Growlanser

Growlanser (グローランサー Gurōransā) is a series of tactical role-playing games with installments on the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PSP. The series is set in a world that is being taken over by an ancient evil.

The series is the creation of Career Soft, with publishing duties handled by Atlus Co. in Japan. Working Designs published Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice and Growlanser III: The Dual Darkness in North America together in a package called Growlanser: Generations. 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, is being released by Atlus USA under the title Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time. All titles feature game art by Satoshi Urushihara.

Had a Crossover with several other games in Chaos Wars.

Games in the Series:

 * Growlanser
 * Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice
 * Growlanser III: The Dual Darkness
 * Growlanser IV: Wayfarer of Time
 * Growlanser: Heritage of War also known as Growlanser V: Generations in Japan.
 * Growlanser VI: Precarious World


 * Action Girl: Many throughout the series. Though all of the series' protagonists are male, most of them are closely associated with an Action Girl right from the beginning. Julia Douglas from the first Growlanser is a notable example, being the first female to earn the prestigious "Imperial Knight" title that both Wein and Charlone aspire to in The Sense of Justice.
 * Adventure Duo: Creyvaniel, the protagonist of the Wayfarer of Time travels with a quirky familiar.
 * Aerith and Bob: In a rare case, more Bobs than Aeriths. A large percentage of characters in the series have rather common names such as Karen, Julia, Ernest, Brett, Hugh, Rufus, and Wendy... but these characters associate with others with names such as Ariost, Xenos, Slayn, Pernagi, and Rukias.
 * All in a Row: All of the Growlanser games feature this.
 * Amnesiac Hero: Slayn Wilder in The Dual Darkness.
 * Apocalypse Maiden:  in The Sense of Justice, as the result of Demonic Possession by  . It is possible to save her life while also expelling   from her body if you obtain the Neural Device. If you do not obtain the Neural Device, however, she must be killed to end   scheme.
 * The Archer: Charlone in The Sense of Justice. Yayoi in Dual Darkness. Rems in Wayfarer of Time.
 * Assist Character: The familiar in Wayfarer of Time may help indirectly in battle by nullifying attacks, but are not actual party members.
 * Badass Longcoat: A common outfit. Crevaniel, the protagonist of Wayfarer of Time, wears one in all the cutscenes.
 * Bandit Mook: The imps and cat-girl enemies will steal from the player's party.
 * BFS: Crevaniel, the protagonist of Wayfarer of Time, wields a long katana-like blade.
 * Can't Drop the Hero: Applies to all Growlanser games.
 * Catgirl: Leona (from Wayfarer of Time) is a girl from a parallel universe who has ears and a tail like a cat.
 * Changing of the Guard: The main characters in the first game are minor characters in the second. Some are playable.
 * The Chosen One: Applies to the protagonist of all Growlanser games, except Sense of Justice. In Wayfarer of Time, the protagonist Crevaniel is one of the few people who sees dark angels that threaten to destroy humanity.
 * Combination Attack: In Growlanser III and IV, in order to cast higher level magic spells, two party members have to cast low level spells and cooperate.
 * Cool Old Guy: Hien and Dixon from Wayfarer of Time. Alfred Burns from Dual Darkness.
 * Costume Porn: Many of the outfits are quite elaborate.
 * Critical Hit: A skill that the character can learn to increase critical rate and a technique that is guaranteed to do extra damage.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Hans in The Sense of Justice. Story-wise, he's a textbook example of a Plucky Comic Relief character. Gameplay-wise, he's arguably your most effective party member. In the last half of the game, with the right gems equipped, Hans is able to hit any enemy from anywhere on the battlefield and will often kill multiple enemies before the rest of the party can reach them. Hugh from Dual Darkness has teleport magic that allow him to move himself or another character to any part of the field, plus he have the lowest ATW and Magic casting time allowing him to attack more times and cast magics more often.
 * Demoted to Extra: Several characters from the first Growlanser reappear in The Sense of Justice, but as NPCs. Carmaine, Xenos, and Lyell can be recruited to the party but play a smaller role than in the first game.
 * Devil in Plain Sight:  in The Sense of Justice. The game doesn't even try to hide this from the player, but it takes significantly longer for Wein and company to figure out that the gruff-voiced, scarred mercenary is up to no good.
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Gevel/Gevas in the first two games.
 * Easter Egg: In The Dual Darkness, have a controller plugged into port 2 when casting a spell. DDR-style arrows will appear on the screen, and matching them with the directional buttons on controller 2 will make the spell more damaging. This even works with a DDR pad.
 * Evolving Attack: Skills and spells level up as you earn more points by killing enemies (in Growlanser IV, V, and VI) or leveling up the character (Growlanser I, II, and III).
 * Face Heel Turn: In The Sense of Justice,  turns heel at the end of the game's normal path.   can also turn heel and fight his former allies should you decide to join with.
 * Fallen Angel: Growlanser IV: Wayfarer of time features a world that was nearly destroyed by angels 2,000 years ago. The angels return to once again attempt to destroy the world and it is up to the protagonist's party to stop them.
 * Gladiator Subquest: In order to complete the Colosseum the player fights against some characters that you met throughout the game.
 * Goggles Do Nothing: Hans in The Sense of Justice. Not only do his goggles do nothing, they also look rather out-of-place in a game with a predominantly medieval setting.
 * Good Morning, Crono: The protagonists Carmaine in Growlanser I and Slayn in Growlanser III and begin their adventure in bed.
 * Guide Dang It: The plot of The Sense of Justice can branch off into several different directions depending on the player's actions, but good luck figuring out every different branch by yourself. In addition, the game contains a few optional characters that really require you to be in the right place at the right time to recruit them.
 * Hello, Insert Name Here: Growlanser I, IV, V, and VI allow the player to rename the main character in the beginning.
 * Heroes Prefer Swords: Averted with Wein Cruz in The Sense of Justice and Haschen in Heritage of War. Played Straight with the protagonists of the other games in the series.
 * Heroic Mime: 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.
 * Hilarious Outtakes: Working Designs localization of Growlanser II and III includes this.
 * Ill Girl: In Growlanser II, Charlone's little brother fills the role. Also, Michelle in Growlanser III.
 * Inevitable Tournament: In the Growlanser series the best way to get a stronger party is at Colisseums. You can participate to earn the best rings and ultimate weapons.
 * Inn Security: Throughout the series characters wakes up the Player by either thanking you for fulfilling sidequest or to continue the sidequest itself.
 * Irrelevant Sidequest: The individual characters' sidequests tend to be unrelated to the main plot and mostly revolves around their personal lives.
 * Lady of War: Diana Silvernale from Wayfarer of Time. Sherris from Heritage of War.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: And HOW!
 * Lost Technology: Wayfarer of Time takes place in a world that once possessed highly advanced technology, such as mechs. However after the angels attacked 2,000 years ago and nearly eradicated the humans, most of the technology was lost or destroyed.
 * Metal Slime: The Gold Gel enemies are a little difficult to defeat because their high defense and ability to escape very soon after engaging them. By defeating them you get the best rings and lots of gold.
 * Mighty Glacier: Hien and Creyvaniel from Wayfarer of Time.
 * Mini-Dress of Power: Quite a few ladies in the game wear one.
 * More Friends, More Benefits: In Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time, wooing a female party member gets you her ultimate limit ability and stronger armor. When you become best friends with male party members you earn the same reward.
 * Multiple Endings: All Growlanser games feature multiple endings, depending on paths you take and which characters you developed relationships with.
 * Mutually Exclusive Party Members: In Growlanser II there are some party members that are mutually exclusive. If Arieta doesn't join your party then her fox guardian Sereb will join instead. If you fail to recruit Lyell then a soldier called Brett join the party.
 * Named After Somebody Famous: Viktor Hugo, a party member in The Dual Darkness, is most likely named after Victor Hugo, and bears a resemblance to the author in his later days.
 * No Name Given: The second game tries to avoid saying the name of the first game's hero for as long as possible because his name was chosen by the player. When it can't be put off any longer, his name is given as Carmaine.
 * One-Man Army: Creyvaniel, the protagonist of Wayfarer of Time can become a devastating killing machine.
 * Opera Gloves: A fairly common accessory.
 * Optional Party Member: Arieta. Sereb, Bret and Lyell in Growlanser II 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 II the characters can be ported. Regina and Vallery from Wayfarer of Time are completely optional. Sherris and Rufus in Growlanser V are optional.
 * Our Angels Are Different: In Wayfarer of Time, the protagonist is one of the few people who can see angels. The angels are attempting to annihilate the human race.
 * Our Fairies Are Different: In Growlanser I, III, IV, V, and VI, the protagonist travels with a fairy like familiar.
 * Pimped-Out Dress: Many examples throughout the series.
 * One of the most extreme is Sherris's outfit in Heritage of War.
 * Pinata Enemy: The Golden Blobs and Soul enemies give great money and experience, despite being easy to kill.
 * Preexisting Encounters: In Growlanser I, III, IV, V, and VI you can see enemies roaming around the dungeons and world map. In III, this trope only applies in the dungeons and you face the enemies when you get near them.
 * Pretty in Mink: Louise, from the first game, has a fur-trimmed dress. Gloria, from the PSP remake of the fourth game, wears a fur-trimmed cape.
 * Relationship Values: The playable characters' portraits gives you a hint about how they feel about the player character: the happier they look the higher the relationship value is. In II, there is actually a mater that lets you see the character affection in the game. The familiars in Growlanser IV, V, and VI have an ability that allows you to see each character's affection.
 * Romance Sidequest: All Growlanser gives the player-character the option to romance other party members. In Wayfarer of Time Creyvaniel can romance almost any friendly female in the game.
 * Save Point: In Growlanser I you can save in almost anywhere outside of battle. In II you can save at the world map and during missions. In Growlanser III, IV, V, and VI you can save at the inns and in your Room in towns. In dungeons and the World Map you save only at designated save points.
 * Showgirl Skirt: Not especially common, but a few of the girls wear an outfit with such a skirt.
 * Smash Mook: The Titan enemies fit this trope perfectly.
 * Take Your Time: Every title has at least one missions that must be completed before a timer turns zero or it's Game Over. Wayfarer of Time uses a timer that will influence the success of the missions. In Sense of Justice and Dual Darkness there is a timer that will influences the kind of Ring you will get, defeating enemies earlier gives you better rings.
 * Team Pet: In Wayfarer of Time the familiar who travels with the party is either a fairy or small humanoid.
 * We Cannot Go on Without You: This one will cause you annoyance when playing The Sense of Justice. You let Wein die? Game over for you! In addition, if any of your other active party members are killed, you cannot get the highest rating for that mission.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Slayn Wilder, the protagonist of The Dual Darkness. Rems in Wayfarer of Time is so pretty he is often told he has a "girl face".
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl: Many, throughout the series. Notable examples are Charlone and Riviera from The Sense of Justice.
 * You All Look Familiar: Most minor NPCs and random enemies have similar appearance.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: So many hair colors.