History VideoGame / Growlanser

The core gameplay straddles the line between a "normal" RPG and a StrategyRPG - you wander around with a party consisting of typically four to five people (though sometimes you'll have an NPC in a "bonus slot"), go through dungeons, fight monsters and the like. The first big difference comes in with the combat - combat is handled in real-time, with menu-based commands pausing the action for a moment while you issue new orders to your teammates. There is a certain amount of delay after performing an action, or before casting a spell, represented by a bar beneath the party portraits. The second is in the "set pieces" - rather than just a bunch of boss fights, many of the plot-important combats are large, swirling melees with objectives and even extra allied units, similar to what you find in a strategy RPG... but you still only have direct control over your party. You can ''[[StatusBuff buff]] and assist'' your allies, but not command them. With its visuals consisting of high-res pre-rendered overhead maps combined with sprites and anime-style FMV, some have summed it up as "Japan's answer to [[BaldursGate Baldur's Gate]]".

''Growlanser'' (グローランサー ''Gurōransā'') is a series of RolePlayingGames with installments on the {{PlayStation}}, {{PlayStation 2}}, and {{PSP}}. The first three games in the series are set in a world that is being taken over by an ancient evil, with the latter three branching off into their own continuities.

* OperaGloves: A fairly common accessory.

* MightyGlacier: Hien and Crevanille from ''Wayfarer of Time''. Carmaine can also be built like this stat-growth-wise if the right answers are chosen in ''Growlanser 1'''s "character creation" section, with Wallace also doing a good job in the role.

* [[Bishonen]]: All of the games protagonists, and many of it's other male characters.

* [[Dojikko]]: Misha, Misha, Misha. Her talent for crashing into people is so prominent that it is how she is introduced in both Growlanser I&II.

* HeroicMime: Growlanser I, III, IV, V, and VI feature a silent protagonist. The player can select dialogue options, but there is no voice acting for them.

* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy:
** Slayn Wilder, the protagonist of ''The Dual Darkness''.
** Remus in ''Wayfarer of Time'' is so pretty he is often told he has a "girl face". [[spoiler:His sister looks exactly like him.]]

* Bishonen: All of the games protagonists, and many of it's other male characters.

* Dojikko: Misha, Misha, Misha. Her talent for crashing into people is so prominent that it is how she is introduced in both Growlanser I&II.

* PrettyBoy:
** Slayn Wilder, the protagonist of ''The Dual Darkness''.
** Remus in ''Wayfarer of Time'' is so pretty he is often told he has a "girl face". [[spoiler:His sister looks exactly like him.]]

* SuddenlyVoiced: [[spoiler:''The Dual Darkness'' gives Slayn one piece of voiced dialogue in Monika's ending. Oddly enough, the opposite happens with Gray, who runs off conspicuously without saying a word. Slayn's next line returns to to the status quo.]]

The series was the creation of Career Soft, with publishing duties handled by Creator/{{Atlus}} Co. in Japan; Atlus eventually acquired Career Soft outright, and many of the staff went on to, tellingly, work on ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}''. WorkingDesigns published ''Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice'' and ''Growlanser III: The Dual Darkness'' in North America together in a package called Growlanser: Generations.[[note]]Of note is the fact that WD initially wanted to sell the games ''separately'' but was strongarmed by Sony America into selling them as one unit; the delays in packaging them together, along with the massively reduced revenue-per-unit, is blamed for significantly contributing to WD's demise.[[/note]] ''Growlanser V: Generations'' was published in North America under the name ''Growlanser: Heritage of War'' by Atlus USA. ''Growlanser IV: Over reloaded'', a PSP remake of ''Growlanser IV'', was released by Atlus USA under the title ''Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time'' on July 31, 2012. All titles feature game art by Satoshi Urushihara.

** [[UpdatedRerelease ''Growlasner IV: Return'']]
** [[UpdatedRerelease ''Growlanser IV: Over Reloaded'']] (US: ''Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time'')

The series was the creation of Career Soft, with publishing duties handled by Creator/{{Atlus}} Co. in Japan; Atlus eventually acquired Career Soft outright, and many of the staff went on to, tellingly, work on ''{{Persona 3}}'' and ''{{Persona 4}}''. WorkingDesigns published ''Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice'' and ''Growlanser III: The Dual Darkness'' in North America together in a package called Growlanser: Generations.[[note]]Of note is the fact that WD initially wanted to sell the games ''separately'' but was strongarmed by Sony America into selling them as one unit; the delays in packaging them together, along with the massively reduced revenue-per-unit, is blamed for significantly contributing to WD's demise.[[/note]] ''Growlanser V: Generations'' was published in North America under the name ''Growlanser: Heritage of War'' by Atlus USA. ''Growlanser IV: Over reloaded'', a PSP remake of ''Growlanser IV'', was released by Atlus USA under the title ''Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time'' on July 31, 2012. All titles feature game art by Satoshi Urushihara.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Christopher in ''Wayfarer of Time'' looks like a playboy that hasn't picked up a sword in years and absolutely inferior to his badass little brother... [[spoiler:In reality he is quite sick and unable to cope up with the usual strain someone like Alfonse gets, but the great respect he gets from him should have given enough hints. later he pulls moves like stopping ''hundreds'' of soldiers while you're busy fighting with Ludwig, and depending on the circunstances, even completely routing them without many injuries, thanks to Silverneil and Alfonse.]] he's also the second strongest enemy in the arena, behind Vester.

* GladiatorSubquest: In order to complete the Colosseum the player fights agaisnt some characters that you met throughout the game.

* InnSecurity: Throughout the series characters wakes up the Player by either thanking you for fullfiling sidequest or to continue the sidequest itself.

** ''Wayfarer of Time'' boasts a supposed fourty endings, although not every ending is completely unique; there are three "base" endings, which are then modified depending on which character you are closest to.

* OperaGloves: A farily common accessory.

* RetGone: [[spoiler: What essentially appears to happen to Crevanille in the original version of the main route in ''Wayfarer of Time'', with the bracelet he received from the party being the only known trace of his existance. Only Frayne and a few others (depending on the character epilogue earned) remember him. ''Return'' reveals what happened to him before his eventual reappearance.]]

* TheChosenOne: Applies to the protagonist of all Growlanser games, except ''Sense of Justice''.
** In ''Wayfarer of Time'', the protagonist Crevanille is one of the few people who can initially see the Angels that threaten to destroy humanity. [[spoiler:The ''actual'' reason he's a Chosen One is somewhat different, [[AbusivePrecursors and frankly kind of a dick move]] on the part of his parent society.]]

* SequelFirst: Oh ''jeez''. People outside of Japan have gotten II, III, IV and V (and not in that order, either), but not I! Even worse, II and III spoil plot points from I!
** MarthDebutedInSmashBros: The only time English-speaking gamers have gotten to play with Carmaine Fallsmyer on the team was in ''Sense of Justice''... and '''''VideoGame/ChaosWars'''''. The former is frustrating. The latter is galling.

* NoExportForYou: The U.S. has only gotten four games in the series so far: ''The Sense of Justice'', ''The Dual Darkness'', ''Heritage of War'', and ''Wayfarer of Time''. The former two were released by Working Designs under the name ''Growlanser Generations'', while the third was released by Atlus USA. Atlus USA later released the [[UpdatedRerelease PSP version]] of ''Wayfarer of Time''. To date, no one has announced or discussed bringing over Growlanser I or VI (despite the former also getting a PSP port).

* OurFairiesAreDifferent: In Growlanser I, III, IV, V, and VI, the protagonist travels with a fairy like familiar. Their nature is even different between settings.

* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy: Slayn Wilder, the protagonist of ''The Dual Darkness''. Remus in ''Wayfarer of Time'' is so pretty he is often told he has a "girl face". [[spoiler:Not assisted at all by the fact that his sister really does look exactly like him.]]

* AnachronismStew: ''Wayfarer of Time'' can come across like this. The Dulkheim uniforms are very obviously inspired by 20th-century militaries (particularly [[spoiler:Nazi Germany]]), a good deal of the rest of the costuming seems to be at least 19-th-century-ish, and there are some modern touches like the very modern bathrooms in Eliza's villa. There are, however, ''no'' gunpowder weapons, not even cannons (the cart-based flamethrower in the prologue is an explicitly new and terrifying technology, and at one point Frayne[[hottip:*:who remembers the ''technology'' of her time, even if she's forgotten her own history]] has to explain to a mystified Remus and Eliza, slowly and in very simple language, what a "cannon" even is ''conceptually''), electricity seems to be a known ''concept'' from the ancient ruins but none of the towns or cities seem to use it at all, there are no motor vehicles or rail locomotives (goods transport is handled by [[{{Expy}} "Not-Chocobos"]]), and large-scale factories are, at best, uncommon.

* OptionalPartyMember: Arieta. Sereb, Bret and Lyell in Growlanser 2 are optional. All the playable characters (Except Sereb) in ''Sense of Justice'' can be used in ''Dual Darkness'' if the player have a save data of the endings of the characters of Growlanser 2 the characters can be ported. Regina and Vallery[[hottip:*:(well, [[spoiler:his ''re''-joining you)]] from ''Wayfarer of Time'' are completely optional. Sherris and Rufus in Growlanser V are optional.

* MismatchedEyes:
** Carmaine from the first two ''Growlanser'' games. His right eye is a light brown, and his left is blue.
** The twins Cynthia and Meline from the PSP version of ''Wayfarer of Time''. One of their eye colors is brown, and the other is a grayish-blue. The colors are switched between the twins.

The series was the creation of Career Soft, with publishing duties handled by Creator/{{Atlus}} Co. in Japan; Atlus eventually acquired Career Soft outright, and many of the staff went on to, tellingly, work on ''{{Persona 3}}'' and ''{{Persona 4}}'' WorkingDesigns published ''Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice'' and ''Growlanser III: The Dual Darkness'' in North America together in a package called Growlanser: Generations.[[note]]Of note is the fact that WD initially wanted to sell the games ''separately'' but was strongarmed by Sony America into selling them as one unit; the delays in packaging them together, along with the massively reduced revenue-per-unit, is blamed for significantly contributing to WD's demise.[[/note]] ''Growlanser V: Generations'' was published in North America under the name ''Growlanser: Heritage of War'' by Atlus USA. ''Growlanser IV: Over reloaded'', a PSP remake of ''Growlanser IV'', was released by Atlus USA under the title ''Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time'' on July 31, 2012. All titles feature game art by Satoshi Urushihara.

* WhiteHairedPrettyGirl: Many, throughout the series. Notable examples are Charlone and Riviera from ''The Sense of Justice''.

The series is the creation of Career Soft, with publishing duties handled by Creator/{{Atlus}} Co. in Japan. WorkingDesigns published ''Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice'' and ''Growlanser III: The Dual Darkness'' in North America together in a package called Growlanser: Generations.[[note]]Of note is the fact that WD initially wanted to sell the games ''separately'' but was strongarmed by Sony America into selling them as one unit; the delays in packaging them together, along with the massively reduced revenue-per-unit, is blamed for significantly contributing to WD's demise.[[/note]] ''Growlanser V: Generations'' was published in North America under the name ''Growlanser: Heritage of War'' by Atlus USA. ''Growlanser IV: Over reloaded'', a PSP remake of ''Growlanser IV'', was released by Atlus USA under the title ''Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time'' on July 31, 2012. All titles feature game art by Satoshi Urushihara.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Vallery in ''Wayfarer of Time'' thinks he has this, but in one case he was kidnapped (luckily for him) and in the other he was expelled after being falsely accused of being a traitor. After that he stays loyal to Crevanille, always siding with him.

Had a {{CrossOver}} with several other games in ''VideoGame/ChaosWars''.