The ERA RPG Club Plays: Grandia

Great write up. I'm interested in the series.

I loved Grandia to death as a kid, I've never got the 'adventure' feeling in another PS1 RPG.

Time to bust out the Vita.

I've never played Grandia 1, but beat 2. Always wanted to try the others.

I remember Grandia especially for this track



I don't think I'll ever be able to replay this game again though...I have yet to play Grandia 3 too

Yessssss.
Once I finish my Shining the Holy Ark replay tonight or tomorrow, I'm joining right in.

oh man this game is so good

OOO RAH RAH OOO RAH RAH

I want to add to that description of the battle system that it's not just the IP gauge and canceling mechanics, it's also how everyone has to actually move to reach their target to hit with attacks, and if someone swings and their target has physically moved away, the attack will miss. One of the regular defensive commands is to move to a specific point on the field and do nothing (you get your next turn way faster than normal if you do this), and if you move smartly, you can bait enemies to whiff their attacks or make them spend so long chasing you that they run out of movement and lose their turn.

Good timing! I picked up the Saturn version when in Japan. My Japanese reading comprehension isn't great, but this will give me some practice if nothing else. I've been meaning to give Grandia a shot for a while now, so I'll get started on it tomorrow.

This game has been on my list of games to play for a while and now is as good as time as any.

Dreamboum said:

I remember Grandia especially for this track



I don't think I'll ever be able to replay this game again though...I have yet to play Grandia 3 too

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Ahhhh, Iwadare Goodness.

Started but didn't finish Heracles. Was way to busy to even attempt the other two. I'll give this one a shot.

Pretty sure I am at like, the last hour of the game, but I got stuck in an optional dungeon. Not sure how to reach its end... and actually not sure where I should go to finish the story either. Gotta recharge the PSP and take a day to power through it.

Game is legit amazing and yeah, the absolute best sense of adventure/exploring the world I ever got from a game (Skies of Arcadia may be a distant second, gotta finish that one too!). I took SO MANY screenshots.

incredible combat system

Seeing the development of Justin and Feena throughout the game was really sweet. Was and still is one of the better video game romances. I smiled like an idiot during so many of their interactions, like when they're mistakenly thought as newly wed as they emerge from a church or during their moment together in their ship.

The ending was ace too.

I was playing this on the Vita and I still intent to finish it. It's a very good game, but I'm missing some modern QoL features such as a goddamn map.

I'm pretty sure I stopped aftersolving the "rain" problem. Not sure how far in the game this is.

Wouldn't mind giving this a go if I had the means but only have a PC.

Grandia 2 on the Dreamcast I did play though, but couldnt tell you a thing about it other than I think I learned the word esoteric from it. Pretty sure it's from a characters special move or something.

Yes, I was hoping this one would be selected. I have the disc at home, but never played it. Now is a good time as any.

Ooh, I'm a big Grandia fan even though I've never finished it in English (played it in English, but I've only finished it in Japanese on the Saturn). Thinking of stopping my P4G Very Hard replay run since I just beat the Normal ending boss & it's getting to be more tedious than fun & starting this up.

Heeey neato I've actually been playing this on the Vita. Got about 50 hours gametime and pretty sure I'm heading to endgame.

Definitely a stellar example of the golden age of JRPG. Think I might be overleveled got a bit obsessed with getting some of those spells and I love the fact that if people have the same magic they don't nessecarily have the same spells making each character actually feel unique.

Bummed that Xanadu Next didn't win, but I've never played Grandia and I own the PS1 classic, so I guess I'm in on this one.

One of my fav rpgs which i never finished :P The sense of adventure and fun is great. Back then i started on ps1 2 times and later on ps4 and Vita but some of the dungeons were so long which made me quit after a while :(. I think i lost my saves now and starting form the beginning again is a chore :(

FiveSide said:

Any Grandia vets in here have general tips or FYIs that might come in handy on a first playthrough?


Xanadu Next locked in for next month so no worries there! That will be a fun one to see people go through, and I might replay it myself and do a challenge run.

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Oh ok, great.

Beat it for the first time within the past 5 years, loved my time with it. Really great length, and doesn't overstay it's welcome at all. Even if I do consider it a little on the short side

FiveSide said:

Any Grandia vets in here have general tips or FYIs that might come in handy on a first playthrough?

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Weapon skills with an elemental component (like Feena's Fire Whip) are great for getting skill XP.

MINOR SPOILER ON WHO ISN'T IN THE FINAL PARTY:

Subbing this thread.

My vampire run got deraiked due to family infesting my computer room, but I'm gonna set this up on my vita or ps3.

Its been way too long. I'm looking forward to this replay.

One of my alltime favourites, I'm definitely gonna try and make time for this.

Aeana said:

Shining the Holy Ark .

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Impeccable taste.

This is a great thread idea!

I was mulling over my next PS1 game and this might be it! Might have to stream it too. Would there be any set time to finish it or is this like a group LTTP/RTTP?

I remember playing this on my psx back in the day.
The most memorable moment was, when we finally reached the top of the wall. The cutscene there, with the view and the music was just something else. Young me was left in awe.

Shining the Holy Ark replay done, so I'll start this tomorrow.

Make sure you enable analog controls, by the way. This game has full support for both sticks, which is a rarity on PSX.

FiveSide said:

Any Grandia vets in here have general tips or FYIs that might come in handy on a first playthrough?

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Honestly, an optional dungeon aside, it's quite easy. But as a general rule keep in mind that a big part of the strategy is paying attention to what your enemies are about to do and, if possible, cutting off their ability to launch their most powerful skills ("Critical" attacks are useful for this).

To elaborate a little, there are actually two attack options: Combo and Critical. Combo does more total damage, but Critical more severely impacts the enemy's timing.

It was alluded to in an earlier post, but your "defend" option is actually two options. One reduces damage as you'd expect, but the other one, called "evasion," lets you actually choose a place on the battlefield to move to. Don't ignore this option. Positioning matters in this game.

FiveSide said:

Pretty bizarre seeing Skywalker Sound on the boards for this. I didn't even know they did video game work in the 90s, let alone on a JRPG.

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The first game did have some great cartoony sound effects, especially the one of defeated enemies exploding into polygons.

Pretty happy that Grandia won! I've wanted to play this for years, but all I knew about it (before reading the OP here anyway) was that it's a game with a nice sense of adventure and good combat, oh, and pretty cute art.

I just finished my playthrough of Dark Souls Remastered so I should be starting this in the next couple of days on my Vita provided work doesn't get too demanding. I'm stocked to participate in the club for the first time! (by the way, props to FiveSide yet again for the awesome work and dedication).

And man, is that Iwadare of Ace Attorney fame on the soundtrack? NICE.

FiveSide said:

or even the recent Xenoblade 2​

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Only played this once when I was maybe 16 or 17 and remember loving it back then. Very excited to see how it holds up. Doubt I'll start my playthrough before Fri-Sat, though.

One of rpg that succeeded to capture the sense of adventure.

FiveSide said:

We play through a different game every month or so, so yea early-to-mid July is the "target" timeframe for finishing the game, but it's ultimately only a suggestion. Or a "motivator" if you prefer that terminology, haha.

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I see, I'm usually terrible with finishing games in a decent time frame lol. If I can finish World of Final Fantasy in a decent time I'll jump in on this too! (Think I'm near the end...ish)

Got it on the store just now and will probably start this evening. I Loved Grandia II on Dreamcast so I can't wait - the intro theme got me fired up already

I played this for the first time last year, and I was pleasantly surprised. Many RPGs try to evoke that feeling old old adventure cartoons, but very few are actually able to capture their spirit. Grandia seemed to do it effortlessly, and it just gives it a fun vibe. The only thing that really dragged the game down to me was the world design. You can sort of tell it was a relatively early 3D game, because they didn't really know how to adapt the layout and spacing of things yet around 3D cameras. Things are often way too close to each other, causing them to overlap and obscure your vision. Fiddling with the camera in towns is a must. The map design in the dungeons is kind of the opposite. Rather than the cramped design of the towns, the dungeons are really dragged out and most of them are a little dull. Every time there's a cave, forest, fortress, or ruins, I knew I'd be spending at least half an hour longer in them than I'd like.

My favourite touch though, which might seem a little stupid, are the recurring eating scenes. It's rather simple, but it adds so much humanity and charm. You also get natural ways to include exposition or hints, making them useful on top of being endearing. I tend to already like campfires in games, and this pretty much scratches that itch too. I'm not sure why other games didn't crib this idea.

Ughhh. I REALLY want to play through this game again, but I have to finish my attempt at beating Vagrant Story first... probably.

I'm not gonna replay it yet but I first played and beat this back in 2015 and loved it to death, really underrated and really beautiful looking game

Looking forward to reliving it though your discussion, and great idea for a thread/series of threads

A charming and very endearing RPG that has an incredible battle system and soundtrack but is flawed by several pacing issues.
The sense of adventure though is fantastic and is highlighted when


Solid 8 out of 10 within its time

I haven't played it since the PS1 release, but I remember loving the first half, but my interest waning as it went along. Even so, that first half was incredibly charming and really felt like kids going on a grand adventure.

I fucking looove this game!

It has one of the best - if not the best - rpg combat system ever. Combat feels particularily great, because the hits have a satisfying "impact" once they land. Completely opposite of - let's say - the Xenoblade series, where the impact of your hits is almost non existend and therefore feels shit (IMHO).

Here is what I mean:



It's kind of an evolution of the Active Time Battle System of the old Squaresoft days, but with the ability to change your position dynamically throughout the battle.

The music is fucking amazing too. The story gives you a feel of being on a great adventure.

However. If there is a game that would benefit from a remaster or even remake, it's probably Grandia. The sprites are nice, the annimation pretty good, too, but the simple polygon backgrounds and the battlefield during combat would benefit tremendously from a remaster. I only played the PS1 Version, so the battlefield graphics were already lower res than on Saturn.

Differences between Saturn and PS1



EDIT: As seen in the above video, the Saturn version has better and sharper background graphics. I hope some translation group inserts the PS1 english translation into the japanese Saturn version one day, so that the rest of the world could experince the superior version of Grandia.

Eugh, I'd love a Grandia revival. Even the weaker games, like Xtreme, were pretty damn fun just because the combat is ace.

... Also, I had no idea Game Arts were still alive, had put out a Grandia MMO, or developed Dokuro!