Name: Grandia (グランディア)
Type: Fantasy Turn-based RPG
Available Languages: Japanese, English
I have decided to begin this journey into the gaming past with Grandia, an enduring favorite of mine. Some will say that it’s not obscure, given that it was released in the west and that it has generated an MMO prequel and sequels. This I will grant you. My answer is that while it was released in the west, it never got the attention that it truly deserved. I also feel that it would be best to begin in territory that may be familiar to readers who have just stumbled across my strange little blog. We can, and will, move on to Japan exclusive games later. This focuses solely on the original Japanese PlayStation release of the game, so any other version will not be cited.
When I first ran across Grandia, it was at the mall when I was in my early teens. I was of a similar age to the protagonist and had really taken a liking to RPGs and anime, so I can remember picking it up with a rather manic glee and practically bouncing all the way home. Words could not begin to describe my horror when I heard the sounds that came out of the characters’ mouths. To this day, it is one of the most extreme cases of bad dubbing I can cite. But speaking only a bit of Japanese, I plowed on, vowing one day to play ‘the real thing’. At least they didn’t destroy Iwadare Noriyuki’s music.
It took a while, but I finally improved my Japanese and tracked down a copy of Grandia. Rarely have I felt such excitement over replaying a game that I had played before. But with the original Japanese dialog and high-end seiyuu like Yamaguchi Kappei, it felt like an entirely new experience. When the opening sequence began, and Justin threw himself into his quest to save his best friend Sue from the local bully, I was all in.
Of course the game quickly shifts from schoolyard bullies and fake armor to real battles and deadly weaponry. It is a startling transition, not only for the player, but for the protagonists themselves. Justin is a boy with big dreams, but with little knowledge of the outside world. His recklessness nearly gets both himself and Sue killed and catapults them on the path to the adventure of a lifetime. Grandia, at its heart, is the story of growing up. A young man leaves home and the trappings of his youth behind in order to live out his dreams. And while they may seem grandiose to many of us, we have to remember that our hero is young, and always expected more out of life than his town could offer. He certainly gets it. It wouldn’t be much of a game otherwise, and I wouldn’t be writing this piece on it.
Grandia is your classic RPG fare in that you have weapons and magic in a turn-based system, but that is where the similarities end. Each character is represented, along with the enemies, on the IP Gauge. You start in the wait section, but when you reach the command section, you can choose to do many different things. You can stun enemies when hitting them and knock them backwards on the IP Gauge using a critical hit, but they can do the same to you. The critical hit can buy you some extra time, but it does less overall damage than a combo attack, so you must make your choices carefully. You can also use magic or special attacks. There are items available to you, plus the ability to guard, change your tactics, or run.
Your characters can each learn different types of weapon and magic skills depending on what you equip and how much you use it. This is essential to learning more powerful techniques for later in the game. Failure to expand your horizons will come back to haunt you in the long run if you’re not careful. When it comes to magic, you can learn new types via Mana Eggs, which can then be mixed with elements that the character already knows to create more powerful spells and new special attacks. It’s quite simple to get the hang of, and a lot of fun to play around with once you’re comfortable with the system.
A neat feature that becomes available during your travels is that when you stop to eat, you can talk to your party members. Not only do you get a unique insight into their table manners, you also get quite a bit of background information from these optional little conversations. Every character is a unique personality and has their own dynamic with our hero, and it is well worth getting to know them. Their differing personalities also translate to their fighting styles, which weapons they use, and the speed and strength with which they wield them. They will be particularly gifted with certain weapons or types of magic, and it would behoove you to keep a close eye on their skill menu. Knowing what type of magic and weapons to level up early on can make the difference between survival and defeat. Towards the end of the game, you will be glad of every spell and skill available to you.
Justin’s main goal is to become the greatest adventurer who ever lived. You would think that this would be harder for a fourteen year old boy than the game makes it out to be, but with destiny and more than a little luck on his side, he manages to persevere. He even finds a love interest to accompany him, and together, they plan to climb the giant wall that everyone refers to as the end of the world. Why? To see what is on the other side, of course, whatever it may be. Considering that this is an RPG, you can rest assured that he finds all the adventure he could wish for on the other side and quite a bit more.
This game provides a truly satisfying cast of characters, from the quirky to the downright evil. Its villains are villainous enough for you to want to fight them, and its heroines are tragic enough that you want to save them. There are no ‘fine, I’ll do such and such a quest so we can move on’ moments here.
By the time all was said and done, I had explored every nook and cranny that this game had to offer. I had waited for years to play it in its original language, and I was going to soak it all in. Everyone had to be talked to, every town explored. I truly became Justin, in a way, in that I had come to explore this world and to find adventure in it. When I walked through the last dungeon, it was like I was the boss of the place. I wanted to mete out justice, and woe betide anything that stood in my way. As the final fight came about, I was so over-leveled that the boss was quite the letdown. Perhaps I took my adventuring a bit too far, to make the final showdown so anticlimactic. I had wanted to explore, I had wanted to win, and nobody was going to take that from me after so many years of waiting. The satisfaction was truly sweet.
But all opinions on power leveling aside, the ending is worth the price of admission, however hard you had to fight for it. I sat back and soaked in the feeling of validation that all RPG gamers know, having spent so many hours of their lives invested in a digital storybook. Sometimes the ending of a game can make you say, ‘I did all that work for this?’ Not this game. I won’t spoil it for you by telling you who lives and dies, and how the relationships work out, I’ll only say that Justin’s hometown gets a very interesting surprise about a decade later.
Whether you play this gem of a game on the PlayStation, as I did, or decide to try out its Sega Saturn counterpart, which I am unfamiliar with, I urge you to give Grandia a few hours of your time. The gameplay is fun and accessible to just about anyone, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a game that possesses more charm. The young protagonists, for all of their youthful zeal and naiveté, are incredibly easy to relate to. I understood Justin when I was a teenager. I understand him now. I know what it is to dream, and to regret not living the life I envisioned. He dreamed, and then acted on those dreams and fulfilled them. It makes for a pretty epic vicarious experience. I hope that it is one that you will enjoy as much as I did.
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