2025 Special - Grand Master

The purpose of the '2025 Special' is to play through as many Action RPGs as I can. The only conditions are that they must feature an overhead view and star a sword-wielding man. With these parameters in mind, I can enjoy classics such as The Legend of Zelda, Ys, Crystalis, Alundra and- oh no. You saw 'Grand Master' in the title, didn't you? That obscure as all heck Famicom game that's equal parts ambitious and unfinished? Oops! I have the perfect opportunity to play the GOATs of the genre, yet I'm blowing it up to cover the forgotten and rather mediocre. I mean honestly, would you have expected anything else from me? The previous games I covered were Lagoon and Xak! Besides, give it time and maybe I'll get around to some good games.

Cutscenes! How exciting!

Anyway, Grand Master, which I've already described as "rather mediocre", utilizes the standard means of progression. Taking control of a young sword-swinging hero, you navigate six maze-like locales to defeat evil and save the world. These places - which range from haunted castles to haunted pyramids - can be tackled in any order. The catch however is that any order besides the default will cost you a chance at the final boss and the good ending. Still, if you're deathly curious, you can view alternate cutscenes by going out of order. 

The locales themselves are labyrinths packed with monsters and treasure. Minutes after starting a new game, you'll quickly settle into the routine of grinding beasties for experience and navigating every which way for equipment upgrades. Once you've acquired everything of note, it's all just a matter of finding the key, unlocking the boss door, and slaying the archfiend. It's a process you've dealt with an infinite number of times, so what makes Grand Master special?

Everything else! How unexciting!

I... I don't have a real answer to that question. All I recall from my play-through is how easy the whole quest turned out to be. This isn't the "elite gamer skills" talking either. Once you grasp the basics, all that's left is going through the motions and maybe stumbling through a couple obtuse puzzles. The last dungeon does throw around a couple neat ideas, such as the bulk of it requiring a hookshot to get around. Still, when it's all over, all that remains is the empty feeling in your gut and a +1 to the almighty video game completion counter.

And... that's it! I have nothing significant to say about the game.

Bye.