Naturally, stamina also drains from enemies, so it’s a good idea to try to wear down your foes while keeping your own stamina high. Your attack strength is also dependent on your unit’s stamina, which slowly drains over the course of the battle. There are also “Gig Edicts”, which are basically consumable items with a variety of buffing, debuffing, and healing effects. Each unit also has a “Tactics” command, which allows them to boost various statistics. Much like most RPGs, your stats will change depending on what type of terrain the units are on. There are a number of other factors which determine how strong your attacks will be. This may remind fans of the slow paced battles in La Pucelle, but you can turn off the animations so these fight scenes go by much, much faster. If the leader falls, then the entire group dies and is removed from the map. Again like Ogre Battle, there’s no user involvement in these fights, as it’s all done automatically by the computer. When you attack another unit, it zooms into a close-up of all of the characters doing battle. Naturally, melee characters attack better in the front row – where they’re susceptible to more damage – and magicians and archers work better in the back rows. Different types of units have different attacks depending on where they’re placed – for instance, a healer in the middle row will heal one character, but while placed in the back, they’ll heal all characters. In each group, you place various units in different formations. Instead of placing all of your units onto the field, you control groups of units, which appear as a single leader character on the map. The combat system is somewhat inspired by Ogre Battle. Since there are no obstacles and no height restrictions, your units can walk on almost any surface, although some terrain have movement penalties. The character turns are like in Phantom Brave, with the unit’s speed determining where in the queue their turn will fall. The fields are all flat, drawn maps that your characters move across, rather than the standard 3D terrain. The battles, however, are completely different from standard Nippon Ichi fare. Much like Final Fantasy Tactics, you move between destinations on an overhead map. Amusingly, the game lets you know when there’s an option for a “bad ending” and advises you to save beforehand if you want to see the resulting cinema. Similarly, the plot is closer to the more serious Fire Emblem games, although there are still some bits of humor here and there. For instance, Gig is the standard arrogant evil character (like Laharl or Zetta), but he’s not presented in a comic manner, and actually comes off as more sadistic than amusing. Although Grim Grimoire was actually created by Vanillaware (who made Odin Sphere), it was published by Nippon Ichi, and the character is a joint creation between the two companies.Ĭompared to their previous titles, Soul Nomad is a lot darker thematically. Amusingly, one of the characters, a scantily clad girl named Lujei, also appears in Grim Grimoire. Practically any monsters can join, and there are a number of different races, from the bovine Nepps to the mermaid Nereed to the bestial Phynx. In addition to the main character and Danette, there are over a dozen other characters that join your party, in addition to the huge number of units that can be drafted. As a result, she’s not exactly the swiftest person around, and Gig taunts her mercilessly. She’s Nepp – that is, half cow, which is why she wears a huge bell around her neck. Technically you never talk, but you can pick dialogue choices at certain junctures, even though there’s usually only one option.ĭanette is the protagonist’s close friend who ends up joining you on your journey. You can pick your gender, which in turn slightly influences the storyline. Soul Nomad is the only Nippon Ichi game that puts you, the player, the shoes of the main character. The Hero / Heroine is the only member of your society that is strong enough to contain the soul of Gig. However, the hero is possessed by Gig, the ruler of the World Eaters, who wants nothing more than to take over the earth once again. The hero and his compatriots climb out of their cave into the real world to explore the world. The World Eaters have laid dormant for quite awhile, but this is unknown to a group of villagers who lived underground for centuries. The story tells of a land in the throes of destruction, as it used to be ruled by a trio of vicious evil begins known as The World Eaters. It mucks with the tactics RPG formula far more than Phantom Brave or Makai Kingdom ever did, and if nothing else, it really shows how creative the guys at Nippon Ichi can be.
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