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Developer: Game Arts
Publisher: SCEA
Genre: RPG
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 30 Sep 99
User Rating
10 (9 votes) -
Overview
By far the best and the worst aspect of Grandia. The good part of the storyline is the fact that it is one of the most detailed story lines ever. By the end of the game, almost every loose ends are tied up. The bad part of the storyline is the fact that most of the time you play Grandia the game wears you out. I mean you really feel like you have been playing for 92 billion years but in reality its been more like 2 hours. Some parts of Grandia just feel like they are in the game for no reason at all, except to bore the player.
The story begins as we meet Justin and his younger friend Sue, who at the time are playing a adventure game with the neighbourhood bully who likes Sue. This was very confusing because I thought Justin's love interest would be Sue. That is till I met Feena and realized Sue was more like a little sister to Justin. Without going into spoilers, Justin suddenly finds himself on a long and hard adventure where he will cross the end of the world to unite kingdoms and make many new friends. The characters are really the only thing that I can say is perfect about Grandia. I also like the many numerous dinner sequences in the game that help progress the story along smoothly.
Gameplay
The gameplay is simply tedious. For example, to get magic, you have to go and find mana eggs, then take egg to weapon shop to hatch the egg. And then you find more eggs to get more magic and moves for the most part this is pretty boring and tedious. Once the magic is hatched you can use it when ever you want as long as you have enough MP. The battle system is done in Chrono Cross and Lunar style. You can see the monsters but you cant avoid them mostly because Justin is to slow the dodge them anyway. There are a lot of other downsides to the game play of Grandia.
Graphics
The graphics are cool. There more anime-like then reality driven. The game looks good for the most part. It's like Lunar but 3D in my opinion. The world map is exactly that - a map. You click where you want to go it takes you there. Not much else to say about the world map graphics. Voice acting is okay but Justin sounds like he just hit puberty. The rest of the voices are good for the most part. The cut scenes are cool to look at - not any ground breaking stuff but cool none theless.
Fun Factor
Wow this is where Grandia really kicks into action. I mean, this is the most fun I ever had. If you couldn't tell, I'm being sarcastic. The game is fun for the most part. But the dull factor outweighs the fun in this case. There's not a lot of mini games or side quests to keep players interested in the game.
Overall
Overall, Grandia is a tiny bit above the average RPG game. The game is at least worthy of rental at the video store. Grandia is nowhere near the quality that many claimed it was, but most games hardly ever are. You should buy this game if you bored and want something to keep your occupied or if you really like RPG's and are up for a challenge.
- Gameplay
6.0 - Graphics
7.0 - Fun Factor
7.0 - Overall
7.0
