Dabbling in Demos: GrimGrimoire OnceMore

 

GrimGrimoire OnceMore is a Switch remaster of a PS2 game co-developed by Vanillaware and Nippon Ichi Software. That makes two potential reasons to dislike it; namely Vanillaware and NIS, as most offerings from these two didn’t click with me at all (more on that in former New Classics reports). Still, Vanillaware and NIS pale in comparison to my main, and actual, reason to dislike GGOM. We’re dealing with an RTS game; and as you know, I really don’t fancy RTS. 

 

 

I can acknowledge the sheer originality of a 2D side-scrolling RTS, and how ground-breaking it was to get such a game on a console back in the days; however, I’m long done playing as a gaming historian. I play now as a gamer who wants to have fun, and I don’t have fun playing GGOM. It’s not a horrible game, mind you; the controls are serviceable, the graphics are gorgeous, cutscenes can be skipped and action can be sped up. I tried the tutorial earnestly, and even kinda enjoyed it at first; however, I was quickly overwhelmed by the number of tasks to manage at once. By ‘quickly’, I mean right from the second battle; I had to summon Fairies and move them to attack foes, while keeping an eye on my already deployed Fairies and Elves; and that proved too much for the multitasker I am not.

 

 

Apart from my not fancying RTS, I’m seriously starting to wonder if I don’t have an instinctive dislike of all things PS2. I mean, this is the fourth PS2 remake I dislike, after Okami, Psyvariar Delta and Dragon Quest VIII; and you know what they say — once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, etc. Given how remakes of games from former games are flooding the Switch now, I may encounter another PS2 remake sooner or later; if/when this happens, I’ll check the game carefully, or play the demo if it exists. And since I’m mentioning demos — on to the next one!