jeremy1456's Full Review: Grandia for PlayStation 1
Although Squaresoft and Enix were always the top dogs as far as roleplaying games go, Gamearts titles always had a magical quality to them which no other could properly emulate. After the mini-successes that were Lunar and Lunar 2, Gamearts began work on an original title for the Sega Saturn known as Grandia. This was seen as the answer to Final Fantasy VII which appeared on rival Sony's Playstation console. Grandia was left in the dust saleswise, and due to Sega's bad decision making skills, it never saw release outside of Japan. That is, until Gamearts ported the title to the Sony Playstation. Does Grandia possess the magical qualities Gamearts' games are known for? Read on to find out.
The first big problem with Grandia is the fact that it was published by Sony. That's not to say that I have anything against the company, but their translation skills aren't the best, and Grandia is a showcase of this. The game is riddled with corny and sometimes awkward dialogue, along with a host of voice actors that overract around every corner. The good news is that when you've got a game as good as Grandia these minor nuances are easy to look past. After a while you may even get used to it. Still, it would have been great had Working Designs (which had traditionally been the translator of Gamearts RPGs) been in charge of the domestic release.
"An adventurer is like the wind. No one says to where the wind blows, and it should be this way with adventurers too."
Remember the simpler days of RPGs? Back when all the main characters weren't shrouded with mystery, self doubt, and raw angst? These are the days that Grandia harkens to.
The game takes place in a fictional world and pits you under the role of a red haired youth named Justin. Justin lives alone with his mother in the port town of Parm on the continent of Messina. Along with his best friend Sue, he spends his days going on mock adventures, in hopes of one day being able to experience a real one for himself. You see, Justin's father and grandfather were both great adventurers, and his mother is even an ex-pirate. This would-be adventurer recieves his calling one day after taking his father's memento, a supposed spirit stone of an ancient civilization to some nearby, yet only recently discovered ruins. He and Sue are given a vision of an ancient breed of human known as the Icarians, and of the world they once lived. Justin is given the task of seeking out the ancient world. And so begins Justin's adventure of a lifetime.
The characters and their development through this quest are handled extremely well. Justin is a highly likeable main character even despite his clumsy and rash traits. The others are quite interesting also, especially the honorable Gadwin and the mostly irrational Rapp. This is one area that Gamearts absolutely excels at in their games, and the only others that even come close to rivalling Grandia in charm are also developed by these same people. It's a breath of fresh air to find an RPG that doesn't try to be cool by taking itself too seriously. The plot development is also exceptional; the adventure begins on a very lighthearted note, but as you progress in the story you'll watch it open into something a bit deeper and more meaningful. The storyline is nearly flawless, just as long as you can get past the mostly terrible translation job.
Though Grandia is in fact an RPG, it's not a strictly traditional one. You will still travel from towns to dungeons and areas in between, however, there are some distinct differences when compared to RPGs from the same era. Firstly, there is no traversable world map. Getting around is handled through a map interface with which you simply select from one of the various pre-set destinations. Yeah it's a little lame, especially given the air of adventure in the storyline, but it's forgiveable in this case because of how engrossing the world of Grandia truly is.
Another non-traditional aspect to Grandia is it's battle system. Gamearts knew that they struck gold with Lunar and Lunar 2, and so they took the best aspects of them and completely rehauled the system while adding some new and rather defining elements. Monsters are seen before engaged, and a battle will only break out after you touch or are touched by them. One interesting element to this is the fact that an initiative may be granted to one of the two parties, dependant on who engaged who. Each character in your party (up to four) is represented on the battlefield and on the IP Gauge.
This gauge is basically the equivalent of the Active Time Battle system from the Final Fantasy games, only Grandia's is much more interactive. The representative icons move from left to right, and both your characters and enemies are represented on the gauge. Upon reaching a certain point on the gauge you are prompted to input a command. After this, the character's icon will continue to the right until it reaches the very end, and then your selection is carried out. The interactive part comes in that turns can be cancelled with certain attack styles. This aspect alone demands your attention to each angle of the more difficult battles, and makes Grandia the most strategic turn based RPG that I've ever seen.
The battle system is, in my opinion, the greatest that the genre has ever seen. The sheer amount of strategy required, along with the variety of choices makes it enjoyable during the more difficult battles no matter how many times you lose and must start the fight over. The easier encounters can usually be beaten with the same attack command over and over, but usually your party will sustain more damage this way and require healing, which in turn, is a drain on resources. This rewards those who work hard, but doesn't entirely bog down the lazy. That's part of the beauty of the battle system; it's only as complex as you want it to be.
Grandia isn't exactly perfect. This leads me to the wildly inaccessible magic and skill system. Mana eggs are used to teach characters specific elemental magic be it wind, earth, fire, or water. As you use these elemental spells the character's skill will rise. Eventually this will lead them to learn new, better spells pertaining to the same element. The same goes with weapon skills and each of their different types. Now for the confusing part. Special moves are learned through specific mastery of defined weapons or elemental magic. The problem is that the game never tells you (save for once) the exact levels your magic/weapons must be at in order to learn any special move. This reduces the system to a mostly guess and get lucky venture, unless of course you've got a guide outlining all the requirements.
Another problem I've noticed in this game is the ease of getting lost inside the dungeons. Grandia arms you with a compass that is too difficult to read, thus making it pretty much useless. Adding to the confusion is the camera angle, which makes it incredibly easy to become disoriented, especially while swirling it around to get a better view of the surrounding area. In the later areas of the game I found myself getting lost at every turn. You can probably imagine how frustrating this can be.
Graphics are a mixed bag. On one hand, the characters sprites look pretty nice and are fairly detailed, but the backgrounds are rendered completely polygonal. This element is a bit ugly, especially with the jagged edges and textures the original Playstation is known for. The game's art style is very cool and it becomes especially bizarre as you make it further in the game. Personally I'm not a huge fan of the graphics, and the character designs bug me a bit (Justin looks totally lame). In this case, it's easy to get past the ancient graphics because the rest of the game is done so well.
Grandia features an elaborate and extremely well done soundtrack. To be honest, I consider this one of the best selections of music from any RPG. Firstly you've got the adventurous Theme of Grandia which is enough to get anyone's blood pumping for adventure. Also catchy are the various battle themes (especially the main theme on disc 2). Unlike the music, the voice overs are terrible. The actors are noticeably inexperienced, and when you pair this with the cheesy script, you've got a nightmare on your hands. These sequences are scattered though, so it's not all that bad. The sound effects are also a bit on the iffy side, with no real samples used, just the generic unrealistic smacks and slashes.
Control is slightly awkward, but this is mostly the fauly of the weird angle the camera sits at. Thankfully Grandia supports the dual analog controller, and so moving around is easy with the left stick, while the right is designated to swirling the camera around. Everything else is standard RPG fare. The menus are very easy to use and I've had no problem with them. Getting used to the IP Gauge during battles takes a bit of work, but once you understand the basic concept you'll be on the long road to mastering it.
Final Recommendation
Grandia is no mere game; it's a complete experience. The charming story, masterful battle system, and awesome soundtrack make for an unforgettable experience. This is seriously one of the greatest RPGs of all time, and you'd be a fool to not keep an eye out for it.
If you can put up with the cutesy graphics, Grandia is one of the longest, most compelling, and most character-driven role-playing games youll ever sp...More at eBay
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