RPG Review #47: Great Greed
NuMetalManiak You may be wondering, why didn't I play through Grandia: Parallel Trippers? Well for one, this is another obscure game not released in the US. Despite being in the Grandia series which I generally like, I felt that the signature combat system didn't fit well with the Game Boy Color controls. It was very complex, and there were a ton of collectables. I didn't get too far before quitting this one out of sheer boredom. So instead, I found another game to play. I wanted to make it GB/GBC, and then I found this game: Great Greed. I was quite intrigued by this Game Boy game, it's got a lot of things making it different from standard RPGs.Gameplay: The thing I feel this game suffers from most is a lack of advertisement, as I've never heard of this before until Googling best Game Boy RPGs, basically anything not Zelda or Pokemon-related. As for this game, it's mostly standard, except there's only one character you control. This cuts down on equipment buying, so that's good. Money is of no issue, especially if you decide to grind a bit. The battles in this game are generally one-on-one, and every action is done via a button press on the Game Boy. A to attack, B to dodge, Start to run, and any of the direction buttons for specified magic spells which can be saved. Once a button is pressed, the battle goes as such, with the protagonist and the enemy each using their actions. There are very few status effects, usually of the "don't move" variety, but they disappear after just a turn or so. And turns are done real-time in accordance to button presses, meaning you could mash A to win some battles if you want.
But don't, as this game is harder than it looks. And unfortunately this employs random encounters, of the annoying caliber much like FFL2, which I just played. And battles can get rough, many enemies would dodge attacks, there's random misses, and magic when cast can really hurt the player, and only against the enemy if they're weak to the element. During the plot of this game, you get several princess companions, each helps the protagonist in battle in some way, but it's usually minor. The game is pretty much linear all the way, once you reach a new area, you can't backtrack to the previous area. Even dungeons are linear sometimes. There's also a few garbage items, one is literally called Trash, and trying to sell this item means PAYING 1000 just to get it out of the inventory. So overall, Great Greed is unique, but does manage to be annoying at times: Grade: B-
Characters: Only one character is playable. He is a nameable hero, but canonically is known as Sierra Sam, or just Sam. He finds himself in a world where everything and everyone is named after food items and such. It's a strange world. Several of his princess companions are named Candy, Cup Cake, Lolly Pop, Truffle, Citrus, Microwave (the old witch), and Gum Drop. The villain is known as Bio-Hazard Harry or just Bio-Haz. He's a typical jerk wizard guy. But wow, these characters are quite strange. Gotta give a score there. Grade: A
Plot: If you think this plot takes it seriously, think again. Sam (we'll just call him that) is transported to the world of the Kingdom of Greene, where all the princesses are from. The one who did it, Microwave, is some old witch being chased by a hunter of Bio-Haz, and requests Sam's assistance. He meets the royal family of Greene, including princess Candy and her dog Calorie. After an attack from Bio-Haz's men, Candy helps Sam escape the area.
Next place is known as the Nation of Sushi, yes that's right, Sushi. The main event here is a town that has a mayoral election between a Crabby and a Cabbage Head. Crabby has a lead and plans to build a "happiness" factory, but Cup Cake, who sponsors Cabbage Head, wants to turn the tide of this election, and to expose Crabby. After killing monsters, finding a professor Cordante and a recording artist Lola Leftover (in a vinyl record-themed dungeon), Sam exposes Crabby and fights him, after he falls, Cabbage Head wins by default, and Sam heads for the Nation of Chow Mein.
A town in Chow Mein has a very interesting mechanic I have never seen before. The town has strict laws, and Sam, as a visitor, can change them, which makes things very interesting. There's a Kim-Chee tribal area elsewhere, and Sam's companion is Lolly Pop, daughter of a Dr. Bromide and engaged to Springroll. After finding Lolly Pop's daddy Sam heads for the mountains, climbing them to reach the Nation of Curry.
The first village, Cinnamon, has another princess, Truffle, who joins Sam. The next mountain has enemies that apparently are protected by PETA officials, as hurting them prevents me from crossing. Another village has poisonous fog attacks every now and then, while another has people running around with pants on fire. Not to mention there's a name in here called Ralph Vader. Who is that a jab at? What is wrong with this game? After fixing things, getting up a mountain in seconds, invading a forest of birds, etc. Sam is journeying to the Nation of Spaghetti.
A mysterious female fencer takes Sam to a resistance base, revealing herself as Citrus, another princess, but a warrior princess this time. Then there's a beauty pageant in another town, where a proprietor (Fifi) wants to enter Citrus in, by using sound logic of making a dress out of fruit from a forest. Of course, Fifi turns out to be a bad guy now and you fight him. The resistance leader, named Shrimp, is also a bad guy all along too, and causes Citrus to fall at the end before Sam reaches the Nation of Escargot.
In Escargot, Sam meets Cadmium, a wizard and follower of Bio-Haz. Microwave, the witch from before, helps Sam out here, and they eventually get to Cadmium's cave to kill him. Microwave also has a family in Torte Village, and Sam ends up carrying her on his back (like he did at the beginning of the game) to her family after battling Cadmium. Sam then goes to the Nation of Soup.
Sam survives a Castaway ordeal and ends up with a leg injury, awakening in Caviar Village with a Marcela, Pint, and Junior. He goes to a hot spring to heal it, but his stuff gets stolen (including his clothes). Luckily Marcela, who is actually Princess Gum Drop, corners the thief and joins Sam. They climb a glacial mountain and reach another town where a kite flyer named Steak refers to a kite engineer named Noodle back on the mountain. Also Junior, Gum Drop's step son or something, is lost on the mountain for some reason. Sam makes his way to Burger.
Burger is polluted, so two guys from the beginning of the game, Lunch Box and Time Out, help Sam by instigating a town riot so he can clear it. He then heads for Greene Castle, freeing the King and Queen. Getting the Knight equipment, he goes through a field of flowers to a town of Bio-Haz supporters, where Truffle and Cup Cake are, who help him through a sewer. Gum Drop helps afterwards through Bio-Haz's castle, then Sam finds Candy and they eventually confront Bio-Haz, where Citrus also helps one last time for Sam to defeat Bio-Haz. Game's pretty much over, but there are multiple endings on who you want to marry. A rather nonsensical plot, but for a Game Boy game, very interesting overall. Grade: A-
Music: Music is quite grating to the ears actually. The non-annoying music gets old after awhile, and the annoying ones like the general cave theme are grating. They could've done better in the music department. Grade: D
Overall Grade: B-
Hilarious character names, funny plot with lots of side things for a linear game. Annoying music, and somewhat annoying gameplay. Great Greed actually brought something unique as far as battling goes, but it's a rough game. Might actually be worth playing though. If you can make any sense of the plot, congratulations.