[Multiplatform] The Grandia Appreciation Thread!

Hear ye, hear ye! Grandia 3 is here! It's about time, too.

The Grandia series, to me, is that of a phenomenal one. Their RPG landmark has always been the battle system, and it shines in Grandia 3 as much as it has in the past games.

Show your love for Grandia and all of its characters! Oh and uh, make some relevant discussion too. >__>;

Has anyone picked up Grandia 3 yet? If you haven't, and you're a fan of the previous Grandia games, you should buy this. Graphically, it's amazing. Two discs contain really attractive and distant landscapes, beautiful cities, but the best part is the flying.

Yes, flying. You acquire your airplane fairly early on in the game, and it stays with you (supposedly) throughout the rest of the story. Flying is perhaps the coolest thing in this game next to the battles. As with most RPGs, flying tends to be fairly limited, but not in this one. It feels a lot more open. If you fly in areas with good reception, you can pick up on some really funny radio conversations. If you fly near scenic areas, you can get a zoomed in view of them and a brief description. But if you're REALLY daring, pull back on that analog stick and forego the world beneath you -- you can fly above the clouds! That's one of the truly amazing parts about flying in this game. It might not sound like much, but that minor addition to the game really makes for an awesome experience. Plus, there's a flying whale. You have to see it for yourself.

If you're familiar with the battle system of Grandia, you'll feel right at home. The biggest addition is the Aerial Combo/Finish. In the previous games, Cancel attacks (and Criticals) knocked the opponent down, but in this game it's an upward strike.

So let's say that Character A cancels (the attack has to actually cancel -- just using a non-cancelling Critical won't work) Monster A's attack. If Character B attacks that same monster with a regular Combo attack, Character B will launch into an Aerial Combo and if enough damage is done, an Aerial Finish will occur which results in more Gold and often an item. Another really cool thing is, if you can get your timing down right, you can have multiple characters participate in the Aerial Combo. That's right -- if one person can cancel the attack, the remaining 3 all have an opportunity to do an Aerial Combo if you told them all to target the same enemy with Combo attacks! It makes for an impressive string of attacks.

Mana Egg fusion from Grandia Xtreme is back and arguably better than before. It was more like mana egg CONfusion in Grandia Xtreme [/pun]. You can also extract magic from the mana eggs and spell books you find as well.

There's honestly not too many downsides to this game. The only real negative I've seen is that two of your near-starting four characters leave the party -- for good. And it seems like it'll happen again. It's an old RPG tactic used by the likes of Lunar, among others. Get a party member, then according to the story they leave. But it's not such a bad thing -- when they leave, at least their portion of the story is wrapped up.

Overall, this is definitely worth a buy. It's an enjoyable RPG among the several that have been released recently.

But this thread isn't just about Grandia 3. It's time to show your appreciation for the games that have raised Grandia to what it is today.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

First off, i never expected to buy this. i happened to see a review of it online and took a chance buying it.
However, what a smile this game brings to my face. this is the 1st game in a while that i look forward to playing when i get home from work. like the previous grandias, the battle system is freakin sweet. i love the combos you can get, although they do get a little bland after a while. fusing mana eggs? brillant idea. i've made some killer ones and then extracted the powerful magic from them.

The music is ok. the pop tune in the beginning surprised me. that came out of nowhere.

The story is a little weak, but the battle system makes up for it and the graphics are MUCH IMPROVED from grandia 2.

the only downside perhaps to this game is the question of being able to replay it after you beat it. Unlike FFX, which i've replayed a couple of times b/c of the sidequests, i'm not sure if grandia 3 is that type of game.

That being said, a definite must for any rpg lover. it's well worth the money b/c it's really fun.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I loved Grandia II alot and I picked up at the budget price of $20 a long time ago. I was pretty close to beating it, but I traded in before fully beating the partner Ryudo's Hometown because I was stupid. I felt really good looking at the faqs and boards and being like the only one who found the Eyes of Valmar to be easy to beat. One of the most fun parts about the game was the battle system for sure. It was so easy to level up because the battle moved in real time, freezing when wanted to make your decision. You also had to take into account your character's actual position relative to the enemies when evading/cancelling and such which I still respect very much. Very innovative.The magic attacks were lots of fun utilizing separate cutscenes. Howl is still my favourite spell though.

My friend showed me Grandia III the other day and I was glad to see i was more of the same with a gigantic graphics upgrade. I couldn't stop watching him play too, all the way from picking up Alfina from an inn to the 3rd area of Dragon Valley. I will pick this up one day when I hve the money again.

How was the original Grandia? Is it similiar to the latest two incarnations?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Reposted from the blog:

Quote:

Finally picked up a copy of Grandia III last Wednesday and, after spending around 10 hours with it, I can safely say I'm quite impressed so far; especially given the rather checkered past Grandia and I have had.

I was really late to the Grandia party, having finally played the game last August. I never really understood the hype for the most part: the story was predictable and cliche as all hell, the characters were one-dimensional and (aside from Justin, Feena, and a couple of the antagonists) revolting, and the battle system -- despite putting an interesting spin on typical jPRG battle systems -- fell flat due to the lack of any real challenge. Good music though, even if the main theme sounded like a wonky newscast tune.
Then came Grandia II. From the outset, the sequel seemed to be an improvement in most everyway: the story had a decent step up (even if you could see the "organized religion is evil" twist coming from 10 miles away), the characters didn't completely grate my nerves, and the battles were a blast to play, partly because Grandia II has probably the best battle theme EVER in a RPG.
Then everything falls apart (story/character-wise anyway) once Ryudo confronts Melfice. Not only is Melfice, a good candidate for top villain honors, dispatched like a complete pantywaste after barely 30 minutes of screentime, but main character and all-around sarcastic jackass Ryudo completely loses everything that made him likeable and becomes just another trademark Game Arts "Believe in HUMANITY" talking head, much like the cast of Lunar 2 before him. Grandia II's narrative still proved mildly interesting -- the Granas/Valmar stuff was a nice twist on an old formula, if criminally underutilized -- and the battles were still a blast to play, but damned if I cared about what happened in the finale.

So now we come to Grandia III. From the outset, things seem to have improved on the narrative front -- as much as a GA narrative can improve, anyway. Main character Yuki is Justin done right in my eyes: overly ambitious without being completely saccharine. The fact that he doesn't yearn for a great adventure from the start of the game is welcome as well; he's still a normal kid with a dream, but the fact that he's not a little kid makes him more likeable to me.
Of course, in typical Game Arts fashion, he jumps at the chance to give up his entire life to help the first pretty waif he meets. Alfina may be no Feena, but she's a damn sight more likeable than Elena "GOTTA WORK EVEN HARDER!" from Grandia II. Not to say Alfina doesn't have highly annoying traits of her own: she's got an annoying older brother complex, she's clumsy, she can't cook, she whines. Hell, she stumbles into nearly every cliche that plagues a young female in a jRPG, only trading in cat ears for elf ears, and somehow managing to not be completely offensive -- perhaps due to the fact that she hardly speaks more than a few sentences at a time.
She's perfectly complimented though, by Miranda, the token TUFF GRRL with a twist: she's Yuki's mom! And she looks like he was conceived when she was 2 years old! What will they think of next?! Seriously though, Miranda was my favorite character until she left the party (here's hoping for a reappearance). Cute, spunky, and a good fighter, Miranda proved a great addition to the party and I'll miss her.
Can't say the same for Alonso, the lady's (beast)man. He's in the party for only a few hours and proves to be a good fighter, but I never cared much for his barely-there personality. I wish he'd stuck around a little longer.

Visually speaking, Grandia III is stunning. Whereas the previous games were known for their elaborate towns, Grandia III looks great all around with sprawling vistas, a gorgeous seascape and really well animated character models -- a first for the series. This is one of the best looking games on the PS2.
In terms of audio, the game falters a bit. Where are the trademark Iwadare wacky tunes? He's still here, but a lot of the music that made Grandia, well... Grandia is sadly missing, and what we're left with is mostly forgettable. Thankfully, the voice acting picks up the slack. This is some of the best VA work I've heard from a Square Enix game.
Finally, we come to the trademark battle system. They've actually made it BETTER. Thank you, Game Arts, for FINALLY adding some challenge to battles. Especially in boss battles, I've actually actively tried Canceling enemy turns and taken full advantage of characters' Special Moves and abilities. And Aerial Combos. Talk about real incentive to play around with character growth and combat turns. I've actually reset boss battles I'd won just to try finishing them with an Aerial Combo to see what rare loot I could get. Bravo, Game Arts.

I may be only 10 hours into the game (I've heard certain things take a turn for the worse here on out, so...), but I'm really diggin' the game so far. Off to play more!

I'm about 24 hours into it now and still enjoy it for the most part (the story's taken a huge nosedive, but combat still kicks ass).

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

The Grandia series is incredible. I would love to get Grandia III when I can. The battle is great right??

I was speaking idiomatically.

How is Grandia 1? Rate the music, storyline, and gameplay if you could.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I agree with everything Southjag said, pretty much.

I love Grandia, love it so much I went out and ordered the soundtrack shortly after I got 3, and both the game and music are fantastic.

The only downside- as has been stated before- is that the plot goes downhill in the second disc, or so I hear. I'm only 17 hours in, and the game has been quite the experience so far. The characters are all likable, the battle system is back and better than ever, and the game remains very engaging. I have a hard time making myself stop each time I pick it up.

I get a kick out of using the AI Strategy functions and let them run battles every once in a while. If you equip your characters right they'll get "Excellent" on even the really tough ones, I'm impressed. There's still a lot of different strategies to explore, both Special/Magic wise with the characters I have, so I doubt I'll be bored with the battle system at any point during my gameplay.

Oh, and I love Ulf. I love Ulf a lot. <333333333

Yuki + Flash + Aerial Combo = AMAZING.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by DarkDraco911

The Grandia series is incredible. I would love to get Grandia III when I can. The battle is great right??

You mean the battle system? it's easily the best out of the three. like i said earlier, the combos are a great addition.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Ahahaha, I love this game more and more each time I play it.

I'm at Baccula right now, and foolishly tried to take on the Desert Lord. Got him down to about 9,000HP before I couldn't hold my own against him without taking heavy losses, so I had to bail. Went back into town for a rest at the inn and the conversation scene is hilarious. Ulf and Alfina going back and forth about what animals you can and can't eat. It really lets you see a lot about the characters personalities, these little chats that happen.

Ulf is still fantasic. <3

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by YUKTOBANIA

Ulf is still fantasic. <3

Come on, Ulf isn't THAT great. yes, he has some cool special moves, but his magic is crap. i like all the characters, but ulf is the lowest. if you're in the desert, did you fuse any mana eggs before taking on the desert lord?

without giving out too much info, you do return to the desert later in the game. that's when you'll have a much better chance against the desert lord. the guy is wicked fast though, so be careful!

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Ugh, lucky Americans. There still hasn't been a word about a European release, and I have the bad feeling that we won't be seeing one. I'd download it, but 7 gigs would rape what little bandwith I have left. Anyone know how long the game is, btw? I found Grandia II to be disappointingly short.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

One thing I have always loved about this series has been the multitude of mana eggs you can find and equip on your characters to customize them any way you see fit. Grandia II furthered this and I have Grandia III but have not played it yet, but I hope mana eggs continue to be a great asset in this game. Grandia III could be one of SE's best RPGs in a long time.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I like Grandia III is better than Grandia II,battle play is great is like realtime play RPGnot there time to stop is same FF-X2. but there alot cutscenes on the game,it remember me like Xenosaga.but overall is game is great will better than FFXII.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Enkidu

Ugh, lucky Americans. There still hasn't been a word about a European release, and I have the bad feeling that we won't be seeing one. I'd download it, but 7 gigs would rape what little bandwith I have left. Anyone know how long the game is, btw? I found Grandia II to be disappointingly short.

I've heard it's roughly 40+ hours, but having not finished it myself I couldn't say for certain. I just started the second disc, and I believe I'm about 18-22 hours into it.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by bighunt

Come on, Ulf isn't THAT great. yes, he has some cool special moves, but his magic is crap. i like all the characters, but ulf is the lowest. if you're in the desert, did you fuse any mana eggs before taking on the desert lord?

without giving out too much info, you do return to the desert later in the game. that's when you'll have a much better chance against the desert lord. the guy is wicked fast though, so be careful!

I just love him as a character. The guy is a riot. If you don't think so that's ok, but at this point I like him more than the others, but they're all cool otherwise.

I did fuse some Mana eggs and got some pretty neat super spells, but I've yet to extract the Astrea Zap one. The guy was really just too fast and his Quake spell nearly wipes out my entire party. I knew what I was up against going into it though, I just wanted to see how long I'd last. I'll try at a later point in the game.

FELIPE NO

I do actually consider the original Grandia to be an all time favorite of mine and a likely top ten choice. Grandia II I played for a while and wasn't particularly fond of. I haven't played any of the others. It's hard to find Xtreme and I'm not sure if I should bother with Grandia III since I've heard from a number of people that it's average or worse. You seem to like it though so maybe I'll check it out. It sounds like it does more to capture the spirit of adventure like the first game did.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Well, I for one got hooked on Grandia with the second game being my first. I then played Xtreme and after a good bit of searching, found an excellent copy of the first Grandia. I played it an enjoyed it, but Grandia II will always hold a little more meaning for me.

Anyway, Grandia 3 is superb. Of the reviews I've read, the primary problems seems to be the lack of secondary character development. I both agree and disagree with it. Sure, Miranda and Alonso do leave your party rather quickly, but their story ends well and appropriately -- I didn't feel any lack of closure regarding those two.

I feel the same about some of th NPCs you meet, namely Captain Schmidt. You get more than enough backstory on him, and then you meet him and voila, he's done with. I think some of the reviewers make these characters far greater than what they're meant to be to the story.

If you enjoyed the first Grandia, I think you'd get a kick out of Grandia III, Megavolt.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Thanks for the info. I'll try it out sometime then. I feel now that I should give Grandia II another chance too. Maybe I didn't play long enough into it to get hooked. I remember putting it down after arriving at some beat up town or something. Hopefully I don't need to play the Dreamcast version to enjoy it more.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I want to know:
-how I learn new secret method for special more?
-how to learn new special more for all characters?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

The secret methods for the moves are generation randomly I believe -- the more you use that particular technique, the better your chances of mastering it are. As far as I can tell, there's no indication as to which technique is about to level up.

Learning special moves is a bit less random. There are three areas your character can increase in -- Magic, Skill, and Special. You gain an extra slot for the former two, but for the latter you gain both an additional SP bar and, depending on what level for which character, the chance to learn a new move.

For example, Yuki learns Dragon Slash at Special Level 9. So when you see him hit Special Level 9, regularly use Combo attacks. The Special reveals itself in the place of your regular combo.

How ya doing, buddy?

hmmm,are both need to luck to get new secret method & special moves.thanks anyway

I was speaking idiomatically.

I wish Game Arts would put as much effort into new Grandia games as they did the first... that had a lot of replay value... the only problem with Grandia 2, Grandia X-treme, and Gradnia 3 is that they have little replay value.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

that's true in the case of Xtreme. my god, what a bad game! i'll probably replay Grandia 3 after i beat it. i can see some of the replay value in it. like the casino for instance. i'd love to get the top skill book there! currently, i have ~180k medals. at most i had ~365,000. with that amount i bought 2 ninja slippers. the skill book is at 999,999 medals.

FELIPE NO

I havent played III yet, I heard the story lacks alot but the combat is awesome.

Grandia I was the same way, I did not like the characters...even the antagonist was annoying to me. The combat was brilliant though...and it was different from the average turn based combat game.

Grandia II was even sweeter, since I did kind of enjoy the characters more. The main character Ryodo is and was one of my all time favorite rpg characters. The story wasnt bad, but the combat made up for it in the long run.

Grandia Xtreme disappointed me, it was a bad game...plus it lead you to believe that there would be xtreme mountain biking, snowboarding and mountain dew drinkage. Sadly this was all left out. Why wasnt this just called Grandia III?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Grandia Xtreme is more like a second-cousin of Grandia than an actual sibling sequel. It lacked a detailed story and was much more of a dungeon crawler than the previous (and future) installments. At its core, it was nothing more than a game orbiting around the battle system, instead of the other way around.

You really should play Grandia 3 though Knighthawk. If you read my first post, you'll see what I have to say about the story.

Jam it back in, in the dark.