Vampires, Monsters and the Gods They Praise
Vampires are a bit overdone, in my personal opinion. The genre feels played out. That said, playing as a vampire knight in the middle of a holy war was much more exciting than I initially thought.
Exe-Create and Kemco’s Knights of Grayfang is an 8-bit fantasy adventure RPG that takes place in the fictional land of Eldraad. Utilizing the powers granted by King Edwahl, three of the Kingdom’s vampiric soldiers, along with Thoma, a mysterious human with uncanny abilities, embark on a journey to defeat an onslaught of monsters in the Temple War. With both sides vying for the power of the Nine Temples, only Thoma and the vampire knights stand between peace and the sinister plans of the Dark Knight. While the plot seems overly familiar, the story itself is portrayed beautifully through the game’s characters, dialogue sequences and combat.
Is It Wrong to Pick a Fight in a Temple?
The game starts with third-rank vampire knight Lise, who is asked to escort fellow vampire knight and princess Leticia to a neighboring temple in search of her royal parents. Knights of Grayfang differs from most games in the genre, as the map displays no distinct landmarks. The only way to discover the location of the next mission is to pay attention to the dialogue. Personally, I found this format grounding because it makes the player concentrate on conversations rather than passively watching visuals. This also served as a nice change of pace between battling and leveling up and allowed the game to shine with its uniquely interactive characters, with actions and dialog specific to each character’s personality.
Throughout Knights of Grayfang, players battle a unique variety of monsters to gain XP and grow their character in turn-based combat. Understanding each of the four character’s turn rate and how certain skills affect the rate of turn helps to create an efficient battle strategy and may even help reserve mana. The game comfortably challenges players, giving a fair amount of control over the intensity and frequency of battles while in temples. Going through each temple feels much like adventuring in a dungeon, with puzzles, traps and obstacles that need to be solved in order to proceed and monsters to be defeated. At the heart of each temple is the Deity Stone, a source of power crucial to victory in the Temple Wars that both the monsters or the vampire knights can wield.
Vampires With Personality
Despite its 2D, 8-bit design, there’s nothing two-dimensional about Knights of Grayfang or its gameplay. Like some games in the genre, leveling up could feel like a drag. Contrarily, it’s actually the main source of fun within the game. Each character comes equipped with unique skills and weapons for battle. Players can alter battle tactics and strategies via the menu before engaging in turn-based battles. This requires players to continuously gauge their characters’ strengths while also aiming to improve them by learning skills and upgrading weaponry and armor. While the means of leveling up characters may not be revolutionary, the easy-to-use upgrade and skill system is pleasantly simplistic and neatly collated via the menu. Additionally, each character has a clear path of growth rather than an overwhelming plethora of avenues, which nicely complements the rest of the gameplay.
In addition to temples, you’ll also encounter various towns along your journey. Each town contains guild-like taverns and arenas where players can have fun gaining XP and mastering each character’s ability to collaborate in battle. Players must utilize each character’s specialty and combine their abilities to execute seamless attack combinations and achieve victory for Grayfang.
Fight scenes aside, the game’s story feels immensely cinematic. Whether featuring interactions between minor characters at the palace or the Dark Knight and Monster King, each of the game’s cutscenes fully fleshes out the world of Elderaad and its characters. From storylines to gameplay to character design, the developers went above and beyond to deliver an overall fun and exciting experience.
