Where does one start with Growlanser? The first one? Any to avoid?

Where does one start with Growlanser? The first one? Any to avoid?

Aren't a very vast majority of the games in that series in Moon anyway? You might get to play one or two but most of them are unplayable unless you're fluent in Jap.

The first one was never localized, but it's a fine starting point if you can read Japanese.

Growlanser 2 is somewhat closely tied to the first game, but it's not too hard to figure things out even if you skipped it. Growlanser 2 is also really damn good.

Growlanser 3 is better than most JRPGs, but it's a significant step down from 2. It's very loosely tied to the first two games.

Growlanser 4 is the best game in the series. It has no ties to the other games.

I haven't played 5 or 6, but the general opinion is that they are the worst games in the series and should be avoided.

The reality of the situation is that the games aren't really THAT good.

The art style is kinda' neat but everything from plot to music to gameplay are between average and bad.

I think Growlanser 4 is one of the best games in the genre. It's got a lot going for it.

>not starting with Langrisser/Warsong

Growlanser 4 is the best ONE, I'll agree, but I can easily just point to FFT and say "not as good as this" and it's objectively correct.

The first one is a great place to start, however note that the gameplay is a lot simpler than later titles (in growlanser 1 you'll end up using autobattle for most of the game, whereas in 2-4 you'll want to plan out every little detail of your movement). The reason I don't just recommend skipping 1 is because 2 is a direct sequel to 1 and it really helps to know the world/characters/story of growlanser 1. The story of growlanser 1 is decent and the characters are very memorable.
I hope you don't mind moonrunes, though, since there will never ever be a translation patch.

Growlanser IV is generally considered the best and it's not connected to any of the other mainline titles so you can also start there. Growlaser II is a fantastic game but, as mentioned previously, it's tied to growlanser 1. Make sure you achieve a "mission complete" every battle so you can choose which route to follow. I'd say Growlanser IV and II are some of the best JRPGs ever.

Growlanser III is a step down from II in terms of story and level design and there's some annoying randomly-generated dungeons; if you're playing on an emulator feel free to use save states to help avoid battles in the dungeons, otherwise you'll fight some boring fights and end up overlevelled. Still, it's a pretty good game.

Growlanser V is a lot worse than previous games so you might want to avoid it. It's not quite 'bad' compared to other JRPGs but it's not something I'd recommend.

I haven't played Growlanser VI but I know it's very similar to V. I'll probably play it eventually.

Also play the Langrisser games (at least play II/Der, IV, and V), it's a TRPG series by the same developers.

No, 2-5 are released in english.

>Objectively

Oh, you're just trolling or deeply stupid or something. Carry on, then.

That was a joke user. I was making a point.

Start with the Ragnarock City story arc.

Oh, and be sure to get the undub patches for growlanser II-V.

I guess I should talk about what makes this series great. The main draw is the gameplay. It's a unique sort of battle system where your attacks have a cooldown (or charge-up for magic) and moving across the map also takes time (based on your mobility stat). I guess you could describe it as RTwP. Your characters will carry out your orders and move or attack fluidly until they complete their objective or new orders are given, but in the best games you'll be constantly inputting commands so you can move in the most efficient manner and make use of you many skills. There's many different skills and equipable accessories that provide significant bonuses, so you can build your characters differently and approach maps with a variety of tactics. Speaking of the maps, that's another major draw to the games; the structure of each battlefield will make a big difference as you move through and plan strategies accordingly. You fight battles on the same screen you walk around outside of battles, there's no "battle screen" or anything like that. Each fight is unique as you'll have to take the map into consideration and there's often side objectives beyond simply killing enemies. The only downside is that the difficulty is rather low if you aren't an idiot.

Aside from the gameplay, the games have pretty good JRPG stories that feature various countries at war and characters with their own reasonable ideals and interests. In some games you can even choose to side with different factions. There's generally some ancient evil stuff as well but the point is the worlds are well developed. The characters are also a great aspect of these games, and I don't just mean the art. In IV for example there's a lot of character interactions and there are sort of "vacation" events between missions where you can talk with your characters and they all have their own subplot to explore so the characters become very memorable.

I disagree. FFT is a good game but I'd rank at least 25 TRPGs between Growlanser IV and FFT.

>but I'd rank at least 25 TRPGs between Growlanser IV and FFT

So would I, but probably not in the order you're thinking.

Probably not. Nevertheless, I'd be interested in seeing your list of games.
Could you elaborate on what specifically you think makes these games bad?

I am not going to bother with the list (because it would take ages and probably wouldn't tell you much anyway), but I'll tell you the faults I find with Growlanser:

>music
Very boring stuff in my opinion. Maybe 4 just didn't hit the note for me, but it all sounded very generic for it's setting. I can seriously not name or even hum a single track from Wayfarer.

>artstyle
I know, I know. A lot of people like it and it makes for some great lewds, but I don't feel it meshes well with a game that takes itself as seriously as this does most of the time.

>mission variety
It feels surreal making a game where the most redeeming factor is the combat system where most of the game itself is operated around gimmick-battles. I remember wondering when the "kill this boss" battles where coming only to realize that most of them were littered with "pull these levers" or "while you escort NPC X". Variation isn't bad but the game needed more challenging hard traditional boss battles to vary from.

>writing
Probably the worst offender from me. I remember clearly some opening scene where X says to Y, "Oh I sure am glad I'm adopted and that the last person to see me alive as an baby told me I was destined for greatness!". JRPGs don't have terribly great writing in general but this game made FF10's HAHAHA-scene look like Shakespeare.

All this combined with usually pretty cliched plots did not a good series make for me.

The combat could have really saved it if it wasn't so washed out by """variation""".

First is nip only. Shame too since Sense of Justice would probably be one of the greatest sequels of all time given the amount of crossover between them.

There's a script translation for the ps1 version if you want but I find that kind of thing hard to follow along

Cool, I don't really agree with your points but I still appreciate the explanation.

>music
The music was quite good, there were appropriate tracks for every situation and they contributed to building the atmosphere. I can recall some of the relaxing town themes and the frantic / ominous battle themes because the game itself is very memorable but I agree that it's not the sort of stuff I'd hum by itself. Quite good but not on the level of Tactics Ogre for example.

>artstyle
Everyone always talks about the porn but I think the art is great in general (male characters included). The characters are expressive and unique which is perfect for a character-focused story. The battles are also presented quite nicely as the game makes it easy to tell what's going on.

>mission variety
In TRPGs the battles involve the entire level design of a map. I honestly can't think of any TRPG with good "boss battles" in the sense that you attack a single enemy for an extended period until he dies. Boss battles should be challenging, and battles where positioning and tactics are less important are quite the opposite. Instead, Growlanser IV has some memorable combat-focused battles that still make full use of the game's battle system. For example, there's a map where you need to break through a heavily defended bridge. It's not a "hard" fight in absolute terms but that's a problem of the genre as a whole; "hard traditional boss battles" do not exist. There are several occasions where you do fight a 'boss', such as an angel or an enemy commander, but they're just one part of the boss battle. In my opinion this is one of the best parts of Growlanser and of good TRPGs in general.
I'm actually really curious now, what TRPGs would you consider to have good gameplay? If you dislike the incorporation of tactics in battle, what makes you interested in the genre?

(continued)

>writing
Good writing is a rarity in JRPGs, like you said. Although it falls into some cliches, Growlanser IV delivers an interesting narrative and there's plenty of twists and turns but in terms of literary value it's definitely shit. I think the more important part of videogame stories is to set the stage for the gameplay and in that regard Growlanser IV excels. Also, the world is reasonably well developed and the characters are memorable so I think it deserves some credit. The multiple routes, multiple endings, and the many parts of the game where the player's decisions or actions in battle can influence the story (i.e. the survival of certain characters) also increases the story's appeal.

Are there any TRPGs with actual good stories? The only ones that come to mind for me are Front Mission 2 and Tactics Ogre LUCT. Growlanser II actually ranks among the best I've played.

Anyway I hope more people can realize Growlanser's appeal.

Growlanser 4 on the psp

Not him, but DeSu has some of the best bosses I ever seen.

Good one, I forgot about that. Devil Survivor's a great game.
And of course the bosses aren't so straightforward, e.g. you need to devil's fuge and to keep the reinforcements at bay when fighting beldr, or how you have to navigate through platforms and enemies while enduring belberith's infinite range. Some people might call them gimmicks but the overall level design all contributes to making the fights fun.