Very Early Game Spoilers
I am playing Grandia 1 for the first time on the Switch and it hit me so hard when Justin moved away.
For reference, I moved to another country when I was 30 and I have not returned to my home country since. The plan was to come back at some point, but I have built a life here and have been married to a local. My parents came out to visit recently and I talk to them a few times week, so it’s not like it is some super sad story, but it was a tough part of the game to work through.
I related to Justin so much and have been drawn in to this game so much due to the characters. I am still really early in this game. I just made it across the sea and look forward to becoming an adventurer.
One thing that I find interesting about this game is that the style of the game and menus are like a mix of PS1 and SNES graphics. I guess this was an early PS1 game.
Grandia is one of my favorite games of all time. It captures the pure joy and excitement of adventure better than any game ever made.
Also one of my favorite battle systems. A great expansion of the early Game Arts system seen in the (also amazing) Lunar games.
Have you played Grandia 2? How do they compare?
I have - I’ve played all 3 Grandia games. The second is really good, and it refines the battle system in some nice ways, but it’s a (slightly) smaller, more character driven story that loses a bit of the grand, somewhat naive, adventurous spirit that makes the first game so unique and satisfying.
There’s a large number of people who prefer Grandia 2, and for good reason, but I prefer the characters and story of Grandia 1. If you haven’t played either, I recommend playing both in order. Grandia 3 is a bit of a letdown in comparison, but I still really enjoyed it and think it gets a bit more hate than it deserves.
I’ve played G2. I see.
Also: curse of 3
I replay Grandia every few years. It was one of the first games I bought with my own money, and still to this day it’s one of my favorites.
I’ve heard people consider the beginning of the game the weakest part, though I have sort of a soft spot for it.
Regarding the graphics, it was originally a Sega Saturn game, and was later ported to PS1. Maybe that’s why it looks so unique.
I had no idea that’s probably it. I just crashed the wedding and and about to move into the next section. So far the only thing that is kind of a pain is the limited inventory. But so far I have been working through it. I’m not really sure to do with spells, so I’m just collecting mama eggs.
You should start using them up! It doesn’t matter who learns what, but spells are useful and it’s nice to get started with them. The eggs are a finite resource. However there’s enough of them that you’ll still have leftovers after learning every element on every character. I usually make sure I collect every item before moving on to the next area.
Thanks for the info. I am really into exploring in games. I love metroidvanias, so I have been covering each inch of the map.
I’m weird cause I love limited inventory in Resident Evil games, prevents any kind of lategame where you’ve hoarded everything. Didn’t know Grandia had this feature, making me consider it.
That’s a very interesting point. I guess I am the same way for resident evil. Now that I’ve played more it really has not been an issue, I guess it’s just a matter of getting used to it.
I loove Grandia. Slowly playing it on my Vita, and I’ve loved the environments a lot. The YouTuber Hazel is the one who introduced it to me, her cozy jrpgs video has a lot of bangers.
thanks for the suggestion, looks very interesting, I will try it as I love jrpgs
A friend recommended it to me, but it has been on my list for a while.
I love this genre as well, but they are so long. I don’t often finish playing them due to the length of them. I hope it is not too long of a game as I would like to complete it.
It was early PS1, and a classic. One of the few games where it’s based around a sort of childhood adventure that doesn’t end in fighting some God to save the planet