This review will be quite biased due to loving this game as a child-hood favourite of mine from back on the PS1! It's always a delight to see a game that you loved get updated, but you must be asking exactly how "updated" can it be.
My stream of the game
Visually, there isn't much that can be done for the character models, being 2D, much like the pre-rendered images in FF9, but reversed. Instead of seeing smooth characters walking around a blocking image, it's 2D characters with imperfect animation walking around a smoother 3D environment. This isn't as bad and it even enables you to notice things in the environment that you may not have before back on the old SRT TV when sat down on the floor after a hard day of going to school, getting bullied and now time to escape!
Anyway, for those who are already fans, this is a easy pick. The inclusion of achievements enhances the game as it pointed out locations and things that I had never done before. There are also no major game-breaking bugs or issues that you generally see when the remake is half-assed as I have experienced with certain FF games that get upscaled.
The music comes out a lot more crip too, so again, if you're already a fan, go ahead and join on the adventure again!
For those who have never played this game:
Story:
Grandia is a JRPG where you play as Justin, a boy who wishes to become an adventurer like his father before him and his before him. The game starts with cryptic images of an ancient civilisation and voiced lines from the general of the Garlyle Forces (The Military) General Baal, as he wakes up from his dream and discusses vaugly their mission with his son Colonel Mullen and Lieutenant Leen.
We get to view out the window to the nearby town of Parm where we play as Justin who is proving his worth to the bullies in that he'll discover hidden items to prove he'll be a real adventurer one day! The real adventure begins not too long later when you get investigating ancient ruins that the army just so happen to be investigating.
Gameplay:
Combat is done in a turn-based style, somewhat familiar to the ATB system in FF7, however, when one of your character's turn is ready, combat is paused so you can take your time to choose between combo, critical, magic&moves, Tactics, Defend, Item and Escape.
A concept I love in this game and have not seen in others (besides it's sequel) is that even though it's turn-based, the map is fairly open where characters need to move next to each other to attack, allowing certain bosses to have abilities that draw people close to them for a limited AoE attack that can be extremely brutal. This allows you to put your more magic-focused characters to stay out of close combat and time to intercept them as the enemy has to walk to them.
Combo is a basic attack where you swing twice (or more if equipped with a certain item) and dealing basic damage. You run up to the enemy and swing away.
Critical is where you take a moment to make one big swing. This is a single hit with more damage than a single swing, however, it is able to cancel out a enemy's action if they're in the process or charging up a powerful move or spell.
Magic & Movies: Self explanitory. You gain moves based on your weapons and your skill with each one, same with magic. It's not always obvious how big an area of effect might be, so be certain to note it down in your head, but most fall into the category of either "single Target" or "All ..." so you shouldn't get too lost with this.
Tactics: For those who want to let the AI do battles for you. Good for grinding, but I never used this myself so I can't comment on how good it is in any aspect.
Defend: You can choose between either putting up a strong defence, often making most attacks do minimal or no damage or Evade where you can run to a different spot across the free-form map that you fight on.
Item: Easy to understand. Pick an item to use like potions, food and even equip a different weapon. This is great if you want to level up multiple weapons or use certain weapons for certain enemies. i.e. Holy mace VS Ghosts
Escape: Another easy one. You attempt to run from battle, allowing you to abandon it, but the monster will still be on the map to face you if you wait around too long.
The leveling and magic system in this game really interested me and I've not seen much like it before apart from in certain really old-school RPGs. Leveling the character does the normal things, increased stats and amount of xp for the next level. However, you also have xp and levels in weapons and all four magic elements.
The weapons are often for moves, but can also be blended with magic to create some epic displays of power. Every weapon level comes with it certain stat increases, such as how I laughed at how powerful I made Sue because one of her main weapons (throw) gives you a bonus to strength with ever level and so I focused on that. Magic does the same so you'll often focus on earth and fire for your heavy hitters due to the stats that they improve.
Magic is must the same. The more you use it/more enemies you hit helps it level up quicker! Certain spells it can be VERY easy to level up, such as water which gives you all your healing spells, starting with heal. With the SP spare you can heal outside of combat and collect xp from doing so.
Just like with weapons, as you level them up you unlock new abilities, or in this case, spells. Not only that, but some spells require two seporate elements to be at a certain level and they give xp to both elements at the same time. Combinations like below:
Air + Fire = Lightning Magic.
Air + Water = Ice Magic.
Earth + Fire = Explosion Magic.
Earth + Water = Forest Magic
Each one having it's own unique spells that can't be obtained alone such as poison, magic block, move block and even buffs and healing. This certainly makes for a grind and because of how you only see a ????????? for every ability you don't have, it's exciting to find out what that spell is that requires such a high level of fire and only on Feena? The characters have access to unique spells too so you can't be certain what one person might have, however, the basic spells you get when you first get each element is always the same.
The fully-animated scenes of this game always blew me away and was why it was on two discs on the PS1 and for me the nostalgia was great as they are still well-crafted and beautifully animated, however, they aren't perfect. There's only so much up-scaling can do with old footage after-all, as demonstrated in this highlight of my stream of this game, around my Birthday and the only reason I streamed it: https://youtu.be/erQAR1XaJjk
I believe the game still performs well and you can find many endless hours of fun through the adventure! That said, I will once again admit that I am biased so this review isn't as free of it as most others that I write are.
My stream of the game
Visually, there isn't much that can be done for the character models, being 2D, much like the pre-rendered images in FF9, but reversed. Instead of seeing smooth characters walking around a blocking image, it's 2D characters with imperfect animation walking around a smoother 3D environment. This isn't as bad and it even enables you to notice things in the environment that you may not have before back on the old SRT TV when sat down on the floor after a hard day of going to school, getting bullied and now time to escape!
Anyway, for those who are already fans, this is a easy pick. The inclusion of achievements enhances the game as it pointed out locations and things that I had never done before. There are also no major game-breaking bugs or issues that you generally see when the remake is half-assed as I have experienced with certain FF games that get upscaled.
The music comes out a lot more crip too, so again, if you're already a fan, go ahead and join on the adventure again!
For those who have never played this game:
Story:
Grandia is a JRPG where you play as Justin, a boy who wishes to become an adventurer like his father before him and his before him. The game starts with cryptic images of an ancient civilisation and voiced lines from the general of the Garlyle Forces (The Military) General Baal, as he wakes up from his dream and discusses vaugly their mission with his son Colonel Mullen and Lieutenant Leen.
We get to view out the window to the nearby town of Parm where we play as Justin who is proving his worth to the bullies in that he'll discover hidden items to prove he'll be a real adventurer one day! The real adventure begins not too long later when you get investigating ancient ruins that the army just so happen to be investigating.
Gameplay:
Combat is done in a turn-based style, somewhat familiar to the ATB system in FF7, however, when one of your character's turn is ready, combat is paused so you can take your time to choose between combo, critical, magic&moves, Tactics, Defend, Item and Escape.
A concept I love in this game and have not seen in others (besides it's sequel) is that even though it's turn-based, the map is fairly open where characters need to move next to each other to attack, allowing certain bosses to have abilities that draw people close to them for a limited AoE attack that can be extremely brutal. This allows you to put your more magic-focused characters to stay out of close combat and time to intercept them as the enemy has to walk to them.
Combo is a basic attack where you swing twice (or more if equipped with a certain item) and dealing basic damage. You run up to the enemy and swing away.
Critical is where you take a moment to make one big swing. This is a single hit with more damage than a single swing, however, it is able to cancel out a enemy's action if they're in the process or charging up a powerful move or spell.
Magic & Movies: Self explanitory. You gain moves based on your weapons and your skill with each one, same with magic. It's not always obvious how big an area of effect might be, so be certain to note it down in your head, but most fall into the category of either "single Target" or "All ..." so you shouldn't get too lost with this.
Tactics: For those who want to let the AI do battles for you. Good for grinding, but I never used this myself so I can't comment on how good it is in any aspect.
Defend: You can choose between either putting up a strong defence, often making most attacks do minimal or no damage or Evade where you can run to a different spot across the free-form map that you fight on.
Item: Easy to understand. Pick an item to use like potions, food and even equip a different weapon. This is great if you want to level up multiple weapons or use certain weapons for certain enemies. i.e. Holy mace VS Ghosts
Escape: Another easy one. You attempt to run from battle, allowing you to abandon it, but the monster will still be on the map to face you if you wait around too long.
The leveling and magic system in this game really interested me and I've not seen much like it before apart from in certain really old-school RPGs. Leveling the character does the normal things, increased stats and amount of xp for the next level. However, you also have xp and levels in weapons and all four magic elements.
The weapons are often for moves, but can also be blended with magic to create some epic displays of power. Every weapon level comes with it certain stat increases, such as how I laughed at how powerful I made Sue because one of her main weapons (throw) gives you a bonus to strength with ever level and so I focused on that. Magic does the same so you'll often focus on earth and fire for your heavy hitters due to the stats that they improve.
Magic is must the same. The more you use it/more enemies you hit helps it level up quicker! Certain spells it can be VERY easy to level up, such as water which gives you all your healing spells, starting with heal. With the SP spare you can heal outside of combat and collect xp from doing so.
Just like with weapons, as you level them up you unlock new abilities, or in this case, spells. Not only that, but some spells require two seporate elements to be at a certain level and they give xp to both elements at the same time. Combinations like below:
Air + Fire = Lightning Magic.
Air + Water = Ice Magic.
Earth + Fire = Explosion Magic.
Earth + Water = Forest Magic
Each one having it's own unique spells that can't be obtained alone such as poison, magic block, move block and even buffs and healing. This certainly makes for a grind and because of how you only see a ????????? for every ability you don't have, it's exciting to find out what that spell is that requires such a high level of fire and only on Feena? The characters have access to unique spells too so you can't be certain what one person might have, however, the basic spells you get when you first get each element is always the same.
The fully-animated scenes of this game always blew me away and was why it was on two discs on the PS1 and for me the nostalgia was great as they are still well-crafted and beautifully animated, however, they aren't perfect. There's only so much up-scaling can do with old footage after-all, as demonstrated in this highlight of my stream of this game, around my Birthday and the only reason I streamed it: https://youtu.be/erQAR1XaJjk
I believe the game still performs well and you can find many endless hours of fun through the adventure! That said, I will once again admit that I am biased so this review isn't as free of it as most others that I write are.