“Ay, pangit. Hindi parehas sa PC game”
“Bakit ganito gameplay?”
“Mobile pala? Wag na lang.”
There’s probably a couple more I’ve missed but this pretty much sums up some of the reactions I saw at the comment section of Grand Chase Dimensional Chaser’s announcement. A lot of people have been looking forward to the return of Grand Chase and there have been a few games that sorta tried to fill that void: From Elsword to Grand Chase Mobile M , it wasn’t the same.
Enter Grand Chase Dimensional Chaser (mobile), a game that is officially announced as the direct sequel to the original Grand Chase(PC) – The one we know and love to bits. Before I give my thoughts on the game, let me tell you my background as a player. I am a huge GC fan since it got released, played from highschool to college (on and off) and stopped around the time Rin or Lime was released in the Philippines.
The intention of this article is to help you understand what I think KOG did great about this game and cite instances of how it relates to the old one. Having a whole new different approach doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be given a chance. Now that’s out of the way, let’s proceed to the review.
Gameplay
The biggest turn off that people found upon seeing videos was the gameplay. As the devs explained, they thought long and hard on how they would approach this and saw that a real-time action RPG was the way to go. You assemble a party of four, control them as a unit and fight your way through monsters and bosses in instanced dungeons. It has the same essence as the original while still making sure it fits as a game in the mobile market.
I found it enjoyable, challenging and addicting as you still have to move around and dodge attacks, gather mobs to get the maximum efficiency when you use your AoE skills and since there are different types of enemies and a variety of conditions for a certain dungeon, there’s still some strategy and planning involved – both before and during the run. I wish I could elaborate more on the RPG elements of this game like characters have individual stats, skills, roles ,equipment, etc but I’ll save that for another article (probably).
Story / Writing
One thing to take from the original GC is it’s story. It isn’t the most amazing thing but travelling through the different worlds and gathering new and unique members to the chase as you go along brings you a sense of attachment to the group. ALSO, WHAT STORY? We keep pressing ‘Z’ or ‘X’ to skip the dialogue back then because everyone is in a hurry to finish the dungeon. But the colorful characters, the concept of many encountered maps and worlds and the boss and monster mechanics were one of the many factors that made the GC universe unique.
Now, what does Grand Chase Dimensional Chaser has to offer? Everything above but better. You have new characters and and old ones from the original cast, cute little dialogue references from the previous game or from other games, occasional fourth wall breaking and banter between the main cast and the villains of the game.
I honestly don’t want to spoil too much but if you’re a JRPG and an anime fan, you’ll enjoy playing through the story and getting to know the different characters that pop in from time to time or that join your group. Take note, this game has an encyclopedia feature where you can read more about your roster and replay the story just in case you’ve missed a cinematic or dialogue.
The best part about the story is that players that never got a chance to try out or understood the original GC will still enjoy this game either way. Nostalgia is just a bonus. And because the story is more of a single player experience, you can now immerse yourself without any time pressure from your peers or randoms.
Art / Design
I think the whole thing speaks for itself. Their approach is a classic anime style JRPG. Character portraits are detailed and colorful that matches the theme of the original, in-game units are quite similar to the Disgaea remake and the maps and environment are quite detailed.
UI design is clean and not confusing at all. For beginners, there’s a lot of things going on on your screen but they made it organized enough that you know where to go and what to click within an hour of playing time. (At least, for me)
Also, you’ll enjoy the game’s OST. You’ll be greeted by the original theme song as the main menu BGM. Dungeons have both new and probably remastered music from the old game just to keep the nostalgia flowing. Sound design is not bad. Different sound sfx when skills register, weapon and bangs and thwacks and character voice lines during runs all blend well together and are well-thought.
On a side note, all characters are fully voiced in Japanese. /weab mode: ON
Not gonna dwell here too much. I just love the design and their approach overall!
Overall Impression
The game has heart, I can tell you that.You can play this game without spending a dime but you’ll probably tempted to do so if you absolutely want a better chance of getting SR ranked characters faster or improve your line-up to go through dungeons with ease. I’m not saying it’s a pay to win game but it’ll definitely make your life easier. This game has no stamina and that’s the reason why I could play this non-stop. Been playing for 2-3 days straight now. There’s plenty of rewards and things to do in the game.
Props to KOG for a job well-done!
Pros and Cons
I’ll keep just enumerate because I noticed this was supposed to be a fast review. I feel like I’m rambling already ;A;
Pros
- Fully controlled PVP
- Lots of things to do outside the story like other game modes,missions and PVP
- Guild feature that gives you guild-only benefits such as trading materials to improve your characters, guild wars, guild exclusive currency to buy stuff at the shop,etc
- Playing through the story mode gives you a truck ton of rewards, even allowing you to choose S ranked heroes from each class
- No stamina – you can play all-day,baby
- Story is good enough to be entertaining and interesting. Feels like I’m watching an anime. I want more.
- RPG style where you have 5 classes and customize your roster however you like
Cons
- No stamina would mean you can just marathon this game and reach the end of the story super fast (Probably would take you 1 whole afternoon. Not bad for a mobile game, I suppose)
- Not a lot of SR characters to choose from so people would end up with the same roster (Asurai pointed this out).
Hopefully, new updates and content comes soon so more SR characters get added to the roster and end game line-ups would have more variety. Also, I want to know more about the story!
Final Thoughts
While it’s true that nothing has ever came close to the experience we had with the original GC, I felt like KOG did a good job translating the essence of the first one to the mobile platform. There’s a balance of where the old players would probably still be happy seeing the old cast return but at the same time not alienating new players to the franchise. There’s something for everybody.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the review! Here are the download links and you can play and judge for yourself!
Download links
Apple: https://apple.co/2u0PZYm
Google: https://bit.ly/2KI7yDJ
RIKUHQ.COM 