Grand Knights History

Grand Knights History is a role-playing video game developed by Vanillaware for PSP, released September 2011 in Japan.

The fantasy world of Rystia is divided into three warring kingdoms: Logres, the Ancient Kingdom, ruled by King Fausel; Union, the Kingdom of Knights, ruled by King Leon; and Avalon, the Kingdom of Magic, ruled by Queen Muse. Players must align themselves to one of the three nations and advance the story by taking part in missions on behalf of their chosen country.

This Video Game provides stunning visual and examples of:

 * Battle Ballgown: The female Knights.
 * Bigger Stick: If there is an enemy you can't defeat, your options are: 1) use better Skills, 2) bring bigger and badder weapons, 3) pump your stats (but not your level).
 * Big Badass Birds of Prey: The Roc-type enemies.
 * Black Magician Girl: Miira. She's also a recurring villain.
 * Blob Monster: They have swords impaled into their bodies, and they don't seem to mind, being what they are.
 * Dem Bones: They follow the same archetypes as your character.
 * Elemental Powers: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind. And then there are Light and Darkness spells, the learning of which require Masteries of the basic elements.
 * Fantasy Gun Control: Averted. You can have a party entirely made-up of gunners. Gunners are part of the Archer archetype, and there are no jarring advantages compared to bowmen or crossbowmen.
 * Ghibli Hills: Everywhere that aren't Nerumu Abyss.
 * Gorgeous Period Dress: Even the lowliest thugs (who waylay you) don very colorful set.
 * Heroic Fantasy: A band of four warriors fight evil and defend the honor of their country. Sounds familiar, huh?
 * Knighting: Largely the point of the game. You level-up recruits by training them or sending them to fight monsters, then you present them to your king/queen for Knighting. Gameplay-wise, Knighted characters become playable online (and only online) to defend their affiliated countries.
 * Level Grinding: If you don't want or can't participate in online battles, the amount of grinding needed can be rather painful.
 * Level Scaling: One of the reason why the enemies are always challenging. It's generally better to exploit Training Ground and keep Low Level Advantage.
 * Min-Maxing: Mandatory. You even get to roll character stats in the beginning, ala Dungeons and Dragons. This will take some times...
 * Mordor: Nerumu Abyss. The Undead are everywhere. It's also located at the center of the continent. You can walk into and out of it as much as you want, deathly enemies notwithstanding.
 * MMORPG
 * Nintendo Hard: Good luck finishing the game without getting online-only equipment!
 * The Quest: The plot revolves around finding the treasures of the Saintess and save the world from King of Chaos. Take Your Time.
 * Sidequest: And while you're at it, go fight bandits/monsters/other countries' knights. Especially other countries' knights.
 * Scenery Porn: The visuals are gorgeous, as expected from the people who made Odin Sphere and Grim Grimoire.
 * Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors: Knights destroy Archers destroy Wizards destroy Knights. Remember this when you play online.
 * Training From Hell: Each recruit gets an Apprenticeship period of 60 days, during which he or she can train in the capitol of the country he or she is affiliated to. The training regiments are rather... extreme.
 * Walking the Earth: Literally, even. The characters walk on some kind of globe.
 * White Mage: Healers make life easier for everyone, but they are part of the Wizard archetype.