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| Peter Triezenberg |
Along with some Japanese DLC.
02.24.16 - 2:06 AM
NIS America recently announced that Strategy-RPG Grand Kingdom will be making its way to North America on June 21st, and to Europe on June 17th. The game will be available in North America as a standard edition as well as NIS America Online Store-exclusive Limited and Grand Editions.
The Grand Edition will cost $99 USD and comes with:
- Grand Kingdom for PS4 or Vita
- Grand Opus: The Official Compendium of Resonail (128 page, gilded, full-color art book)
- 15-track Soundtrack With Jewel Case
- Parade Poster
- Lillia Poster
- Cloth Map
- 6 Lapel Pin Set
- 6 Mini Art Prints
- Transparent Decal Sticker Sheet
- Collector's Box
The Limited Edition, on the other hand, costs $79 USD and includes:
- Grand Kingdom for PS4 or Vita
- Grand Opus: The Official Compendium of Resonail
- 15-track Soundtrack With Jewel Case
- Parade Poster
- Transparent Decal Sticker Sheet
- Collector's Box
European players will be able to get the game as a "Launch Edition" that comes with a 32-page artbook and a 5-track soundtrack CD. Sorry, gents, but at least it's something?
Via the PlayStation Blog, NIS America provided some additional thoughts on Grand Kingdom and the game's many strengths.
The game's name didn't really click for me until I saw that it was directed by Tomohiko Deguchi, the director of Grand Knights History — a title that sadly never saw the Western shore. Some of you might better recognize him from an earlier game that he worked on: Muramasa: The Demon Blade.
Mr. Deguchi has taken all the things he learned from those games and put them together into this grand tale. You'll be traversing the continent of Resonail as the leader of a mercenary group. Along the way, you'll discover the complex history behind the fall of the Uldein Empire, hire new members to build up your mercenary crew, and spend time fighting under contract for each of four unique countries using an interesting team-building and tactical combat system.
Now, I'm a sucker for pretty much any RPG where I get to train characters and gather cool equipment, but the tactical combat system of Grand Kingdom makes it stand out from the rest. You’ll be fighting on lane-based 2D levels where each unit acts in turn, but their turns play out as real-time movement limited by an Action Gauge similar to Valkyria Chronicles.
Since each mercenary has their own character class which defines their base stats and the type of attacks they can use, you’ll need to be careful not only about how you use your mercenaries, but also about which mercenaries you pair together. (Hint: a team of all Gunners doesn’t fare so well…)
Each class has their own special skills that are pretty awesome to see. For example, the Dragon Mage's spells and her fierce-looking dragon's fiery breath make full use of the game's gorgeous art and fluid animations to deliver the wild thrill of a screen-filling attack and the smug satisfaction of a perfectly executed tactical decision.
That's all well and good, but Grand Kingdom isn't done with it's Japanese player base, either, as there is some new DLC available now in the form of new classes. These include the Valkyrie, Paladin, Archer, and Dark Knight, as well as an additional scenario. Each character costs ¥300, or you can buy them in a set for ¥1000. There's a new trailer for the DLC classes you can check out below.
We'll keep you posted on any more information as we approach the release of Grand Kingdom on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita.
