Grandia

"Grandia has won a lot of critical acclaim on the Sega Saturn in Japan, and it has finally hit the United States on the Playstation."

Grandia has won a lot of critical acclaim on the Sega Saturn in Japan, and it has finally hit the United States on the Playstation. One such thing being that it was the Final Fantasy on the Sega Saturn, and considering it was from Game Arts (the creators of Lunar) this should come as no surprise to RPG fans. It looked really cool, but many people had played the Japanese version and missed out on the great story. Now that it has hit the Playstation, many people will be able to experience this awesome adventure. It not only is a great RPG, but a great game for the Playstation in general.
The graphics in Grandia may not be as good as Final Fantasy 8, but they are just as good (if not better) than Xenogears. This means that just like Xenogears, the characters are 2D in a 3D world. The world is so big that Grandia goes onto a second disc. It will take you awhile in some of the bigger towns to talk to everybody and seeing everything there. Each character has a conversation that you continue by talking to them again until the conversation is over, (this means they begin to repeat what they say). It’s just that amazing that this kind of detail was packed into the game.
The sound is a little weak, but still manages to be good despite some flaws. The music of towns and dungeons are very well done, but the voice acting is not good at all. The characters all sound a bit whiny and also, the voice acting is at only a few points in the game. It’s almost like they realized how bad it was and kept it to certain scenarios. While not the best, it certainly could be worse (such as the voice acting in the original Resident Evil).
The camera is pretty good compared to most RPG’s. It is kind of like Breath of Fire 3’s camera, but improved quite a bit. While in BOF3 your character stopped when you rotated the camera, the characters in Grandia keep on moving. This means the camera can be adjusted anytime, making hidden items very easy to find. It’s very manageable and works great as you never will have to search around to find items. The game also includes a compass so you can know which way you are going, and don’t get lost.
The control is fairly simple, mimicking most RPG’s. The characters respond immediately to your command, and don’t seem sluggish like some games. The game also includes Dual Shock support, which is a big plus considering every game now for the Playstation supports it.
The story may start out slow, but get a little ways into the game and things will really get exciting. The characters may take you a little longer to like than heroes such as Cloud or Squall, but give them some time to develop and you won’t be disappointed. The Battle System is pretty neat, and I actually like it a little better than the Active Time Battle system found in the Final Fantasy games. Although it is like FF in a way, there are quite a few differences. At the bottom corner of the screen is a bar that has the words wait, command, and action. Your character and your enemies have an icon that slowly moves along the bar at the bottom of the screen. While in Wait mode while the character is at the beginning of the bar, the character doesn't do anything. On Command, which is at the middle of the bar, you assign a command to a character. There are the following commands, Combo, Critical, Tactics, Item, Look, and Special. There may be more commands, but they are not nearly as important as the others are. Then you wait for your character to go to Action, (which is at the end of the bar at the bottom) and they will do what you assigned he or she to do. A combo is two normal attacks, while a critical is a stronger attack. However, if an enemy is just about to do an action and you use a critical, you have a chance of canceling their action and making them start over. The other stuff should be pretty self-explanatory to RPG players.
So Sony has done a great job with not only the translation, but the overall port of the game as well. They also have managed to make a great and long RPG that you will not only love, but also be addicted to it until the day you beat it. It is worth all the effort and time you spend on it. Grandia is worth playing until the very end. It truly is one of the better RPG’s out there, despite a lot of competition. Grandia was one of 1998’s best RPG’s.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/18/01, Updated 11/18/01