Grand Kingdom - An all-in-one RPG

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Hello everyone! Happy New Year! I know, I know, a bit late, but the start of the new year was a bit hectic for me… So how is the new year treating you so far? All good? Did you try already Owlboy, the classic style 2D adventure of which I talked about in the last entry? If you still haven´t, I strongly recommended you to do so, especially if you like 2D adventures. Just like I finished last year talking about a very special game (or at least very special for me), I decided to start this new year talking about other special game, a game that drew my attention right from the first time I saw it, especially due to its similarities with some of the titles of one of my favorite developers, my beloved Vanillaware. In this blog I have already talked about several JRPG games such as Nostalgia, Sands of Destruction, Crimson Gem Saga, Legend of Legacy or Suikoden Tierkreis, and Tactic JRPG game such as Luminous Arc, Valkyrie Profile, Onimusha Tactics, Mercenaries Saga 2 or Vanguard Bandits, but this time around I´m going to talk about a game that mixes elements from both styles, and event elements from table top games and management games, to create it´s very own style. The game is called Grand Kingdom. Let´s see what this new jewel of the JRPG genre has to offer.

Released just a few months back exclusively for the PS4 and the PS Vita, Grand Kingdom was developed by the small Japanese game studio Monochrome under the direction of Tomohiko Deguchi, who previously worked on Vanillaware, where he directed Grand Knights Story, an awesome JRPG for the PSP that, unfortunately, was never released in the western market due to reasons that are still unknown. In fact, Grand Kingdom is considered as the spiritual successor of Grand Knights History due to the many similarities between both games, something that makes sense if we consider we are talking about the same director, however, as I said before, Grand Kingdom is more of a hybrid that mixes several elements from the different Japanese RPG styles. The story of Grand Kingdom takes us to the continent of Resonail, which is stuck on a perpetual state of war where the different kingdoms are fighting to take control of the territories of the former Uldein Empire. Of course, where many see suffering, others see the perfect chance for business, very lucrative business, like the case of the main character, Flint, the leader of a mercenary group that knows only one type of loyalty; the one that can be bought with money, so we will follow the adventures and misadventures of Flint and his mercenaries in a story that, while it does not revolutionize anything, it manages to bring forward the adventure while offering an entertaining story.

Regarding the gameplay, the flow of Grand Kingdom is divided in three main parts: mission preparation, exploration and finally the battles. The guild will be the place where we will manage our mercenary army. Here we will be able to perform several tasks, such as hiring new mercenaries (with the possibility of completely editing their looks), editing the formation of our troops and buying them new weapons, improving our weapons or creating items. Once we have equipped ourselves properly, it will be time to accept one of the many missions that will be offered to us, which will divided into story missions, and secondary missions that will allow us to obtain all kind of rewards to improve our troops, on top of multiplayer missions that will allow us to fight against the troops of other players (although they will be controlled by the AI). Once we accept a mission, we will proceed to explore the map of the area of the mission, which will resemble a table top game. All the missions will have victory conditions we will have to meet if we are to be successful, and defeat conditions we will have to avoid if we don´t want to fail. There will be a variety of missions with many different objectives, like reaching a certain area in the map, eliminate an specific target, obtain several items or even “stealth” missions in which we will have to travel trough an area without being “detected” by the enemy troops, which will be represented with chess-like pieces on the map. Most of the missions will give us a limit of actions points we will be able to use in order to be able to complete the mission, and every time we move our troops on the map, we will use an action point, so it will be up to us to use our actions in the most efficient manner in order to complete the missions. Although at a simple glance this system can seem really simple, the truth is that is much more complex than it seems, as the maps will include several paths that could include secret treasures or lead us to unexpected ambushes that could decimate our troops and make our waste our precious actions points unnecessarily. On top of that, after winning a combat, we will receive special action points that will allow us to perform special actions in the map, on top of random events that will force us to decide whether we want to force the march of our troops, with the negative effects that could have on them, or take an alternative troop that could make us waste some extra action points. As I said, despite being a relatively simple system, it hides a level of complexity that might not be easy to appreciate at a simple glance, turning exploration into another of the fun parts of the game rather than just a bothering extra.

Of course, a game based on battles between mercenaries requires a battle system that it´s up to the task, and luckily for us, Grand Kingdom has one. Once we encounter one of the enemy troops on the map, we will be taken to the screen where the combats will take place in 2D. Once we are in the combat screen, the game will make use of a system that mixes elements from the turn-based RPG games, Tactic RPG games and Action RPG games. Yup, in Grand Kingdom you get it all. The maps have three different lanes, and once it´s our turn, we will be able to move freely along them, although there will be some limitations. At the bottom of the screen we will see two gauges, one related to the movement capacity of the character, which will deplete every time we move, and one related to the action capacity, which will deplete every time we perform an action with the character. Once both gauges deplete completely, we won´t be able to move or perform any other actions on that turn with the current character and the turn of the next character will start. As for the actions, we will be able to assign them to the different buttons of the controller in order to be able to perform them by just pressing a single button, although some of the actions will require something more than just pressing a button in order to carry them successfully, for example, when shooting with a bow, we will need to press the button on the right moment in order to hit the target, or if we attack with a warrior, we will have to measure the timing when pressing the button in order to perform a good combo, giving as a result a very dynamic combat system despite being a turn-based… strategy game. Yup, Grand Kingdom has a very strong strategic component, and using the right tactic during the battles will be essential if we are to win, for using the wrong tactic could have dreadful consequences, so if any of you were thinking you would be able to solve everything just by hacking and slashing, believe me when I say that you got the wrong game. As I was saying before, we will be able to hire several mercenaries for our team. There are four main classes of mercenaries, which will be divided in several unit types. The four main classes are:


- Melee: these units are characterized by their high attack and defense, and specialize in close combat. This class includes the unit types fighter, lancer, noble, blacksmith, rogue, valkyrie, paladin and dark night.

- Ranged: these units can attack from anywhere on the battlefield. However, Ranged units have low defense, so it's important to position them such that can't be dragged into close combat. This class includes the unit types hunter, gunner and archer.

- Magic: these units have medium attack range, and use ranged attacks that can affect multiple enemies, and just like the ranged units, they also have low defense. This class includes the unit types witch, shaman and arcanist.

- Specialist: these units lack a clearly defined role in battle. These units have individualized abilities that can be a great asset in battle, but their specialized nature affords little room for flexibility. This class includes the unit types medic, challenger and dragon mage.

We will explore the maps like in a tabletop game.

As you can see, there is quite a variety of troops available, which together with the enormous quantity of equipment we will be able to purchase and create in order to customize our characters, offers almost infinite possibilities of customizing our team. The game will allow us to create up to six teams of four mercenaries each, and we will be able to send all of them to fulfill missions at the same time. We will be able to create teams with offensive and defensive formations, which on top of the mercenaries, will allow us to purchase and set also all kind of items in the battlefield that will help us during our missions, such as barricades, barrels or medicine boxes among many other items. However, we will have to keep in mind at all moment that, just like those items can help us, they can also work against us if we place them in the wrong place, which together with the friendly fire feature (careful with the arrows and spells!) and the fact that both, enemies AND allies, will be able to benefit from the medicine boxes and other assist items set on the battlefield, will force us to choose our tactic carefully depending on the mission. Of course, this implies a lot of good old trial and error till we find the right type of team for some missions, but given how dynamic and just plain fun the combat system is, the game never gets tedious.

We will be able to recruit our own mercenary army, as well as customizing their appearance, skills and equipment.

Regarding the presentation, we have a title with a very polished presentation, with gorgeous 2D graphics that remind a lot of the style of Vanillaware, although in general terms, the game is a couple of steps behind titles such as Muramasa, Odin Sphere or Dragon´s Crown. The models of the characters are excellent as well as their animations, although perhaps it has a bit of a “generic feeling” when compared to other titles of the genre. The stages are also very detailed and nice looking, but perhaps a bit more of variety wouldn’t have hurt.


Grand Kingdom is not a perfect game, but it is a great game with a lot of personality and full of well executed ideas, giving as a result a refreshing experience inside a genre that keeps delivering great titles. If you like RPG games and you are looking for something different, you should definitely give a chance to Grand Kingdom, for it surely is one of the most unique games of the last years in the genre, delivering hours and hours of fun. The game is available on PlayStation 4 (here) and PS Vita (here) in standard and special edition, and both versions are identical, on top of offering crossed online play since both versions share the same servers. Enjoy!


GAMEPLAY VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sw9NdIsQI4&t=727s

 Special edition