Collection essentials #360: Grandia (PS1)

I talked a little bit about Grandia before due to its original Japan-only Sega Saturn release. When Grandia came out for the Saturn in 1997 in Japan, it was clear that the console was doomed in Western markets and that going through the trouble of localizing and releasing it for the rest of the world didn’t make any sense. Luckily, a year and a half later the game got a port to the original PlayStation which was king of the market everywhere, and so the whole console gaming world was graced with Grandia at last.

Grandia is a JRPG developed by GameArts, who are also known for making the Lunar games in the same genre, the original versions of which on Sega CD I covered already. Despite being in the same genre, you wouldn’t necessarily know that these games were made by the same people, since Grandia does plenty of things different from Lunar so it feels like its own thing.

Grandia, like many RPGs, takes place in a fantasy world that appears to have some advanced technology but also doesn’t feel like a modern setting, which in this case means that the world is not yet fully charted and some technological advancements like the telephone are absent. The story revolves around our protagonist, a young boy named Justin who lives in the port town of Parm. Justin lives with his mother, and his father was an adventurer who long ago disappeared on his travels, presumably dead. Justin idolizes his father and wants to be a great adventurer just like him and discover more of the world. The beginning of the game is when Justin feels about ready to make his dreams reality. He of course gets to take a shot at adventuring, and there are many colorful characters he meets along the way who join him.

The game’s world doesn’t seem to have any clear formal organized government, but the game’s main antagonist is a military group called the Garlyle Forces, and they seem to hold the most power. At the start of the game, the Garlyle Forces are investigating a place nearby Parm hoping to excavate great treasure from a previous civilization, and perhaps not with the best of motives. Justin’s first venture is to investigate this area of interest, and the events that unfold provide the catalyst for him truly embarking on an ambitious journey which we get to take him on. I won’t give spoilers, but the Garlyle Forces often get in Justin’s way as he discovers more and more about the world and uncovers their sinister motives.

In my opinion the backbone of great fictional stories is great characters, and this is what catapults Grandia from simply being a fun RPG to one of the greatest of all time. Grandia’s cast is very endearing, likable, funny, and effectively delivers some emotional scenes. Illustrated character portraits are shown as they speak, with many variations depending on their mode, which helps bring them to life. There are times when we get to witness Justin and his group simply hanging out at mealtime and you get to see them banter with each other, which does a great job at bringing them to life further. 

Even if story and characters are the primary appeal of an RPG, quality gameplay is still very important to achieve greatness, and Grandia does not disappoint in this regard. It’s a turn-based RPG, and thankfully does not involve random battles, as the player can see enemies moving on the map and won’t have to fight them unless they make physical contact. The battle system seems similar to the “active time battle” system of the Final Fantasy games that were made around this time, as there is a meter which advances with time that lets characters act at a certain point. But Grandia spices things up quite a bit. Firstly, all characters share the same meter. There’s also a little gap in the meter between when a character’s next action is selected and when they are actually executed. This provides a window of opportunity for using certain techniques that can “cancel” an enemy action that has been chosen but not executed, and when done successfully the enemy’s place on the meter will be knocked way back. There are various things to consider such as where characters physically are on the map and how much time it will take for your character’s cancelling attack to actually reach execution, and it makes for very fun and strategic fights. 

Each character has unique techniques that they learn, but magic is taught by giving a character “mana eggs” which provides for some customization. All skills and magic become more powerful the more they are used, encouraging players to not simply hit the same basic attack button over and over. Using certain weapons and magic will lead to learning more skills and magic, too. 

Most great RPGs also boast a killer soundtrack. I’d say Grandia is a smidge below the very best of the best in this regard, but it still delivers some excellent and memorable songs. It has one of my top favorite “sad” themes from a video game.

I actually learned about and bought the second Grandia game before this one back in 2004, thanks to the internet. But a short time afterward, I was in GameStop one day late in the year and I saw the original Grandia on the shelf, the very one shown in the photo above. Knowing already that I liked the second one and seeing that the price was reasonable, I decided to buy it, and played it soon after. I happened to meet a friend on Gamefaqs around the same time who was super into the game, and it’s part of how we bonded. Grandia instantly became one of my absolute favorite RPGs. I played through most of it a second time (can’t remember if I actually beat it twice) several years later, and I guess I’m due for another replay at some point.

Does Grandia have flaws? Sure. The game’s voice acting gets a lot of criticism, and while I think a lot of it is fine, it’s true that it’s definitely not the level of quality that it ought to be. On my second playthrough while properly understanding the game’s mechanics, I realized that if you know what you’re doing the game is extremely easy, which I guess isn’t that bad since an easier difficulty makes it more accessible for newcomers, but I still would like to feel challenged just a bit more. For a game that’s about adventuring, it’s actually pretty linear and doesn’t even allow you to revisit previous areas a lot of the time. And of course there are things about the story that could be criticized that I won’t talk about due to spoilers. 

But boy, this is one of the best RPGs, if not one of the best games, that I have played, and that’s saying something. If you like JRPGs but still haven’t played Grandia, you really ought to at least give it a shot. It received an HD port to modern platforms, and the port job certainly could have been better but is still adequate enough for experiencing the game, so there’s no real excuse not to find some way to play Grandia. It’s a true quintessential essential. What are you waiting for??