one of Growlanser I.

In Growlanser I, there was some mechanical part such as after talking to a friend, she/he immediately moved to another place, and just going to the castle without changing the day.

But in this work, after the conversation there is still a short dialogue, and it became necessary to take a rest in protagonist’s room to end the day.

The tempo is a little slower, but the vacation atmosphere has become stronger.

As with Growlanser I, your territory develops by hiring human resources.

In Growlanser I, it was treated as a resort where you go on vacation, but in this work it functions as a base for the main character.

Fate System

The “change fate” system added in this work.

Characters who would otherwise die or lead an unhappy life in the story can be saved by fulfilling the conditions.

On the other hand, players can also find out what will happen if fate is not changed by not fulfilling the conditions.

Players can also see what would have happened if the fate was not changed through the abilities of familiar in the dollhouse.

Opening & Ending Theme

The opening animation reflects the sad scenario of this work, and the song is also somewhat melancholy. The theme songs (both OP and ED) are sung by the voice actor who played the role of Frane, the main heroine.

Opening Theme: Before The Daylight
Vocal: 牧島有希”Makishima Yuki” / Yuki Makishima

Ending Theme:
Your Memories -セピア色の想い出達-
” Your Memories -Sepia-iro no Omoide-tachi-”
(Your Memories -Sepia-colored Memories)
Vocal: 牧島有希”Makishima Yuki” / Yuki Makishima

Growlanser IV Return

On March 10, 2005, “Growlanser IV Return” the fan disk of Growlanser IV Wayfarer of the time was released. The genre is ADV, and in addition to the scenario that unravels the mystery in the ending of Growlanser IV Wayfarer of the time, a later story and a side story of the main story will be drawn. At a later part, all the endings of the main story are prepared (however, the clear data of the main story needs to be converted).

Growlanser IV OVER RELOADED

On August 18, 2011, the PSP version entitled “Growlanser IV OVER RELOADED” was released. A large number of scenarios and characters have been added, and it is no exaggeration to say that it is a remake version.

Playthrough

I didn’t make a playthrough for this game, but I did upload some videos in my Growlanser IV OVER RELOADED playthrough to compare the drastically changed scenes (especially those that turn into anime scenes in psp version)