Released last year in the US and at the end of 2015 in Japan, Grand Kingdom is an excellent strategy RPG by Monochrome Corporation who published the game through Spike Chunsoft in Japan and Nippon Ichi Software America in the US.
In Grand Kingdom nations fight for dominance in a medieval fantasy setting, and the game is considered a spiritual successor to the 2011 PSP title, Grand Knight's History, also directed by Tomohiko Deguchi.
The Limited Edition for PS4 that you can see on my desk in the photo above is an exquisite set for it's price of about $80.00 USD on Amazon.
Grand Kingdom launched with 4 editions- regular edition includes just the standard case and game, Launch Day Edition which includes some extras like a sampler soundtrack and small softcover artbook, the Limited Edition box which we'll get into shortly, and a special Grand Edition which can only be purchased when in stock from NISA's store- that edition has everything you'll see below with a bonus pin set, art prints, Lilia poster, and a cloth map of the game's world.
The Limited Edition is what I'd consider the main collector's edition to go after for this game, since the Grand edition is usually out of stock and the LE can be found in stores where available and online.
I originally shared these pictures back in July of last year on my Facebook Page upon getting the Limited Edition, however I felt it would a shame to not share them here as well, where I feel this nice Limited Edition Grand Kingdom box can continued to be appreciated and obtained for those interested in picking the game up.
Let's have a look!
From left to right is the sticker set, the box's cover slip, the Parade Poster, the box which has a full picture of the game's cover art and also features a sigil on the back (shown in later pics), the 15=track soundtrack which is laying under the artbook, and the artbook which is magnificent!
The artbook it comes with is one of the best parts of this edition with 128 gilded pages and a faux leather hard cover.
And of course you can see the game's normal case on the back right.
They really nailed 'old tome' feel.
Shiny gilded pages, really just going the extra mile with it there.
Here we have the Call to Arms Grand Kingdom 15-track soundtrack that comes with the Limited Edition.
The Launch Day edition only comes with a short 5-track sampler disc.
Another reason to get this edition! This is still not the actual Original Soundtrack, as that one has a good 66 tracks and has to be bought separately.
Still, this one has great selections from the game and is a bit more generous than some game's collector's editions!
The sticker set comes with various sigils, the game's logo, and the Parade artwork. Normally when special editions include sticker sets I keep them in mint condition and never use them, but after a year of them sitting in the box, I decided to finally use the Parade one and the logo on my faithful laptop.
I figure if anything happens to that laptop, I'll just peel it off and put it back on this sheet somehow.
Sometimes I do feel like it's a shame to not use them, but it just depends on the set. They're pretty nice. :)
The sheet for the stickers comes folded in half since it's too tall to fit normally in the box- this is only a minor annoyance and may look ugly if one decided to put the sheet in any sort of frame or display- but that only goes for extreme collectors. Usually the only thing I frame from special editions are prints or collector's postcards- I still have so many to frame, like the ones that come with the Japanese Star Ocean 5 Ultimate Box. x.x;;
The Parade poster is pretty cool! It has a very interesting texture to it, a very high-quality paper! The poster is 28.5" x 14", so pretty decent sized.
I haven't used it yet and probably wont, its just too nice.
If I really wanted to I'd frame it, but I feel its going to just exist in the box for a long time, only seeing the light of day when I wish to pull it out and appreciate it.
This is the back of the box after the cover slip is removed, as mentioned previously in this post.
The game's standard PlayStation 4 case. With the amount of detail they put into making this Limited Edition, I'm somewhat surprised there's no reversible cover as many recent NISA released games have done lately. But I'm not disappointed, and I usually keep it inside it's LE box to save room anyways. ^^;
The spine.
Here's the disc and an advertisement for Atelier Sophie which is a beautiful looking newer Atelier game I need to get my hands on soon. I regret that I'm a little behind on the Atelier series at this time, but I'll surely catch up!
How many of you enjoy the Atelier franchise!
Everything comes packaged like this.
Final Verdict: 8.5
Positives:
+Great Packaging
+Art Box
+Art Book
+Poster Quality
+15-track selected tracks soundtrack
+Quality and Presentation
Negatives:
-Sticker Sheet crease
-No Special Features for the Standard PS4 Game Case ie; no reversible cover or special artwork
And there you have it! A nice in-depth look at the Grand Kingdom Limited Edition box! Overall I'm pretty pleased with the Limited Edition box set, it comes with what I expect from a decent collector's edition, and even though the sticker sheet is creased and the artbook is a smaller size that many, the quality is really hard to argue with and with everything combined- the artbox, artbook, 15-track jewel-cased soundtrack, the Parade poster that is done on really nice paper (hard to see from photo), the easy packaging- I can't think of anything more they could have done besides giving the game's case a reversible cover. Any more things added and it'd have to become the elusive Grand Edition. For the price of $80.00 USD which is $20.00 more than what the standard game went for at launch ($59.99 USD) you're getting some fine bonuses. Its right on par with what I expect for that price and for a good Limited Edition. The people at NISA put this together very nicely and I can't think of a better rating.
Get this game if you haven't! Fans of tactics RPGs will love it, see the trailer here.
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