Grandia

"A fun adventure worthy of your time"

What can I say about Grandia? A game that probably didn’t get the attention it deserved, but held within were some of the true traits that make an RPG worth playing. Why was it so overlooked? Big name titles like the Final Fantasies pretty much dominated the RPG market back then, but even with the small fan base Grandia did have, it was hailed as a true gem among PSone RPG’s. After years of not experiencing this story, I bought it on an impulse. I can say I’m pleased with my decision, and would like to share a few things about the game, hoping for others to seek this subtle masterpiece out.

-Story-

The game starts off pretty slow. In fact, it starts off very slow, and almost tongue-in cheek happy go lucky. What begins out as a “scavenger hunt” in the town to prove your worth, turns into a full fledged adventure, which then turns into something much more personal for the characters as a whole. Justin, our hero, isn’t your typical RPG front man. He’s a kid. He has the dialogue, personality and questionable, impulsive attitude of a kid, and that’s why after a few hours, he’s immediately likable. Justin, you see, is itching for a grand adventure, just like his Father. Justin’s only goal, like a typical young man, is to see the world and go on a daring quest. His childhood friend, and partner in crime, is little Sue, who, as Justin’s “guardian” so to speak, serves as a nice word of reason next to Justin’s thickheaded actions. They are an inseparable pair, and even as you continue the story, not even a trip across the ocean can keep these two apart. As Justin seeks out adventure, he stumbles across an ancient ruin that seems to hide the past of a forgotten civilization. Not only that, but the military also seems to be interested in Justin’s find. This discovery ultimately becomes the driving force for Justin and Sue to travel the globe. As they meet new people and see new lands, the story opens up to so much more than just a globe trotting adventure; it becomes a journey of epic proportions. I actually felt like I was traveling with Justin as he left his home to start out on his dream. This game has a sense of scope and feels more epic and engrossing than most RPG’s I’ve played before.

9/10

-Gameplay-

Here is where Grandia separates itself from other RPG’s. Instead of the ATB time bar we are used to in a Final Fantasy game; we have what Grandia dubs the “IP gauge”. It’s a bar at the bottom of the screen, that displays little mini icons of your characters, and the enemy force you’re currently fighting (be it a boss, or some random enemies etc.) Now, when battle starts, your icons began to move to the right, and get to the Command point. Once you reach this point in the stretch, you may issue commands to whomever reached the command point. Item, Magic/Skills, Combo, Critical, Defense, and Run are all in a ring of options for you once you’re able to give commands. Item is self-explanatory, you choose this to use various potions and what not from your stock (which I’ll explain later) Magic/Skills are some of the most important of the commands. In this game, you build skills from using different types of weapons, like Swords or Axes. For instance, if Justin were to have the Shockwave skill for use, he would have had to level up his use in Maces and Axes to a certain point. Using weapons is actually what makes your stats grow. Stat growth, in this game, is more important than gaining levels. You gain a certain number of HP, Strength and Wisdom depending on what types of weapons you use in battle. Each hit counts towards a total, and once you level up, you gain stat increases, and then in turn, you can open up your skill list. Some skills require you only to have learned 4 levels in sword, some 4 in sword, and 6 in ax. It’s similar for all characters, and sometimes you even have to have Magic leveled up to use skills. This is where Magic comes in to play. Magic is bought (ala FF7) but with Mana eggs. You can buy any basic element and equip it on any character. Got one mana egg? Buy a water spell, and give it to Justin. Now Justin will learn the first Water spell, heal, and as he continues to use heal, he will open up greater spells in the water tree. Having more than one spell per character is beneficial, as magic, like weapons mentioned before, increase certain stats depending on what magic it is. Combining magic is also something that is viable. Wind and water will create the blizzard type magic. As you can see, Magic and skills are pretty deep in Grandia, but are easy enough to understand once you play for a few hours.
Next up is Combo and Critical. These are the basic physical attacks of Grandia. Instead of just “attack” Combo allows you to get in a quick rapid succession of two hits on an enemy. Critical, is a more powerful hit, yet its only one and it takes time to swing. The purposes of these two attacks are more than just damage. In Grandia, it’s possible to delay, counter, or even cancel an enemies attack altogether depending on when you strike and where the enemy is on the IP gauge. Critical will bring their icon BACKWARDS, giving you more time to act, and giving the enemy a serious headache. The enemy can do this to you as well, so it’s a double edged sword. Using combo, you can counter before the enemy hits if you time it correctly. Defend allows you to either take the hit you see coming before hand, at 1/3 damage, or try to evade to somewhere else on the screen. Once you grasp this, it can really save you trouble in some serious fights. The combat in Grandia is fast paced, fun and overall it’s deep and exciting.

10/10

-Graphics-

The graphics are good, if you like sprites. It’s not as visually stimulating as FFVIII or the like, but it’s colorful and has good animations. My one gripe with it is the 3-d dungeon and towns. Rotating the screen around (Think, Xenogears but a lot less frustrating) can get tedious when you’re running around. It’s not that bad but can be disorienting and slow, because the game slows down in some towns and areas to a crawl, which brings it down a tad. Overall, there isn’t many flashy effects, but some of the spells are pretty cool looking, just don’t expect grandiose presentation.

7/10

-Sound-

The sound in Grandia, goes from basic to great. Music wise, this is the case. Some songs, like the main battle theme, are pretty standard and not too catchy. The boss battle is a little cooler, and more up-beat. Town music and dungeon music ranges from annoying to pretty darn immersive. But you can’t expect every RPG to have the best music, but Grandia definitely has its high’s, and some are really nice to listen to. Battle sounds and whatnot are pretty average, but they get the job done. Now this game features voice work. While not something that I really enjoy, it is pretty well done for the most part, but sometimes I would rather just read the text and have me imagine the voices of the characters. Oh well, you can’t have everything. Not all scenes have voices, and there are still plenty of “silent” moments.

8/10

Replay/Difficulty

Not all RPG’s have much replay value. RPG’s that call you back to experience the story and characters more than once are good in my book, and I’ll be revisiting the world of Grandia again sometime in the future. There are some bonus dungeons to conquer in Grandia, so if you don’t do them the first time, you have another reason to start up a game. Mastering the Magic/Skill system is defiantly something to try, so you have yet another reason to play this game again. The story and memorable characters is what will bring me back.
The difficulty of this game is a tad on the easy side, but some battles can be challenging. Don’t expect headaches of typical RPG’s because Grandia features no random battles, and a very fast and fluid battle system. All in all, the difficulty is perfect for me, but others may disagree.

8/10

Overall: 8.4 (average) we’ll give it an 8. Grandia is a great game that every RPG player should give a try. You may find yourself being only interested at first, later finding yourself to be engrossed in a game completely. Grandia is an infectious, addicting, very fun game, which I’m happy to report, is worthy of your time. Go in with an open mind, and don’t expect too much from Grandia…it will deliver in its own little way.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/24/04