"As quickly as it grows on you, the lackluster collection can wash away"

Innovative battle mechanics and a fully customizable battle system that makes accessorizing fun, if not monotonous, and a brilliant branching story tree - this is Growlanser Generations.

Working Designs has ported over a mini-monster; two S-RPGs that unfortunately wind up being very different from one another. While there are some basic differences between the two, the upgrades are unbalanced and Growlanser III: The Dual Darkness just isn't as good as Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice. Both games share a linear mission-based system that allow mindless exploration to advance side-plots and character relationships.

These, along with a branching story-tree, allows for hidden endings, which, although key in G2, doesn't change much for G3. Furthermore, G2, at 15 hours is designed for replayability: G3, at 25 hours is more of a nuisance, with the addition of random dungeons chock full of random battles: it's not a smooth mission-to-mission affair, nor are the battles as cleverly designed. That said:

+ GAMEPLAY
Growlanser Generations offers a solid battle system, the engine smooth and crisp, well-oiled and running without lag or load times. Once you command your troops (a sluggish 8 in G2 and a well-maintained 4 in G3) they'll continue to carry out your orders until finished, which allows you to play relatively hands-free. Magic - the chanting of "arias" - is a nice twist, one that allows you to risk higher damage in the vulnerable casting stance for the higher levels of spells, each taking longer to build. Growlanser 3, in a genius twist, ups the ante by requiring two members to chant in unison to unleash the really powerful Co-operation spells: ranged magic that can target all the enemies on the field. Finding the happy medium between the quick low-level chants and the full-charge obliteration of magic is entertaining: the only imbalance is that you can easily overwhelm your target since there's no way to tell how much damage may be dealt without constant trial and error.

Outside of battle, Growlanser is a joy as well. Characters constantly gain "rings" as spoils of battle, each designed with three equippable gem slots that range from 0-9. "Gems" themselves can be stolen or bought and have different effects and slot requirements: the higher the slot requirement from the gem, the more powerful the effect to the ring equipper. Customizing your jewelry becomes an enjoyable task. Between the two games, G2 makes gem management difficult: money is always tight so you have to invest wisely. G3 lavishes you with gem rewards and money constantly, so the strategy isn't as difficult. But, like any strategy game, once you figure out the best abilities, the ones you'll want to equip quickly stand out and become must-haves for the entire party, limiting the "customization" to a few choice picks.

But what's most customizable are the detective-like branching paths. You've got to figure out where to go and what to say (more so in G2), to the point where it can actually be overwhelming, each dialogue choice or decision keeping you from doing something else (G3 actually blacks out choices your character wouldn't say based on previous choices). With G2, this system works really well: going point-to-point on a map yields immediate gratification, G3 is sluggish, walking constantly from place to place.

Growlanser 2's missions are cleverly designed and not at all repetative, all fitting into the ouvre of the storyline and providing their own unique challenges to overcome (often through trial and error). The computer can be "cheap" in battles, mainly because the story-driven missions allow for "reinforcements" to appear, and beating these often higher-level characters requires a priori knowledge of the situation. It's an unfair strategic place to command from, but one that is justified by the game mechanics and oddly enough, a fun challenge after the initial frustration ebbs away.

However, Growlanser 3's missions are the opposite: level up and plow through at your own discretion. This wouldn't be so bad if the enemies leveled to match your own progress or if it were harder to boost stats, but about ten hours into the game, an arena-type battle becomes available, giving early access to high-powered accessories and instant levels. It becomes possible to auto-battle your way through the final mission, changing tactics only if you want to get the highest level of "Mission Complete" for each battle.

+ STORY
Growlanser's characters don't stray too far from standard RPG fare: idealistic and cartoonish thanks to the Working Designs "humorous" localization. They're a little hard to take seriously at times, especially with all the recorded dialogue - it's whiny and you'll find yourself reading faster in efforts to avoid listening (apologies to all blind S-RPGamers). While they all have unique motivations and stories you can "unlock" by revisiting towns and hitting key events, most of them aren't worth the time, and only the most obsessive gamers will unlock every hidden ending.

However, they do fit the storyline, and every character is vital in some capacity, with the exception of some of the optional G2 characters. It's a shame the story of G2 doesn't hold up: based on events from G1, it's often hard to understand who these villians and heroes are, and because of the shortness of the game, this one jumps around not just from mission to mission but from one rival to another. There's no sense of continuity and you'll rarely see the consequences of your actions.

G3 offers a much stronger story, but having to slough through so much tedious gameplay to read it all makes one wish for a novelization. It's nothing spectacular either in the end: it's resolved to formula, and all the cliches get a chance to take a bow for the curtain call. Your characters are often distant from events that occur: rather than being in the thick of battle, you can watch from a distance, participating in skirmishes, but not the war.

+ GRAPHICS/SOUND
Music, if you can call it such, varies through a few repetative medleys: I didn't expect much, and wasn't very disappointed. Then again, I don't understand critiques of an RPG's music: I didn't buy a CD, I bought a game, and the battles are more than distracting enough to take my attention off the background "muzak" that Growlanser affords me.

Visually, this port has dated well: again though, I don't understand visual critiques. The game's strength lies in the daunting difficulty of G2 and the intriguing story of G3 - the graphics themselves neither help nor hurt these strong-points. There's no fancy computer animation, but the story is told well-enough through in-game portraitures and the enemies are all well drawn.

+ FINAL RECOMMENDATION
While the mechanics between the two games are equal, you'll be playing Growlanser Generations more for G2 than G3, and so I'd actually recommend renting the game first. G3 isn't what it's been hyped up to be and gets very old, very fast. G2 is the solid game that ranges from being intermediate to challenging to the point of FFT and really only lacks a solid story. It's strong enough to meet the glut of simplistic modern fare though.

Therefore, G2 clocks in with a 8/10, with G3 following behind with 7/10, and the collection itself getting 7/10. There's nothing really memorable about these games beside their immediate gratification of "something new." Innovative as the gameplay may be, it's wasted on lackluster plot and poorly executed strategy and doesn't meet the standards of the real paradigms of originality in the market: Valkyrie Profile, Alundra, Vagrant Story, &c (to name a few eclectic examples: shining games in the market).

That's my wrap. Remember: the joke's on you.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/13/04, Updated 12/20/04