Grandia

"Grandia a truly epic RPG"

Introduction:
Just a quick summary of what Grandia is about: Justin is a young teenage boy who dreams of becoming an adventurer. But it isn't long until Justin and his best Friend Sue find themselves on an adventure greater than they could have dreamed of.

Grandia is a great RPG, I enjoyed every minute I spent playing it. It was also quite a long game 60+ hours depending on the amount spent playing it, which is a huge selling point for most RPG fans.

Let's get right into it!

Game-play: 10/10
First of all movement and camera control was excellent. If you wanted to look in a different/certain direction it's as easy as pushing a button. For me I enjoy exploring RPG's so having the freedom to look around easily without any difficulty earned brownie points with me. As for movement whether you use the joystick or the D-pad (arrow buttons) moving the character around is fluid not a problem at all.

The battle system is pretty decent it's not to complicated, you get the hang of it pretty quickly. It has most of the basic options that you find in most RPG's, such as: Run, Attack, Magic ect, ect. Compared to other RPG's I have played Grandia's battle system has to be the best I've seen so far. Its simple and its not confusing, good for beginners that are new to RPG's.

During the game you do level up quite a lot, but levelling up is a breeze, just like the camera/movement, and battle system its not difficult or complicated. Again making it a good game for those who are new to RPG's.

Story: 10/10
For me the story was just incredible, fantastic. Grandia is filled with romance, action, and adventure, I absolutely loved it. I found myself unable to remove myself from in front of the TV screen because I wanted to find out what happened next. The storyline also gets quite emotional, it was a touching experience. At times I felt a tear in my eye, it was that good.

The thing I loved the most about the storyline in Grandia was being able to be part of the story, playing and watching the journey as it unfolds. The story to me is the most important part of an RPG without the story there is no RPG. So when I played through Grandia the storyline was something of great importance to me, and it exceeded my expectations tremendously.

Graphics/Sound: 10/10
One of the things that most appealed to me was the music in Grandia. For each new setting you entered in the game, or when something big and/or emotional happened in the storyline the music made it that much better and appealing. The music seemed to fit each environment and emotion in the game perfectly, the music was well composed and overall it worked wonders for Grandia.

I also loved how the dialogue at general points of the game was silent, but at crucial/emotional points in the game some of the dialogue was done vocally. The reason why I thought this was cool was because some RPG's don't have any vocals with the dialogue, and some have to much vocal in the dialogue. But in Grandia there wasn't too much vocal in the dialogue, and there was just the right amount of silent dialogue. That's something that I found quite attractive.

As for the graphics they were awesome, for the age of the game, and the capability of the consoles that it is compatible with, they were just amazing. Apart from a few minor glitches the graphics were pretty solid, I was rather impressed. The cut scenes were also spectacular, they played smoothly, and again the graphics were solid.

Playtime/Re-playability: 10/10
I spent a good 300+ hours on this game (which is pretty far out, but what can I say the game was awesome) exploring the different places, talking to all the people so it took me quite awhile to finish. But usually I would say if you were to quickly play through this game without doing any of the extra's it would only take up to 50 hours. Playing through and exploring the game can be up to 60 hours and over. On the box it says that it's over 80 hours of intensive Game-play, but it really depends on the person, and how long they spend on RPG's.

Personally I played this game 3 times over, nothing will beat playing it through and completing it first time, but I definitely decided to play through it a couple more times after i first completed it. So yes I would play it again being a true RPG fan, but again it depends on the person. Some people only play games once, and some have to play it more than once. But with such and epic story how can you resist having another go?

Final Recommendation: 10/10
For any true RPG fan or even someone that wants to have a go at an RPG, I would definitely buy this game. Due to the decreased availability and age of this game it might be difficult to find it, however some gaming stores do still sell it, and there are various websites where the game is available to purchase. To me it's certainly worth searching for. The game isn't really expensive, if you have a console that will run it, and can find it, you basically get an awesome game for a bargain price. Overall this is definitely a game RPG fan's won't want to miss.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/26/06