Grandia - Review

By: CLOUDBOND007

Review Breakdown
Battle System	9
Interface	8
Music/Sound	7
Originality	8
Plot	8
Localization	9
Replay Value	4
Visuals	7
Difficulty	Easy
Time to Complete	45-60 hours
Overall
Criteria

   Grandia was originally released for the Sega Saturn, but never made it to the USA. But now it's been rereleased for the PlayStation, allowing many gamers to experience this great game for the first time. 

    The Battle System in Grandia is really interesting, and different from most other RPG's. The Combo Attack is what players will use most often. By selecting this command, a character will attack an enemy twice in one turn. The Critical attack does less damage than the Combo attack, but it will sometimes cancel the attack that your enemy was going to perform. This command is particularly useful against bosses. Each character can also chose from their unique Special Moves, or from the Magic Spells that they have learned. Some spells and attacks will work on every enemy, some will work on 1 enemy, and some will work on enemies on a certain part of the screen. Having all of these options available during battles makes things much more interesting and more strategic. Battles themselves are menu based, but come very close to being Live-Action. After you give a character a command, he will either do it immediately, or may need to wait a few seconds to cast a spell or use a special attack. During this charge time, they are vulnerable to enemy attack, and can sometimes have their attacks cancelled out if hit during this time. Everything moves at a very fast pace, and battles are not really tedious at all. It's actually a lot of fun to build up your attacks and magic, because of this.

   The interface is not bad at all. Menus are easy enough to use, though there is a few seconds of lag time when trying to access them. Some people may also initially be confused by the magic and special attack systems. These small faults can be forgiven though, because most other aspects of the game work out really well. For example, you are able to fully recover HP and MP at Save Points without having to use any items. This makes it easy to level up and improve your attacks.

At least the music doesn't hurt the ears...

   The game's music is pretty good. Nothing all that rememberable, but it's not bad at all. The battle music grows on you after a while, and it changes completely when you reach the second disc. Each town seems to have a different musical theme, as well. There is also a lot of Voice Acting in the game. Whenever a character casts a spell, they will say some phrase. The character that deals the final blow in a battle will also speak. There is some voice acting during important points in the story as well, but this doesn't happen too often. Some of the characters sound pretty bad, and some sound pretty good. I've found that you can get used to the bad ones after a little while, though. I really think the voice acting adds something to the game, but it could've been a lot better.

   In some ways, like the story, Grandia is a lot like other RPG's that have been released before. But it is also different in some important areas, like the Battle System. It combines some of the things that have worked in all RPG's, and adds some new things. And so, it's not a very original game, but it's different enough to stand out.

   Grandia does have a good story overall, but it is not without it's flaws. The first three or four hours of the game are very, very slow. The characters don't really seem at all interesting, and it's hard to get motivated to continue playing. It's a shame, because it might stop some people from wanting to finish the game. It's worth it to press on, though. After you get past the beginning, things keep improving thoughout the entire game. You learn more and more about the characters, and begin to feel really interested in what's going to happen next. It can get a little slow at times, but most RPG players should enjoy the story.

   Localization was done really well. I didn't notice any translation problems or spelling errors, and the story always made sense from beginning to end.

Want to come here again?

   This game really doesn't have very much replay value. This is partially due to the fact that there isn't really much exploration to be done. You basically go from point A to point B throughout the entire game. Therefore, when playing again, you aren't likely to find that many secrets or hidden areas. There are a couple of optional areas though, and some may want to play again to build up the characters' attacks. So, there is a little replay value, but just not enough to make most people want to play this long game over again.

   Grandia has some very nice graphics, and it looks different from most RPG's. If you've played Breath Of Fire 3, Final Fantasy Tactics, or Wild ARMS 2, you have a fairly good idea of what you can expect. Towns and dungeons each have a look all their own. Graphics are bright, colorful, easy to see, and very detailed. By using the L1 Button, the R1 Button, or the Right Analog Stick, you can rotate the Camera completely in most areas. This makes it easy to see behind things, and to get around dungeons. You are also able to see enemies before you fight them, much like in Chrono Trigger. Because of this, you are able to avoid many of them, if you want to. Battle graphics are pretty good, too. They are setup on a fairly open battle field.  Spell Effects look incredible, and are probably the best feature in the game in terms of visual effects. Each spell has a different, colorful display. The more powerful the spell, the better it looks on screen. The best comparison I can make is to FF Tactics. Enemies are pretty detailed, but the characters don't look all that great. There is no overworld at all... just a map screen. That doesn't sound like a good idea at all, but it's done pretty well in the game. It would have been nicer to be able to explore the overworld more, though. The FMV is not very impressive at all. Most likely, it was designed with the Sega Saturn in mind, and doesn't really compare to what's seen on other PSX games such as Lunar, Wild ARMS 2, etc.

   Grandia is a fun game to play, but it's really not a difficult one. There are a couple of bosses that may be a little troublesome to beat, but other than that, most gamers won't have trouble with it. As mentoned earlier, the game fully recovers your HP and MP at Save Points, which are usually placed right before a boss or difficult obstacle.

simply EXTRAordinary.

   Grandia is really a long game. The fastest most people will beat the game is about 45 hours. That's without doing the optional areas, or building up the characters attacks. Some gamers may spend 55 hours or longer with this one.

   This is a game that I expected to be average. That's not how it turned out at all, though. This really is a remarkable RPG, despite it's flaws, and it's a shame that it wasn't released here until recently. As soon as you get past the slow beginning, things just keep getting better until the game is over.