PS1 REVIEWS: Grandia
From the moment the opening cinematic played, when the game's theme opening notes started and the music began to soar, I realized I was on to something great. That was my experience when I first played Grandia more than 20 years ago, and I am happy to say that my experience has not dimmed one bit playing it again on the Switch remastered port. If anything, I appreciate it even more now.
Made by the same team that successfully brought Anime to life in making the Lunar JRPG games, their magnum opus on the Sega Saturn and the PS1 was, and may still be, the closest homage to the adventurous spirit of Studio Ghibli classics such as Castle in the Sky. With its great story, charming cast of characters, innovative and brilliant battle system, and lovely sprite and portrait work, I can easily say that Grandia is one of the PS1's best games.
29: Grandia:
Year: 1997, 1999, 2019 (Switch).
Genre: JRPG.
Publisher: Sony, GungHo Online (Switch).
Developer: Game Arts.
First things first, I am changing my rating system to a simpler 10-point system. Any game scoring above a 7 is fully recommended, and any scoring below that I consider a waste of time. That leaves an ambiguous score of 7, mostly depending on your taste.
"You will find the answer that will break the chain of sad fate that binds this world!!"
In a steampunk world at the precipice of significant technological breakthroughs, there is still room for adventure and mystery. Quite different from the edgy stories and protagonists of late 90's JRPGs, Grandia's story is focused on lighthearted adventure and led by the highly optimistic Justin as its main character and aspiring adventurer. Coming from a family of adventurers, Justin possesses a Spirit Stone as a keepsake from his late father. In one of his early adventures with his childhood friend Sue, both are thrust into an adventure to search for the hidden mysteries of Angelou, a pre-historic highly advanced civilization. They are soon joined by Feena, an actual adventurer who becomes enthralled by Justin's free spirit. In the course of their adventure, the party learns that they are not the only ones looking for the secrets of Angelou as they encounter the military Garlyle forces who appear to look for the same goal.
I am not sure the Garlyle forces employ the most stable people though
At its heart, the story of Grandia is about the growth of this party as they go into this grand adventure, exploring ancient ruins, resolving local problems, and even crossing what everyone considered the "End of the World". The relationship between these characters feels genuine thanks to some excellent writing and plentiful dialogue, and the world is fleshed out thanks to the abundance of NPC chatter.
You grow to care about these characters, whose personality is expertly conveyed through dialogue, excellent portrait work, and charming sprites. This makes for some emotionally strong scenes as well as one of the best and most believable romances of the PS1 era between Justin and Feena.
Even though it's obvious from the start that they will be a couple, it is organically developed in a believable way
One weakness in the story-telling department is in some unfortunately weak scene direction. On multiple occasions, you reach a pivotal moment in the story, and the "camera" pans to the horizon, dwelling on your accomplishment as the main theme plays in the background, just for the scene to abruptly end even before the music hits its climax. Those moments, where the game should have lingered on the emotional heft of the moment and the power of the music, are lost opportunities in scene direction that are baffling to witness.
With its humor, positive focus on adventure, and excellent character-driven narrative, Grandia has one of the strongest stories on the PS1. A story that still holds up today and surprisingly remains one of the few effective homages to the influential Castle in the Sky.
"A real adventurer never loses hope regardless of difficulties!"
While a JRPG's main asset has always been its story, it is with its combat system that it truly delivers a complete experience, and that's something that Grandia's unique battle system delivers in spades. Even though the system doesn't reach its full potential until the release of the sequel on the Dreamcast, it has already shown its potential in the first game.
The turn-based battle system is governed by the IP bar system, an action bar that shows the turn movement for both allies and enemies in the battle. Character icons move across the bar according to their agility statistic until they reach the command section, at which point you choose your action, which is performed when the icon hits the "Act" section depending on the wisdom stat. This gives the player information on the order of moves and also gives them the chance to push back enemy moves by targeting those that are close to the end of the IP bar. Naturally, enemy attacks have the same effect on your own, which is why it becomes key to interrupt their attacks while making sure you are safe to dish out your own.
The battle system is simply one of the best turn-based systems in any RPG
This creates the basis of a truly dynamic battle system, especially when you consider the physical boundaries of the battle space. The location of enemies becomes key as you use area-of-attack moves against them, and their distance from the player has a part in how fast they are attacked.
Enriching an already great battle system is the continuous feeling of progression built into the game's leveling system. Besides each character's level going up with experience, they gain individual levels for their weapon and elemental affinities, which both increase their stats and unlock their special and magic moves. This creates an addictive feedback loop in which you keep progressing.
Rah... Rah... Kill Them All
Unfortunately, the brilliant battle and progression system is somewhat held back by the game's relatively easy difficulty once you figure out how to best upgrade your affinities. Other than the occasional boss battle or optional dungeon, you will rarely be tasked with taking advantage of the system's intricacies, but it will remain a fun and engaging system throughout.
"Wherever you go, try to follow your dreams with all your heart, but don't lose yourself!"
Outside of battle, there isn't much to do since it is surprisingly linear for an adventure-themed game, which is not necessarily a bad thing considering its hefty size. Yet, it highlights one of the game's main shortcomings, and that's the design of its dungeons.
These dungeons are not bad per se, with some interesting variations in design, from a dungeon with wide open fields to another more labyrinthian challenge. They are, however, only excuses to fight more battles, which are thankfully not randomly encountered, and find items strewn about.
A quest for a legendary armor that's not an apron would have been nice
It does however point to the game's lack of any meaningful side content beyond a couple of optional dungeons. There is nothing to do other than grind to unlock your special moves and talk to as many NPCs as possible, which is a fun thing to do but lacks the variety of other JRPGs.
Thankfully, I don't think this linearity affects the game negatively since its forward momentum thrust is strong enough to hold your attention through tightly paced runtime.
"No matter how far apart we are, your spirit will be with us all the time"
The world and characters of Grandia deserved a graphical presentation worth it, and Game Arts delivered on that front with an excellent mix of 2D and 3D graphics and several key anime and CGI scenes.
With some absolutely breathtaking views
Naturally, the character sprites and portraits, both of which present the charming characters in all of their glory. From their battle sprites, which are big chunky things with lovely animations, to multiple portraits for each character that convey their multitude of emotions. Besides the weakness I mentioned in some scenes, these sprites help sell the personality of these characters in a big way. Of course, that's helped thanks to some solid but limited voice acting, which fits most characters except Colonel Mullen.
As for the world itself, it's not as immediately arresting as the key sprites, but you learn to love the chunky world and low-res textures, and that's mostly due to the insane level of detail in crafting the world's many cities. Each house is filled with random stuff, posters, and small details that give it a lived feeling. Unfortunately, the dungeons don't have that same level of detail.
But the game always try and show as much details in "key" scenes
Musically, the game's soundtrack by Noriyuki Iwadare is more of a mixed bag. True, the key tracks are brilliant, from the amazing "Theme of Grandia" which plays in many important scenes, to the beautiful "Love Theme" which has more emotional undertones. However, the lesser themes, especially the dungeon themes, oscillate from the forgettable to the terrible. One of the reasons you can spot the flawed scene direction is the sudden change from the sublime theme music to the "atmospheric" track of the dungeon you are visiting.
In Conclusion:
Grandia is not a perfect game. It lacks the challenge to fully push its amazing battle system, and it is comparatively linear to the great JRPGs of the era. However, it makes up for its flaws with its abundance of charm.
From its gorgeous character portraits and expressive spirits to its Ghibli-esque story and truly wonderful personal moments, the game drips with a sense of positive charm and adventure that is surprisingly unique for its time.
You will never forget the first time you cross the End of the World.
Final: 10/10
No, you will never forget it
**********************************************************************Pros:
- Great adventure-filled story
- Wonderful set of charming characters
- One of the best PS1 romances
- Great and innovative battle system
- Addictive sense of progression
- Brilliant character sprites
- Charmin character portraits
- A lot of detail in the world
- Some brilliant music tracks
Cons:
- Some surprising weakness in scene direction
- Somewhat easy game
- Lacks meaningful side content
- Low-res textures in the 3D assets
- A lot of forgettable music
Tips:
1- Learn how to take advantage of breaking enemy turns in battle.
2- Magic typically has an AOE both offensively and defensively.
3- Your magic and weapon affinities level up more in multi-target moves.
4- Use magic frequently to help upgrade it.
5- Moves are faster to execute when their specific affinities are leveled up.
6- You can use stage hazards to speed up upgrading your water (healing) affinity but don't overdo it and cheapen the game.
7- The best way to increase your stats is by leveling up affinities.
8- Don't neglect to vary your weapon selection.
9- When party members leave the party, they leave 1/3 of their affinity exp. Wait to use it to get the latter affinity levels.
10- Only go to the last optional dungeon after you get your final party member.
Dinner scenes are important in developing character's personality
Series:
For those reading one of my PS1 review blogs for the first time, here is the basic concept:
I already reviewed both major Generation 4 consoles, and am now reviewing Generation 5 consoles. I already finished reviewing the Sega Saturn, so I am now reviewing the PS1. In these reviews, I take a top 100 games list and review the games that interest me in that list.
This time, my review series is based on this list from Retro Sanctuary and other sources, since the PS1 can handle a list bigger than a top 100.
Can you see the Studio Ghibli influence?
Next Game:
I am very happy that I played and finished Grandia, one of my favorite games, at a particularly difficult time in my life. It felt great revisiting this childhood favorite, and it proved to be just as good as I remembered. It truly is one of the best games on the PS1 as far as I am concerned, and I think its Switch remastered version is extremely solid.
The next game on my list may be remade in the future, but I will still play its original version now. I am talking about Front Mission 3, a TRPG by Square that sits at #26 on the Retro Sanctuary list, which I am sure will be a great game.
Stay tuned.
For Previous PS1 Game Reviews:
Comments
Post a Comment