I haven't quite finished the game yet, but I'm pretty close. Here is my review.
Graphics
Grandia has very nice graphics, and it looks different from most RPG's. If you've played Breath Of Fire 3, or Final Fantasy Tactics, you have a fairly good idea of what you can expect. Towns and Dungeons each have a look all their own. Graphics are bright, colorful, easy to see, and very detailed. By using the L1 Button, the R1 Button, or the Right Analog Stick, you can rotate the Camera completely in most areas. This makes it easy to see behind things, and to get around dungeons. You are able to see enemies before you fight them, much like in Chrono Trigger. Because of this, you are able to avoid many of them, if you want to.
Battle Graphics are pretty good, too. They are setup on a fairly open battle field. Spell Effects look incredible, and are probably the best feature in the game in terms of visual effects. Each spell has a different, colorful display. The more powerful the spell, the better it looks on screen. The best comparison I can make is to FF Tactics. Enemies are pretty detailed, but the characters don't look all that great.
There is no overworld, just a map screen. It doesn't sound like a great idea, but it's done well in the game, and it's an improvement, if anything.
Battle System
The Combo attack is what most players will use most often. By selecting this command, a character will attack an enemy twice in one turn. The Critical attack does less damage than the Combo attack, but it will sometimes cancel the attack that your enemy was going to perform. This command is particularly useful against bosses. Each character can also chose from their unique Special Moves, or from the Magic Spells that they have learned. Some spells and attacks will work on every enemy, some will work on 1 enemy, and some will work on enemies on a certain part of the screen. Any character can select from their own personal inventory of items that can be used in battle. Any character can use the Run command to escape from battle.
Battles themselves are menu based, but come very close to being Live-Action. After you give a character a command, he will either do it immediately, or may need to wait a few seconds to cast a spell or use a special attack. During this charge time, they are vulnerable to enemy attack, and can sometimes have their attacks cancelled out if hit during this time. Everything moves at a very fast pace, and battles are not remotely tedious. It's a lot of fun to build up your attacks and magic, because of this.
Story
The first three or four hours of the game are very, very slow. The characters don't really seem at all interesting. It's a shame, because it might stop some people from wanting to continue playing. After you get past the beginning, things keep improving thoughout the entire game. You learn more and more about the characters, and begin to feel really interested in what's going to happen next. There is a lot of humor, as well as suspense, and a love story, in part.
Music
The game's music is pretty good. Nothing all that rememberable, but it's not bad at all. The battle music grows on you after a while, and it changes completely when you reach the second disc. Each town seems to have a different musical theme, as well.
There is a lot of Voice Acting in the game. Whenever a character casts a spell, they will say something. The character that deals the final blow in a battle will also speak. There is some voice acting during important points in the story, but not too often. Some of the characters sound pretty bad, and some sound pretty good. You even get used to the bad ones after a little while, though. I really think it adds something to the game.
Magic And Special Attacks
As you progress a little into the game, you will find several items called "Mana Eggs". By trading in these eggs, you can purchase an elemental for your character. There are 4 different elementals in Grandia. Those are Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water. Let's assume that you buy the Fire Element for Justin. In this game, the Elements gain levels, just like the characters. Every time Justin uses a fire spell in battle, he gets Skill Points. After getting enough Skill Points, his Fire ability will go up a level. The maximum level for any Element is 99, but it's really not neccesary to go nearly that high to beat the game. As Justin's Fire Elemental gains levels, he will learn increasingly powerful Fire Spells. By using other Elements, he can learn powerful combination magic. For example, when Justin's Fire level reaches 9, and his Wind level reaches level 13, he might learn a combination spell that utilizes both Fire And Wind. You are able to find out what levels you need to be in to learn new spells, by using the game's menu.
Just like magic, Weapons gain levels, too. Also, like magic, they can gain levels up to 99. For example, if Justin fights with a Sword for a long time, he will gain "Sword Levels". If he fights with an Axe, he will gain "Axe Levels" Powerful combinations can be learned after gaining enough weapon levels. Also, some attacks utilize both Magic and Weapons.
Final Thoughts
This is a game that I bought, expecting it to be average. That's not how it turned out at all, though. I spend more time playing Grandia each day than I did with FF5. This really is a remarkable RPG, and it's a shame that it wasn't released in America until just now. As soon as you get past the slow beginning, things just keep getting better. This is one game I'm really glad I decided to buy.
CLOUDBOND007 (MG99)
Graphics
Grandia has very nice graphics, and it looks different from most RPG's. If you've played Breath Of Fire 3, or Final Fantasy Tactics, you have a fairly good idea of what you can expect. Towns and Dungeons each have a look all their own. Graphics are bright, colorful, easy to see, and very detailed. By using the L1 Button, the R1 Button, or the Right Analog Stick, you can rotate the Camera completely in most areas. This makes it easy to see behind things, and to get around dungeons. You are able to see enemies before you fight them, much like in Chrono Trigger. Because of this, you are able to avoid many of them, if you want to.
Battle Graphics are pretty good, too. They are setup on a fairly open battle field. Spell Effects look incredible, and are probably the best feature in the game in terms of visual effects. Each spell has a different, colorful display. The more powerful the spell, the better it looks on screen. The best comparison I can make is to FF Tactics. Enemies are pretty detailed, but the characters don't look all that great.
There is no overworld, just a map screen. It doesn't sound like a great idea, but it's done well in the game, and it's an improvement, if anything.
Battle System
The Combo attack is what most players will use most often. By selecting this command, a character will attack an enemy twice in one turn. The Critical attack does less damage than the Combo attack, but it will sometimes cancel the attack that your enemy was going to perform. This command is particularly useful against bosses. Each character can also chose from their unique Special Moves, or from the Magic Spells that they have learned. Some spells and attacks will work on every enemy, some will work on 1 enemy, and some will work on enemies on a certain part of the screen. Any character can select from their own personal inventory of items that can be used in battle. Any character can use the Run command to escape from battle.
Battles themselves are menu based, but come very close to being Live-Action. After you give a character a command, he will either do it immediately, or may need to wait a few seconds to cast a spell or use a special attack. During this charge time, they are vulnerable to enemy attack, and can sometimes have their attacks cancelled out if hit during this time. Everything moves at a very fast pace, and battles are not remotely tedious. It's a lot of fun to build up your attacks and magic, because of this.
Story
The first three or four hours of the game are very, very slow. The characters don't really seem at all interesting. It's a shame, because it might stop some people from wanting to continue playing. After you get past the beginning, things keep improving thoughout the entire game. You learn more and more about the characters, and begin to feel really interested in what's going to happen next. There is a lot of humor, as well as suspense, and a love story, in part.
Music
The game's music is pretty good. Nothing all that rememberable, but it's not bad at all. The battle music grows on you after a while, and it changes completely when you reach the second disc. Each town seems to have a different musical theme, as well.
There is a lot of Voice Acting in the game. Whenever a character casts a spell, they will say something. The character that deals the final blow in a battle will also speak. There is some voice acting during important points in the story, but not too often. Some of the characters sound pretty bad, and some sound pretty good. You even get used to the bad ones after a little while, though. I really think it adds something to the game.
Magic And Special Attacks
As you progress a little into the game, you will find several items called "Mana Eggs". By trading in these eggs, you can purchase an elemental for your character. There are 4 different elementals in Grandia. Those are Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water. Let's assume that you buy the Fire Element for Justin. In this game, the Elements gain levels, just like the characters. Every time Justin uses a fire spell in battle, he gets Skill Points. After getting enough Skill Points, his Fire ability will go up a level. The maximum level for any Element is 99, but it's really not neccesary to go nearly that high to beat the game. As Justin's Fire Elemental gains levels, he will learn increasingly powerful Fire Spells. By using other Elements, he can learn powerful combination magic. For example, when Justin's Fire level reaches 9, and his Wind level reaches level 13, he might learn a combination spell that utilizes both Fire And Wind. You are able to find out what levels you need to be in to learn new spells, by using the game's menu.
Just like magic, Weapons gain levels, too. Also, like magic, they can gain levels up to 99. For example, if Justin fights with a Sword for a long time, he will gain "Sword Levels". If he fights with an Axe, he will gain "Axe Levels" Powerful combinations can be learned after gaining enough weapon levels. Also, some attacks utilize both Magic and Weapons.
Final Thoughts
This is a game that I bought, expecting it to be average. That's not how it turned out at all, though. I spend more time playing Grandia each day than I did with FF5. This really is a remarkable RPG, and it's a shame that it wasn't released in America until just now. As soon as you get past the slow beginning, things just keep getting better. This is one game I'm really glad I decided to buy.
CLOUDBOND007 (MG99)

