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The ERA RPG Club Plays: Grandia
- Thread starter Deleted member 419
- Start date
So I gave Grandia a quick go and eventhough I didn't get far yet, not even the first fight, I had to come and comment on the visuals and sound track. The music especially blew me away! Right from the intro song and animation I was hooked. Had a kind of an 80's vibe to it which I like.
Even the two first characters you control are endearing in their childishness, not annoying like anime trope characters tend to be, xenoblade 2 *cough*. The voice acting is what it is, but it's not as bad as some of the games of those times.
I have a feeling I'm going to dig this a lot.
Even the two first characters you control are endearing in their childishness, not annoying like anime trope characters tend to be, xenoblade 2 *cough*. The voice acting is what it is, but it's not as bad as some of the games of those times.
I have a feeling I'm going to dig this a lot.
Got to New Parm last night. Justin is starting to grate on me. Hopefully at some point he'll have something to say other than that he is and/or is aspiring to be an adventurer, and be something other than insufferably peppy. Even the goodbye with his mother fell flat for me because I just can't take Justin seriously.
I do like how NPCs acknowledge that you are in fact a small child and maybe it is weird that you are doing any of this.
I'm enjoying the gameplay well enough. The dungeons feel like a cut above the usual fare, presenting some minor navigation challenges and exploration opportunities without overstaying their welcome. Normal enemies are tough as soggy tissues, but I had some trouble with the last two bosses -- maybe I'm underleveled, as I'm otherwise avoiding combat as much as I can. I'm still getting a handle on reading the action bar a judging relative timings.
I do like how NPCs acknowledge that you are in fact a small child and maybe it is weird that you are doing any of this.
I'm enjoying the gameplay well enough. The dungeons feel like a cut above the usual fare, presenting some minor navigation challenges and exploration opportunities without overstaying their welcome. Normal enemies are tough as soggy tissues, but I had some trouble with the last two bosses -- maybe I'm underleveled, as I'm otherwise avoiding combat as much as I can. I'm still getting a handle on reading the action bar a judging relative timings.
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Probably a dumb question but how does Puffy's portrait work exactly? What's that red thing? He looks like he just killed someone and their blood got on his face lol.
It was so well executed, it's crazy how I barely know these characters but that sequence still made me emotional.
The game is so damn charming and cute, yeah, young protagonists in JRPGs nowadays usually annoy me more than anything, but Justin and Sue are adorable and pretty enjoyable.
Puffy drinks coffee with Sue's father sometimes.
It's all a part of his charm.
Replayed up to the mine yesterday. The translation is better than I remember (like the Lunar games, there's lots of inter-party dialogue & like the Trails games, there's tons of NPC dialogue) & the dub is worse (though I've heard even worse). Combat is super easy so far, made easier if you regularly get advantage. I don't think the first boss even managed to get a hit on me. Makes me wish that the Grandia 2 Steam release had been a mega-hit and they did a remaster of Grandia 1. Clean up the writing, redo the dub, combine the strong points of the PS1 & Saturn releases, reduce combat downtime & load times, add some difficulty options, and throw in the Japanese-only expansion pack.
So I am really close to
now and I just gotta say that this game is an instant classic for me. I have never really heard much about it until this thread. The game is a little easy, but I love the battle system and weapon levels as they keeps me more engaged than standard RPGs. Feena has been a fun character so far, but Justin and Sue are the real standouts for me. Those two as a combo are adorable and hilarious. The scene where they are just running around in figure 8s after they got off the boat illustrates everything I love about this hyperactive nutjobs. Also the whole goodbye sequence to his mother with him sneaking out into the early foggy morning made me feel as anxious as Justin was. Talking to the people on the harbor gave me a genuine feeling that I was about to embark on an adventure. Also I've been talking to every NPC so far and I enjoy that almost all of them have 2-3 different lines of dialogue. I can't wait to keep playing this game; I am absolutely hooked.
The Wall
Finally got Saturn emulation on Retroarch working. Can't record this game there cause it chugs HARD, but I can play it so if I have some extra time I gotta get on that. As an aside, I CAN record Legend of Heroes 3 and I'm considering a translation Let's Play for the 25th anniversary, so thanks to this thread for getting me off my ass and making me work out the logistics of that.
I played this game before and know who the big bad is, but could it be ANY more obvious in the Japanese version?
And Justin's voice is Young Link? That's gonna be fun. Last time I played a game with a Link voice actor, he was yelling KUREEEEEEEAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!
I played this game before and know who the big bad is, but could it be ANY more obvious in the Japanese version?
The first voice you hear is Norio Wakamoto. I'm SURE this character isn't evil.
Though, I guess back in the day they could've had him playing against type. This is the same company who in their previous game had Hikaru "お前のような図々しくて馴れ馴れしいヤツが大嫌いだ" Midorikawa of all people, play Hiro.
Though, I guess back in the day they could've had him playing against type. This is the same company who in their previous game had Hikaru "お前のような図々しくて馴れ馴れしいヤツが大嫌いだ" Midorikawa of all people, play Hiro.
And Justin's voice is Young Link? That's gonna be fun. Last time I played a game with a Link voice actor, he was yelling KUREEEEEEEAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!
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Which Saturn core are you using? Beetle Saturn/Mednafen Saturn should run really well. Don't bother with Yabause.
That's the one I'm using, and it works great if I'm playing Grandia (FMV aside) but it chokes hard if I try and record. Unless there's some setting I'm missing that's slowing it down. A default filter perhaps?
OP
OP
It seems to me like Squid King is the "wake up call" boss and I think it's the first fight where the combat really comes together. I actually struggled with him more than expected, literally got my ass handed to me the first couple attempts mercilessly, but a couple attempts later I beat him without using even a single healing item. Amazing combat, I'm already looking forward to more boss fights.
Just reiterating a couple important things about the combat that have already been posted:
1. The defend command actually has two options, "Endure" and "Evasion." Endure is what you'd expect, but evasion lets the character move to a few preselected spots around the battle area. Very useful.
2. When you target an enemy, the info box usually says what attack/action they're about to do, and the person they're targeting flashes in the gauge down at the bottom. All of this information is very, very important.
Also, don't overlook that Feena has fire magic!
Just reiterating a couple important things about the combat that have already been posted:
1. The defend command actually has two options, "Endure" and "Evasion." Endure is what you'd expect, but evasion lets the character move to a few preselected spots around the battle area. Very useful.
2. When you target an enemy, the info box usually says what attack/action they're about to do, and the person they're targeting flashes in the gauge down at the bottom. All of this information is very, very important.
Also, don't overlook that Feena has fire magic!
it's really nice to see so many people having the same reaction to the letter from justin's mom and the leadup to that moment. I played through this game for the first time around a year ago and that whole sequence was a showstopper for me too, already wrote about it a bit here. back in the day, I dismissed Grandia as something that seemed too generic to bother with, was really glad to be able to eventually see what makes this game so special.
Just started playing this on the Vita. Looks fantastic. I played it back on playstation when it came out but never finished it for whatever reason. I'll slowly chip away at it and hopefully I'll beat it this time around.
The Grandia games have been standing on my to-play list for a while. Thing is I have a knack for dropping JRPGs during the last hours of gameplay, so this year I decided I'll end all the ones I got stuck at before I start a new one. Anyone has an estimate on how long it takes to beat?
I guess I'll give this one a go after I'm done with Xenogears, Skies of Arcadia, Arc Rise Fantasia and Shadow Hearts II (which idk how I'll end since the emulator keeps crashing in the same battle and I've tried everything and it just won't work).
I guess I'll give this one a go after I'm done with Xenogears, Skies of Arcadia, Arc Rise Fantasia and Shadow Hearts II (which idk how I'll end since the emulator keeps crashing in the same battle and I've tried everything and it just won't work).
I just beat Squid King and boy were you right! The combat has been a breeze up until this point, the usual bats and goobers are just 'mash x' encounters and the boss fights are pretty much the same, with the occasional crit thrown in there.
I think the encounter was brilliantly setup, as it forced you to actually pay attention on what's going on. Suddenly your position in relation to other party members as well as the boss, and also the enemy's intent and target start to play a big role.
I would like to add to your tips that keep an eye on which enemy has the next turn, in this case the main body and tentacles. When you hit an enemy, you delay their turn and you can get in more for your party members. Feena also has the paralyzing whip attack that resets the turn meter for that enemy, so use that to your advantage when any part of the boss tries to use a big attack or heal.
Also it would seem that if your party member gets to input a command just before an enemy's turn moves to the action phase, you can throw in a heal for instance and they will use it before they get damaged by the bosses attack. Even if it looks like it's too late and the enemy has already thrown his punch. This is especially useful if your party member is about to die from the next attack but you can still put in that final command. At least this happened to me once. But if somebody can confirm or correct then feel free.
I get what you mean about Justin and usually I feel the same way with the usual "simpleton" as a protagonist. But in Justin's case I feel it's more like childhood naiveté rather rhan stupidity. He's just a kid who's obsessed about adventuring and not the "Well, I'm going to solve the fate of the world eventhough I need help tying my shoelaces!" type which I can't stand. If you portray the hero as someone whos IQ is below his shoesize I'm going to have a hard time getting into it. But I hope there's going to be some progress in his character because the obsessiveness will wear thin eventually.
Use your special abilities!
You can recover mp at save spots, so tyeres no reason not to use them.
They get faster the more you use them.
Just got to Feena. I love how belittling she is to Justin and Sue.
Poor...poor Sue.
Her rah rah healing spell though...ha. Memories.
You can recover mp at save spots, so tyeres no reason not to use them.
They get faster the more you use them.
Just got to Feena. I love how belittling she is to Justin and Sue.
Poor...poor Sue.
Her rah rah healing spell though...ha. Memories.
My girlfriend has been obsessed with this game since she was a child and she showed it to me 4 years ago. We finished it together after a year of various sessions and I ended up loving it. Thanks to my help we've been realizing her goal of owning every version of the game.
Recently we started again the game in our native language, spanish, thanka to a fan translation anand we wre understanding the game a little better.
I recommend this game. The battle system is fun and strategic af. The characters are awesome and somw of the best in any RPG (even better delivered than FFVII and VIII) it has aged a bit well and a bit badly in certain aspects but the story is still fantastic.
A Must Play it if you ar an RPG enthusiast. For real
Recently we started again the game in our native language, spanish, thanka to a fan translation anand we wre understanding the game a little better.
I recommend this game. The battle system is fun and strategic af. The characters are awesome and somw of the best in any RPG (even better delivered than FFVII and VIII) it has aged a bit well and a bit badly in certain aspects but the story is still fantastic.
A Must Play it if you ar an RPG enthusiast. For real
It's one of my favorite games of all time.
I have to drop this here once again: To any translation / hacking group listening, please do the world a huuuge favor and put the english PS1 translation into the original Sega Saturn version!
I have to drop this here once again: To any translation / hacking group listening, please do the world a huuuge favor and put the english PS1 translation into the original Sega Saturn version!
Made it over the wall last night. I think I'm out. The game showed promise, but 12 hours in and my eyes are just glazing over as I try to play it. All the potential of the combat system is squandered on the brain-dead encounters. The characters have exactly one note and they play it over and over and over again -- if I hear Justin do the "Goonies never say die!" schtick one more time I think I'll burst a blood-vessel.
The plot is moving briskly enough that it should be entertaining, but it all just feels hollow, because apparently this world contains no obstacle that cannot be overcome by a pubescent child waving his sword at it for 15 minutes. The triviality of every challenge takes what should feel like triumphing over adversity and bravely adventuring into the unknown and reduces it to playing in the ball-pit at a Chucky Cheese.
So, yeah, I dunno man. I'm really not seeing what everyone else in the thread apparently sees in this game.
The plot is moving briskly enough that it should be entertaining, but it all just feels hollow, because apparently this world contains no obstacle that cannot be overcome by a pubescent child waving his sword at it for 15 minutes. The triviality of every challenge takes what should feel like triumphing over adversity and bravely adventuring into the unknown and reduces it to playing in the ball-pit at a Chucky Cheese.
So, yeah, I dunno man. I'm really not seeing what everyone else in the thread apparently sees in this game.
This was my first imported game (Saturn). Took me over 90 hours to beat without knowing a lick of Japanese.
Love, love, love the original Grandia. One of my all time favorite JRPGs
Love, love, love the original Grandia. One of my all time favorite JRPGs
More specifically, skill speed is based on your weapon/element levels. The higher you are above the minimum to use the skill, the faster the skill is.
Had a couple scares, but I got past the wedding. Feena is coming with us.
Dare I say, love is in the air? There's certainly tension between the two. But, what about Sue?
Also, I forgot how cheesetastic diggin was.
Good times.
Dare I say, love is in the air? There's certainly tension between the two. But, what about Sue?
Also, I forgot how cheesetastic diggin was.
Good times.
Just ruined the wedding too. There's definitely something going on between Justin and Feena. I dunno if their ages have been mentioned but I'd imagine Justin to be way too young for Feena, let alone being a fiance, which makes the dynamic somewhat awkward. :P
Yeah when I read there was romance I instantly assumed Sue was the love interest, so it was pretty nice to realize they're just friends, I love their relationship.
Turns out Sue is 6 years younger too lol.
Don't look up ages by the way, guaranteed spoilers :(
Turns out Sue is 6 years younger too lol.
Looked it up and surprisingly, she's just one year older (15).
Don't look up ages by the way, guaranteed spoilers :(
What this game has instead of romance is the writers throwing you into situations like the wedding ceremony where the whole world pretends Justin and Feena are a couple, only for Justin to go "Hurr Durr Adventurr", miss the hints and move on. Which, to be honest, is not too unrealistic for a guy of that age. (he's 14, Sue is 8 and Feena's 15)
At least Sue defies the usual tropes by just acting like an older sister who happens to be younger instead of being a grade schooler secretly infatuated with the protagonist. That stuff was bad enough in Final Fantasy IX.
I'm not sure how old Pakon's supposed to be, but the fact he's trying to force himself on a 15-year old made him a bigger creep than he already was.
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Oh, that makes sense then with Justin and Feena. And yeah, that makes Pakon pretty masty, and also New Parm seems to have pretty lax laws when it comes to marriage.
And Sues and Justins relationship is probably the best part in the game so far. Usually when you have childhood friends like that in a jrpg or anime it always end up being romantic and often one sided.
"It's okay Justin-kun if you don't like me back, I'll always follow you no matter what!" Says Sue the unrequited
"Sue-Chan...." Whispers Justin the oblivious. Ugh, can't stand that.
I'm still pretty early on in the game, just completely obliterated Ganymede, so I haven't met other party members than Justin, Sue and Feena. But out of the three, I'd say Sue. They're all pretty one trick ponies when it comes to character, at least at this point in the game, but Sue is pretty funny. Like mentioned here earlier, it's like she's Justin's big sister while being six years younger. As for npc's, I wouldn't mind knowing a bit more about Lilly's swashbuckling past.
I'm still in the opening act - haven't set aside as much time for it as I should lately. Game's extremely charming, though. Jumped ship from playing it on my Saturn to Mednafen with some overclock options to smooth out the framerate a bit. The Saturn version looks much nicer to me in general (Parm's ground texture's so messily applied on the PSX version!), but the slowdown whenever a transparency was onscreen was giving me a migraine. I was under the impression that the localization was supposed to be rather poor, but aside from the awkward censorship (that has to be self-aware, considering the extents it goes to), it's really rather tight so far.
Still trying to get a feel for the battle system. Reading through the thread, it seems the first boss may be my best bet for experiencing the mechanics. Average enemies die too fast for me to take advantage of turn canceling or positioning.
Still trying to get a feel for the battle system. Reading through the thread, it seems the first boss may be my best bet for experiencing the mechanics. Average enemies die too fast for me to take advantage of turn canceling or positioning.
My schedule finally calmed down a bit so I started today. Better late than never, right?
I had completely forgotten about the opening scene before you actually get control of Justin, but the memories came back pretty quickly, right down to bits of dialog that sounded familiar. When I first played the game I remember going to the effort of tracking down and fighting every monster along the way. I'm not bothering doing that this time since it's too time-consuming to do so and it's not like one really needs the levels. And of course there's the whole coffee thing. I had remembered it being both super obvious and like everywhere, at least in the early game. Still the combination of how nonsensical a lot of the coffee dialog is combined with the implications of what they're really talking about, and the casualness of the whole thing really makes for a surreal experience.
I had completely forgotten about the opening scene before you actually get control of Justin, but the memories came back pretty quickly, right down to bits of dialog that sounded familiar. When I first played the game I remember going to the effort of tracking down and fighting every monster along the way. I'm not bothering doing that this time since it's too time-consuming to do so and it's not like one really needs the levels. And of course there's the whole coffee thing. I had remembered it being both super obvious and like everywhere, at least in the early game. Still the combination of how nonsensical a lot of the coffee dialog is combined with the implications of what they're really talking about, and the casualness of the whole thing really makes for a surreal experience.
OP
OP
Same, I tabled gaming in general for the past few days too, crazy schedule. Well - playing games, anyway. Now it's back to Grandia and the Dark Souls 3 DLC (never actually played them before).
I'm on Merrill Road now on my way to Feena's. I wish I could find a gif of Sue's animation cycle when she's running, seriously I just can't get enough of it. It's...mesmerizing.
I have a backup save on the ship so I can keep trying to get a lower time on the random little mop minigame. I've shamefully probably spent a combined hour of time just doing that minigame haha. I always get snagged by basic little reflex minigames like that in RPGs...
I have a question about the Mana Eggs. I was looking up something about the game unrelated to Mana Eggs, and I happened to skim a section where it said that Squid King should've given me my first Mana Egg. Yet there's no egg to be found in my inventory, and I can't buy magic either. Was the person wrong? Did I fail to pick something up? Or - my guess - did the Mana Egg go into Feena's inventory?
Anyway, still having a grand old time with it. You all don't forget to post as you go along in the game! E3 season's no excuse to put backlog RPGs on the backburner :)!
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Yes, I got a mana egg after beating the Squid King. It went straight into my inventory, I did not need to pick it up. Justin had mine, but he had free space. Yours most likely went into Feena's inventory if you had no space. Check her inventory when she gets back in the party.
Wifey unplugged the ps3 as I was knee deep in the Dom ruins.
Ugh
So I got to replay that dungeon twice. Fun!
Diggin op by the way.
Ugh
So I got to replay that dungeon twice. Fun!
Diggin op by the way.
I feel kind of guilty for not playing this in 2017, but I don't know when I'll find the time to go back to it.
My playthrough is going pretty smooth. Since my Vagrant Story thread failed, I have stopped in the middle of that [for now... should probably keep going soon... maybe] and I'm just playing this. Right now I'm at the Dom Ruins. Game is just as fun as I remember, and I've even forgotten a lot of the game so it's kinda-sorta like playing it new!
Just met Feena. I'll be on the New Continent before long. I'm wondering if grinding is needed in this game. I haven't played it since launch but I don't remember it being this easy, of course, I'm at the beginning so I guess that could change. I like it this way though, I'm hoping the difficulty curves with the game but doesn't get to hard to where I'll have to level up before I can continue the story.
Best mop time: 25.47 I think. I know it was 25 something. Don't know if I can do much better.
Best mop time: 25.47 I think. I know it was 25 something. Don't know if I can do much better.
Grandia is one of my most cherished gaming memories growing up. Absolutely love this game. Not sure if I'll get the chance to replay it again but I certainly hope everyone here enjoys it!
This stupid army is following me everywhere.
I'm at the twin tower dungeon. Gadwin is starting to lose some of his polish. How can he be 13 levels higher than me, but not do significantly more damage?
Jeigan confirmed!
I'm at the twin tower dungeon. Gadwin is starting to lose some of his polish. How can he be 13 levels higher than me, but not do significantly more damage?
Jeigan confirmed!
Carved out some more time to sit down with it last night - on my way to the mines now to meet Java. Getting excited to keep playing - it has a certain feeling to it that I can't describe. Reminds me why I love JRPGs so much to begin with.
I'm starting to really enjoy the combat, though I don't quite have a feel for how much of the flow of battle I can manipulate. It still feels like a lot is left to RNG, which could be me still being extremely early. I'm guessing it opens up more when I get a couple more party members?
I'm starting to really enjoy the combat, though I don't quite have a feel for how much of the flow of battle I can manipulate. It still feels like a lot is left to RNG, which could be me still being extremely early. I'm guessing it opens up more when I get a couple more party members?
I used to have a cloth map for this game and a promo cd with the voice actors saying...well I don't know since I don't speak Japanese. Pretty sure my mother threw it out in one of her cleaning sprees - still bitter.
It might be time I finally play this game in English and understand what was going on. Adored it even when I didn't. Is the PS1 version serviceable or is there an English patch for the Saturn version?
It might be time I finally play this game in English and understand what was going on. Adored it even when I didn't. Is the PS1 version serviceable or is there an English patch for the Saturn version?
No Saturn patch - best you could do if you want to play that is a script, but then you miss out on most NPC dialog if you don't know Japanese. I actually switched from the Saturn to the PS1. Running the PS1 version through Mednafen with GPU overclock turned on and a 120% overclock to the CPU led to far smoother performance than I was getting on Saturn, which gave me motion sickness every time a transparency was on screen due to the framerate fluctuations. It's a solid version of the game.
My only real gripe with the localization is that the voice acting is typically very poor, especially when compared to the Japanese cast's work.
Still the best Grandia game and one of my favorite games of all time!
I love the romance in this game, it's so good. It was the first game I was so involved into the story. It's corny at times, but I thought it was great overall.
I really, REALLY dislike the entire series after this game. Tried a lot of times, but it never clicked at all.
I love the romance in this game, it's so good. It was the first game I was so involved into the story. It's corny at times, but I thought it was great overall.
I really, REALLY dislike the entire series after this game. Tried a lot of times, but it never clicked at all.