Grandia is a JRPG that was originally released for the Sega Saturn in 1997. It was later ported to the PSONE in 1999. In comparison to the Final Fantasy games, and a lot of other JRPG's of the period, Grandia is lighthearted, with a buoyant attitude that's a treat to experience.
I believe I originally played this game when I had a hacked PSP, and downloaded it over Torrents. Once it was released as a PSONE Classic, I bought it, and played more of it, mostly on my Vita. I haven't finished it, but I would love to. It's truly a great game, with an interesting world to explore, and infectious characters you can't help but root for.
Unlike the Final Fantasy games, which had pre-rendered backgrounds that the 3D characters moved around on, Grandia has 3D backgrounds that you can rotate, and 2D character sprites. For the most part, the graphics are good, but some of the environments are pretty low rez, and hard to figure out when you're exploring them. That's my only real complaint about the game.
Instead of random encounters, monsters appear on the maps, and bumping into them brings up the game's turnbased combat, where you can move around a battle arena to kill enemies. It's a good system.
This game is all about the greater glory of ADVENTURE - and it provides that endlessly.
Grandia, along with its sequel, Grandia 2, was remastered and released for such systems as the Switch a little while back. I've been planning to buy them for a while and get back to the game. The graphics look great in the screenshots, and the soundtrack was always good.
I definitely recommend this game.
I'm so mad my copy of Grandia 2 didn't work on PS2. I have the third game though. It's good to know the first two games are available digitally. I'm going to look for them next time I'm on my PS3 or 4.
I don't know if it was released on PS4 or not, but probably.
There is supposed to be a physical edition coming from Limited Run or one of those other companies that makes physical cartridges for previously digital only games.
If only somebody could sort out the licensing behind Lunar and Lunar 2. I would love to have those games on Switch.
Silver Star Story was released for ios/iPad. Doesn't make any sense why they wouldn't release it for Switch. People would gobble it up.
Victor Ireland, the Working Designs guy, claims that licensing for Lunar is rather messy. Gungho should be the overall owner of the series, but there were a lot of fingers in that pie. Also, Eternal Blue is criminally under-recognized. It has seem no release since the PS1.
That's really too bad. I would love to have it on switch, and I've never played the second one. I did play some of the PSP remake.
Definitely prefer seeing where encounters will be on the map.
yeah, definitely a plus. Random battles can be pretty annoying.
Never played a Grandia game.
you know, if you had the time, I think you would really enjoy this.
