GRANDIA was an innovative rpg released in 1997 was soon overshadowed by the more popular Final Fantasy Vii but was actually ahead in terms of many technical aspects It had rotatable 3D environments, partial voice acting, and no reliance on random encounters. What made the game great was the battle system that was unique for the time, and still is today to an extent. Grandia was a game ahead of its time, but due to issues, such as being a Japan Saturn exclusive for the first couple of years and only coming to the west on the PlayStation long after Final Fantasy had taken mainstream attention, it fell from the public eye. However, we have a collection now of Grandia and its sequel and many can now appreicate the greatness of the games.
Grandia’s battle systems is one that combines turn-based action with real-time combat. Character actions are done on a timeline, and you are able to interrupt and also cancel enemy attacks. At the same time, your positioning is important since it will affect the range of some of your moves. Square Enix themselves have been moving a bit in this direction lately, but the system shown here is still one of the best. Grandia II has the same battle system, but it more refined, polished and had all the rough edges smoothed out. The result is a more forgiving and much more rewarding combat systems that is even better than what came before, in the first game. Grandia used a hybrid of classic pre-rendered graphics but as stated, the game used rotatable 3D environments. This has allowed the game to age much more gracefully than many of its contemporaries, such as the aforementioned Final Fantasy VII, and the merging of spites and,3D visuals have a graceful look that comes off amazingly in this collection.. Grandia II moved to 3D character models that are not as timeless as the first game in some ways, but the visuals still have their charm and anime influences.
The games are very well done visually, and thanks to recent updates, a lot of the bugs that were present originally are no longer here. At launch, the game had numerous texture issues, portrait issues and translation errors. With time gone by, Gung Ho Online Entertainment has managed to take what was a porting disaster in many ways and turn things around. Many fan complaints, such as the frame rate issues, issues with the world map, visual effects issues, sprite issues, glitches and texture issues have all be dealt with. What we have now is a much more polished collection, that while still having some issues, is a much better representation of the games.
Ultimately, I would say that collection is worth checking out now that the patch has come. The games have aged well, and while the stories were not groundbreaking, the battle system definitely was. I recommend checking this out.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
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