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Reminiscent of a lost childhood

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: April 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I am an RPG player to the core. I only play RPG's and I tend to randomly pick them off the shelf at game stores and buy them. I have played and seen my fair share of depressingly bad RPG's.
This is how I happened to come across Grandia in my younger years. I instantly fell in love with the game. I do not look for graphics in a game (although good graphics are a plus), so this game was perfect for me. The story was decidely lack of some really new ideas, and the battles could be teadious. I enjoyed the humour of the game. Even when faced with grave danger Justin is calm and cool, at least he tries to be, just like any younger teenage boy would be.
The battle system was easy to use, and understand. Plus, the leveling up of your weapons and magic added a little twist to getting stronger.
I would definitly advice younger teenage boys to play this game if they wish to play a fun and interesting RPG. The story is easy to understand, the fighting is smooth yet challanging, and the love is to a minimum (which any teenage boy would love, no pun intended).
So, take a chance and play the game. Have fun, and if you don't like it then you don't, but if you do. Well if you like it then you have a game to play when you get really bored.

Totaly amazing!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: November 15, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I can honestly say this is the best RPG I have ever played. In my opinion this is a better game than Final Fantasy VIII. Where as Final Fantasy VIII relied more on graphical splendor to impress, Grandia is simply really fun to play. The easy to pick up controls, intriguing characters and warm and colourful game world make this game a must have title!

Simple Clean Fun With a Price

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: May 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Grandia is simply a gem. The cast of characters are a little predictable, but definitely distinct and unique from one another. It is a decent port from the Dreamcast, but I have seen better.
+ Level Up System:
You level up just like any other RPG with experience points after each battle. However, your weapon level up upon their usage. Each character can use up to three different weapons. Upon leveling up a weapon, something is leveled up such as HP, Vitality, Strength ect. This is the same for magic. Magic is first aquired by finding Mana Eggs and using them to buy magic. Afterwards, the more you use a certain magic, (Fire, Water, Earth, Wind) you level it up, giving you more skills. This makes leveling up a lot more fun, and even adds to the battles as you need to use certain magics to aquire new skill.

+Battle System
This is one of the best types of Battle System. First of all, it is a mixture of active time and turn base battle. Every enemy shares the same Active Time Bar. Once a character reaches a certain point, you have all the time you need to select your attack. Not only that, but certain attacks can affect the active time greatly, sending the enemy, (or your characters) backwards in the active time bar. OH! And did I mention there are NO random battles. The enemies run around in the screen with you, and you see them before you come in contact. Once defeated they disappear. Come close enough to them, and they will chase you though.

+Characters
There are a few characters that join and leave the party. However, there are two that stay throughout the entire game, (Justin and Feena). Each character has their own history, personality, and special movies. This still does not make for good character development though. They are highly predictable. The voice acting and even dialog script is laughable. Such phrases such as; "100,000,000 DEGREES! TAKE THAT!" and "OH WIND, TWIST LIKE A TORNADO!" seems a little cheesy for me during battle.

+Graphics:
The graphics are decent, but there's nothing special about them. The world is in 3D and the camera can be rotated.

+Story:
The story seems very cliche to me. A young adventurer named Justin wants to find new quests for himself. He's a troublemaker and later finds himself on the journey of a lifetime. He meets up with many new people and eventually realizes only he (with the help of his friends) can save the world. It is not very unique or at all intriguing enough, but many of the small side stories is what makes it interesting.

+Overall:
This is a great game! It's fun and well worth your money. It claims to give over a hundred hours of gameplay, but I beat it in 47 hours. Though the character and stories are weak, the gameplay is not. Grandia II is just as good, and with the hopes of another Grandia to follow, things should only improve.

Pros:
Great system for leveling up magic/skills
Fun battle system!
Good length for a game

Cons:
Laughable dialog and voice acting
Weaker story / cliche / cheesy at times
Very linear

Overrated, boring, and trite.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 25 / 61
Date: December 25, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Strange how some people regard Grandia as the best Saturn RPG and one of the best on the PlayStation. While Grandia possesses some interesting qualities, it is completely dismantled by a series of devastating flaws that cripple the game. This review will be formulaic, but it will get the point across.

The graphical engine was very good. 2D characters and 3D environments that can be rotated at will. I like nuances, and Grandia possesses many. I like knocking over teapots and making clotheslines as I walk into them. The spell effects were boring, however, and the FMV, while technically good at the time, just wasn't exciting.

The music is overwrought and almost silly. The main themes seem bombastic and pretentious, as if the game is saying, "Come look at me, I'm important!" The compositions are impressive musically, but they feel emotionally hollow. There is one song, a piano & violin duet, which I loved. It was completely gorgeous. I also liked how the combat music changed as the game continued. RPGs often frustrate me by giving me the same combat music through the entire 40 hour game.

In Grandia, using specific kinds of magic or weapons makes you more skilled in that capacity. Naive gamers have said that Grandia's character growth system is innovative and interesting. It is not innovative, in my mind, and not interesting. Such systems have been done in 8-bit Final Fantasy games and reams of Japanese RPG with lower profiles (the SaGa games come to mind). Also, because the game is so long, you'll probably learn every spell and weapon technique about 50% though the game. Since this removes any real incentive to engage in combat, all future battles are suffocating in how boring they are.

The combat is boring. This is mainly because it is incredibly easy. I didn't spend extra time advancing my characters (I tried to finish the game ASAP, actually), so I definitely wasn't too strong. Still, not a single boss offered any form of challenge. Even the final boss felt like nothing more than a ponderous standard encounter. It seems evident to me that a game cannot be exciting when there is no threat...no sense of danger or challenge. This wouldn't be _that_ bad if the battles didn't take so long. So, you get thousands of long, boring, simple fights over the course of the game. The dungeons are amateur in design, and made about 10 times more dreadful because of the combat. There's also a gauge in combat that shows when when each character will take an action. However, this does not create any real strategy because all the characters move at different speeds, so it's just a funky gimmick.

The story is not bad, but it is badly told. It uses about every hackneyed Japanese RPG element imaginable, but it doesn't remedy this problem with interesting characters or compelling twists. The translation is just dumb. Sony broke it down to simple diction and pure, fatuous juvenalia. The "romantic" relationship between Justin and Feena is basically insulting -- it has the maturity of an elementary school infatuation. Sue is an utterly pointless character, who's involvement in the story is simple arbitrary and ridiculous. What is the creature "Puffy"? The game never explains. I expected some kind of enigmatic quality to the creature, with a revelation disclosing all at some point (like Nall in Lunar). This never happens. It's stupid. The voice acting is hideous. Attemps at humor fall flat. Attempts at emotional expression are cringe-inducing.

The game took me about 50 hours to beat (though I tend to be slower than some). In my mind, the game is about 35 hours too long. So, expect the "meat" of the story to be padded with superfluous side-quests packed with obnoxious combat and torturous dialogue. I like side-quests...when they are optional or purposeful. In this game, the side-quests are neither. Adventures in a ghost ship or on a mysterious prehistoric valley might sound fun on paper, but without important story revelations or fun gameplay, it's boring. Granted about 10 hours of the game is pretty interesting. But that's a mere 20% of the game. In school, that would be an 'F'...a FAILING grade.

The game is just tedious. It's boring and insipid and hackneyed to death. I'm sure there will be many who say, "Grandia rulez! you lie!" and give me a "not helpful" vote. I didn't write this to please anybody...I wrote it because I think Grandia does not deserve the praise it receives. Heed my word, and perhaps you will save 50 hours of you life. That's a long time! 50 Law & Order episodes! A genuinely good RPG! Think about it.

One of the best games for the PSX and in general.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: March 03, 2000
Author: Amazon User

One of the better games on the market, Grandia is a game from Game Arts, producer of incredible games such as Lunar 1 and 2. Grandia is a story of a boy who dreams of adventure and searching for ancient treasure in lost ruins. If that sounds cliched, guess what; it is. But, as in Lunar, the seemingly cliche plot is written extremely well. A very strong game filled with powerful writing that does a good job of manipulating your emotions and creating suspension of disbelief. The graphics are excellent, especially the beautiful character portraits. However, Grandia sports little to no 3D effects (I.E. everything but the cutscenes in FFVII and FFVIII). The music is beautiful, and placed very well. This game is a masterpiece, and anyone who chooses to pass this game over (like say for FFVIII) will be missing one of the best games around.

The Theme of Adventure

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: April 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I heard some many things about the original Grandia that I had to get a copy. Since it was the beginning of the series, I just had to see what started it all. I was impressed with this one despite it being really old. All three of the Grandias emphasize something grand in there stories:

Grandia 2: Story
Grandia Ex: Battle
Grandia 1: Adventure

This game has one of the most original themes I've ever known. This game is all about adventure and the places you visit come from a long list of destinations. The game itself started the unique IP gauge battle system and the most unique way of learning moves and spells: you have to have a certain numerical level to get a new technique. Some moves and magic have two or three required values, making this one interactive RPG that will mostly emphasize training. Once you get a new move, using it or its related statistic increases its power level and activation speed. Also, when a weapon or spell type levels up, you get a boost in the related parameter (for example: if Justin levels up his staff, he gets a bonus of 2 HP added on to his max total as well as 1 point more onto his Vitality). Not a bad system at all, a bit reminiscent of Saga Frontier 2's numerical value Arts system. Game Arts should have kept this on for the other two games. Maybe they might bring it back for the third one.

The music is a definite highlight of this game, considering the great Noriyuki Iwadare composed it. His town and battle themes are amazing, especially Disc 2's main battle theme (my favorite battle theme of all time). There are entertaining and sad themes too and a romantic one for all of us who want something a little heartfelt. The voice acting isn't really as bad as everyone says. Justin and Sue are pretty much right on the dot with their ages (14 and 8) while Guido's semi-Italian speech is really cute. Milda's southern girl accent is nice and burly and Rapp definitely sounds like a kid who has no manners at all.

The story seems a little closely related to Grandia Ex in terms of the Grandia world having elemental spirits residing in it as well as the story of an ancient civilization where man tasted the paradise of supreme knowledge. Not bad at all.

The game spans two discs and has three sidequests of great difficulty on the second disc. Unfortunately, they are very easy to miss and have some sweet rewards inside. Plus, after a certain point, you won't be able to go back and do them, so pay attention on the second disc.

The flaw with this game is that is clearly not meant for the PS2 (because of the constant data flow during battles and dungeons). If you still own a PS1, it will save you all the frustration of infrequent and unwelcome freezes (especially if you haven't saved in a while). Also, the music tracks on this Grandia are cut somewhat in comparison to the Saturn version, which has them all, so you might want to hunt down the OST (which is even rarer than the game these days). All and all, a great beginning game for a hopefully long running series in the future.

Good For Beginners, Ideal in fact

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 11, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Being an old Sega Saturn owner I used to dream of being able to playing this game in English, now thanks to Uncle Sony I can. I really wanted this game to be the best RPG I'd ever played, along the lines of Phantasy Star IV, Panzor Dragoon Azel or Final Fantasy. But whilst this game is good, it just cannot compete with those games.

Grandia is far too easy, most people sight the fact that the battles are half the fun in this game, believe me they aren't! They become tedious as even the bosses don't pose much of a challenge. I even beat the final boss without a scratch!

Plus points are that the story is nice, if a little perdictable, but it really picks up the pace on the second disc. If you're new to RPG's than I can think of no better introduction to the genre, the young may find this fun also.

Great RPG for sure, but not for everyone

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 18, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I played this game after finishing Lunar:SSSC, and I had really high hopes for Grandia, being made by Game Arts and all. I think I was spoiled by Lunar though. I have to admit, this game didn't impress me much and failed to make my personal Top 10 list. It still is a great RPG worthy of 5 stars, but I didn't get the same satisfaction that other gamers received. Grandia is a very long game, I had just over 90 hours clocked when I beat it, which included completing all 3 hidden dungeons. The story is a very good one, but it is drawn out so much I sometimes forgot key elements that hadn't been brought up for hours. Rather than being thrown into a story and playing it from that point, like FFVll for instance, your characters in Grandia slowly adventure their way through the story and it develops as you continue. On your journey which spans 3 continents, the main character Justin will start out as a rather immature boy, but finishes his quest as a mature hero. There are a bunch of characters who help Justin in his adventure, including my favorites, Sue and her pet Puffy. The party will encounter many quests on their journey which allow the story to unravel.

The best aspect of Grandia is the battle system. I like seeing the enemies on screen before I fight, something that I'd like to see in all RPG's. The battling itself was fun, it was cool being able to level up individual weapons, but leveling magic was kind of tedious. I especially loved the ability to pass on earned exp. points of characters that have left the party, to other characters. I don't recall seeing this feature in other RPG's I've played, and it really should be incorporated in future games. The characters were well done too, but I didn't get attached to them at all. Most of them either leave just when you're beginning to like them, or come too late in the game for you to get to know them. One of the things I didn't like in Grandia was the poor voice acting, which was superb point, were well done, but others, especially Milda and Justin were plain irritating. I had to laugh when I heard Col.Mullen's voice, was that actor tortured into doing his part? This is something that can shape your image of a certain character, if a voice is bad for instance, your image of that character may be a negative one. I believe this is why characters in the Final Fantasy games don't have voices, there's no fear of turning gamers off just by how a character sounds. The graphics were pretty good, even for being 2 years old. The CG sequences were good, but unnecessary. They didn't do much for the story and were very few and far between. The majority of them can be seen simply by watching the credits before even starting the game. The music was effective in its respective environments and is actually creepy in some cases, especially a track played in certain ruins that has subtle voices in the background. There aren't any awesome vocal pieces though, which I think the game would have benefitted from. Like I mentioned before, the game is very long, which would be a good thing if the extra length had relevance to the main story. Instead of focusing on the story at hand, a good chunk of these quests Justin embarks on are simple retrieval tasks that do nothing but make Justin a hero in whatever town he is aiding. It came to the point where playing the game turned into a chore rather than being a fun experience. I think this was the main story though, Justin going on quests and becoming stronger while the search for Angelou and General Baal was put on the backburner. Definitely not my kind of story, but other gamers love that kind of thing. Overall, Grandia is a great RPG that will appeal to some and turn off others. If you're the kind of gamer who likes a lot of fighting and adventuring, this is the game for you. But if you're one who likes deep, immersive stories and well-developed characters that stick around for the ride, Grandia may not cut it.

This is a great beginner's RPG that can be played by anyone who can read game text and understand it, 10 years and older sounds appropriate.

*3.5/5 stars which rounds to 4.

An Epic RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 15, 2000
Author: Amazon User

At one point I was cheering. At another I was crying. This game has such an enticing storyline, it's addictive. It has an incredible flow of gradual development that makes it hard to quit playing. It's better than a book, because it's interactive, and it's better than a movie because it's longer than 2 hours. Yes it's linear and the storyline is far from original, but it's handled so well, one would easily develop a series of books from this game. Really! You will be that engrossed in the characters. With a great battle system and characters that stick in your mind long after you've quit playing, this is an extremely well done game.

The absolute best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: December 09, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Okay, I'm not your typical gamer. I love RPG's. but as a mom of two, I rarely get a chance to play these days. However, I couldn't resist this one, simply from reading the cover. And it has been the best purchase for the Playstation I've ever made. My son, my husband, my daughter - we all play it. Not only that, but the storyline so appealed to my kids that they "act out" the story almost constantly (I really need to get them a hobby:)). I love the story and I like the gameplay. I really enjoy as the characters learn new magic or new skills. We are playing it through the second time - the first time was probably about 70 hours of play. Now we are going through and making sure we learned ALL the secrets and the special moves. I highly recommend this game to anyone - especially if you aren't a regular RPGer - The reason I say that is, RPGers will know it is good. Those who aren't will be pleasantly surprised at how addictive it is.

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