Wow! Grandia emotionally hit me hard.
Wow! Grandia emotionally hit me hard.
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.